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PACG Book Club for January 2022

10/24/2021

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PACG Book Club for January 2022 - War on Us: How the War on Drugs & Myths About Addiction Have Created a War on All of Us  by Colleen Cowles

We will meet via Zoom on Monday, January 17th at 5:30 pm to discuss War on Us: How the War on Drugs & Myths About Addiction Have Created a War on All of Us by Colleen Cowles. We are not meeting in December, so you will have two months to read this book. Although it is long, it is reported to be very engaging and easy to read. Also, it is not as long as you might think since there are lots of references at the end!

I spent some time at the waronus.com website. This book is very relevant to the work the Civil Rights Forum is doing on criminal justice reform and juvenile justice reform. I wonder if PACG and its coalition partners might want to bring the author here (probably by Zoom) to speak?

Here is some information about the book from Goodreads:


"While the War on Drugs may have sounded like a good idea at one time, the consequences have been catastrophic. From physicians persecuted for providing health care to their patients to parents grieving the loss of their children to overdose or prison — we've all become victims of this war.


Our health, our families, our assets, our safety and our freedom are at risk:
 
  • One in three adults in the U.S. now has a criminal record.
  • Patients with severe illnesses or chronic pain are denied access to proven pain medications.
  • Over a trillion in taxpayer dollars in the U.S. alone has 'bought' the highest drug use, the highest overdose and the highest incarceration rates in the world.  
In War on Us, Colleen Cowles raises the alarm and offers practical, proven reforms. There are answers, as long as we have the will to implement change. It’s time to end the War on Drugs — and the war on all of us. This book is the roadmap to do just that." 

Click on my name for a Zoom link to the discussion.


Alta Price


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Civil Rights Forum - A Message to Members

2/6/2020

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​Message to Our Members from the Civil Rights Forum - Update

The anti-immigration rally at the Pleasant View Baptist Church in Bettendorf and the subsequent protests have contributed to polarization in our community. We want to use Restorative Justice practices to bring people together and promote healing.  

The Civil Rights Forum has used these negative events to take action promoting dialogue and education about immigration issues. We are also bringing people with different viewpoints together to bring healing to those who have been hurt by the controversy.
  • We have done a Peace Circle bringing immigration activists together with members of the Pleasant View Baptist church. It was very successful. We hope to work together with them on future social justice projects.
  • Both Republican candidates for Dave Loebsack's seat in Congress, Bobby Schilling and Mariannette Miller-Meeks, attended the anti-immigration rally at the church. We have already met with Bobby Schilling to talk about the crisis on the southern border (see After Action report). We will try to set up a similar meeting with Dr. Miller-Meeks.
  • We still intend to approach the City of Bettendorf about the problems with racial profiling in Bettendorf. Bringing Nick Fuentes (an avowed white nationalist) to speak in Bettendorf, and the recent distribution of hate flyers, make addressing the issue of racial profiling more urgent.
Contact Margie Mejia-Caraballo or Alta to get more involved.

Alta Price
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Message to Members from Civil Rights Forum Regarding Recent Events in Bettendorf

12/17/2019

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Message to Our Members from the Civil Rights Forum

Civil Rights Forum

The anti-immigration rally at the Pleasant View Baptist Church in Bettendorf and the subsequent protests have contributed to polarization in our community. We want to use Restorative Justice practices to bring people together and promote healing.  

These events present the Civil Rights Forum with an opportunity to begin dialogue with local and national decision-makers who need to hear our message promoting fair treatment of refugees and immigrants, and decreasing racial profiling in the Quad Cities.
  • We plan to use Restorative Justice Peace Circles to open a dialogue on immigration between community members with different viewpoints.
  • We will try to meet with Bobby Schilling and Marionnette Miller-Meeks about the crisis on the southern border. Both are Republican candidates for Congress and both attended the anti-immigration rally at the church.
  • We want to approach the City of Bettendorf about the problems with racial profiling in Bettendorf. Bringing Nick Fuentes (an avowed white nationalist) to speak in Bettendorf, and the recent distribution of hate flyers, make addressing the issue of racial profiling more urgent.
Contact Margie Mejia-Caraballo or Alta to get more involved.

Alta Price
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Juvenile Justice and Jails - 2019-10-05

9/28/2019

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Juvenile Justice and Jails - A Community Forum

juvenile_justice_and_jails_forum_flyer_-_2019-10-05.pdf
File Size: 52 kb
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Read more about the event in this informative article in the Quad City Times.
​
Picture
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Restorative Justice - Car Theft Accountability Training

5/20/2019

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Restorative Justice: Car Theft Accountability
​Training Date To Be Determined

Scott County Juvenile Center
500 W. 4th Street, Davenport, Iowa (map)


A recent PACG Blog post detailed the importance of this incredible new program. 

