P.O. Box 1222, Madison, WI 53701 | www.prodane.org | office@prodane.org | (608) 257-4985
The Community Power Road to Democracy
September 28 - October 1, 2006
University of Wisconsin-Madison Law School, 925 Bascom Mall
www.localdemocracy.org
Cutting edge, community-led strategies that strengthen democracy at
the local level are the focus of the Local Democracy Convention being
held in Madison September 28-October 1. From citizen control over
municipal budgets to local input on foreign policy, international,
national, and local speakers will discuss with Convention participants
successful initiatives being used now in hundreds of municipalities
globally. The Convention will be held September 28 through October 1
in the Law School building of the UW-Madison, as well as at other
sites in downtown Madison.
Sergio Baierle of Cidade in Brazil will co-lead a workshop on
Participatory Budgeting, a process that has been used successfully in
hundreds of communities from Brazil to Canada, putting municipal
budgets in the hands of the citizens most affected by them. Rev.
Lennox Yearwood, who appeared in Spike Lee's recent documentary on New
Orleans and is CEO of Hip Hop Caucus in Washington, DC will address
building community power and how racism and poverty are barriers to
that power in his participation in several workshops and a panel
discussion. These speakers will be joined by others from around the
U.S. and Madison as well as from Uruguay, the Philippines, the UK, and
Hungary.
Registration cost: $10-$50 on a sliding scale; free for students.
Get all the details on the Local Democracy Convention at
http://www.LocalDemocracy.org and register today!
The Local Democracy Convention is a project of the Liberty Tree
Foundation for the Democratic Revolution, a Madison-based national
non-profit organization. Major sponsors include WORT-FM Community
Radio, the Transnational Institute, UW-Madison Havens Center, Cities
for Progress, UW-Madison Global Studies Program, UW Student Labor
Action Coalition
as well as:
Community Action on Latin America
Eisman for Wisconsin
Four Lakes Green Party of Dane County
Grassroots Leadership College
Green Institute
Progressive Dane
Shays 2: Western Mass Committee on Corporations and Democracy
Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua
Wisconsin Democracy Campaign
Alliance for Democracy
Center for Media and Democracy
Citizen Action of Wisconsin
Democracy Unlimited
Family Farm Defenders
Madison Arcatao Sister City Project
New England Alliance for Democracy
Program on Corporations, Law & Democracy
Progressive Populist Journal
Social Justice Center
UW-Madison Greens
UW-Madison National Lawyers Guild
Wisconsin Apprentice Organizers Project
Wisconsin Network for Peace and Justice
Posted by prodane at 12:55 AM
Don't miss this month's Progressive Dane General Membership Meeting - kicking off our meeting at 6:35 sharp are PD's own County Board Supervisor Kyle Richmond and special guests Nino Amato and Citizens for Responsible Energy discussing the debate over ATC's proposed powerline. Find out what's going on with the proposal and how you can get involved.
This meeting's also going to feature a discussion of what's next on the anti-loitering ordinance, an overview of the City Budget process, a report from the Elections Committee (including de-brief on our involvement in the Lowery for Sheriff campaign), a report from the PD Land Use group and more.
6:30pm this Wednesday, September 27th, Downtown Library (201 W. Mifflin).
Hope to see you there!
Posted by prodane at 02:43 AM
Progressive Dane is interested in determining what works within the grass roots community. We are holding an organizing meeting for community members to come and share stories--what works, what doesn't? What could be done differently or more effectively in the future?
The meeting will take place October 1st, 2006 at the Social Justice Center (1202 Williamson Street) at 6 pm. Come join us and share your input.
Posted by prodane at 06:22 PM
The PD Elections Committee voted on September 21 to endorse Rae Voegler's candidacy for U.S. Senate. The motion includes sharing PD's maps, lists, and data, and commits PD to encouraging members to volunteer for Rae's campaign and/or to contribute. In return, Rae is expected to renew her PD membership (if she has not renewed recently) and to include Progressive Dane in her list of endorsements.
The Progressive Dane General Membership will act on this motion on Wednesday, September 27. We meet at the Madison Public Library downtown, at 6:30 p.m. Because of the timing of the Elections Committee meeting, we were not able to specify this motion in the agenda published in the PD Newsletter. An Elections Committee Report is included in the agenda and the motion will be made during that report.
