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“Citizen Legislative Advocacy in Minority Communities”

Professional Fellows from

Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia in the USA

October 1 - November 10, 2012

EUROPEAN FELLOWS PARTICIPATION IN DIRECT ACTIONS

DIRECT ACTION IN QUAIL HOLLOW STATE PARK, HARTVILLE, OHIO

Vlad Catuna: “On October 21st, Sunday morning,

along with Gwen Fischer, from Con-

cerned Citizens of Ohio I attended a

rally that took place in Quail Hol-

low State Park located in Hartville,

Ohio.

Around 50 people participated at the

event with the purpose to protest

against the legislation that would

permit the lease of the land and

would give companies the right to

start the fracking process in the

Park. Quail Hollow Park is to be the

first State Park in Ohio where com-

panies would start the drilling proc-

ess.

The event included a hike in the

park where a biologist explained

the flora and the habitat found

there. Afterwards, the walk was

followed by a discussion forum,

where organization members

from Buckeye Forest Council,

Ohio Environmental Council, Si-

erra Club of Ohio and Mohican

Advocates talked about their con-

cerns, regarding the legislation

and the fact that the public, that

actually owns the park, has noth-

ing to say in the process.”

More information about this direct action at www.ecowatch.org/2012/fracking-state-parks/

16 European fellows spent six

weeks in the U.S. to learn different

community organizing methods in

engaging citizens as active partici-

pants in solving problems in their

own communities. They also ex-

plored how to build power and lead-

ership in minority communities that

can contribute to positive changes in

legislation that make a difference in

their community. They gained

hands-on experience at civil society

institutions and participated in

their daily activities.

This report with highlights from

the European fellows focuses on

their participation in direct actions

across the U.S.

wealthiest. They have an alterna-

tive budget put together by Chris-

tian, Jewish, Muslim and other

faith communities and organiza-

tions. And there I am on the street

(photo to the right) with Karen

Krause and Peter Ujvagi.”

DIRECT ACTION IN TOLEDO, OHIO

Page 2 “Citizen Legislative Advocacy in Minority Communities”

Zsolt Peter Fugg: “On October 13, Saturday I partici-

pated in two different actions, both

in the morning hours.

At 10:00 AM, I took part in the

Nuns on the bus campaign at

the Assumption Outreach Center

(219 Page Street, Toledo, OH). The

campaign was trying to put pres-

sure on the presidential candidates

not to make budget cuts that affect

poor people, while shielding the

ing property tax on public transpor-

tation (TARTA, TARPS, and

TARTA Call-A-Ride). Some of the

elected representatives from Lucas

County were there, along with

many people with disabilities and

local business owners, who are all

affected by this issue.”

“One hour later, at 11:00 AM I par-

ticipated in the rally to keep pub-

lic transportation in Sylvania

Township conducted on a parking

lot in Sylvania Township. The aim

of the rally was to persuade people

to vote NO on Issue #15, in other

words, to vote in support of spend-

DIRECT ACTION IN SYLVANIA, OHIO

DIRECT ACTIONS IN CHICAGO, ILLINOIS

Monika Bandurova: “On October 12, Radu Raileanu and

I took part in the “Chicago Hous-

ing Initiative” rally that was held

in front of the City of Chicago

Mayor office.

Lakeview Action Coalition (LAC)

with other organizations based on

the available data discovered that

(Chicago Housing Agency (CHA)

still collects federal founding on

houses that have been demolished.

The aim of the campaign was to

raise community voice on spending

federal money on affordable houses

that were already demolished or

are vacant. Mary Nelson from

Marah's Place and LAC are holding

Mayor Emanuel accountable for the

thousands of units of vacant public

housing.”

Lakeview Action Coalition leaders

dropped off the Progress report card

Page 3 Professional Fellows program in the U.S. (October 1 - November 10, 2012)

Members of the Aviation Commit-

tee convened a community forum

with religious leaders and hun-

dreds of airport workers to press

the City of Chicago to adopt meas-

ures to protect hundreds of jobs in

Chicago airports. In the coming

months more than 1,500 airport

workers could be thrown out of

work or see their wages cut as the

City undertakes a massive redevel-

opment at these airports Following

the forum, we marched with work-

ers and city leaders to the Chicago

City Hall for an action to press

leaders to protect airport jobs. More

than a year ago, city leaders intro-

duced the “Stable Jobs, Stable

“On October 23 we participated in

the Chicago Temple in a campaign

“Stable Jobs, Stable Airport”

organized by LAC and UNITE

HERE in support of O’Hare and

Midway airport workers to protect

their jobs.

