Congo Action Now
September 11, 2011
Present: Peggy Barrett, Anna Stout, Kelley Ready, Casey Gallagher, Samba Halkose, Laurie Taymor-Berry, Pat Aron
Congo Action Now met on September 11, 2011. The meeting began with check-ins. This month we concentrated on two topics – the Massachusetts Congo Conflict Minerals bill and the Informed Activism conference.
The MA Congo Conflict Minerals bill has been finalized and it’s planned that Rep. Marty Walsh will file it at the end of September. We will continue to focus on lining up legislators to co-sponsor the bill and on signing on organizations as supporters. There are three sample letters that
we are now distributing – one to legislators asking them to co-sponsor the bill, one to organizations asking them to sign on as supporters (for non-membership or out-of-state groups), and one to organizations asking them to both sign on as supporters and to encourage their members to contact legislators (in an effort to ask as many people as possible across the state to contact legislators).
CAN members have met with a number of legislators or aides and will continue to schedule meetings when possible. When future meetings are scheduled, we will let the group know since some members would like to observe before scheduling meetings themselves. Approximately sixty legislators have been contacted at this point. We are in the process of contacting specific legislators who we think will be likely supporters of the bill. Anna has contacted all the co-sponsors of the human trafficking bill. Casey has contacted her group of co-sponsors of the health care for women in prison bill - Laurie and Peggy will contact the remainder of this group. Suzanne has been in touch with her section of co-sponsors of the Citizens United-related bill – Casey will complete these contacts. Laurie will be meeting with members of the Planning Committee for the Boston-Area International Women’s Day and will ask for their support in contacting legislators and by signing on as supporters.
Kelley and Pat had a productive meeting with the Executive Director of the Women’s Legislative Caucus who identified caucus members who she thought would support the bill. Peggy, Casey, and Anna will contact these legislators. We have been unsuccessful in attempts to contact the Executive Director of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus – Laurie will speak with him and let us know how to proceed. Pat will contact the members of this caucus.
Peggy will contact everybody on our Congo Action Now email list to ask for their addresses so she can give them the names of their legislators. They will be asked to contact their legislators and emphasize that they are constituents.
Approximately 150 organizations have been identified that we are currently contacting to ask to support the bill. Pat has been in touch with the DRC WILPF Section and it has signed on to support the bill (along with eight other organizations so far). The New England Conference of the NAACP is considering signing on and mobilizing its MA branches. ICAR (International Corporate Accountability Roundtable) has signed on – we will ask their advice before approaching corporations like Cabot to ask for their support. Pat is requesting a meeting with the Shalupe Foundation to ask for its support of the bill and to discuss collaboration.
Pat pointed out the groups we are contacting that had signed on to the California bill. She is trying to locate the Congolese Women’s Association in the Boston area. We are also identifying and contacting peace and justice organizations in all regions of the state asking them to sign on as supporters and to encourage their members to contact legislators. Casey has contacted groups in the central region of the state and Pat has covered the west. Kelley will contact metrowest organizations. Pat will check with Jackie about the northeast and with Sonia about the southeast.
Anna informed us of Women for Women International’s Run for Congo Women that she will be running on October 10. The event is a pledge run to support programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She will send us the link for her page. Go Anna!
Six members of CAN will participate in the September 24 – 25 Clark University conference “Informed Activism: Armed Conflict, Scarce Resources, and Congo”. The conference presents an excellent opportunity to gather support for the bill and we discussed how best to facilitate people contacting their legislators and what materials to offer. We will have a table at the Sunday afternoon session.
We decided to have letters available for people to send to legislators. People will address the letters to their legislators and then sign their names with addresses. Kelley will bring copies of the letter. Anna will bring her laptop so we can look up names and contact information for legislators. Kelley will bring copies of the bill and summary. Casey will design a sign-up sheet for organizations that want to be listed as supporters of the bill. Pat will bring CAN sign-up sheets, VICO flyers, and CAN business cards.
Kelley will follow up with the conference organizers at Clark about how the bill will be announced. There will be a forum of public officials that Rep. Walsh will attend.
The next meeting of Congo Action Now will be held on Sunday, October 2, 2011 at 3:00 at Pat’s house in Jamaica Plain.
