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Upcoming MOSES and WISDOM Events!

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Reposted from Madison365 by Robert Chapell:

Criminal Justice Reform Community Meeting Set for Monday

“The Dane County Board of Supervisors will host a community conversation regarding potential reform of the county’s criminal justice system on Monday, October 12, from 6 until 8:30 pm on the second floor of the Alliant Energy Center.

The conversation will feature small-group discussion of more than 30 recommendations put forward recently by three community workgroups who addressed needs in the areas of: Alternatives to Arrest and Incarceration; Length of Stay; and Mental Health, Solitary Confinement and Incarceration.

“The three workgroups addressed critical issues with a great deal of dedication and commitment.  I have high expectations for criminal justice reform and furthering our unique partnerships with the criminal justice stakeholders and the Dane County community,” County Board Chair Sharon Corrigan said in a statement today. “Monday will provide an opportunity for those who have not yet been involved to join us at the table. I hope people will come together, learn the issues and help us prioritize the next steps.”

Community members are encouraged to attend, Corrigan said. The workgroup report is available here.”

ROC Wisconsin: Restoring Our Communities — Beyond 11×15

Kick-off on November 3, at 9:30 am.  We will be meeting at Bethel Lutheran Church in Madison (the same place as the Madison Action Day last April).  This will inaugurate the new phase of our criminal justice reform campaign.  We will continue to work on the same nuts and bolts areas (e.g. TAD funding, Solitary Confinement, Old Law Parole, Crimeless Revocations, etc.).  But, it will be done with an eye on the larger picture we strive for, which includes these main aims:
  1. For Wisconsin to invest in the programs and strategies that will end the racial and economic disparities that fuel mass incarceration
  2. For Wisconsin to reduce it prison population to 11,000, and to reduce the number of people on extended supervision
  3. For Wisconsinites to view people who have been convicted of a crime as human beings and members of families.
  4. For formerly-incarcerated people to be restored to full participation in our communities, our economy and our civic life.
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MOSES Advocacy Helps Pass Resolution 556 #nonewjail

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MOSES ADVOCACY RESULTS IN IMPROVED CRIMINAL JUSTICE AND JAIL RESOLUTION 556 BEING PASSED BY COUNTY BOARD.

Tireless advocacy by the volunteer members of MOSES, an inter-faith social justice organization, led to numerous improvements to Resolution 556, which was passedUNANIMOUSLY PASSED tonight by the Dane County Board. “The passage of this resolution demonstrates that when everyday people organize in solidarity, the community can significantly improve our County’s criminal justice system” said Morris Wexler, VP of MOSES, and longtime regulatory consultant. By passing resolution 556 “the County board is unequivocally stating its support for eliminating racial disparities, reducing incarceration, reducing the number of jail beds as well as its opposition to the construction of a new stand-alone jail” (RES 556, 316-319) as well as creating three community Work Groups to investigate solutions and make budget recommendations to realize the comprehensive reform of Dane County’s criminal justice system.

Specifically MOSES efforts led to:

  1. Unequivocal language that rejects the construction of a new stand-alone jail.
  2. An official commitment to comprehensive reform of the Dane County Criminal Justice System.
  3. Adoption of a set of guiding principles for future action.
  4. Inclusion, as partners, of people of color, people with mental health needs and people affected by incarceration within the Work Groups.
  5. Focus on racial and mental health disparities in the Work Group investigations.
  6. Prioritization of racial equity in access to and participation in community-based programs and alternatives to jail.
  7. Grounding future criminal justice budgets and jail planning in the recommendations of the Work Groups.
  8. Encouraged a competitive bidding process for criminal justice reform on contracts.

