by Myrna Schwartz and Richard Speiglman
February 2020
Schools and Communities First initiative – EJCers are actively engaged in the gathering of signatures to get this important initiative on the November ballot. March 14 is the deadline for the organizations we’re working with (Faith in Action – East Bay; East Bay Citizens for Action). If you haven’t yet signed the petition, or would like petitions to circulate, please email Sue Goldberg at suegoldberg@sbcglobal.net
Homeless Action–The EJC has established a subcommittee on homelessness, under the direction of Talya Husbands-Hankin and Sue Greenwald that will work under the EJC umbrella. First organizing meeting is March 25, Wednesday, 7 – 8:30 pm in the back classroom on the Sanctuary Level. Please read the accompanying article here in Kol Kehilla.
Interfaith Coalition for Justice in Our Jails is the newly named coalition of faith congregations that at the end of October, 2019 presented the Alameda County Board of Supervisors with over 1,000 signatures calling for prompt restoration of Medi-Cal for detainees upon release from Santa Rita Jail. We have seen encouraging follow-up to the action; the Supervisors have directed county agencies to review the data and come up with a workable plan by the end of March.
The Coalition plans to continue organizing work around Medi-Cal and other jail-related issues under a Mission Statement (printed below) and plans to grow and diversify the Coalition. Kehilla’s Economic Justice Committee endorsed the Coalition and Mission Statement at our meeting on February 12, 2020, and we have requested an endorsement by the Kehilla Board/Rabbi/ED on behalf of the congregation.
The mobilization around Medi-Cal restoration grew out of a two-session workshop on county jail conditions and community re-entry held at Kehilla and our neighoring congregation, Plymouth United Church of God.
For more information on this work, please contact Richard Speiglman at rspeiglman@sbcglobal.net or
Karen Rachels at karenrachels@gmail.com.