[WAsummit] Van Jones lands at CAP/and DPEEP request

[Louisa Davis]

Still totally juiced by the Howard Zinn¹s tenure without compromise (and act
of God?) story.... 

And, this is old, but I don¹t think anyone has celebrated Van Jones coming
back from being pushed out of the White House last September by racist
pissing match with Fox News. He is staying here in DC and has two new power
podiums‹Princeton and Center for American Progress!   Totally meets my needs
for coming through the fire, not giving up and leveraging powerful cultural
capital for those who need it.

SEE 
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2010/02/23/AR2010022304
889.html

And, most importantly, I want to tell you about and involve you (or your
feedback) in  the DIVERSE PEOPLE FOR ENVIRONMENTAL AND ECONOMIC PROGRESS
SUMMIT:  I¹m a volunteer, coordinating the Outreach team, working with
Iantha Gantt-Wright of the Kenian Group who is the paid
organizer/consultant, and about 25-30 others from environmental groups all
over the country. 

This is about making sure the green job and environmental movement really
includes and responds to needs of workers, youth and communities of color
AND has the political heft to stand up to the rapaciousness of corporate,
develop-driven and media-hypnotized America.

We need:
 1) names of antiracist/environmental justice organizations to partner with
regionally‹still early in planning stages: DC/Midatlantic  (May!?) ,
USSF/Detroit/Great Lakes in June?  then Atlanta, Texas, Portland, and New
England.
2) spread the word/outreach help and connections to folks to get to the
tables of the one day regional roundtables that will happen/be scheduled the
second half of this year. Website in the works.
3) We also need  more white antiracist allies who are able to help bridge
the gaps of understanding and skills for really including and listening
(etc) between well-intentioned predominantly white progressive/liberal
environmentalists and frustrated activists of color/low-income workers whose
well-being has not been as treasured as much as that of the whales, horned
owls and odd wilderness areas in Idaho.
4) leads on foundation and local monies/in-kind donations....you know the
deal.

Background:  This is the third DPEP summit in 10 years, funded by the Green
Group of major national environmental groups (with Hewlett Packard/Ford
money in the past). They are intent on building partnership and I sense more
and less genuinely interested/concerned about learning how to overcome
barriers to inclusion and partnerships with civil rights, community
organizing and workers,  youth and health rights groups. It¹s not always
easy to slow them down for the kind of inclusion that really works...but
we¹re trying!

For more info, contact me (louisaldavis at verizon.net) or other members of the
Outreach/Inclusion team,  Iantha, igwright at earthlink.net  or Ron, Center for
Health and Environmental Justice  (davisbuildscommunity at gmail.com).

Things are just coming together so please be patient...and persistent.



Louisa L. Davis, M.Div., Ph.D.
Everyone Matters, LLC-pending
11330 Dockside Circle
Reston, VA 20191

H) 703/860-1203
C & O) 240/338-5156

³Somewhere in the heart of experience there is an order and a coherence
which we might surprise if we are attentive enough, loving enough or patient
enough.²  -- Lawrence Durrell from Marilyn Paul, Its Hard to Make a
Difference When You Can¹t Find Your Keys

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