WHAT: Lakeview Action Coalition Annual Convention 

WHEN: Monday, June 16, 2008 from 7:00 p.m. - 8:30 p.m.  Second Unitarian members and friends will be meeting at church (656 W. Barry Ave.) for pizza at 5:30.  A bus will pick us up and take us to Anshe Emet between 6:15 and 6:30.

WHERE: Anshe Emet Synagogue, 3751 N. Broadway. 

For those of you who have not had the opportunity to be part of one in the past, this is a terrific event in which 600-800 residents of Lakeview and members of Lakeview congregations come together to stand up for justice in our neighborhood and in our city. A number of elected officials will be in attendance, and together we will publicly ask these officials to support fair policies on affordable housing, access to health care, police brutality, and environmental justice.

We need your participation to make this a success! We believe that our elected officials will agree to do the right thing because they know that a lot of people will be there watching and will hold them accountable (and perhaps not vote for them again!) if they don’t listen to the will of the people. 2U is one of the Lakeview Action Coalition’s most active and supportive member organizations - two years ago, 50 people from 2U participated in the 2006 Convention, making us the largest delegation from any neighborhood congregation. Let’s make it 60 this year!

This Convention will also feature the public launch of an environmental justice organizing project that 2U’s Social Justice and Green Sanctuary teams are spearheading.  As we all know, environmental sustainability is a huge and important issue. It is also a justice issue because low-income folks tend to bear the burden of environmental destruction. Waste dumps tend to be located in poor communities, blue collar workers are the ones handling toxic products, and global warming will hurt poor countries and poor communities the hardest. At the same time, the things we do to solve environmental problems - like buying organic or installing new energy-efficient boilers or windows - aren’t affordable to lower-income folks. LAC is beginning an organizing campaign to support improvements in sustainability that will also support and be accessible to the lower-income residents of our neighborhood. We will be publicly introducing this initiative at the Convention.

Will you join us to promote justice and sustainability in the Lakeview neighborhood? Don’t worry if you’re not a Lakeview resident - as members of a Lakeview congregation, we have a stake in supporting a better neighborhood.

2U Social Justice Committee