Communities” ordinance which

would ensure a smooth transition

and a living wage for airport work-

ers. Such measures have been

adopted in other major cities na-

tionwide, but Chicago, thus far, has

failed to implement such measures.

leaders, increasing understanding

on the different issues they are

working on in their communities

and building a sense of solidarity

among the 4 chapters.

At the end of the meeting, a com-

mon direct action planned by the

Newburgh leaders took place in the

form of a Protest March in order

to raise awareness on the hous-

ing conditions the Newburgh

community members are struggling

Andreea Buzec: “On October 21, Sunday, I partici-

pated in the Statewide Meeting

organized by Community Voices

Heard (CHV) in Newburgh, NY.

The meeting reunited all the 4

chapters of CVH, namely NY, New-

burgh, Yonkers and Poughkeepsie

through various community lead-

ers. The meeting aimed at facilitat-

ing interaction between community

with (high rent, bed bugs, mice,

mold, leaks, etc) and the constant

struggle for responsibility and ac-

countability for the owners.

I was deeply impressed by the soli-

darity and support that members

from different chapters expressed

for each other and, also, by their

capacity to mobilize and take ac-

tion: numbers, carefully planned

steps, itinerary and speech, songs

were all decided under consensus.”

DIRECT ACTIONS IN NEWBURGH, NEW YORK

Page 4 “Citizen Legislative Advocacy in Minority Communities”

Balint Vojtonovszki: “On October 23, Andreea Buzec and

I met Melissa Mark-Viverito, the

Member of the New York City

Council at a meeting of Community

Voices Heard (CVH) - our host or-

ganization. The meeting was about

informing the Council Member

about the Housing Campaigns

and plans of CVH, as well as to ex-

change ideas about next steps.

The meeting was facilitated and

mostly run by CVH members, who

live in local public housing them-

selves.

We are in the middle on this photo

along with activists of CVH and

Mr. Kflu Kflu, the organizers with

Councilwoman Melissa Mark-

Viverito.

PREPARATION FOR A DIRECT ACTION IN NEW YORK

Page 5 Professional Fellows program in the U.S. (October 1 - November 10, 2012)

More information about these actions: www.sunfloweract.org/

Kaloyan Damyanov: “On October 18, Thursday, Milena

Kacmarcikova and I participated in

a KanVote Action to protest at the

Sedgwick County Department of

Motor Vehicles (DMV). Sunflowers

Community Action supports this

initiative, so we could participate in

“This Sunday, on October 21, we

participated in the Rally asking

elected officials to support the pas-

sage of the “DREAM Act”.

this action. This protest is an at-

tempt to stop disenfranchising vot-

ers. In Kansas you need a driver

license to vote. If you don't have

one, the state offers an alternative

of getting a free voter I.D. card.

With this KanVote action people

protested against voter I.D. re-

“We joined in the campaign “I am

Kansas” that the Sunflower Com-

munity Action organization is in-

volved in. This is a statewide orga-

nizing initiative to combat racism

DIRECT ACTION IN WICHITA, KANSAS

and increase cultural acceptance.

The I am Kansas project seeks to

help Kansans to understand how

immigrants positively contribute to

their state. We visited Ulysses to

make a presentation on the cam-

paign to the local Mexican commu-

nity. We were involved in distribut-

ing informational materials and

questionnaires of the participants

in this event.

During this meeting, I realized how

important it is to believe in your-

self, in your rights and fight for

them, because it is the foundation

of freedom. The country benefits

quirement at the DMV, and how

those processed because many peo-

ple have not received their voter

registration card, and the process

can take a very long time. KanVote

will contact the Secretary of State

office again, to see if all the DMV

people are properly trained.”

The event was hosted by the Wich-

ita West High School and organized

Pioneers for Peace and Justice and

Students United. It took place at

the Keeper of the Plains near the

Mid-American All Indian Center in

Wichita, Kansas.

The students said they were hoping

to help friends they have grown up

with who were brought to the

United States illegally.”

economically, politically, and so-

cially from immigration. Recogniz-

ing what immigrants give to this

country is one step closer to accept-

ing diversity.”

“On Tuesday, October 30 from

12:00 Noon we participated in the

fight against fracking in McLean

County. “Ban Fracking Zombie”

direct action in Normal was con-

nected to Halloween, and we had

some fun at this event as we were

dressed up like zombies, to high-

light the dangers of drinking nasty

contaminated fracking water.

DIRECT ACTIONS IN SPRINGFIELD, ILLINOIS

Nicu Dumitru: “On October 24, Henriett Dinok

and I participated in “STOP PER-SECUTING PEOPLE IN POV-

ERTY" rally hosted by the Homeless

United for Change (HUC) and Illi-

nois People Action with homeless

people.

