SCOPE50 News The Fight is Not Over!
SCOPE50.org May 2017
Ending Childhood Poverty:
In 1968 Dr. King conceived of a campaign to end poverty and hunger in this country. This resulted in the Poor People's Campaign in Washington, D.C. Unfortunately, poverty and hunger is still a major issue, and that is particularly true for children. According to the U.S. Conference of Mayors' Annual 2016 Hunger and Homelessness Report, which compiled results from 39 cities of different sizes: "Of those seeking emergency help with food nationally, 63% were in families, and 51% were employed." This will be one of the issues that the SCOPE50 Board will consider when it meets this June in Charleston, South Carolina, for its annual Board meeting.
In South Carolina we have been working on this issue by providing healthier snacks to children in schools and providing meals to low-income families. (see photos below)
Voting Rights
We are asking for your help. Could you check with election authorities in your state as to the rules concerning people being deputized to conduct voter registration. This information will be helpful to the Board as we move forward and strategize on how we will proceed.
Opportunities to Protect Voting Rights
The Voting Rights Institute has passed along some urgent volunteer opportunities that need support. They are encouraging people to get involved, as this work is key to protecting the right to vote! (1) In Nevada there are two pending bills (AB272 and SB94) to expand early voting and make voting more accessible, and a resolution that would make Nevada the 19th state to call for
an amendment to overturn Citizens United (SJR 4). The bills and resolution will pass easily through the legislature, but the bills face a potential veto from the Governor who already vetoed Automatic Voter Registration this year. We need to put pressure on the Governor there and are developing a strategy. Contact Jonah Minkoff-Zern at jzern@citzen.org if you can help and he will connect you with folks on the ground.
(2) Early voting, automatic voter registration, and closing the LLC loophole in New York: As the New York budget is finalized, we are sad to see that none of these three democracy priorities has been included. Governor Cuomo promised to work to push these forward as legislative priorities this year, so the struggle continues. Contact Susan Lerner at slerner@commoncause.org to get involved.
SCOPE E-book
We still need chapters for the ebook on SCOPE. Until we have enough chapters for a book, we will post them to http://www.sclcscope50th.org/your-story. So far, the only one that is publishable is Bruce Miroff's story of the Charleston, SC project. Check it out for a model of how to write the story of your own county. Some of you have written first drafts but not final drafts. Some have only promised. Get them in. Jo Freeman is the book editor. Jo is a professional editor and the author of seven books. Send your drafts to her at jfrbc@ymail.com (one of her many e-mail addresses).
SCOPE Memorabilia
We have begun the process of collecting SCOPE memorabilia from the summer of 1965. The material gathered will eventually be sent to Jo Freeman who will arrange for it to be archived at the Library of Congress. We are looking for documents, photos, letters, newspaper clippings, etc. Elaine Joselovitz has been coordinating this process for the SCOPE workers in the Macon/ Americus area. We are now looking for volunteers to coordinate the collection of material from all SCOPE workers. Contact John Reynolds (JohnR99773@aol.com) if you are willing to do this for the area you worked in 1965. To quote Elaine: "Do not underestimate how important it is to keep a record of what was done that summer." In the next Newsletter, we will provide more specific information on what we would like to receive from all of you.
Donations to SCOPE 50
In the last Newsletter we mentioned that SCOPE50 will accept any donations that people wish to make, no matter how small. And since we are a 501(c)3, non-profit organization, donations are tax deductible to the extent allowed by law. To make it even easier, we are now set up for donations to be made on our website, www.scope50.org. There is a "donate" button on the top right of the page, and donations will go directly into the SCOPE50 bank account.
Grant-seeking
SCOPE50 is in need of someone to help search for and write grants as we go forward during the year. So far John Reynolds has been doing this on SCOPE50's behalf. We now have a Grant Management tool to help us put together proposals. Please e-mail John (JohnR99773@aol.com) if you would be willing to help with this.
SCOPE50 Office
SCOPE50 now has an office which will make our work easier. This office space has been donated.
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