Connect. Move. Act. Standing together for human rights

Connect, Move, Act: Standing Together for Human Rights

A two-day regional summit organized by the Rochester Chapter

of the Social Welfare Action Alliance – April 14 & 15

Day one: Thursday, April 14, 6:00-8:00 PM

Location: Brockport’s Metro Center campus, 55 St Paul St, Rochester, NY 14604

(across from RTS bus terminal) Discounted Parking Available at the event for $3.00 in the Radisson Hotel Garage sold at the event.

 Human Rights Denied: Flint’s water crisis as a microcosm of the politics of inequality

Who: Willie Baptist, Mary Bricker-Jenkins, Leigh-Anne Francis, Maureen Taylor

Why:  The Flint water crisis is connected to a larger national threat to the human rights of water and sanitation, and has direct ties to privatization, homelessness, racism, and the decline of democracy. These violations most profoundly impact our fellow citizens living in poverty.

Rochester, NY- More of its citizens live at less than half the federal poverty level than any similarly-sized city in the country. Rochester is the only city where more than half of its children live in poverty. How can we connect the struggles within our communities and come together to fight the crisis of poverty?

Day two - Friday April 15, 8:30 am – 4:30 pm

Location:  the Downtown United Presbyterian Church 121 N. Fitzhugh Street, Rochester

Connect. Move. Act. Standing together for human rights – An all-day summit of workshops and discussions with leading local and national activists

Why:  Child poverty, racial injustice, homelessness, lack of access to clean water, mass incarceration,, gentrification of our cities, community violence, low-wage work … although all of these problems can be alleviated by the provision of appropriate human services, they represent violations of human rights—economic, social, and political. What would social service work look like if all people had the human right to water, food, housing, education and jobs at a living wage? Fundamental to finding community solutions is the analysis of the immediate, underlying and structural causes of human rights violations.  And ending these violations requires that those experiencing the problem join with allies to build collective social movements for change.

workshops:

Fighting for U.S. Water Rights: Emergency Management and Austerity Threats to Clean, Affordable Water – Michigan Welfare Rights Organization

Radical Racial Justice: “Soul Murder” and Surviving White Supremacy  - Ricardo Adams,  Leigh-Anne Francis,  Melanie Funchess

Flying under the radar: Radical practice dangers and opportunities – Mary Bricker-Jenkins and Carrie Young

A New and Unsettling Force for Human Rights: Building a new Poor People’s Campaign for today - Willie Baptist and Rev. Liz Theoharis

Worker Rights in the 21st century U.S. – Bruce Popper 

The power of video and the importance of movement media - Ted Forsyth

Presented by the Rochester Social Welfare Action Alliance

Sponsored by:

The College at Brockport’s: Social Work Department; the Student Social Work Organization the Women and Gender Studies Program; Department of Public Administration; Promoting Excellence in Diversity Grant Fund; and the Office of the Dean of the School of Education and Human Services

Also sponsored by: Justice Ministry Team of the Downtown United Presbyterian Church; Department of Human Services at Monroe Community College; House of Mercy; Michigan Welfare Rights Organization; the Poverty Initiative at the Kairos Center; National Social Welfare Action Alliance; Rochester Chapter of National Social Welfare Action Alliance; Take Back the Land

SWAA Rochester: (585) 969-3409 or info@swaarochester.org   register at swaarochester.org