The homeless community is being

banned for panhandling in more

and more areas of Spring-

field. However, the Police only fine

homeless people holding a sign.

They think they are being discrimi-

nated against on a poverty basis.

The Police say that the panhan-

dling is bringing a bad image on

the city of Springfield. This is why

the local Church, homeless people

participated in the rally to protest

against the City decisions regard-

ing panhandling.

Supporters and community leaders

got together one hour before the

action to bet “zombified” with ap-

propriate make-up provided by the

organizers.”

“You can't drink money!”

Anti Fracking Campaign at ISU

campus, IL”

More information:

www.illinoispeoplesaction.org/

Page 6 “Citizen Legislative Advocacy in Minority Communities”

DIRECT ACTIONS IN NORMAL, ILLINOIS

On Friday, October 5 the 16 profes-

sional fellows accompanied Ramon

Perez, community organizer of One

Village Council to learn about the

issues at the Greenbelt Place

Apartments in Toledo. Residents

have complained about the unac-

ceptable conditions (infestations of

cockroaches, bedbugs, and mice,

unlocked exterior doors, missing

fire extinguishers) and demands by

management for rent that's been

paid. They claimed management

has been unresponsive to their con-

cerns and they were upset that the

management of the building also

getting federal support for provid-

ing housing to low-income peo-

ple. They followed resident Simmie

Lassiter and Ramon Perez when

they went to Congresswoman Kap-

tur's office to request assistance in

looking into this issue at the HUD

on the federal level. Simmie Lassiter and Ramon Perez with our delegation in Toledo

Nedka Taneva

and Krisztina H. Molnar: “We participated in Fair Share

Economy Campaign. The cam-

paign is against Republican con-

trolled state

legislator who

has passed

some of the

most damag-

ing legislation

in Maine his-

tory: health

care rate hikes

for small busi-

nesses in rural

areas, tax cuts

for the wealthy broken promises to

the state worker retirement sys-

tem, and tens of thousands of low-

income Mainers denied the health

care they need and the fact that

they have attempted to gut envi-

ronmental regulations, go back-

wards on issues important to

women and strip away voting

rights.

This campaign is about making

sure that the right leaders are

elected and sent as State Represen-

tatives for Main to fight for a Fair

Share Economy. They wealthy and

large corporation have huge

amounts of money to spend against

the interests of middle class, but

united the people can win.”

DIRECT ACTIONS IN LEWISTON, MAINE

Page 7 Professional Fellows program in the U.S. (October 1 - November 10, 2012)

DIRECT ACTIONS IN TOLEDO, OHIO

SPECIAL THANKS TO OUR U.S. MENTORS WHO HOSTED OUR FELLOWS

AT THE FOLLOWING ORGANIZATIONS ACROSS THE U.S.:

Balint Vojtonovszki and Andreea Buzec (New York)

- Community Voices Heard, New York

Monika Bandurova and Radu Raileanu (Illinois)

- Lakeview Action Coalition, Chicago

Henriett Dinok and Nicu Dumitru (Illinois)

- Illinois People’s Action, Bloomington

Jolana Natherova and Marcela Beresova (West Virginia)

- Step by Step, Charleston

Anda Lupusor and Mihaela Grigoriu (Oregon & Washington)

- Sisters of the Road, Portland

- Bread & Roses, Olympia

Nedka Taneva and Krisztina Molnar (Maine)

- Maine People’s Alliance, Portland & Lewiston

Kaloyan Damyanov and Milena Kacmarcikova (Kansas)

- Sunflower Community Action, Wichita

Vlad Catuna (Ohio)

- NEOGAP, Lake County

- Concerned Citizens of Ohio, Portage County

- Ohio Environmental Council in Columbus

Zsolt Peter Fugg (Ohio & Michigan)

- One Village Council, Toledo

- Harriet Tubman Center in Detroit and ACCESS, Dearborn

GREAT LAKES CONSORTIUM for International Training and Development (GLC) — GLC is a

collaborative effort of the Bowling Green State University, Lourdes University, The University of Toledo,

and WSOS Community Action Commission, Inc - Contract Agent and Manager. Established in 1999.

Dr. Elizabeth Balint, Project Manager

Barbara Dennis, Viktoriya Maryamova, Program Coordinators

GLC Toledo Office: P.O. Box 352424, Toledo, OH 43635,

Phone: 419-725-0440, Cell: 419-973-8007

Email: GLC_teachdemocracy@hotmail.com

Website: www.GLC-Teachdemocracy.org

www.gl-consortium.org

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Page 8 “Citizen Legislative Advocacy in Minority Communities”