Socially Relevant Film Festival

Did you know there is a socially relevant film festival in New York? The festival was started by Nora Armani in 2015 to focus…

“on socially relevant film content, and human interest stories that raise awareness to social problems and offer positive solutions through the powerful medium of cinema. SR believes that through raised awareness, expanded knowledge about diverse cultures, and the human condition as a whole, it is possible to create a better world free of violence, hate, and crime.”

I strongly urge people in the greater New Yorker area to watch the festival trailer, bookmark the festival’s website and to make plans to attend screenings at the Cinema Village.

Co-ops Help Lift People Out of Poverty

Laura Flanders is a big proponent of co-operatives.  In her recent article in Yes! magazine, she demonstrates how Cooperative Home Care Associates, the nation’s largest cooperative lifts people out of poverty:

When Arroyo convened a first-of-its-kind hearing on co-ops this February, New Yorkers packed not one but two hearing rooms at City Hall.

Among the co-op members who testified was Yadira Fragoso, whose wages rose to $25 an hour—up from $6.25—after becoming a worker-owner at Si Se Puede, a cleaning co-op incubated by the Brooklyn-based Center for Family Life. Translation at the hearing was provided by Caracol, an interpreters’ cooperative mentored by Green Worker Cooperatives.

By spreading risk and pooling resources, co-ops offer people with little individual wealth a way to start their own businesses and build assets.

The article also talks about the need for government policies, at a local level, that support cooperatives:

New York City is going—in a big way—for worker-owned cooperatives. Inspired by the model of CHCA and prodded by a new network of co-op members and enthusiasts, Mayor Bill de Blasio and the New York City Council allocated $1.2 million to support worker cooperatives in 2015’s budget. According to the Democracy at Work Institute, New York’s investment in co-ops is the largest by any U.S. city government to date.

Funding for supportive nonprofits is not the only thing co-ops need from cities. In Spain, Northern Italy, Quebec, and France, robust worker co-ops benefit from laws that help co-ops access capital and public contracts. In New York, even as public dollars flow to big businesses as incentives, public spending is on the chopping block. The first city-sponsored trainings with a new, cooperative-inclusive curriculum started this summer, but passing co-op-friendly laws is going to take political power—of the sort that elected today’s progressive city leadership.

This $1.2 million won’t end poverty, but it’s a step in the right direction, says Christopher Michael of the New York City Network of Worker Cooperatives. “We have all the raw ingredients of a successful policy initiative: engaged groups, a bit of a track record and support in the city council…

“This is just a start.”

 

Recommended Reading for Advent

The Catholic News Service has compiled a selection of recent releases that might be suitable for your spiritual reading during Advent, which begins Dec. 1, and the Christmas season:

– “Advent and Christmas Wisdom from St. Augustine” by Agnes Cunningham, SSCM. Liguori Publications (Liguori, Mo., 2013). 102 pp., $11.99.

–“The Art of Pausing: Meditations for the Overworked and Overwhelmed” by Judith Valente, Brother Paul Quenon, OSCO and Michael Bever. ACTA Publications (Chicago, 2013). 215 pp., $14.95.

– “Encountering Jesus in Word, Sacraments and Works of Charity” by Msgr. Peter J. Vaghi. Ave Maria Press (Notre Dame, Ind., 2013). 128 pp., $12.95.

– “God’s Bucket List: Heaven’s Surefire Way to Happiness in This Life and Beyond” by Teresa Tomeo. Image Books (New York, 2013). 176 pp., $17.99.

– “Faith Beginnings: Family Nurturing From Birth Through Preschool” by Michele E. Chronister and Amy M. Garro. Liguori Publications (Liguori, Mo., 2013). 140 pp., $14.99.

– “Startled by God: Wisdom From Unexpected Places” by Joe McHugh. Franciscan Media (Cincinnati, 2013). 122 pp., $14.99.

– “On a Mission: Lessons From St. Francis de Sales” by Patrick Madrid. Servant Books (Cincinnati, 2013). 138 pp., $15.99.

– “Open Mind, Faithful Heart: Reflections on Following Jesus” by Pope Francis. Translated by Joseph V. Owens, SJ. Herder & Herder (New York, 2013). 297 pp., $29.95.

– “When Faith Feels Fragile: Help for the Wary, Weak and Wandering” by R. Scott Hurd. Pauline Books and Media (Boston, 2013). 208 pp., $12.95.

