“Building Grassroots Democracy in Minority Communit ies” Professional Fellows from Bulgaria, Hungary, Romania, and Slovakia

in the U.S.A., April 1 - May 11, 2013

GUESTS’ PARTICIPATING IN DIRECT ACTIONS IN THE U.S. A

19 European fellows spent six

weeks in the U.S. to learn different

community organizing methods in

engaging citizens as active partici-

pants in solving problems in their

own communities. They also ex-

plored how to build power and lead-

ership in minority communities that

can contribute to positive changes in

legislation that make a difference in

their community. Our guests gained

hands-on experience at civil society

institutions and participated in

their daily activities.

This report with highlights from

the European fellows focuses on

their participation in various direct

actions across the U.S.

* Sponsored by the U.S. State Department

Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs Organized by the Great Lakes Consortium for International Training and Development

with WSOS Community Action Commission, Inc. – Contract Agent and Manager

Website: http://www.glc-teachdemocracy2.org/ Facebook: GLC_TeachDemocracy

E-mail contact: glc_teachdemocracy2@hotmail.com

Hajnalka Kiss: “On April 15, Daniela Batova and I participated in peaceful action on Tax Day organized by our host organiza-tion Virginia Organizing and the Rich-mond Peace Education Center at the Brook Road Post Office in Richmond,

ties. The Tax Day organizers of the rally propose to reduce the bloated Pentagon budget without harming our national security or our troops. The government can start this by ending corporate welfare for Pentagon con-tractors and their CEOs.

VA. We were there from 5:00 PM until 8:00 PM. The Tax Day aim was to raise awareness about the federal in-come tax dollars that go to the defense system instead of public education, affordable housing, healthcare, and jobs and to strengthen of the communi-

Tax Day 2013 Rally in Richmond, Virginia and Raleigh, North Carolina

Milenko Milenkov: “On April 15, Maros Chmelik and I participated in “Who Pays?” action organized on the State Capitol Lawn in Raleigh City of the North Carolina. The aim of the Tax Day 2013 Rally was - limited government, smaller taxes and power to the people.

Miroslav Ragac and Anita Vodal: “On April 18, we took a trip to Spring-field with leaders of the Chicago Coali-tion for Homeless (CCH) in order to meet state representatives and ask for their support of the Act SB 1872. The law would declare the elimination of a felony regarding crimes related to sex work. The Senate had already passed it, so we were there to talk to several of the representatives.

Our S.A.G.E group (Survivor Advo-cacy Group Empowered) also met with several members of the Illinois House of Representatives in Springfield, and they got their support and commitment to vote for SB 1872!”

We managed to talk to ten, which was a great achievement. We went into the building with the leaders of the CCH and sent our cards with the name of the representative on it we wanted to reach and after they received the card, came out and talked to us. This was some-thing unbelievable for us, from the Central Europe that you can have ac-cess to your representatives without any serious effort.

Anita Vodal: “On April 21, Miroslav Ragac and I took part in a Rally Outreach in Chi-cago with students, their parents and teachers in order to fight against school closings which affect homeless kids and African-American communities the most. The rally was pretty success-

ful with lots of participants and the representatives of the media. We also had a meeting with Representative Lou Lang in order to discuss the budget cuts on homeless education policy with high school students. The visit at Lou Lang's Office was in a neighborhood called Skokie in Chicago.”

Direct Actions in Chicago and Springfield, Illinois

Page 2 “Building Grassroots Democracy in Minority Communities”

For more information visit: http://www.chicagohomeless.org/

OUR SINCERE THANK YOU To all Hosting Organizations in nine states across the United States for cooperating

with the Great Lakes Consortium, for organizing int ernships for our delegation and for support and professional supervising during interns hips’ time.

To all Host Families for their welcome, generosity and support to our delegates.

Anita Vodal: “On April 24, together with fast food workers, Miroslav Ragac, Delyana Mihneva and I participated in the Rally "Fight for 15" and marched with the Fast Food workers in downtown Chi-cago. Workers are seeking wages of at least $15 an hour.

Chicago’s downtown Loop area is the heart of commerce in the city. But on Wednesday (April 24) fast food and retail workers there went on strike de-manding higher wages and better working conditions. Organizers esti-mated more than 500 workers, uniting under the name of the Workers orga-nizing Committee of Chicago, were

striking industries long associated with low wages but unaccustomed to labor unrest. The campaign, backed by a coalition of Chicago unions and com-munity organizations, had the lofty goal of winning a raise to $15 per hour for workers who make up nearly one-third of all jobs in the city.”

