ISAIAH "House Meeting" Invitation
Invitation
Dear friends, I am writing to inform you about an exciting opportunity happening in Rochester and also to invite you to have a voice in it.
For several months I have been attending some organizing meeting sponsored by a group called ISAIAH. ISAIAH is a nonprofit organization out of the twin cities that does community organizing. I know a bit about what they have done in St. Cloud, MN working with the Somali community and some issues in the schools--they did some really interesting community reports on racism in the schools, the opportunity gap, neighborhood segregation, etc. In that work, they collaborated with the Kirwan Institute, which is John Powell's organization if you remember his keynote in Rochester last year (see this report). They also have a guide which describes strategies for organizing (the opportunity stories activity) and the focus on structural racism.
More immediately, ISAIAH is working with the Rochester community to bring action toward social justice here, particularly regarding racism and economic justice. Their strategy is to use congregations as already existing networks and to use faith based ideologies to commit to social justice. From the Diversity Council Board, Al Lun, Ashok Patel and I have participated in one of their "voice" training programs recently. So have Savita, Charles and Denise from Diversity Council staff.
I myself, am not religious and do not belong to a congregation. I have been welcomed into the conversation as a "non-faith based" person and although the ideologies sometimes arise, they are working on being inclusive. In that regard, I think it important for people passionate and committed to "inclusive, healthy, and prosperous community" to include our voices.
The movement has reached a point wherein they are collecting the opinions of community members as to what issues are pertinent in Rochester. What issues would we like to make a real social policy or structural change in?
Al and I both feel that tapping into the movement will provide a natural channel to gain insight into the needs of the community and is a good opportunity for us on the Diversity Council Board to get connected to the community.
It is in that spirit that Al and I invite you to a "house meeting" to participate in a brief activity, tell opportunity stories, and see a short video on ISAIAH (6 minutes), and then participate in a discussion about what issues you think are important for us to take on in Rochester.
After collecting the opinions of the community members, sometime in the late summer or fall, there will be a large gathering wherein the community will be invited to vote on which of the issues (that emerged in these house meetings) to act upon. So there will be action!
RSVP
Please RSVP at this link for the July 11 House Meeting.