MOSES is proud of its contribution to this victory for justice in Dane County – but this is just the beginning. “The MOSES Jail Task Force will be transforming into smaller task forces to support the resolution’s Work Groups to ensure that our vision for criminal justice reform and investing in community-based alternatives becomes a reality” said Jeanie Verschay, a member of the MOSES Jail Task Force, and the Executive Director of Employment Connections. MOSES recognizes and thanks all supervisors who voted for and sponsored resolution 556 and especially supervisors, Stubbs, Bayrd, Corrigan, Pan, Wegleitner, Dye, Hendrick, Pertl, and Willett for their work either on committee or in meetings with MOSES. MOSES also recognizes the work of other community groups that helped shape resolution 556: YGB, NAMI, No Dane County Jail Working Group, MUM and DD Coalition among others.

Get INVOLVED HERE!

Donate to MOSES MADISON HERE!

For more information please contact: info@mosesmadison.org

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Save the Date! April 29: Madison Action Day 2015

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10980174_10103996077670197_1487870611916962618_oPeople of Faith United for Justice
Madison Action Day
Wednesday, April 29, 2015
9:00 am – 4:00 pm
Bethel Lutheran Church
312 Wisconsin Avenue, Madison, WI

Cost: $25 per person includes lunch, childcare and transportation. Registration deadline is April 15. Please download and complete this form and or email info to mosesorganizer@gmail.com to register.

All contributions are welcome!  Scholarship requests will be honored on a first come-first served basis. Make checks payable to MOSES and deliver during a monthly meeting.  You may also mail checks to: MOSES, PO Box 7031, Madison, WI 53707

Keynote Speakers:
Reverend Everett Mitchell, Director of Community Relations of UW-Madison and Pastor at Christ the Solid Rock Baptist Church in Madison.
Hannah Rosenthal: CEO and president, Milwaukee Jewish Federation

Agenda

  •   8:00 Check-in & Refreshments
  •   9:00 Morning Plenary & Issue Briefing
  • 12:00 Lunch
  •   1:00 Legislative Visits at Capital
  •   4:00 Action Day Concludes

Please indicate if you are:

  • volunteering for childcare or requesting childcare and the number and ages of children.
  • if you are interested in carpooling, whether you are driving or riding, and the area of town for pick up/drop off.
  • requesting a scholarship or donating to scholarships that create opportunities for more disenfranchised advocates to participate.

For more information, email info@mosesmadison.org or call 608-622-2360.

CO-SPONSORS: Wisconsin Council of Churches, Faith Voices for Justice, Interfaith Conference of Greater Milwaukee, Lutheran Office for Public Policy, Madison Area Urban Ministry, Milwaukee Jewish Federation, Jewish Federation of Madison, Wisconsin Jewish Conference and WISDOM

 

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Take Action NOW: Mobilizing to Fix the Dane County Jail System!

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The MOSES Jail Task Force gave an update at the January monthly MOSES meeting about Dane County’s plans to study and invest in new jail facilities. MOSES opposes spending county money on new jail construction or on redundant studies.

ALL YOU NEED TO KNOW to act and mobilize others is available in four documents from the MOSES Jail Task Force:

  1. PowerPoint – explaining the discussion surrounding the Dane County Jail and MOSES’ position
  2. Mobilization Letter – to send to Dane County Board members and other officials
  3. MOSES Jail Task Force position statement with data
  4. Mobilization Actions List – detailed list of what you can do now

THIS TUESDAY: The Dane County Public Protection and Judiciary Committee (PP&J) will discuss several issues related to the new jail (see agenda here, items on final page) including additional funding requested by Sheriff Mahoney to expand the Mead & Hunt study (with little additional study on mental health) as well as a request from Supervisors Bayrd and Pan to study Criminal Justice Reform.

What can you do NOW?

**Be prepared to stay two hours or more, as testimonies and discussion about the jail proposals may take that amount of time.

