9am – 1pm

Free event

Mercy Corps Global Headquarters

45 SW Ankeny St.
Portland, OR
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The current budget crisis threatens devastating cuts in programs that help the
poor and hungry, both within our country and overseas. The benefits of decades
of advocacy work to reduce poverty can be erased with the decisions made this
year and next. This conference will detail the impact of these cuts and
formulate an advocacy action plan which can combine our voices to create a
circle of protection around these programs, and reaffirm the idea that a budget
is a moral document that represents the values of our nation – of opportunity
for all.

Keynote Speaker:

Chuck Sheketoff, Oregon Center for Public Policy

Panelists:

Joe Hastings – Catholic Relief Services

Jeff Kleen – Oregon Food Bank

Tom Head – Economic Professor at George Fox University

Robin Stephenson – Bread for the World

Sponsors:

Bread for the World Oregon Team

Oregon Food Bank

Portland Archdiocese Office of Life, Peace and Justice

Ecumenical Ministries of Oregon

Jubilee Oregon

Catholic Relief Services

Oregon Area Jewish Committee

George Fox University Center on Global Studies

George Fox University Center for Peace and Justice

Oregon Faith Roundtable Against Hunger

For more information or to register, please contact:

Mike Hiland, Oregon Bread Team  (breador@frontier.com,  www.breador.org)

Every year, Jubilee Oregon hosts a fun summer picnic
event where we have time to socialize, have fun, share food, and hear about the
what Jubilee Oregon is doing in the area of economic justice and debt
cancellation for global south countries.

This is a potluck event; bring
some food item to share. Coffee/tea/iced tea will be provided.

We hope to
see you at this event.

May 4, 2011

Attended: Roberta Badger-Cain, Leonard Cain (First Presbyterian Church), Nancy Hatch (Ainsworth UCC), Kara Kluver (PSU), Doug Speers (St John the Baptist Episcopal), Bob Brown (Havurah Shalom)

1000 Faith Leaders Campaign and Voices of Esther

• More than 1000 faith leaders have signed up so far
• Those attending were asked to meet with their faith leaders in their congregations to discuss the letter and hopefully get sign-ons.
• There is some confusion in our role in getting faith leaders to sign up
  • Spread sheet populated by Jubilee USA has 26 contacts, some of whom are not faith leaders but identified as members or lay leaders
  • The process that Brooke outlined seems backwards to us. We are supposed to contact leaders that Jubilee USA identifies for us. We thought we should be doing outreach ourselves.
  • Our thought is that we should be doing outreach to faith leaders from our congregations contact list.
  • We don’t know what to do when we have someone who has signed
• ACTION: Bob will schedule a conference call with Brooke to get our questions answered. Nancy and Roberta agreed to participate in that call. Bob will send out a meeting wizard and contact Brooke to see if we can use their conference call number.
• ACTION: Bob will send to Kara the background information for this campaign so she can take it to her faith leaders.

Linking our Voices Update

• Bob reported that a research project about responsible lending and borrowing is being discussed and defined with participation from Kathryn and Melinda at the Jubilee USA office. This was discussed with Geoffrey Chongo (JCTR/Zambia) who is excited about working on this paper jointly. Next steps are for Jubilee USA to develop an outline and for JCTR to start collecting examples.
• We purchased a headset and microphone for Phoebe, the Jubilee Zambia staff person in Monze. We received a very nice thank you from Phoebe.
• Regular Skype calls: it was agreed that if would be beneficial for us to have regularly scheduled Skype calls with Geoffrey and Phoebe. We came up with some possible discussion topics for these calls:
  • Personal examples of irresponsible and responsible lending and borrowing
  • Background and status of the Zambian constitutional amendment
  • Background on the Zambian election and positions of candidates on economic justice issues
  • China: is China and their economic influence on Zambia creating a neo-colonial player?
  • ACTION: Bob will contact Geoffrey and Phoebe about schedule calls

“Keeping our Promises” campaign getting started

• Bob discussed the “Keeping our Promises” campaign and handed out. Summary: The US promised to provide money for debt cancellation but that money has not been allocated. So the US is in “arrears” with money promised but not provided.
• There was agreement that this campaign may be compelling to members but that we needed the key messages to be developed a bit more so that the issue is clear and easy to explain. We also didn’t know what the Action or Ask would be if we were not from a state with Members of Congress on the relevant finance committees.

