[WestMALocals] Fw: [AriseAction] advocacy forum for Week of the Young Child

[Owen Broadhurst]

----- Original Message -----
From: "susan dorazio" <susandor at crocker.com>
To: ariseaction at yahoogroups.com
Subject: [AriseAction] advocacy forum for Week of the Young Child
Date: Mon, 04 Apr 2005 07:21:02 -0400

> 
> "WEEK OF THE YOUNG CHILD" EVENTS WILL INCLUDE FORUM ON FORGING 
> LINKS BETWEEN LOCAL ACTIVISTS
> 
> On Thursday, April 7, at 7 p.m. at the Nonotuck Community School on 
> Riverside Drive in Florence, a forum entitled "Advocacy in Action: 
> Linking Our Campaigns to Reach Our Goals" will be held as part of a 
> series of events in Northampton and Greenfield to celebrate The 
> Week of the Young Child.
> 
> Sponsored by the Western Massachusetts Association for the 
> Education of Young Children and the Child Care Advocacy Committee 
> of the Nonotuck Community School, the forum will explore 
> possibilities for coordinated action by advocates from a broad 
> array of organizations involved with child care, health care, 
> education, housing, labor, national spending priorities, and 
> community organizing.  Speakers will include Pamela Schwartz from 
> the National Priorities Project, Amy O'Leary from the Early 
> Education for All campaign, Brooks Ballenger from UAW local 2322, 
> Mary Siano from the Franklin/Hampshire Health Care Coalition, 
> Michele Morris from the Valley Community Development Corporation, 
> Susan Triolo from the Springfield school system, and Matthew 
> Andrews, a University of Massachusetts graduate student and 
> community activist.
> 
> "Many of us in the child care field are coming to feel that it's 
> time to broaden our perspective on advocacy," says Susan Dorazio, a 
> long-time child care teacher and administrator, and the forum's 
> moderator.  "Our efforts to secure high-quality care and education 
> for young children and their families, and high-quality working 
> conditions for teachers and providers, face the same obstacles as 
> campaigns in the areas of health care, housing, and education in 
> the upper grades.  Everybody in our community has basic human 
> rights that must be satisfied if our society is to meet its 
> responsibilities and potential.  By recognizing the similarities 
> between our goals, and by forging collective strategies, those of 
> us in related areas of advocacy have a much better chance to get 
> our issues the public support and the Federal and State funding 
> they deserve."
> 
> Questions and group discussion will follow brief presentations by 
> each of the speakers.  The forum organizers hope that this will be 
> just the beginning of a dialogue among the groups represented, and 
> others as well; and that plans for a coordinated action focusing on 
> the State and Federal budgets will be set in motion.
> 
> Other Week of the Young Child events include a breakfast forum at 
> Greenfield Community College from 7:30 to 10 a.m. on Friday, April 
> 1, sponsored by the Franklin County Collaboration, and featuring a 
> panel discussion on the topic "School Readiness: Are Schools 
> Getting Ready for Kids or Kids Getting Ready for School?";  a 
> Children's Parade and Festival starting at 10 a.m. at the Bridge 
> Street School in Northampton on Saturday, April 2, sponsored by the 
> Northampton Public Schools and the Community Partnerships for 
> Children; a pizza party and "Early Education for All" update at 
> 5:30 p.m. at the Nonotuck Community School on Thursday, April 7, 
> preceding the forum and with the same sponsors; and a Week of the 
> Young Child rally and speak-out on the Greenfield Town Common at 11 
> a.m. on Saturday, April 9, sponsored by the Greenfield Peace Vigil 
> and the Connecticut Valley Coalition for Women's Lives.  For more 
> information, contact Susan Dorazio at 367-9356 or Margery Heyl at 
> 586-5996.

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