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October 21, 2019 |
In This Issue:
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State Lawmakers Give Reports from Legislative Session, Field Questions During Campus Forums
Town hall-style forums are part of Campus Democracy Project As part of Barry University’s Campus Democracy Project (CDP), two Florida legislators came to campus recently for town hall-style forums.
State Representative Dotie Joseph (D–108) participated in the first forum on Sept. 25 and State Senator Jason Pizzo (D–38) in the second on October 8. They represent the legislative districts in which Barry’s main campus is located.
Joseph and Pizzo spoke with students, faculty, staff, and community members gathered in the R. Kirk Landon Student Union, and they fielded a variety of questions.
The State Representative spoke about some of the bills she sponsored or supported during the 2019 legislative session, including the Unemployment Compensation bill. She sponsored that bill, which the Florida House of Representatives passed unanimously. The legislation allows victims of domestic violence to qualify for unemployment compensation if they have to leave their job because of a domestic violence situation.
The first-term representative also cosponsored the bill that has become the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act. The law requires that state correctional facilities provide incarcerated women with hygiene products and with the necessary privacy.
A third piece of legislation makes texting while driving a primary offense, which means that law enforcement officers can pull over motorists and issue citations for texting while driving. Texting while driving had previously been a secondary offense, meaning that officers were able to cite drivers only after pulling them over for another primary offense, such as a moving violation.
Noting that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Nineteenth Amendment, Joseph said she was a sponsor of a bill to create a Women’s Suffrage Centennial Commemoration Committee. She also sponsored a Family Leave bill, which did not pass.
In response to questions from forum attendees, the North Miami Democrat and attorney expressed support for immigration reform and for full funding of public schools. In addition, she decried “institutional racism” in schools and the practice in Tallahassee of putting “politricks over people.”
Answering a question from a sociology faculty member, Joseph said it was “nonsensical and extremely unwise” for teachers to have firearms in schools.
Joseph’s Legislative Assistant Kersti G. Myles attended the Legislative Forum. Like Joseph, Pizzo highlighted some of his achievements during the legislative session. He said he was particularly proud of the bill that became the Dignity for Incarcerated Women Act and the DNA Database bill. He introduced both bills in the Senate.
The North Miami Beach Democrat and attorney helped to coordinate a plan under which former felons blocked from participating in Florida elections because of unpaid fines and fees owed as part of their sentencing may be able to vote in Miami-Dade. He also filed an amendment to the Sanctuary Cities Bill, to provide protections for any undocumented immigrant who is or has been a "necessary witness" to crimes that include rape, murder, domestic violence, or fraud in foreign labor contracting.
Pizzo expressed concern about incidents involving children with handguns, homelessness among children, and HIV cases. He mentioned his proposed legislation titled “Minors Posting Firearms on Social Media,” which would “prohibit the posting or publishing of a picture of a firearm, BB gun, air or gas-operated gun, or device displayed to resemble a firearm to social media by a minor.”
He emphasized the need to provide affordable housing as part of any housing development.
North Miami City Clerk Vanessa Joseph attended the Legislative Forum.
The CDP is a nonpartisan initiative aimed at promoting civic learning and democratic engagement through voter education, registration, and mobilization.
Dr. Sean Foreman, professor of political science and co-chair of the CDP Committee, introduced each lawmaker at the start of the forums.
For further information on the CDP, contact the Center for Community Service Initiatives at service@barry.edu or 305-899-3696.
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Students Write Members of Congress Urging Increase in Funding for Social Programs
Students who took part in Bread for the World’s Racial Wealth Gap Simulation recently wrote letters to Members of Congress urging an increase in funding for social programs.
The students – a dozen or so – specified SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) and WIC (Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants, and Children).
In addition, the students asked their representatives in Congress to co-sign House Resolution 189, “Recognizing the importance of sustained United States leadership to accelerating global progress against maternal and child malnutrition and supporting United States Agency for International Development’s commitment to global nutrition through its multi-sectoral nutrition strategy.”
The Racial Wealth Gap Simulation took place on campus on October 3. In the simulation, the organizers say, “participants learn how federal policies [have] created structural inequalities … and how these policies increase hunger and poverty in communities of color.”
As the organizers explain, “the simulation guides participants to an understanding of why racial equity is so important to ending hunger and poverty in the United States.”
Bread for the World is “a collective Christian voice urging our nation’s decision makers to end hunger at home and abroad.”
Paola Lopez-Hernandez and Samantha Ternelus, Barry Service Corps Fellows addressing food security issues, led the simulation.
“Students reflected on the institutional economic challenges that have hindered the flourishing of marginalized people,” noted Lopez-Hernandez. “The students gave positive feedback and some volunteered to support our food recovery efforts.”
Barry has a Food Recovery Network chapter, which diverts food from the waste receptacles of the main campus dining hall to Miami Rescue Mission, a nonprofit community agency that provides social services and supplies to people in need.
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Students Take Trip to Agricultural Hub During Fall Break to Learn, Reflect, and Serve
Twenty-two students taking theology faculty member Dr. Christopher Jones’s service-learning courses and 14 members of the Barry Service Corps (BSC) spent Fall Break in Immokalee, the agricultural hub in southwestern Florida.
