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Budget Action Workshop for Northeast Wisconsin - February 25

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Save the date clip art SAVE THE DATE

Saturday, February 25, 2017

NE Wisconsin
Budget Action Workshop

9:30 am-2:30 pm
Plumbers and Steamfitters UA Local 400
2700 Northridge Drive, Kaukauna

Join your Fox Valley friends for a fun, social and informative day as we learn together about the Wisconsin budget process and how to present our budget concerns effectively to our state representatives. A project of the Wisconsin Leadership Development Project (WiLD). Click 'Read more' for a flyer and a link to online registration.

One More Bus!

Fox Valley Latinos/as need our help!day without latinxs flyer

The past couple of weeks have been a tough battle to stop anti-immigrant and racist policies. Monday, February 13, thousands of Latino/a families, advocates and allies will come together in Milwaukee to speak out against these policies and to lift up the many ways the Latino community betters the lives of all Wisconsinites.  The gathering is called A Day Without Latinos.  People from all around the state are standing together with Latinos/as because we know our lives are interconnected.

We now have two full buses heading to Milwaukee from Appleton Monday morning.  We are astounded by the outpouring of support!  Local businesses, organizations, and individuals have come forward to help fund the buses, but we aren't quite there yet!

We are asking you—especially if you want to stand in support of this action but cannot make it to Milwaukee—to sponsor the second bus. We need to raise $300.

If you can give $10, $25, $50, $100 or more, you would be part of making this day possible!

Click below to give online by credit-card or sign up to show your support now and pay later.


Yes, I’ll Help! (click here)

Your gift is tax deductible. If we receive funds that exceed the cost of the bus, we will direct that additional support to Unidos por un Futuro Mejor in support of their work on leadership training and Latino organizing in the Fox Valley area.

As of Saturday morning, there are still a few places left on the second bus. Buses will leave St. Therese parish in Appleton at 7:55 am, returning to Appleton by 4:00 pm. Contact Basy at 920/739-1226 to reserve your place.

Muchas gracias for all you do to make ESTHER an organization that can be strong and flexible enough to quickly direct energy and funding into this critical work! Sí, se puede!

ESTHER Publishes Statement of Witness

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Statement As PublishedThis Is a Time that Tries Our Souls….

In the light of concerns about the climate of religious and racial prejudice and harrassment growing out of the Presidential election, the ESTHER Leadership Board, with support from ESTHER members and friends, adopted and published a statement of witness in the Appleton Post-Crescent on Sunday, December 4, 2016. The statement lifts up ESTHER’s hallmark values of inclusiveness, neighborliness, compassion, fair treatment, commitment to community, and the practice of hope.

Thank you to the 207 members and friends of ESTHER who added their names and provided the financial support to make publication possible. Click on the image to read the statement as published.

Un Dia sin Latinos / A Day without Latinos - February 18

Mass mobilization and protest in Madison against anti-immigrant legislation currently being considered by the state legislature. Join WISDOM leaders, Voces de la Frontera and families from around the state to show your support for communities in which all are welcomed, honored, and protected. Stand up and raise your voice to challenge these racist, anti-immigrant bills.

Buses to Madison for the event leave St. Therese parking lot (Summer and Durkee St., Appleton) at 7 am Thursday (February 18th) morning. Call 920-475-0674 to reserve a place.  If you wish to drive yourself to Madison, meet us at 10:00am at the state capitol.

Help spread the word about these bills and this event:

  • Download flyer here. (PDF)
  • Download fact sheet here. (PDF)

 

Increasing Access to Transit

Increasing Access to Transportation:

What We Can Do A conversation and action planning session

Thursday, February 25 from 1-3pm

Goodwill Community Center (Neenah-Menasha Room)

1800 Appleton Rd, Menasha

What Will be Discussed:

  • Local efforts related to increasing access to walking, biking and transit, how we can share experiences and how we can work together
  • Actions community members and organiza ons can take together to make it easier for residents to get where they need to go
  • Latest information regarding any transportaon-related bills in the WI State Legislature and their impact on residents

RSVP at http://bit.ly/FVTfeb25 or foxvalleythrives@gmail.com

Click here to download a printable flyer.