Page 3 Professional Fellows in the U.S. (April 1 - May 11, 2013)

Ruxandra Borca: “On April 18, I participated in the Par-ent Mentor Press Conference in Springfield. That morning Senator William Delgado, Representative Chapa La Via, Representative Cynthia Soto, Representative Daniel Burke and President of the Senate John Cullerton signed the “Keeping Families To-gether” petitions to give their support in restoring the Parent Mentor program and stop the construction of private for-profit immigration prisons in Illinois.”

“On April 24, I took part in the Chicago Schools Rally at the April School Board Education meeting, which was held in the Chicago Public School central office on 125 South Clark street. The targeted goals were to protest from school closings.”

“On April 26, Georgi Georgiev and I attended and finished the Leadership training for Parent Mentors organized by Logan Square Neighborhood Asso-ciation (LSNA). There we are, Georgi Georgiev from Bulgaria and Ruxandra Borca from Romania holding our di-plomas together with other graduates from the neighborhood.”

On April 27, Georgi and I worked to-gether with the group of door knockers in the Kelvyn Park neighborhood dis-tributing the petitions on the improve-ment of the administration of the Kelvyn Park high school.

LSNA website: http://www.lsna.net/index.html

Page 4 “Building Grassroots Democracy in Minority Communities”

Martin Klus: “On April 12, I participated in prepara-tion of signs, march and passive wel-come of all State Arkansas House of Representative as well as Senate mem-bers before their crucial vote for Ar-kansas Health care reform. Both votes finally go at required ¾ majorities and Arkansas Public Policy Panel therefore reaches one of the most important goals within its 2013 strategic plan.

Ioana Petrache: “On April 18, Laszlo Jakab and I took part in the Rally to keep Ferguson school open in Philadelphia. Parents, students and members of Action United rallied around the school area to keep the Ferguson elementary school open, which was part of the campaign for public education. The School Dis-trict of Philadelphia planned to close down 36 public schools at the end of the year to help their budget. One of them is the Ferguson Elementary School. The children need a fair chance for success and by closing this school it will make class sizes bigger and create an unstable learning envi-ronment. The children currently have shown increasing test scores as well as excellent attendance.

Direct Actions in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania

plan and to keep this school open to provide the children with great oppor-tunity to study. This action is part of a larger campaign to improve public education in Philadelphia.”

The children rely on the in-school and after-school activities that take place, and they love coming to school. At the rally parents, students and members of Action United gathered around the school area to demonstrate against this

Ioana Petrache and Laszlo Jakab are working in office and getting ready for Action United press conference on public education.

Direct Actions in Little Rock, Arkansas

For more information on APPP follow the link http://arpanel.org/

I become a part of very strong state-wide initiative within Arkansas State Congress and was famous for couple of seconds in local TV.”

Csaba Zzikra: “On April 21, Dzhevid Mahmud and I participated in the Great Boston Inter-faith Organization action meeting with

“May 1 day in the New York City was amazing! I joined leaders of the Jews from the “Racial and Social Justice” organization for a big march along with thousands of Networkers throughout the city.”

For more information follow the link to New York May 1 Coalition: http://www.maydaynyc.org/

Senate Candidates at the St. Mark Par-ish in Dorchester, a working-class neighborhood of Boston. Saint Mark is a Roman Catholic Church.”

Direct Action in Boston , Massachusetts

“On April 25, together with many young people we participated in the Youth Jobs Coalition State House ac-tion for youth jobs. Dzhevid and I vis-ited the Massachusetts Governor's House in the Great Boston. We partici-

pated in various meetings and discus-sions, met with several governors and state representatives, and there we were with some young job seeking par-ticipants of the action and Mr. Lew Finfer in the middle.”

May Day 2013

in New York City

Page 5 Professional Fellows in the U.S. (April 1 - May 11, 2013)

Timea Eva Kovacs: “On April 15, Simona Barbu and I to-gether with the members from the 44th LD and elsewhere traveled to Olympia on Tax Day to ask Senator Steve Hobbs to step away from Chairing "Fix the Debt" Washington, a billion-aire funded group aimed at preserving tax loopholes for large multi-national corporations at the expense of Medi-caid, Medicare and Social Security.”