For more information, contact Elections Chair Michael Jacob, or the PD office, 257-4985.
Posted by prodane at 08:10 PM
Do you ever wonder what other PD members are working on? PD's new Forum for Progressive Voices provides the perfect opportunity to find out more about PD members' work!
The series features PD members and friends who are in the local and national spotlight. We hope to stimulate discussion on a variety of topics important to progressives. Additionally, we hope the series will strengthen bonds between PD and UW faculty, students and affiliates. After the first lecture in October, we plan to offer two lectures every semester beginning in late January.
All of the sessions are free and open to the public.
UW-Madison Associate Professor Kathy Cramer Walsh kicks off the series with “Democracy at Risk? Public Policy and Election Turnout in Wisconsin,” on Wednesday, October 4th at 7:30pm at the Escape Coffee Gallery, 916 Williamson Street. Walsh is the author of Democracy at Risk: How Political Choices Have Undermined Citizenship and What We Can Do About It (Brookings, 2005). Walsh writes:
This election season, we have many reasons to think about the role of the ordinary person in our democracy. In particular, who votes and why? In my remarks, I'll consider what we know about the role of election laws and the format of elections in motivating or deterring people to vote. Whether people vote or not is partly due to their own calculations of "is it worth it"? But we also know that legislation about the practice of elections goes a long way toward increasing or decreasing turnout as well. . . . I'll talk about the tradeoffs between ballot access and ballot security, discuss recent legislative debates in Wisconsin regarding voting IDs, and what people in Dane county might do to increase turnout or get involved in action to change our electoral laws.
Please plan to attend on October 4th! This is an excellent occasion to meet PD members and introduce potential members to PD and our members.
We still need the help of many volunteers to hang posters advertising the lecture around town, staff the PD table at the lecture, and, of course, attend the lecture! If you are interested in volunteering or have any questions regarding this or future lectures, please contact the office at 257-4985 or office@prodane.org.
You can preview the poster or print it for yourself by clicking here.
Posted by prodane at 03:21 AM
There are several upcoming opportunities for you to have a say in what our local budget priorities should be.
Dane County will be holding budget public hearings starting this week (see schedule below). These hearings are the best way to have your voices heard before the County Executive puts together her budget. It's also a great opportunity for County Board supervisors to hear what the public has to say regarding the budget. At the hearings, each department will present a 5-10 overview of its budget request, members of the public will present testimony, followed by questions from the County Board and Executive.
The schedule for the public hearings on 2007 departmental budget requests is below. Please note that each night focuses on a different set of County departments or programs.
Tuesday September 19, 2006 6:00 PM -- Dane County Job Center/Ballroom (1819 Aberg Avenue Madison)
On the Department of Human Services/Programs addressing: Substance Abuse for Children and Adults; Mental Health Care for Children, including prevention, assessment and intervention; Child Welfare and Juvenile Delinquency, including prevention; early intervention and treatment; Persons with developmental, physical or sensory disabilities.
Wednesday, September 20, 2006 6:00 PM - Room 201 City County Building
On all other county departments
Posted by prodane at 03:17 AM
Please join PD at the Willy St. Fair Parade this sunday 9/17 at 10:40 am in the parking lot of Star Photo. The parade starts at 11:00. PD will march and chant and celebrate the success of PD as one of the most succesful 3rd parties in the country.
Feel free to make your own signs or help carry the new PD banner that has just went to press.
Let's hoot and holler and have a good time!
We hope to see you there.
Posted by prodane at 01:12 AM
PD is holding an outreach event this thursday 9/14 at 6:45 at the Social Justice Center (1202 willy st). In an attempt to increase the number of sustainers, PD will be holding a phone bank to attempt to convert members to sustainers. The event will be fun with food and beverages and good company. We will finish around 8:00 pm.
If you haven't volunteered in the past, please come down and meet the newly revived outreach committee.
For more information on the becoming a sustainer, read this article:
http://www.prodane.org/archives/2006/07/join_pd_as_a_su.html
Posted by prodane at 03:01 AM