Month: April 2020

Dear ICPJ Community,

We hope you and your loved ones are doing well and have the support you need during these uncertain times.

Staying isolated can cause loneliness, anxiety, and grief ~ this can also be a time for reflection and closer connection. We would like to continue to share opportunities to remain connected, to practice radical compassion, and lead from our hearts toward a more just future where more peace allows us to be our best selves. (Please scroll down to find calls for action.)

In the spirit of ICPJ’s Principles and Practices, we must focus on the most vulnerable. We will address the most urgent needs and also advocate for systemic change. Now is an important time to connect across differences, whether generational, socio-economic, or faith-based. It is an important time to organize to prevent crises like we are experiencing now – when communities of color are again hardest hit and decision-makers are prioritizing profit and politics over people.

Communities have formed more mutual aid networks. Nurses are striking. Activists are demanding shelter for the houseless and an end to evictions. People not active in organizing are seeing the humanity in demanding housing, food, shelter, and water for all. Communities are fighting for the release of immigrant detainees and prisoners living in institutions that cannot possibly keep them safe from such a contagion. And we are also preparing for even deeper threats to democracy and civil liberties in the months to come.

This is a very difficult, terribly sad time for so many. It’s also the time – for those of us with the capacity – to breath, dig deep, and lead with our values of compassion and love toward change.

ICPJ will continue to mobilize to take critical action, build community capacity to organize, help members navigate technology tools, and expand our network’s relational organizing. We will continue to strengthen the organization’s sustainability by building our base, improving communications, and deepening our partnerships.

We also want you to know that, as with most organizations now, ICPJ is facing significant fundraising challenges. We have needed to cancel or postpone our two spring fundraising events and seven fee-for-service engagements. We have also seen at least one grant that we rely on cancelled. In addition, our strongest fundraising month is typically May; we know that this will be a very challenging time for many of our annual contributors.

ICPJ is responding to the fundraising challenges by reducing the Co-Directors’ hours and compensation by 25% and also intensively looking for other funding sources.

ICPJ’s financial sustainability depends upon our generous members who are able to donate. We are grateful for all of your contributions and are working hard to adjust to new organizing needs as well as prioritize the long-term sustainability of ICPJ.

Thank You,
Desiraé and Eleanore

Please consider taking action in this urgent campaign. Instructions here.

The current COVID-19 crisis is posing a particular danger to immigrant detainees in ICE detention centers and in local jails on contract with ICE nationwide, where the effective preventative measure of social distancing is non-existent. An open letter signed by over 3,000 medical professionals has been addressed to ICE to that effect. A COVID-19 outbreak in these facilities will create a health crisis for the detainees, staff, and surrounding communities.

The number of COVID-19 cases in Michigan’s prison population has doubled in late March 2020. In New York, three migrant children in government custody have tested positive for COVID-19. The federal court also ordered the release of a number of immigrant detainees in California and New Jersey.

Efforts have recently been galvanized across the country to seek the release of immigrant detainees. ICPJ is sponsoring a statewide letter-writing campaign toward that goal.

Please considering asking the Ann Arbor City Council to take two actions:
1) Approve the new A2Zero Carbon Neutrality Plan

2) Approve the first-year budget to implement that Plan

These issues will be discussed at virtual City Council meetings now scheduled for April 20, May 6, and May 20. Here is the plan itself, the slide presentation, Missy Stults’ videotaped presentation to Council, and the M-Live article about it.

Typically there would be opportunities for members of the public to formally address the Council during those meetings. With the shelter-in-place order, the best ways to communicate with Mayor Taylor and City Council are through petition, email, phone, and social media.

1. Please sign and circulate this petition as widely as possible. The petition is being circulated by the Ann Arbor Climate Partnership, a coalition of environmental groups such as the Sierra Club, the Ecology Center, the Huron River Watershed Council, and Interfaith Council for Peace & Justice. We would like to have hundreds of signers on it to share with City Council as early as April 20, and no later than May 20.

2. Please contact City Council members and the Mayor to express your support for the plan and related budget and to stress the importance of this plan, even during the COVID-19 emergency. If you live in Ann Arbor find email addresses and phone numbers for your Councilpersons at https://www.a2gov.org/departments/city-council/pages/home.aspx. If you don’t live in A2, you can still contact Council and the Mayor at CityCouncil@a2gov.org. Greenhouse gases don’t recognize city borders, and other communities are affected by the action or lack of action that Ann Arbor takes. For more information, contact Jan Wright (janwrigh@umich.edu)

*There is a new process to publically speak to City Council by phone. As with the usual process, you must call right at 8:00 a.m. on the day of the council meeting to get one of the ten allotted spots. More information about public participation in virtual meetings here.

More Information about the Draft Plan:

This will not be easy. Some of the plan can be done by the City but much of it will require help from individuals (such as us!) and groups (such as ones we are a part of!) as well as changes in state legislation (which we will need to lobby for). We will continue to communicate with you about ways you can be part of these efforts.

Key Elements of the Draft Plan:

• Power our electrical grid with 100% clean and renewable sources of energy
• Switch appliances and vehicles from gasoline, diesel, propane, and natural gas to electric
• Significantly improving the energy efficiency of homes, businesses, schools, places of worship, government buildings, and recreational sites
• Reduce the miles we travel in our vehicles by at least 50%
• Significantly change the way we use, reuse, and dispose of materials
• Enhancing resilience

Suggested Talking Points in addressing Council:

• Thank you for voting last year to make Ann Arbor “carbon neutral” by 2030 — a timeframe consistent with what scientists have told us needs to be done.
• But a goal is not enough. Ann Arbor needs a plan and adequate resources to get us there.
• The climate crisis demands urgent action, and “business-as-usual” will not do the job.
• Discuss one area of climate action that is especially important to you personally.
• The City’s draft carbon neutrality plan is extremely ambitious, but it is also do-able, and it meets the scale of the challenge.
• It will take leadership from every one of us to make Ann Arbor carbon neutral, and to rise up and solve the climate crisis. We look to you to be a leader in your Ward and engage your constituents about it.
• Please vote YES to approve the City’s carbon neutrality plan. And please vote YES to fully resource the City’s climate work.