|
This is our monthly newsletter to keep the community updated on our latest events, findings, and initiatives. Interested in getting further involved? Visit our website to learn more!
|
|
Upcoming Committee Meetings
With so many initiatives under our belt, please take a moment to sign up for one of our action committees. See below for details of each committee meeting date and contact sfunitygroup@gmail.com for meeting access.
|
|
Monthly Membership Meeting
August 12, 6:00 PM PT
Sign Up
|
Community and Economic Development Committee
August 26, 6:00 PM PT
Sign Up
|
|
Health and General Welfare Committee
August 19, 5:30 PM PT
Sign Up
|
Civic Engagement Committee
September 5, 5:00 PM PT
Sign Up
|
|
Criminal Justice and Prison Reform Committee
August 31, 6:00 PM PT
Sign Up
|
|
Interested in learning more about each committee before signing up? Visit our website to learn more.
|
|
Unity Coalition Co-Sponsors Event at The Chapel SF
Attend an outdoor concert at The Chapel SF on Wednesday, August 11th at 7:30 PM. Gili Yalo is an Ethiopian Israeli International musician, who combines an Ethiopian musical legacy with genres such as funk, jazz, & soul. View more information by clicking the button below!
|
|
Unity Coalition Providing Much-Needed Furniture and Furnishings to Homeless New Mothers as They Find Housing
|
|
|
 By Malcolm Gissen of the SF Unity Coalition (2021)
We have talked before about Jelani House in the Bayview neighborhood of San Francisco. It is a shelter for pregnant homeless women in San Francisco who are given a place to live for up to 12 months, a shared kitchen, pre-natal training, job training, mental health services, emotional support, and help in finding and moving into an apartment. Our Unity Coalition has helped Jelani in most of these areas. Once women give birth, the Jelani House staff seeks to find permanent housing for the women They have successfully found housing for all residents since Jelani House opened early in 2020. When the Unity Coalition’s Steering Committee learned that when Jelani House residents move into their own apartments, they often are given some donated furniture and furnishings by Jelani House that rarely is sufficient, the Steering Committee asked members to get out the word that there is great need.
Member Barry Weeks responded. The Steering Committee put Barry in contact with Monica Steptoe of Jelani House, and she told Barry what was needed. Barry lives in the East Bay and was able to locate the items needed. He then loaded his vehicle with them and delivered everything to Jelani House. Barry is currently assembling a second load of items, some of which he purchased. Why do we tell you these things? Because if you want to help as Barry has, the need for furniture and furnishings continues.
Please contact any of the members of the Steering Committee if you are interested in helping. Even if you cannot transport the items you can donate to Jelani, we can arrange to have them picked up! Please reach out to sfunitygroup@gmail.com.
|
|
San Francisco Attempts to Meet the Need for Low Income Housing
|
|
|
The Unity Coalition has strongly supported the construction of far more low-income and supportive housing in our City because it should be clear that all people have the right to live in a safe and secure place. That is especially challenging in the city in America with the highest cost of living. And of course Covid exacerbated the shortage of housing as people lost their jobs and their homes. Far too little housing of all kinds has been built in San Francisco over the last 40 years and we have struggled to find neighborhoods that welcomed low-income housing.
Mayor Breed and some supervisors, realizing the needs and the challenges, have pushed very hard for more low-income housing and we are beginning to see an increase in low income housing being developed and completed. With estimates of the number of homeless people living in San Francisco (and other California cities) growing significantly as Covid strains continue to threaten us, it is about time we saw a substantial boost in both market rate and low-income housing units in San Francisco!
Mercy Housing, a nonprofit developer, just built a 12-story apartment house at 10th Street & Mission containing 136 units for families, including 44 units of permanent supportive housing for formerly homeless families. The building will contain a 5,000 square foot Youth/Family Center, after offer both after school programming and family support programming, as well as support services offered by Catholic Charities CYO.
|
|
New Pilot Program to Pair Deep Discounts and Debt Forgiveness on Water Bills
|
|
|
The San Francisco Public Utilities Commission (SFPUC) has partnered with The Financial Justice Project to develop the Community First Temporary Pilot Program. This six-month pilot program will provide steep discounts—up to 90% off—on water and wastewater bills for eligible customers with low incomes. A portion of those residents will also be randomly selected to receive debt forgiveness for up to $1,000 of back payments owed to the SFPUC if they are able to make six discounted payments toward their monthly bill.