Please share widely to all that may be interested!  Free and open to the public.
 

Let the games continue!

With help from ESTHER, a group of Latino soccer players is at last able to use public soccer fields and other facilities at Wittman Park in the Town of Menasha without being subjected to harrassment and racial slurs, and without indifference from Town officials. Gustavo Nunez, one of the players who took a lead role in seeking a resolution to the issue, stated, “We want to thank you and all of the people you worked to figure this situation out with us. After many years of playing with the fear of harassment and removal from the fields, we can finally say that we have been playing in peace this last month and since the beginning of your help.” ESTHER is proud to have worked with these courageous players to ensure that their voice was heard. Together we are encouraged by our collective action to make the community, particularly our public parks, more welcoming to all.

People of Faith United for Justice, Madison Action Day - 2015

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Give Voice to Your Values; Take the ESTHER Bus to Madison on April 29!

Come with us on the bus to Madison on April 29, 2015. We will join people of faith from all over Wisconsin to learn, be inspired, and advocate for justice. We will gather at Bethel Lutheran Church just off the Capitol Square, to hear stirring speeches by Hannah Rosenthal, president of the Milwaukee Jewish Federation, and Rev. Everett Mitchell, pastor of Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church in Madison, and Community Relations Director for UW-Madison. After educational workshops and lunch, we will march to the Capitol to meet with our legislators and discuss prison reform, driver’s cards for immigrants, and public transit access and equity.

Register Now

Joint Finance Committee Hearing Dates/Locations Announced

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The Joint Finance Committee hearings have been announced. They receive testimony towards the pending State Budget. WISDOM and its affiliates (like ESTHER) always have a strong presence at such events.  We’ll be lining up people to make statements as well as people to stand in support.

Please mark your calendar for the hearing near you!  Talking points and more detail will follow.

These are the hearing dates and locations of Joint Finance Committee hearings:>

  • March 18 at Brillion High School.  Brillion is between Lake Michigan and Lake Winnebago in Calumet County
  • March 20 at Alverno College in Milwaukee
  • March 23 at the University of Wisconsin-Barron County.  Located in Rice Lake, 60 miles north of Eau Claire
  • March 26 at Reedsburg High School.  Reedsburg is just west of Baraboo

The hearings are scheduled to run from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m. but could vary slightly according to each venue's availability.

Join WISDOM in our work for justice across Wisconsin! 

Does the Proposed State Budget Reflect Your Values?

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We who seek to express our faith values in political action understand that the state budget is a moral document. It determines how our shared resources are used. Our state budget's priorities testify clearly to our collective commitment to our values.

  • Do we believe that we ought to provide every citizen with opportunities for a decent life?
  • Do we believe that our criminal justice system ought to be humane and try to rehabilitate?
  • Do we believe that our communities should not exclude people because they are poor or handicapped?

Religious Discrimination in Menasha? Respond Now!

Disappointed ESTHER and Sikh leaders after an attempt to meet with Menasha Mayor Don Merkes

September 17, 2013

The City of Menasha has assessed property taxes on the Fox Cities Sikh Temple on Midway Road. As a community of faith, the Temple is exempt from property taxes.

ESTHER and leaders of the Sikh community have been working quietly together for more than a year to persuade the City of Menasha that the taxes were imposed in error, and to have them rolled back. So far, the city has not found a way to rectify its error. Just today, the mayor refused to attend a meeting on the matter that had been confirmed as recently as last Friday.

Property taxes were levied on the Sikh Temple in error, and the City of Menasha is responsible for the error. The city can take action to fix it.

Please call Menasha Mayor Don Merkes's office right away (920-967-3600) to ask that this issue be resolved promptly and fairly.

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