Skip to main content

Advocacy

Transit Equity Day 2023

Transit Equity (click for video)

Public Transit provides basic mobility for many in our communities. It is also essential urban infrastructure–just like roads, bridges, tunnels and utilities–that is crucial to the economic, social and environmental well-being of all our regions.

Everyone has a right to a public mass transit system that includes:

 

  1. Safe, reliable, environmentally-sustainable and affordable transit that is accessible to all, regardless of income, national origin, race, gender identity, sexual orientation, age, religion, or ability.
  2. An affordable public transit system that reliably connects people in all communities to the places we need to travel: home, work, school, places of worship, shopping, health, and recreation, in as efficient, and timely a manner as possible. We must ensure that all communities have access to transit; no community should be left behind. Public transit in rural, less densely populated communities should be provided in any master transportation plan despite the special challenges that may present.
  3. Living wages, benefits, safe working conditions, and union rights for transit workers, including those who manufacture transit equipment, and access to family-sustaining transit jobs and training opportunities for people from underserved communities.
  4. A just transition for workers and communities who are dependent on our current automobile and highway-centered transportation system, to ensure that no one is left behind as we transition to a more public, accessible, and cleaner transit-based system.
  5. Rapid transition of our transit and school bus systems to electric, non-polluting buses powered by electricity from renewables.
  6. Safe, healthy and livable neighborhoods that are connected by public transportation and by bicycle pathways and sidewalks, and that are planned to expand safe access to transit and reduce single occupancy vehicle miles traveled.
  7. Dedicated and sustainable public funding for public transit.

https://www.labor4sustainability.org/transit-equity/

Video: Fall Gathering 2022

Our Fall Gathering was a huge success. Thank you to all who helped make this possible, and all who participated. 

Anyone who would like to watch the video can find it online: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jfM40AFFFY

Please enjoy and share your feedback. 

 

Help Send Postcards to Voters

Posted in

Let’s get out the vote.

Help complete postcards to voters: Oct 13th

…because democracy needs all our voices.

Please note that Oct. 11 event has been canceled due to the hard work of people at Oshkosh ESTHER meeting on Oct.4.  You're welcome to register for Oct. 13.  We will easily meet our goal of 1,000 postcards.

You are invited to join us in non-partisan voter outreach as we write postcards to encourage Wisconsin citizens to vote in the upcoming election. We know how important it is for voters in this election to take the time to get informed about candidates and vote for officials who will protect both democracy and the issues which are at the heart of ESTHER’s work. We want to remind Wisconsin citizens that their voice and vote are vital to the future of Wisconsin, and this is a proven method of increasing turnout.

Here are the details. Please register and share the invite!

 

  • Thursday, Oct. 13th:  First Congregational UCC, 724 E. South River Street, Appleton WI  54915, 6-7:30, Includes pizza and beverage. RSVP at esther-foxvalley.org/postcardsoct13

"Forward Together - Not One Step Back"

     A 14 hour bus trip is a long enough to learn a few things. The first was the call and response that is the center piece of The Poor People’s March on Washington. Here it is -

“Forward together” and the reply is “Not One Step Back”. It seems so simple. And it is. But it is also the bedrock of the Third Reconstruction of America. The Moral Reconstruction of America.

      The first Reconstruction, right after the Civil War, failed because violence and racism was too popular for many institutions, businesses and people. The Second Reconstruction, the Civil Rights Movement, failed because too many people were willing to hurt their own future, their own families, their own country rather than let other people have freedom and some political power. We’ve seen it in the Senate hearings, in the current Texas RNC platform that calls for secession, in the fact that in the 1960’s small towns all over the South filled in their city pools rather than integrate. So this time we’re taking everyone forward. Our allies and our enemies.

“Forward Together” “Not One Step Back”

     That means we can’t leave anyone behind. If that means that Baptist ministers have to join the campaign for trans rights; that’s what has to happen and on June 18th, it did happen. It means that if union organizers are with a bunch of artists and a paper mâché tank, they are together. It means that disabilities have to be taken into account, that age and accidents have to be provided for.

“Forward Together” “Not Step Back”

     Was the event perfect? No. Were there problems? Oh, yeah. Whenever you have thousands of people, you have problems. But they are an organization that anticipated those problems. It began on the buses, with gift cards to cover meals on the road and even gas to get to the bus. Because they assumed they were attracting poor people.  At the event, there were moveable ramps so that wheelchair users didn’t have to go down a block to go up a curb. Cooling areas for the elderly or overheated. There was glorious chaos. There were problems finding food. Some groups fed their own people first. The sandwiches were cheese or BBQ and some people missed the old hand made turkey or peanut butter. New Mexico had free vegan tacos that could blister a Wisconsin tongue. Ice cream trucks circled the outside. Free food attracts random homeless people. That’s Ok. They too are going forward.