"We believe that the pilot results will show that steeper bill discounts, paired with debt relief, will provide much-needed relief to struggling customers. "
SFPUC offers additional bill relief programs, which provide discounts ranging from 15% to 35% on water and wastewater bills for customers who have lost income due to the COVID-19 pandemic or are low-income.
|
|
Community Member Spotlight: Rita Semel
 "Rita Semel is a Board member of Congregation Emanu-el and a founder of the San Francisco Interfaith Council , a remarkable 99-year-old activist. She also was one of the original supporters of the Unity Coalition and still gets our emails! I know that because she emailed me and offered to handwrite postcards to support getting For the People Act passed in the Senate! I brought her the cards, and sure enough, she completed the work in a timely way."
- Dee Seligman
Thank you, Rita, for all your efforts and support of the San Francisco Black-Jewish Unity Coalition!
|
|
The American Bar Association Honors Dr. Clarence B. Jones with Thurgood Marshall Award
|
|
|
Congratulations to Dr. Clarence B. Jones for being honored with the Thurgood Marshall Award! The SF Unity Group collaborates with the Institute for Nonviolence at USF, which was founded by Clarence B. Jones, who was Dr. Martin Luther King’s attorney. Dr. Jones was just awarded the 2021 Thurgood Marshall Award by the American Bar Association, its highest honor! Click the button below to watch a video of this award ceremony.
|
|
Recent Committee Activity - Get Involved!
|
|
Civic Engagement Committee
Meeting minutes can be read here. Action items include:
- Resources needed: Whoever has contacts with experienced political messengers should pass that contact information. Send this to sfunitygroup@gmail.com and address the message to Dee and Scott.
- Write a letter to the editor for your local paper in support of For the People act: https://dfadcoalition.org/takeaction/#lte
- The Civic Engagement committee will draft a letter template to provide to members for use when contacting representatives and local papers.
- Join our slack channel to keep updated on our initatives and action items. Contact us to request a link to join.
|
|
Community and Economic Development Committee
Meeting highlights:
- Reparations Discussion - view ideas by clicking the button below.
- Forum Ideas & Dates Discussion - we are considering having our forum on the topic of Reparations and we are examining one date this year for a short forum and one date next year around MLK Day for a longer, more in-depth forum.
- Please note the Zoom link for the meeting has changed! Please check the Google calendar invitation for details. If you would like to receive the calendar invite, please contact us here.
|
|
Criminal Justice and Prison Reform Committee
The meeting began with a discussion of how to get members very involved in advocating for reforms in the criminal justice system. Julia indicated that we should bring in experts to provide a seminar on various aspects of the system, like prison operations or reentry services, so that members could then decide which areas interest them and how they can best be effective. Mattie, Bobby, and Malcolm said they would try to find knowledgeable teachers to teach committee members at our next few monthly meetings. David talked about some excellent meetings he had attended that were sponsored by Contra Costa organizations dealing with Black and Jewish relations. He also provided the links to the meetings.
Because of time limitations, instead of telling us his life’s story, committee member Bobby Jones-Hanley provided us a teaser to pique our interest for Bobby’s presentation at a future meeting. Bobby talked about being abandoned at age 14, becoming independent at that age; getting involved in the juvenile justice system; earning a college scholarship; leaving college and getting involved in the criminal justice system and serving time in both state and federal prisons; and finding faith, which changed Bobby’s life and put him on a completely different path. Even in summary, it was a fantastic, moving story that had attendees asking for more...
|
|
Health and General Welfare Committee
This month's meeting was postponed. Instead, the committee discussed a number of items via slack. See below:
|
|
Community Events Calendar
Learn more about upcoming community events by clicking the button below. A few events are listed below as well.
|
|
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Community Training Series: Session 3 of 4
Wednesday, August 11, 5:00 - 6:00 PM PT
Learn More/Register Here.
Premier Event Releasing Report on Lived Experiences and Perspectives of Jews of Color
Thursday, August 12, 9:00 - 11:00 AM PT
Learn More/Register Here.
Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) Community Training Series: Session 4 of 4
Wednesday, August 18, 5:00 - 6:30 PM PT
Learn More/Register Here.
|
|
Anti-Racism Resources for White People
|
|
 This document is intended to serve as a resource to white people and parents to deepen our anti-racism work. If you haven’t engaged in anti-racism work in the past, start now. Feel free to circulate this document on social media and with your friends, family, and colleagues.
|
|
Ways to Support Black Owned Businesses in the Bay Area
Check out this article to learn more ways you can show your support of Black-owned businesses by patronizing these businesses whenever you can.
|
|
Keep Updated with the SF Unity Group
Make sure to like our Facebook Page (or join our fb group!), follow our Instagram and Twitter and visit our website to keep updated on our latest events, findings and initiatives. For additional questions or inquiries, do not hesitate to reach out. You can contact us using the button below!
|
|
|
|
|
