Summer 2020 Newsletter

Community Resilience in a Time of Global Pandemic
Announcing 2020 Random Kindness Community Resilience Leadership Award to Jacqui Patterson
Come celebrate Jacqui Patterson and learn as she shares her knowledge and wisdom with practical examples for all of us going
forward in our time!

Wednesday - July 8th
5 PM PST (8 PM EST) 
"Come join me as I look forward to her captivating and inspiring presence as an icon of black leadership that brings communities together by integrating gender, environment, and racial issues from local and global perspectives."

- Carl Anthony, author of The Earth, the City,
and the Hidden Narrative of Race
JACQUI PATTERSON
Director of NAACP Environmental
and Climate Justice Program,
Co-Founder of Women of Color United

Jacqui Patterson has worked as a researcher, program manager, coordinator, advocate and activist working on women‘s rights, violence against women, HIV & AIDS, racial justice, economic justice, and environmental and climate justice. Patterson served as a Senior Women’s Rights Policy Analyst for ActionAid where she integrated a women’s rights lens for the issues of food rights, macroeconomics, and climate change as well as the intersection of violence against women and HIV/AIDS.

Previously, she served as Assistant Vice-President of HIV/AIDS Programs for Interchurch Medical Assistance (IMA) World Health providing management and technical assistance to medical facilities and programs in 23 countries in Africa and the Caribbean. Patterson served as the Outreach Project Associate for the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, and a research coordinator for Johns Hopkins University. She also served as a U.S. Peace Corps Volunteer in Jamaica, West Indies.
Roots of the Random Kindness Community Resilience Award

The Random Kindness Community Resilience Award is inspired by Dr. Pavel's groundbreaking work "Random Kindness & Senseless Beauty" co-authored with Anne Herbert. This simple yet powerful book consists of just 108 words, the same number as the beads of a Tibetan prayer mala.  Random Kindness  has been widely praised, with Buddhist Scholar Dr. Joanna Macy calling it a “fold-out, wrap-around sutra” and “all we need to know right now in order to let our lives count in building a sustainable world.”
The book has been translated into 11 languages, and we are always seeking additional translators. The Japanese translator, Shuntaro Tanikawa, is one of the most widely read and highly regarded of living Japanese poets. Mayumi Oda illustrated the Random Kindness book using the graphic vocabulary of the Choju-jinbutsu-giga (literally “animal-person caricatures”), a well-known set of four Japanese picture scrolls dating to the 12th century Heian period. The Choju-giga documented an early example of the resourcefulness of communities engaged in collective activism. Communicating through these picture stories, people who did not read or write were able to organize themselves in a revolution, and take back power in their communities.
Our leadership award also draws inspiration from the groundbreaking work of South African cleric and human rights activist Desmond Tutu. He was the first recipient of the award in 2015, and his leadership embodies the spirit of community resilience awards. The Most Reverend Tutu authored the foreword for the 20th Anniversary of the publication of "Random Kindness & Senseless Beauty." This special edition of Random Kindness is dedicated to peace and recovery in the face of world unrest and climate crises. All royalties from the sale of this book will be donated to community resilience efforts across boundaries.

2020 is the 5th Anniversary of the Random Kindness and Community Resilience Award, along with the 25th Anniversary of the book's initial publication.
2020 NOMA - NAACP - SEED Awards
"Coming out of the pandemic we are making new discoveries of the world we want to create. A better world for all. This competition encourages and gathers design ideas for that better future. Harvest and gather your own best dreams here."

-Dr. M. Paloma Pavel, author of Breakthough Communities, Sustainability and Justice in the Next American Metropolis

Based on common foundations and a shared vision, NOMA (National Organization of Minority Architects), NAACP, and the SEED (Social, Environmental, and Economic Design) Network announce the NOMA-NAACP-SEED Design Awards for Justice, Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion (JEDI) in design, architecture, and land development diversity. Six projects will be selected through a juried process of distinguished experts.

The Award winning projects will be announced in conjunction with the NAACP Annual Convention in Boston, Massachusetts and the Awards Winners will be presented by the respective design teams in conjunction with the NOMA Annual Conference, which will be held online, October 17, 2020. A $1,000 Honorarium will be given to each winning team to present at the “Structures for Inclusion” event and award ceremony.
4th of July Interdependence Poetry Reading
On July 4th, Dr. M. Paloma Pavel of Breakthrough Communities joined with Mythica to declare our Interdependence with people of all races, religions and sexual orientations. In that spirit, we invite you watch The Unfinished American Dream which is our Declaration of Interdependence. This 90 minute program features performers from across the country offering poetry that reflects the hopes and longings, sorrow and beauty of our country over its 244 year history. We offer this ritual of remembrance and witness to you that it might inspire your own declarations of love and solidarity with your fellow Americans, that we might truly become the land of the free and the home of the brave from sea to shining sea.
Introducing the Newest Member of the Earth House Team: Brandon Holmes
Brandon Holmes is a senior at Dartmouth College with a double major in Environmental Studies and Geography. He served as the first black leader of the Dartmouth Divestment team and has worked for several key institutions including the Environmental Law Institute and the AES Energy Corporation. Recently, he served as an energy, utilities, and greenhouse gases analyst at Dartmouth's Office of Sustainability. He is passionate about the intersection of sustainability, technology, and international development and studied abroad in South Africa and Namibia in 2017. We welcome him as the summer 2020 intern where he will help us with our research, publications, and social environmental service projects.
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Office: (510) 652-2425 | Mobile: (510) 469-7777

For more resources on climate justice in a time of global pandemic
please visit:
Breakthrough Communities
http://BreakthroughCommunities.info/
BreakthroughCommunities@gmail.com

Earth House Center
http://EarthHouseCenter.org/
connect@EarthHouseCenter.org
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