Jubilee Website: team formed

• A new website development team will be forming. Kara and Michael Colvin will be the leaders and Bob will participate as he can. Let Bob know if you are interested in participating.
• First task is to develop a plan to expand the current LOV website into a more complete Jubilee Oregon website. We have to think about content, capability and organization.
• ACTION: Bob will talk with Michael about getting this going.

Book Groups

• Doug and Bob reported on the success of our first Book Group discussing Stan Duncan’s The Greatest Story Oversold: Understanding Economic Globalization. The first meeting was very compelling and interesting. The suggestion is that everyone should read this book to get a good foundation of the global economic justice issues.
• The book group meets on Thursdays, with two more meetings planned: May 12^th at Pat Rumer’s house (7 PM) and May 19^th at Nancy John’s house at 6 PM. Even if did not attend the first two meetings, you can attend the future meetings. Contact Pat Rumer at activista@yahoo.com
• The book’s author, Stan Duncan, will be available for a conference call at the group’s last session, May 19^th. We are very fortunate to have Pat Rumer involved with all her connections.
• Ann Pickar may be forming a new book group at First Unitarian to read and discuss The Greatest Story Oversold.
• We have other books on our list for book groups. Forming a book group is easy and you may not have to drive anywhere if you do.  The two books at the top of our list are Dead Aid: Why Aid Is Not Working and How There Is a Better Way for Africa  (Mar 2, 2010) and When Helping Hurts: Alleviating Poverty Without Hurting the Poor. . .and Ourselves (2010)

Fund Raiser In the Fall

• Susi Paul and Michael Colvin will form a research committee.
• ACTION: Bob will set up a meeting to get this going.

NEXT Meeting: June 1, 7 PM at Westminster Presbyterian Church

Bob will bring snacks

–
========================
Bob Brown
Telephone: (503) 244-3304 (H); (503) 267-9346 (C)
Email: rebrown47@gmail.com

What is the Circle of Protection?

In the face of historic deficits, the nation faces unavoidable choices about how to balance needs and resources and allocate burdens and sacrifices. These choices are economic, political—and moral.

As Christians, we believe the moral measure of the debate is how the most poor and vulnerable people fare. We look at every budget proposal from the bottom up—how it treats those Jesus called “the least of these” (Matthew 25:45). They do not have powerful lobbies, but they have the most compelling claim on our consciences and common resources. The Christian community has an obligation to help them be heard, to join with others to insist that programs that serve the most vulnerable in our nation and around the world are protected. We know from our experience serving hungry and homeless people that these programs meet basic human needs and protect the lives and dignity of the most vulnerable. We believe that God is calling us to pray, fast, give alms, and to speak out for justice.

As Christian leaders, we are committed to fiscal responsibility and shared sacrifice. We are also committed to resist budget cuts that undermine the lives, dignity, and rights of poor and vulnerable people. Therefore, we join with others to form a Circle of Protection around programs that meet the essential needs of hungry and poor people at home and abroad.

Key Principles:

1. The nation needs to substantially reduce future deficits, but not at the expense of hungry and poor people.
2. Funding focused on reducing poverty should not be cut. It should be made as effective as possible, but not cut.
3. We urge our leaders to protect and improve poverty-focused development and humanitarian assistance to promote a better, safer world.
4. National leaders must review and consider tax revenues, military spending, and entitlements in the search for ways to share sacrifice and cut deficits.
5. A fundamental task is to create jobs and spur economic growth. Decent jobs at decent wages are the best path out of poverty, and restoring growth is a powerful way to reduce deficits.
6. The budget debate has a central moral dimension. Christians are asking how we protect “the least of these.” “What would Jesus cut?” “How do we share sacrifice?” As believers, we turn to God with prayer and fasting, to ask for guidance as our nation makes decisions about our priorities as a people.
7. God continues to shower our nation and the world with blessings. As Christians, we are rooted in the love of God in Jesus Christ. Our task is to share these blessings with love and justice and with a special priority for those who are poor.
8. Budgets are moral documents, and how we reduce future deficits are historic and defining moral choices. As Christian leaders, we urge Congress and the administration to give moral priority to programs that protect the life and dignity of poor and vulnerable people in these difficult times, our broken economy, and our wounded world. It is the vocation and obligation of the church to speak and act on behalf of those Jesus called “the least of these.” This is our calling, and we will strive to be faithful in carrying out this mission.

What’s Being Cut?