They learned about the initiatives of the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) and the Student/Farmworker Alliance (SFA), designed to combat farmworker injustice. Then they took part in several activities to support current efforts.
At the Redlands Christian Migrant Association (RCMA) location, some of the students interacted with small children in the Early Head Start and Head Start Programs. With BSC Fellow Pa Sheikh Ngom as the site leader, the Barry group members read to the children and played games with them.
At Guadalupe Social Services, a group spent time with children in a VPK (Voluntary Pre-Kindergarten) program. Group members assisted mainly with playground activities.
Dr. Heather Johnson-Desiral, the QEP (Quality Enhancement Plan) project assistant, was the site leader.
Jones, an assistant professor of theology, accompanied a third group of students to Immokalee Friendship House, a ministry center of the Naples-based St. Matthew’s House. Friendship House provides temporary shelter and services to migrant, displaced, and homeless people. At the facility, the Barry group sorted and repriced items to be sold in the thrift store to community members.
Meanwhile, BSC members visited the outskirts of Immokalee, where, years ago, the CIW assisted law enforcement to uncover and prosecute several cases of modern-day slavery. That group included a social work student, Odet Sanchez, who supports human-trafficking prevention initiatives of the Center for Human Rights and Social Justice. SFA staff representative Uriel Zelaya-Perez accompanied BSC members to Corkscrew Swamp, one of the modern-day slavery sites. Members read from a booklet prepared as part of the CIW’s modern-day slavery education campaign and observed a moment of silence and reflection as a tribute to all victims of human trafficking and modern-day slavery.
At the CIW headquarters, the visitors shared lunch with CIW and SFA staff before taking part in an interactive CIW presentation. The presentation included the history of the CIW’s Fair Food Campaign.
Kenneth Garrett, a program coordinator in the Center for Community Service Initiatives, assisted with organizing the Fall Break trip.
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Two Barry Student Leaders Attend Student/Farmworker Alliance Event in Immokalee
Two Barry student leaders took part in the Student/Farmworker Alliance’s (SFA) Encuentro in Immokalee, Florida, last month.
Melissa Tumbeiro and Johania Charles joined other college students and young leaders from across the United States to support SFA work. Tumbeiro is a junior majoring in sociology; Charles is a senior majoring in English. Both are fellows in the Barry Service Corps (BSC).
SFA is “a national network of students and young people organizing with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers [CIW] to uproot exploitation in the fields and build a food system based on justice, respect and dignity for farmworkers.”
Encuentro is an annual event and Immokalee is the birthplace of one of the most successful worker-led movements of their generation. More than 80 students and other youth leaders, representing 41 campuses and communities, attended this year’s event, organized around the theme “La Lucha Sigue” (“The Struggle Continues”). The September 26–29 gathering drew attention to CIW’s successful human rights model to end exploitation in corporate supply chains and, according to a report, “fortified participants’ commitment” to continue a national boycott of the Wendy’s fast-food chain.
Tumbeiro, Charles, and other participants spent much of the weekend making plans to escalate action against Wendy’s and to campaign in their home communities for “fair food.” They also prepared for SFA’s National Day of Action, October 28, and CIW’s demonstration against Wendy’s in New York City on November 18.
On the Encuentro program were presentations, workshops, a public protest, and cultural performances.
A skit performed by leaders of the CIW highlighted the important role students and other youths play in “holding corporations accountable for human rights abuses” and introduced CIW’s organizing philosophy of “Consciousness + Commitment = Change.”
SFA Steering Committee members made presentations, and there was a series of skill-building workshops on base building, community organizing, and grassroots fundraising. An SFA report said Encuentro participants “dove deep into the inner-workings of the Worker-driven Social Responsibility model and the incredible impact of Fair Food Program on farmworkers’ everyday lives. On the Saturday, they joined forces with farmworkers, their children, and longtime Southwest Florida allies for “a high-energy protest” at a Wendy’s off busy U.S. 41 in Naples, where they demanded a Fair Food commitment from the Wendy’s Company.
That evening, Encuentro participants celebrated the rich mix of cultures during “Café Cultura.” Performances ranged from spoken word to stellar musical numbers and folkloric dances, plus a tortilla-making demonstration.
On the last day of Encuentro, Barry alumna Quayneshia Smith, the South Florida regional organizer of Dream Defenders and longtime CIW ally, led a session examining the work to be done “to build a free world for everyone.”
The former Barry Service Corps Fellow and SFA Steering Committee member emphasized the importance of “placing black and brown femmes at the forefront of our movements for collective liberation,” SFA reported. Reflecting on the event, Tumbeiro wrote: “Encuentro was an informative experience. The Coalition of Immokalee Workers shared with us their history and the reasons for creating the Fair Food Program. They explain that their objective is to protect the farmworkers right on the field and off, so they would not get mistreated or taken advantage of.”
Tumbeiro said the event has provided her with a new perspective on farmworkers and on “big corporations wanting to make a profit [without considering] farmworkers’ rights.”