If you’re interested in being a volunteer for this initiative where you would be part of a restorative justice circle, you must attend a four-hour training.  For more information, contact Michelle Bancroft at 563-326-8228


Michelle Bancroft
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Candidate Questions - Civil Rights

4/22/2019

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Candidate Questions - Civil Rights

Immigration/Refugee Policy

 Let’s get organized before the next presidential candidates come to town! It’s hard to know what questions to ask, but here is a list that Quad Cities Interfaith created. If you have additional questions you think should be asked, please contact our Office Manager, Amber Bordolo and we will add to this list.
 
If you attend a candidate’s event, print off this list (see the download link below) and have it handy in case you get a chance to ask a question. Listen carefully to the answers on the topics below. Take notes if you can, and report back to us in the Blog Comments below. We want to know what you hear and think!
 
These are also good questions that should be addressed to your State legislatures when they hold legislative sessions or campaign for re-election.
 
 
1.  As President, will you work to re-unite families separated at the border and change this policy so that future children and families are not separated while their legal status is in limbo?

2.  What is your position on the Central American migrant caravan asylum-seekers at the border?

3.  As President, will you work to ensure that tear gas is not employed against any persons at the border, like that which took place in November of this last year?

4.  In Iowa, legislators have passed a state bill to prohibit local municipalities from establishing local sanctuary laws. Are you willing to speak out against these efforts at outlawing city and county rights to establish local sanctuary status?

5.  We are against ICE workplace and community raids that unnecessarily terrorize, and often separate, families. A prominent example took place in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa in the past year. What is your stance on the role of ICE in our local communities?

6.  We are against laws that put undue burdens on local police forces to do the work of area ICE agents. We don’t think these measures make our communities more safe; in fact, they make people less likely to report crime for fear of retaliation or deportation. What is your stance on the role of local police in matters pertaining to immigration enforcement?

7.  Do you support driver’s licenses for immigrants and other local efforts such as Community ID programs?

8.  Do you support efforts toward providing a path to citizenship for the 11 million immigrants in the United States?

9.  There has been a call to overhaul our immigration policies.  What provisions do you think should be a part of revising and changing our nation’s immigration laws?

10.  As President, will you take leadership in permanently eliminating “The Muslim ban?”  Will you support policies that increase the numbers of refugees the U.S. accepts? 

11.  What role do you think the U.S. has in accepting refugees from countries where we currently or have previously actively supported or engaged in military conflict in those countries?

12.  Given that the policies and actions of our government have helped to create the conditions which people in the Migrant Caravan are fleeing, what are our responsibilities to these asylum seekers? How should they be treated at the border?
 
13. We stand strongly against the profit incentive behind incarceration of immigrants and citizens promoted by the prison industrial complex.  Will you reject campaign contributions from banks and corporations that have a profit incentive in the building of private prisons and immigrant detention centers? 
 

Mass Incarceration and Restorative Justice

1.  Our groups in the Quad Cities are dealing with racial disparities in rates of out-of-school suspensions. As President, what will you do to address these and other racial inequities in our nation’s public school systems? 

2.  There our racial inequities across the board in our public schools here locally, and throughout the nation.  What will you do to close the opportunity and achievement gap in public education between low-income and students of color, relative to their more affluent white peers?

3.  What is your take on the recent bi-partisan criminal justice changes at the federal level? What do you think is the next step towards improving our current criminal justice system?

4.  As president, what will you do to provide opportunities for criminal ex-offender re-entry programs and to create employment opportunities for formerly incarcerated persons to reduce recidivism?

5.  Do you support “banning the box” policies that require ex-offenders to disclose their felony history in job applications?

6.  The U.S. remains the most over-incarcerated nation on the planet. What steps will you take as President to decrease the numbers and reduce racial disparities in populations of offenders behind bars?
 
7.  We stand strongly against the profit incentive behind incarceration of immigrants and citizens promoted by the prison industrial complex.  Will you reject campaign contributions from banks and corporations that have a profit incentive in the building of private prisons and immigrant detention centers? 
questions_for_candidates_-_civil_rights.docx
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Restorative Justice in Car Theft Accountability Program

4/20/2019

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Car Theft Accountability Program Recruiting Volunteers for Restorative Justice

A program started by Jeremy Kaiser, Director of the Juvenile Detention Center, will bring restorative justice to the Quad Cities! Many PACG members are involved in the Juvenile Justice Working Group, and we were already interested in restorative justice. (The first book we read in the PACG Book Club was The Little Book of Restorative Justice, which we highly recommend to you!) After speaking with Jeremy about the new Car Theft Accountability Program, we believe this new program will use restorative justice to address this difficult problem in our community. 

The restorative justice process brings offenders (and their families) and victims together in a restorative justice circle to try to repair the harm that has been done to the community. By repairing the harm to the relationships between offenders and victims, and offenders and the community that resulted from the crime, restorative justice seeks to understand and address the circumstances which contributed to the crime.
 In addition to trained staff from the Juvenile Detention Center, community volunteers are needed to participate in the circle to represent the community.

