All Categories - PACG - Progressive Action for the Common Good

Annual Picnic and Pie Auction - After Action Report

9/21/2021

9th Annual Picnic and Pie Auction - After Action Report

Fejervary Park, Davenport

PACG Board

The 9th Annual Picnic and Pie Auction was a HUGE success! We had over 60 people in attendance, who were excited to connect with other progressives in person. Picnic goers interacted with each other over a get-to-know-you BINGO game. A delicious meal was provided by Taste of Ethiopia; information about all the great things PACG is doing was shared; Monarch butterflies were released; and, best of all, we raised close to $1400 with our pie auction! It was a great time!

Check out more great photos on PACG’s Facebook page: Here and here.

Allison Ambrose

World Cleanup Event - After Action Report

9/21/2021

World Clean Up Event - After Action Report

Davenport RiverFront Bike Trail

Environmental Forum

We had 7 energetic volunteers on Saturday, September 18th to clean up along the Davenport RiverFront Bike Trail. We even worked our way into the woods on the north side of the trail, finding tires, a foldable chair, and a cooler of empty beer cans. All told, we collected 8 large bags of trash, and had some fun sharing our energy between PACG, NAACP and CCL (Citizens' Climate Lobby) friends! Thanks to everyone!

Lori McCollum

October Green Drinks - PACG Event

9/21/2021

Green Drinks - How to Reduce Food Waste at Home
Tuesday, October 5th from 5 – 7 pm via Zoom

SPEAKER: Kristin Bogdonas, U of Illinois Extension Service

Do you know that two-thirds of the food waste at home is due to food not being used before it goes bad? Kristin Bogdonas, Extension Educator, Nutrition and Wellness from the University of Illinois Extension, will give us suggestions about how we can reduce food waste at home.

Please register for this event here.

PACG Book Club for October 2021

9/19/2021

**PACG Book Club for October 2021 - American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins**

For October we will read and discuss American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins. We will meet via Zoom on October 18th, the third Monday of the month, at 5:30 pm.

Here is more information about the book from Goodreads:

"También de este lado hay sueños.
On this side, too, there are dreams.

Lydia Quixano Pérez lives in the Mexican city of Acapulco. She runs a bookstore. She has a son, Luca, the love of her life, and a wonderful husband who is a journalist. And while there are cracks beginning to show in Acapulco because of the drug cartels, her life is, by and large, fairly comfortable.

Even though she knows they’ll never sell, Lydia stocks some of her all-time favorite books in her store. And then one day a man enters the shop to browse and comes up to the register with a few books he would like to buy—two of them her favorites. Javier is erudite. He is charming. And, unbeknownst to Lydia, he is the jefe of the newest drug cartel that has gruesomely taken over the city. When Lydia’s husband’s tell-all profile of Javier is published, none of their lives will ever be the same.

Forced to flee, Lydia and eight-year-old Luca soon find themselves miles and worlds away from their comfortable middle-class existence. Instantly transformed into migrants, Lydia and Luca ride la bestia—trains that make their way north toward the United States, which is the only place Javier’s reach doesn’t extend. As they join the countless people trying to reach el norte, Lydia soon sees that everyone is running from something. But what exactly are they running to?"

Click on my name for a Zoom link to the Book Club meeting. (Note: If you are already on the list of Book Club members you will get a link without having to contact me each month.)

Alta Price

Meet Davenport Mayoral Candidates - Of Interest to Our Community

9/17/2021

Meet Davenport Mayoral Candidates
Thursday, October 7th and 21st at 3:00 pm

Davenport Public Library
6000 Eastern Avenue
Davenport, IA. 52807 (map)

Iowa Women United

Thursday, October 7th at 3:00 pm - Meet Athena Gilbraith - Please join us to hear Athena Gilbraith, who is running for mayor of Davenport, tell us about herself and why she's seeking public office. She'll also answer any questions you may have. The public is invited. Masks are recommended per CDC Guidelines.

Thursday, October 21st at 3:00 pm - Meet Mayor Mike Matson - Listen to Davenport Mayor Mike Matson talk about why he's running for re-election. The public is invited, and questions are welcome. Masks are recommended per CDC Guidelines.

Susan Meenan

" This Criminal " Podcast - No Hate In Our States

8/31/2021

Podcast: “If It Ever Happens, Run.”

From the podcast description at This Criminal: “What I recall most is the way that she grabbed my wrist and, shaking a bit, she said over and over again, ‘If it happens, run. Don’t let that happen to you. Run. If it ever happens, run.'

"It was years before Cynthia Brown understood what her great-grandmother, Athalia Howe, was talking about.

"Athalia Howe grew up in Wilmington, North Carolina in the late 1890s. At the time, Wilmington was called 'the freest town in the country' for Black people, and by 1898, Black men had become integral in Wilmington’s government. White Supremacists in the state were determined to stop them, by 'ballot or bullet or both.'"

Listen here: https://thisiscriminal.com/episode-158-if-it-ever-happens-run-2-12-21/

Julie Ross

Update Regarding Annual Picnic - Message from the Board

8/31/2021

Picnic and Pie Auction Update - Vaccinations and Masks

A Message from the Board

As you know, the PACG Board has been considering CDC guidance regarding the pandemic when making decisions about how we hold meetings and events. At this time, we believe it is still safe for us to have our Picnic and Pie Auction out-of-doors, as planned. However, the severity of the Delta Covid variant has left us in unique and uncertain times. As a result of our desire to protect the most vulnerable of our members, the Board has decided unanimously that vaccinations will be required to attend this year's picnic.