In the news:

MOSES JAIL TASK FORCE
Meets 3rd Thursdays, 6:30 – 8:30 PM
Optional orientation for newcomers 6:00
(Sub-committee work teams have additional meetings)
St. Mark’s Church (in basement)
605 Spruce St., Madison (Off S Park St.)
Contact:  Ann Pooler, apooler@charter.net, 608-658-6847

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Farewell and THANKS to the Executive Committee

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At the December monthly meeting, a new MOSES executive committee was elected. We would like to extend our gratitude to the members of MOSES founding executive committee. Those members include: Carol Rubin (President), Caliph Muab-El (Vice President), Nancy Kosseff (Secretary), Ann Lacy (Treasurer), and Sister Joan Duerst (Chair of the Religious Leaders Caucus).  [Erika Bach (MOSES Organizer), and David Liners (Executive Director of WISDOM) also attend meetings, and are ex officio members, with voice but no vote. Their positions will not change.]

During tenure of this initial executive committee, MOSES had grown and accomplished so much. It has developed into a large and healthy social justice thank-you-flowerorganization with several moving parts including the Ban the Box initiative, the creation and dissemination of the new jail report, increasing awareness and funding for treatment alternatives and diversion (TAD), and multiple other task forces).

Please use the comments section below to express your comments and or gratitude for our outgoing executive committee.

We welcome our new executive members that were recently elected:

President: Rev. Jerry Hancock, First Congregational
Designated Vice President: Belinda Richardson, Breaking Barriers
Vice President: Bev Buhr, James Reeb UU Congregation
Vice President: Caliph Muab-El, Breaking Barriers
Vice President for Recruitment: Morris Waxler, First Unitarian Society
Secretary: Susan Millar, First Unitarian Society
Assistant Secretary: Nancy Kosseff, First Unitarian Society
Treasurer: Ann Lacy, Plymouth Congregational UCC
Financial Secretary: Pat Anderson, First Unitarian Society
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Tell the City of Madison to #BanTheBox !

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Help stop hiring discrimination based on conviction history! Tomorrow, Madison’s Common Council will vote on a resolution supporting the Ban the Box initiative.  This resolution contains language that would encourage employers to leave questionBan the Boxs regarding criminal history off of applications.  They would agree not to ask about criminal history until a conditional offer of employment has been made.

Click here to read the full resolution.

If you would like to support this initiative, you can come to the Common Council meeting Tuesday, September 2 at 6:30pm, room 201 at the City County Building, 210 Martin Luther King, Jr. Blvd in Madison.  Even if you do not wish to speak in support of the resolution, you can fill out a registration card when you get to the meeting and note that you support Ban the Box!  Also, consider emailing your alders to let them know why they should support this important resolution.

mosesmadison

Monthly MOSES Meeting THIS Saturday, Aug 2

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Stay informed! Join us on Saturday, August 2 at First Congregational Church, the lower level, from 10-12pm.

Check out this poll to learn what are Wisconsinites thinking about the DOC. This article came out Sunday. 

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2 Day Leadership Training June 27 and 28!

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Just a reminder that the 2-day training here in Madison for formerly-incarcerated people, as well as family members of currently or formerly incarcerated people will be on June 27 and 28.
We have a good place, and it seems we have a fair number of people planning to attend. We want to ask you to encourage people who want to attend (including yourselves) to sign up as soon as possible.  We especially need to know how many out-of-towners will need a place to stay.
If you have any questions, please let me know.  To register for the training e-mail info@mosesmadison.org, give your contact information, and whether you will need a place to spend the night on Friday.
2 day training flyer
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Monthly Meeting THIS Saturday, March 1

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Yes, this Saturday is the first of month and MOSES/11×15 Campaign will meet at First Congregational Church, 1609 University Avenue. We have some good news to share and important work to do.
download (1)Park in the small lot across the street from the back of church and enter from the door on the south side.  We will be in the Fellowship Hall in the basement.  See you there!
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Monthly Meeting THIS Saturday, Feb 1

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We hope to see you this Saturday, February 1 at 10am for our monthly meeting. As usual, we will meet at First Congregational Church, 1609 University Avenue, Madison WI  53726