Direct Actions in Olympia, Washington

Anita Vodal: “On May Day Miroslav Ragac and I participate in the big march in Down-town Chicago. The May Day was about the Immigration reform that is

now a current issue in the United States. At the rally all kind of leaders avowed to senators of state the impor-tance of path to citizenship and an end to deportations, and how this new im-

migration act would significantly im-prove the situation for the many un-documented workers. On the May Day March, we saw Ruxandra Borca with her Chicago local LSNA leaders.”

Page 6 “Building Grassroots Democracy in Minority Communities”

May Day 2013 in Chicago, Illinois

Ruxandra Borca: On May Day 2013 rally in Chicago, Georgi Georgiev and I were with more than 1000 immigration rights activists who marched from Union Park at Washington and Ashland for more than

two hours to Federal Plaza in down-town Chicago. People were calling for immigration reform and ending depor-tation. Our host organization Logan Square Neighborhood Association (LSNA) leaders and staff marched with

colleagues from across the city. Georgi and I had a great time. Here I am giv-ing an interview to a local TV station about the importance of the immigra-tion reform and the way LSNA is sup-porting the reform.

Raluca Negulescu: On May 1 in Concord, Dzhevid Mah-mud and I took part in an ancient Northern Hemisphere spring festival and public holiday, the May Day Rally this year named “Rally for Common Sense Immigration Reform”. The event was organized by the New Hampshire Alliance for Immigrants and Refugees. Around seventy people joined the event at the State House Plaza in Con-cord, the capital of New Hampshire State. The targets and goals of May Day 2013 Rally focused on supporting humane immigration policies, includ-ing a reasonable road map to citizen-ship, fair treatment for all kind of workers, and an the end to deporta-tions. There were many ambitious speakers from the faith, labor, and im-migrant communities.

Page 7 Professional Fellows in the U.S. (April 1 - May 11, 2013)

May Day 2013 in Seattle, Washington and Concord, New Hampshire

Simona Barbu: “On May Day in Seattle, Timea Kovacs and I get together with thou-sands of people demonstrated in the 13th Annual May Day March & Rally for Workers and Immigrant Rights. The main purpose of the march was to give a voice to community concerns regarding the Comprehensive Immi-gration Reform Bill.

The event in the Seattle was organized by the “El Comité Pro Reforma Migra-toria Y Justicia Social” and the “May 1st Action Coalition”.

Timea from Hungary, and I am from Romania were the two members of the Professional Fellows spring delegation from Europe who volunteered their

help in preparation of the event and then were chosen to be Peace Keepers during the march through the city.”

For more photos from the May Day March and Rally in Chicago: http://www.flickr.com/photos/lsnaphotos/sets/72157633401899792/ For more information about May Day in Seattle: https://www.facebook.com/pages/May-1st-Action-Coalition/138213812881293

Page 8 “Building Grassroots Democracy in Minority Communities”

Silvia Elena Ursu: “On April 16, I was in Jefferson City, talking to legislators and taking part in a rally for expansion of Medicaid. The rally was for supporting Governor Nixon and his decision to support the direct action on Expansion of Medicaid in Missouri.”

Direct Actions in Jefferson and St. Louis , Missouri

Monika Vaskovicova: “On April 17, Delyana and I took part in direct action with some of non-profits cultural, educational, religious, and civic organizations in a Bosnian Community in Saint Louis. During the action meeting we met Mr. Akif Cogo, Project coordinator, community organ-izer, youth programs director, and a passionate community activist.”

Delyana Mihneva: On 30 April, I participated in an action meeting with the Bulgarian community and met with one of the leaders, Katya Valkova, who is the founder and prin-ciple of Bulgarian School in Saint Louis and some other active leaders of Bulgarian community. On photo (L-R) Milena Lisheva, Delyana Mihneva, Katya Valkova and Boyko Varadinov.

Medicaid Expansion Rally in Missouri

Delyana Mihneva: “On April 16, Monika Vaskovicova and I went to Jefferson City to attend the session in the State Capitol on Medicaid Expansion Rally.

More than 1,000 people and represen-tatives from more that 200 organiza-tion gathered in the Capitol to express their support to expansion of Medi-caid.”

“On April 19, Friday, we went to Jef-ferson City for the action meeting at the Missouri Sierra Club to discuss some essential questions about climate change legislation and met Senator Jamilah Nasheed, a democrat, elected to Senate in 2012.”

On May 2, Monika and I were guests in Liz Brown show on the WGNU 920 AM Radio in Saint Louis. We had long and interesting talking about democ-racy, plans for direct actions, Profes-sional Fellows Program, GLC and community organizing.