The Juvenile Justice Working Group has agreed to help recruit the community volunteers. Ideally we will include a diverse cross-section of the community, including people of color. Please email Alta Price if you want to volunteer, including your name, email address, and phone number. 

Some initial information for potential community volunteers from Jeremy Kaiser, Director of the Juvenile Detention Center:


Volunteers Needed for Car Theft Accountability Program:
All volunteers will need to pass a child abuse/criminal background check and possess the right frame of mind to help restore relationships and repair harms that have been done in the community.

Volunteer training has not been scheduled yet. We will most likely wait until May or June to schedule volunteer training. We will bring in a consultant from a company out of Boulder, Colorado named Restorative Solutions. [Visit the Restorative Solutions website to learn more about restorative justice, especially as used in schools.] Catherine Childs is the name of our consultant who provided our facilitator training and will also provide our volunteer training. That initial training will last approximately 3-4 hours. We will also provide on-going skills training for all volunteers. 

The volunteer’s role will be to sit in on restorative community conferences and provide the community perspective to the circle. They also help problem solve ideas to repair harm and provide support to victims, offenders, and families during and possibly after the conference.

Ideally we will have a pool of volunteers (5-10) that we can train to be available for conferences. We will likely only have 1-2 volunteers at each conference. The amount of time committed will be based on availability. Conferences will last between 1-2 hours at the most. We are going to try to schedule most conferences on Tuesday and Thursday nights, so availability on those nights will be crucial.

Community Volunteer Information Session:
Although not required, Jeremy Kaiser will be at an information session for potential community volunteers on Tuesday, May 7th at 6:30 pm at the Scott County Juvenile Detention Center Program Space, 500 W 4th St, Davenport. It is in the building connected to detention, but it is the entrance near the southeast corner of the building.
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Civil Rights

12/3/2018

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The Civil Rights Forum 

The PACG Civil Rights Forum will not be meeting in December. However, at least some of the groups we are working with do have December meetings.

December 8th (Saturday) at 10:00 am at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the QC - QC Sanctuary Coalition (contact John Dunsheath with questions.)

December 12th (Wednesday) at 1:00 pm at the Chancery of the Diocese of Davenport (780 W Central Park, Davenport, IA) - One Human Family Immigration Task Force (contact Sister Nancy Miller with questions)

December 17th (Monday) at 6:30 pm at St. Peter's Episcopal Church in Bettendorf - Quad Cities Interfaith Task Force Assembly (includes Immigration and Restorative Justice) (contact Aaron Wagner at Quad Cities Interfaith with questions)

Alta Price
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Book Club News for October, November and December 2018

10/9/2018

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October 23 (Tuesday) at 5:30 pm: International Women Authors Series with Mexican Author Valeria Luiselli

In my other book club I have very much enjoyed the Annual International Women Authors series. Consider attending the 12th Annual International Women Authors Series dinner on Tuesday, October 23, 5:30 pm with Mexican author Valeria Luiselli. The dinner is at the Radisson in downtown Davenport. The cost is $40 (less if you fill a whole table). You must register in advance, and they could sell out. Her books are short and you could probably get some of them read by October 23. Also, she wrote Tell Me How It Ends: An Essay in Forty Questions, a book of essays interviewing children fleeing violence in Central America that is very pertinent to the work we are doing on Immigration in the Civil Rights Forum.
​
Alta Price

November 10 (Saturday) at 11:30 am: The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Read more about it at the author’s website. There is also a movie based on the book, so PACG will go to the movie as well (on a different date). Check back later for the location.

December 1 (Saturday) at 11:30 am: The New Jim Crow​ by Michelle Alexander

Read more about it at the NewJimCrow.com website. We will be reading this with the folks in PACG’s new Issue Forum on Drug Policy. (Join the Drug Policy Facebook group or visit the Drug Policy section of our pacgqc.org website to get involved.) Check back later for the location.
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What You Can Do Now - Get Active on an Issue

3/11/2018

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What You Can Do Now - Get Active on an Issue

Get together with other activists to make a difference on an issue. Join one of our active Issue Forums, or start your own Issue Forum. Email one of the facilitators below to get involved.

Civil Rights - DACA or Immigration - contact Margie Mejia-Caraballo
Civil Rights - Restorative Justice or Juvenile Justice Reform - contact Jane Duax

Environmental - contact Shirley Johnson

Health Care Reform - contact Frank Samuelson


Want to start your own Issue Forum? - contact Alta Price

PACG also needs people to work on the following committees:
  • Picnic Committee - contact Ann McCluskey
  • Membership Committee (also plans parties) - contact Allison Ambrose
  • Finance Committee - contact Ann McCluskey
  • Endowment Committee - contact Renee Conklin
  • Technology Committee - contact Alta Price
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