Dr. Alta Price, M.D., recently spoke to the Scott County Health Department about our Picnic & Pie Auction plans. She described our situation and told them that we are requiring attendees to be vaccinated. Given the size of the event and that it is out-of-doors, they were not concerned about viral transmission. Although they haven’t had problems locally with events such as ours, they said that outdoor transmission of the Delta variant is possible in prolonged, crowded, large events, such as concerts.

For those who are concerned, we encourage you to wear a mask and bring a chair to use for increased social distancing. Removing your mask to eat may not feel safe to some attendees, so consider bringing a food container to take your meal home to eat later.

We believe this is the correct - albeit conservative - decision, and will allow those in attendance an extra level of reassurance. Thank you for your understanding.

Changes to Zoom Platform - Message from the Board

8/31/2021

Important Information Regarding Zoom

A Message from the Board

Many of you know that when the pandemic began, PACG bought Zoom licenses for several other progressive organizations in our community who are doing important work. Zoom continues to be a vital means for communication and coordination for us. Did you know that they have recently made important changes to their platform? If you have one of our Zoom licenses (or your own), you will have received an email this week explaining the changes.

The email reads:

Beginning November 1, 2021, customers will be required to update their Zoom software to ensure it is no more than nine months behind the current version, at any given time. From that point on, users will be prompted to update their software when using the platform should their version fall behind this nine-month window. For example, if on November 1st the latest version of the Zoom Client was released in September 2021, customers who try to access Zoom services with a version prior to January 2021 will be prompted to update to a more recent version in order to access the platform.

This change is in line with industry practices and designed to help ensure that Zoom users receive the latest Zoom features, as well as any privacy and security enhancements we make to the platform. To prepare for the new schedule, we recommend customers update to the latest release supported by their organization or at minimum software version 5.5.0, prior to November 1st. Starting in September, we will introduce a prompted update to help customers update to the latest version of the Zoom client. If you have prompted updates turned off for your organization, you will not see the prompt.

As always, we recommend you regularly download and update to the latest version of the Zoom software by checking for updates within the Zoom client or by navigating to zoom.us/download to take advantage of all our latest security and functionality features.

This policy will affect:

Zoom Client: Windows, Mac, Linux, iOS, and Android (5.5.0)
Zoom Rooms (5.5.0)
Zoom Rooms Controller (5.5.0)
Zoom Phone Appliances (5.6.0)
Outlook Plug-in (5.5.1)
Browser Scheduler Extensions for Chrome (1.6.3) & Firefox (2.1.13)
VDI Client (5.5.0)
Virtual Room Connector (4.4.6)
Meetings Connector (4.6.3)
Recording Connector (3.8.41)
Client SDK (5.5.0)

Please note that while the minimum Zoom Client software version required for this schedule is 5.5.0, we may require additional updates outside of this release window to address larger security or compliance features. We always encourage customers to look at our release notes for any included security enhancements.

We will continue to share reminders and additional information as we approach the implementation of this policy. Thank you for your partnership as we continually work to make our platform more secure and deliver a better experience for our customers. Please feel free to reach out to the Zoom Support Team if you have any additional questions or need assistance to update your organization.

Team Zoom

It's imperative that you know how to update your Zoom application and keep it up-to-date. If you are in need of assistance, please contact our Office Manager. Thank you.

Allison Ambrose

September Environmental Celebration - World Clean Up Day

8/31/2021

September Environmental Celebration - World Clean Up Day
Saturday, September 18th

Environmental Forum

World Clean Up Day is an annual global social action program aimed at combating solid waste and marine debris. Since the origin of this event in 2008, 180 countries and over 50 million volunteers have participated in clean up events. There is beauty in cooperation and collaboration, and by the simple act of cleaning, we can bind groups together throughout the planet. There are a number of local clean up events happening throughout the year, many of them organized by Xtreme Clean-up, through each city’s park services, or by state or county parks. What if everyone picked up one bag of litter? It doesn’t have to be an organized event. You can participate in an informal clean up yourself, or with family or friends. In these days of COVID, it’s a perfect activity to do with your own safe pod of people.

Take Action Steps:

You can participate by joining this mission through their website: www.worldcleanupday.us, and register for an individual or public clean up event, or find a registered clean up near you.
Additionally, upcoming Xtreme clean-up events can be found here http://www.xstreamcleanup.org/upcoming-events.
And, the Waste Commission of Scott County’s environmental outreach program, iLivehereqc.org, offers clean up supplies for FREE to anyone that would like to do a clean up in their community. Get more information at https://www.ilivehereqc.org/. They request that participants send in results after their clean up which can be submitted through the website: https://www.ilivehereqc.org/Cleanup-Events/Report-Results.aspx.

'Light-Skinned Privilege' - No Hate In Our States

8/24/2021

"What Does It Mean To Be Latino? The 'Light-Skinned Privilege' Edition"

No Hate In Our States

From the NPR description of this podcast: “Maria Garcia and Maria Hinojosa are both Mexican American, both mestiza, and both relatively light-skinned. But Maria Hinojosa strongly identifies as a woman of color, whereas Maria Garcia has stopped doing so. So in this episode, we're asking: How did they arrive at such different places? To find out, listen to our latest installment in this series about what it means to be Latino.“

https://www.npr.org/2021/06/21/1008735322/what-does-it-mean-to-be-latino-the-light-skinned-privilege-edition

Julie Ross