CommonKindness Celebrates America’s Cooperatives with Money-Saving Coupons

During the month of November, 2013, CommonKindness is paying special tribute to over 29,200 cooperatives that provide essential products and services to American consumers. To celebrate, the printable grocery coupon leader is giving shoppers free coupons for products made by cooperatives, highlighting the work of these cooperative on the CommonKindness website and social media pages, and featuring their products in the weekly electronic newsletter.

Cooperatives, owned and operated by their members, promote the well-being of their members and local communities by producing the highest quality goods and services. Like CommonKindness, cooperatives value and promote teamwork and operate on the principles of kindness.

CommonKindness is proud to offer coupons for two outstanding cooperatives, Cabot Creamery and Organic Valley.

Cabot Creamery
Cabot Creamery is a cooperative owned and operated by 1,200 dairy farm families living and working in upstate New York and New England. As a co-op, Cabot is committed to quality, community, democracy, and local ownership. In addition to their contributions to local economies, Cabot Creamery worker-owners serve on school boards, select boards, volunteer fire departments, planning commissions, and environmental cleanup groups.

Cabot operates four plants in three states, providing more than 1,000 jobs in local communities. These Cabot worker-owners make award-winning cheeses with love and pride in Cabot and Middlebury, Vermont, and in Chateaugay, New York, and churn delicious premium butter in the West Springfield, Massachusetts plant, where they also make light cheddars, flavored cheddars, cottage cheese, sour cream, and rich Greek-style yogurt.

To download and print CommonKindness coupons for Cabot Creamery Cooperative products, go to:http://www.commonkindness.com/coupon/perm/id/1549.

Organic Valley
Organic Valley bases its philosophy and operations on doing what is best for the health and welfare of people, animals, and the earth. The mission-driven cooperative is owned by family farmers who have been leaders in organic agriculture from the very beginning. The mission of the Cooperative Regions of Organic Producer Pools (CROPP) is to create and operate a marketing cooperative that promotes regional farm diversity and economic stability through the practice of organic agricultural methods and the sale of certified organic products.

To download and print CommonKindness coupons for Organic Valley products, go to:http://www.commonkindness.com/coupon/perm/id/1877.

 

For Your Enjoyment

Jason Woodbury reviews Pure Bathing Culture’s new album Moon Tide.

As members of Vetiver, Daniel Hindman and Sarah Versprille explored the gauzy textures of Rumours-era Fleetwood Mac (occasionally recalling the hazy mysticism of the Peter Green era, too).

The duo recorded at his National Freedom studio in Cottage Grove, Oregon, shortly after moving to the Pacific Northwest from New York. As such, it’s a natural album, one that revels in West Coast mysticism and a lush greenness.

 

Malala Yousafzai Addresses United Nations

Pakistani schoolgirl Malala Yousafzai addresses the United Nations as part of her campaign to ensure free compulsory education for every child. “I am here to speak up for the right of education of every child,” she said.  She also invokes the names of Gandhi, Mother Theresa and Martin Luther King while advocating for peace and non-violence.

She marked her 16th birthday by delivering the speech on Friday at the UN headquarters in New York. 

Bloomberg still trying to create the nanny state – in a good way.

English: New York Mayor, Michael R. Bloomberg. (Photo credit: Wikipedia)

If the endeavor gets off the ground, all 8 million residents of the most populated city in the United States will have to start putting aside food waste and other organic materials, such as houseplants and eggshells, then package them separately to be picked up by specialized trash collectors.

Compostable waste will have to be differentiated from other garbage and recyclables, and in a few years’ time the city could start imposing fines on those who fail to comply, the paper reported.

Only four months ago, Bloomberg hinted at the program in his State of the City address when he said food waste was “New York City’s final recycling frontier.”

“We bury 1.2 million tons of food waste in landfills every year at a cost of nearly $80 per ton,” he said. “That waste can be used as fertilizer or converted to energy at a much lower price. That’s good for the environment and for taxpayers.”

In cities where similar programs are in place, residents are already seeing what good can come. In San Francisco, more than one million tons of organic waste has been collected since the program started 16 years ago, in turn helping the city divert roughly 80 percent of waste that would otherwise be sent to a landfill.

Parts of Staten Island, a borough of New York, already started attempting an organic waste recycling program last April. According to the city’s senior sanitation official, 43 percent of the 3,500 single-family homes have begun participating already. If the program becomes widespread, city officials tell the times they want to start off by offering organ waste containers to around 150,000 single family homes by the end of the year.