The following is a summary of federal programs focused on assisting hungry and poor people. It is provided for informational purposes and should not be read as an unqualified endorsement of any particular program in its current form by any organization or individual.

DOMESTIC:

Food Assistance

• SNAP (formerly food stamps)
• Free and reduced-price school meals

Low-Income Child Care and Early Education

• Head Start

Low-Income Health Care

• Medicaid
• Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP)

Tax Credits and Income Support

• Refundable tax credits (EITC: the refundable component of the Child Tax Credit)

Low-Income Education and Training

Shelter and Homelessness

Preventing Child Maltreatment

Refugee Assistance

INTERNATIONAL:

International Food Assistance and Emergency Response

• P.L. 480 Title II Food for Peace
• McGovern-Dole International Food for Education

Global Health

• Global Health and Child Survival—State Department (includes PEPFAR)
• Child Survival and Maternal Health

Sustainable International Development Programs

• Development Assistance

International Poverty Focused Financial Services

International Refugee Assistance and Post-Conflict Support

Peacekeeping

Sustainable International Development Programs

International Poverty-Focused Financial Services (in ways that serve the poorest of the poor)

Citizens all over the globe are suffering from multiple crises they had no hand in creating: the global economic downturn, climate change, and food prices now spiking to all-time highs.  The need for debt relief is clear.

Meanwhile, the International Monetary Fund is sitting on $2.8 billion in excess cash, due to higher-than-expected profits from the sale of some of its gold. This week, the IMF Executive Board will discuss what to do with it.

Please join thousands of international activists in calling on the IMF to use its windfall to fund debt cancellation for impoverished countries in crisis.

The IMF hardly needs the money, since it already received a $7 billion endowment from gold sales and will bring in $500 million in interest payments from countries forced to take out new crisis loans.  The Fund is doing so well that they are even discussing refurbishing their already-opulent headquarters.

While the IMF is rolling in dough, rising food prices have pushed 44 million people into extreme poverty. Many of the poorest countries are taking on heavy new debt burdens. For years to come, payments on these loans could divert critical resources away from health, education and food security.

The IMF’s extra $2.8 billion in gold windfall provides an opportunity to assist impoverished countries and their citizens without creating new debt burdens.  

Sign the petition today and we will deliver your signature at the IMF/World Bank Spring Meetings in Washington, DC, April 15-17.

The event, sponsored and coordinated by First Congregational United Church of Christ, Portland, will begin at 10 a.m. at 3 NW Third Ave., and wind 2.6 miles through the city past many of the homeless assistance agencies and City Hall. Members from several faith communities will be joining in the walk.

Anyone interested in participating in the walk may attend an organizing rally at First Congregational United Church of Christ, 1126 SW Park Ave., 7 to 8 p.m., March 23. Lynn Magnuson, the managing regional director for the CWS/CROP Regional Office will speak to the group.

Seventy-five percent of the money raised from the walk will go to Church World Service for relief efforts around the world, including those in Japan. Fifteen percent of the money will go to the Northeast Emergency Food Program at Luther Memorial and 10 percent will go to the Oregon Food Bank.

Church World Service is a cooperative ministry of 37 Christian denominations and communions working together to eradicate hunger and poverty and promote peace and justice among the world’s most vulnerable people.

More information about the CROP Hunger Walk and rally is available by contacting the event coordinator at First Congregational United Church of Christ, Ron MacKenzie, at: ron.w.mackenzie@ http://www.facebook.com/l/0ecffvCvHSBAXFrf0dfleuZ8aGA/gmail.com.

Tuesday, March 15 · 7:00pm – 10:00pm

When: Wednesday, Feb 2 at 7 PM
Where: Westminster Presbyterian Church, NE 16th and Hancock, Portland

A detailed agenda will be available at the meeting. Here are the topics we will cover:

• Linking Our Voices/Zambia – evaluation of our kick-off week visit with Priva
• Capstone Class community partner: what this means and an overview of the projects currently underway. You don’t want to miss this info.
• Governance proposal: recommendations from the Board about changes to our governance structure. Please see the attached proposal.
• Jubilee USA initiatives and actions:
  
  • Voices of Esther
  • !000 Faith Leaders Sign-on Letter and postcard campaign. Main topics include

  • Repair the historical injustices that impoverish the poorest and enrich the wealthiest
    

    • Work to end the cycle that leads to debt crises
      
  • Responsible Lending and Borrowing
  • IMF Gold Sales Facts – the truth about the IMF, fact sheet attached to this message