“It is an injustice that needs to be addressed through activism,” she said.
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Deliberative Dialogue on November 6 to Address Issue of Temporary Protected Status
The first forum in this year's Deliberative Dialogue Series will be held on November 6, from 4 to 5:30 p.m., in Andreas 112. The topic is "Temporary Protected Status: Should Persons from Countries Affected by Armed Conflict and Natural Disasters be Allowed to Remain in the United States?"
The American Immigration Council defines temporary protected status (TPS) as “a temporary immigration status provided to nationals of certain countries experiencing problems that make it difficult or unsafe for their nationals to be deported there.”
Congress created TPS in the Immigration Act of 1990. Currently, at least nine countries, including Haiti, are on the TPS list.
According to the American Immigration Council, “TPS has been a lifeline to hundreds of thousands of individuals already in the United States when problems in a home country make their departure or deportation untenable.”
Students, faculty and staff, and community representatives, will participate in the forum, which is free and open to the public.
The CCSI will assemble a panel of lead participants, including representatives of Miami-Dade’s Haitian community. Panelists will include Barry Service Corps Fellow Antonio “Toni” Rodriguez.
Rodriguez is a co-chair of Barry’s Campus Democracy Project Committee and the political director of College Democrats of America.
Dr. Sean Foreman, professor of political science, will be the moderator.
The Deliberative Dialogue Series serves as an avenue for civic learning and engagement in addressing hot-button social issues. The series brings together campus and community stakeholders to weigh perspectives on the issues and to work towards practical solutions.
For further information, contact CCSI Associate Director Courtney Berrien at cberrien@barry.edu. |
Community Partners Participate in Orientation for Federal Work-Study Community Service
Since the start of the academic year, more than 35 representatives of 30 community organizations have participated in the Federal Work-Study (FWS) Community Service program orientation and training.
Norma Robinson, senior associate director in the Office of Financial Aid, co-facilitated some of the orientation and training sessions with Liz James, experiential learning coordinator, and Brittney Morales, FWS Community Service coordinator.
The sessions covered the purpose of the FWS Community Service program; the desired civic learning outcomes; the program’s benefits to the community, students, and the university as a whole; and supervision of students at service sites.
Through FWS Community Service, students are assigned to approved nonprofit and public agencies as well as schools near campus. The students usually assist with program coordination, tutoring and mentoring, event management and promotion, and community outreach and education.
Students participating in FWS Community Service are enrolled as members of the Barry Service Corps.
Community partners came to campus on August 15, September 10, October 9, and October 16 for orientation sessions.
For additional information on FWS Community Service, contact Liz James in the CCSI at 305-899-3728. |
| Next Faculty Learning Community Meeting Scheduled for November 19
The Faculty Learning Community for Engaged Scholarship (FLC) will have its third meeting for the academic year on November 19, beginning at noon. The CCSI will host the hour-long meeting in Adrian Hall, Room 208.
The facilitators are urging all FLC members and prospective members to attend.
For further information, contact the CCSI at 305-899-4711.
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PACE Professor Helps Middle-School Students Restore Mangroves in
Dr. Jalane Meloun, professor of administration in Barry’s Frank J. Rooney School of Professional and Career Education (PACE), took part in a recent field trip to the Hugh Taylor Birch State Park in Fort Lauderdale. She joined students of the Global Scholars Program of Hollywood’s Apollo Middle School, who helped to restore the mangroves in the park.
Meloun is the mother of one of the students on the field trip. When a local news reporter asked about her son Brant’s involvement in the effort, she said: “I love that he’s in the program. This is an exciting program. They get to learn by doing rather than just reading about it. They get to get their hands dirty and feel what that actually feels like."
Meloun she told the reporter that it was important to get kids’ heads out of "the cloud." She added: "Environmental activism is not just about clicking a 'Like' on Facebook or doing something on social media. It's about getting out and doing something and truly giving back. It's also walking the talk. It's something to be vocally supportive but this is about getting your hands dirty."
In a follow-up comment for Community Engagement News,” the PACE professor called the field trip “a fantastic opportunity to teach the kids how to use a shovel and pick where to best plant so that the trees won't die from competition.” She noted that the children learned how to separate the roots prior to insertion in the ground. They also weeded out the invasive species.
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Organizers Looking for Volunteers for Annual “Walk to End Lupus Now” The Lupus Foundation of America, Florida Chapter is seeking volunteers for its annual “Walk to End Lupus Now” on November 16 at Marlins Park in Miami. The event is scheduled for 4:30 to 6:30 p.m., with the Opening Ceremony set for 5:30.
“We are in need of volunteers to help with crowd interaction, event coordination, registration, greeting, and store attending,” said Sarah Tedesco, events intern.
The Lupus Foundation of America (LFA) and its national network conduct Walk to End Lupus Now events to raise money for lupus research, increase awareness of lupus, and rally public support for those who suffer from the disease. To register, visit LFA’s Walk to End Lupus Now website.
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Community Engagement News
Posted On : October 18, 2019