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom
September 11, 2011
Present: Peggy Barrett, Anna Stout, Kelley Ready, Casey Gallagher, Samba Halkose, Laurie Taymor-Berry, Pat Aron
Congo Action Now met on September 11, 2011. The meeting began with check-ins. This month we concentrated on two topics – the Massachusetts Congo Conflict Minerals bill and the Informed Activism conference.
The MA Congo Conflict Minerals bill has been finalized and it’s planned that Rep. Marty Walsh will file it at the end of September. We will continue to focus on lining up legislators to co-sponsor the bill and on signing on organizations as supporters. There are three sample letters that
we are now distributing – one to legislators asking them to co-sponsor the bill, one to organizations asking them to sign on as supporters (for non-membership or out-of-state groups), and one to organizations asking them to both sign on as supporters and to encourage their members to contact legislators (in an effort to ask as many people as possible across the state to contact legislators).
CAN members have met with a number of legislators or aides and will continue to schedule meetings when possible. When future meetings are scheduled, we will let the group know since some members would like to observe before scheduling meetings themselves. Approximately sixty legislators have been contacted at this point. We are in the process of contacting specific legislators who we think will be likely supporters of the bill. Anna has contacted all the co-sponsors of the human trafficking bill. Casey has contacted her group of co-sponsors of the health care for women in prison bill - Laurie and Peggy will contact the remainder of this group. Suzanne has been in touch with her section of co-sponsors of the Citizens United-related bill – Casey will complete these contacts. Laurie will be meeting with members of the Planning Committee for the Boston-Area International Women’s Day and will ask for their support in contacting legislators and by signing on as supporters.
Kelley and Pat had a productive meeting with the Executive Director of the Women’s Legislative Caucus who identified caucus members who she thought would support the bill. Peggy, Casey, and Anna will contact these legislators. We have been unsuccessful in attempts to contact the Executive Director of the Black and Latino Legislative Caucus – Laurie will speak with him and let us know how to proceed. Pat will contact the members of this caucus.
Peggy will contact everybody on our Congo Action Now email list to ask for their addresses so she can give them the names of their legislators. They will be asked to contact their legislators and emphasize that they are constituents.
Approximately 150 organizations have been identified that we are currently contacting to ask to support the bill. Pat has been in touch with the DRC WILPF Section and it has signed on to support the bill (along with eight other organizations so far). The New England Conference of the NAACP is considering signing on and mobilizing its MA branches. ICAR (International Corporate Accountability Roundtable) has signed on – we will ask their advice before approaching corporations like Cabot to ask for their support. Pat is requesting a meeting with the Shalupe Foundation to ask for its support of the bill and to discuss collaboration.
Pat pointed out the groups we are contacting that had signed on to the California bill. She is trying to locate the Congolese Women’s Association in the Boston area. We are also identifying and contacting peace and justice organizations in all regions of the state asking them to sign on as supporters and to encourage their members to contact legislators. Casey has contacted groups in the central region of the state and Pat has covered the west. Kelley will contact metrowest organizations. Pat will check with Jackie about the northeast and with Sonia about the southeast.
Anna informed us of Women for Women International’s Run for Congo Women that she will be running on October 10. The event is a pledge run to support programs in the Democratic Republic of Congo. She will send us the link for her page. Go Anna!
Six members of CAN will participate in the September 24 – 25 Clark University conference “Informed Activism: Armed Conflict, Scarce Resources, and Congo”. The conference presents an excellent opportunity to gather support for the bill and we discussed how best to facilitate people contacting their legislators and what materials to offer. We will have a table at the Sunday afternoon session.
We decided to have letters available for people to send to legislators. People will address the letters to their legislators and then sign their names with addresses. Kelley will bring copies of the letter. Anna will bring her laptop so we can look up names and contact information for legislators. Kelley will bring copies of the bill and summary. Casey will design a sign-up sheet for organizations that want to be listed as supporters of the bill. Pat will bring CAN sign-up sheets, VICO flyers, and CAN business cards.
Kelley will follow up with the conference organizers at Clark about how the bill will be announced. There will be a forum of public officials that Rep. Walsh will attend.
The next meeting of Congo Action Now will be held on Sunday, October 2, 2011 at 3:00 at Pat’s house in Jamaica Plain.
Women’s International League for Peace and Freedom