“Forward Together” “Not One Step Back”

     There were speeches by Rev. William Barber II, Yolanda King, music, dancing and representatives from all 50 states talking about their own personal issues in poverty, incarceration, homelessness, lack of healthcare, being gay, being trans, being undocumented, chronically ill. Some of which we missed because our bus got lost. It’s OK. Progress is messy.

     It was fun, trading signs, flags, and pins. Seeing heroes in real life and sneaking off to an ice-cream truck. Trying to meet up with people when cell phones are dead, buses being late. Cleaning up behind us because sanitation workers are people too. Will there be sacrifices in this movement? Yeah, like being last in line for pizza, having sore feet for days, wearing a mask on a 14 hour bus trip. Freedom is worth the cost.

“Forward together” “Not one step back”

     I’ve seen the future IF If --we all come together. A future where there is plenty for all because money isn’t wasted on war and hate. Where we can find food and shelter for all. Where healthcare is a right and no dies by violence.

“Forward Together” “Not One Step Back”

     Remember this when someone says that “those people’s” rights can wait or don’t matter. That can’t be true. Whether Texans or trans we need to go-

“Forward Together” “Not One Step Back”

ESTHER member Joyce Frohn and her daughter Elizabeth attended the "Poor People's March on Washington DC" this past month.

Fox Cities People & Politics

Date: 
Wednesday, June 1, 2022 - 1:00pm - 4:00pm
Location: 
Legends Cuts & Styles, Fox River Mall, 4301 W Wisconsin Ave, Appleton

Fox Cities People & Politics. We'll be discussing Unlock the Vote, storytelling around the constitutional amendment, and hearing from elected officials, candidates and appointees who impact us as System-Impacted People


Sponsored by EXPO, FREE, Legends Cuts & Styles and ESTHER. Follow the Facebook event page for latest information.

Help spread the word! Download and share the attached flier.

Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote

Posted in
Date: 
Wednesday, June 1, 2022 - 6:30pm
Location: 
Menasha Public Library

This is a public screening of Suppressed and Sabotaged: The Fight to Vote. This film shines light on the dark corners of our country's voting processes, including the increase of vote-restricting laws passed through legislation prior to, during and after the 2020 election cycle. Panel discussion following the film. Sponsored by ESTHER and the League of Women Voters of Appleton-Fox Cities

Introduction to Community Organizing

Posted in
Date: 
Wednesday, April 13, 2022 - 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Date: 
Wednesday, April 20, 2022 - 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Date: 
Wednesday, April 27, 2022 - 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Date: 
Wednesday, May 4, 2022 - 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Date: 
Wednesday, May 11, 2022 - 6:30pm - 8:00pm
Location: 
Zoom Meeting

Wisdom Wisconsin will be holding a 5 week Zoom series from April 13-May 11 on Introduction to Community Organizing. This is open to everybody and is a great way to learn about organizing.

 

Thoughts on “Standing Together, Speaking Out for MMIWG2S, Land & Water”

—By Rick Kitchen

“Standing Together, Speaking Out for MMIWG2S, Land & Water” is the name for our upcoming 3rd annual vigil in Houdini Plaza in downtown Appleton on February 14th. If you are interested in this hybrid (live and live-streamed) event, here is the ESTHER link: Standing Together, Speaking Out for MMIWG2S, Land & Water. The vigil is co-hosted by Kristin Welch’s Waking Women Healing Institute (WWHI) and ESTHER.

Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls, and 2 Spirits (MMIWG2S) is an epidemic across North America, which is known as Turtle Island to Indigenous people. Indigenous people want an end to molestation, rape, trafficking, and murder. American Indians and Alaskan Natives are 2.5x as likely to experience violent crimes and at least 2x more likely to experience rape or sexual assault crimes compared to all other races. In the United States and Canada, an average of 40% of the women who were victims of sex trafficking identified as American Indian or Alaskan Native. About 85% of Indigenous women experience violence in their lifetime and more than 55% of Indigenous women experience sexual violence in their lifetime.

Climate Justice Community Webinar

Date: 
Wednesday, December 15, 2021 - 6:00pm - 7:00pm
Location: 
https://us02web.zoom.us/s/84840000619

Local Action. Real Power. Fighting for Climate Justice

Become part of the fight for climate justice in your community!

Join us for this webinar on December 15 to hear about work at the local policy level to bring about climate justice and how you can help. Recommendations of the Climate Change Task Force will be shared, local elected officials will share information on recent policy wins, and information will be provided on statewide efforts.

Please Register

Co-sponsored by Citizen Action of Wisconsin, Wisconsin Conservation Voters, and ESTHER.

Charter For Compassion

Posted in

ESTHER and the Charter for Compassion have recently joined in a partnership. The Charter for Compassion is a nonprofit organization founded in 2009, with a local chapter in Appleton. This organization has chapters in over 50 countries and continues to be an integral part in building community and human connection.

The Charter resonates closely with our values at ESTHER. We both have an interest in bringing communities together and promoting equity and justice. With these similar values, we know we will have a successful partnership into the future.

We are excited to continue expanding our community partnerships and learning from the leaders and members in those organizations.

Syndicate content