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Protecting the Rights of People & Nature From the Local Up  
Hi,

Greetings from Rockford, Illinois, where I am temporarily based for just a few more weeks before returning to my home in Oregon for the Summer months. This is an excellent moment to alert me if you want me to visit your community before the end of 2019, as I am already starting to schedule my Autumn months, mostly based in Monroe, Wisconsin, but I am available to travel anywhere in North America.

This month's newsletter focuses on a number of fun and exciting ways that YOU can volunteer with Community Rights US - doing one-off tasks, or joining our mostly unpaid core team doing essential, ongoing work. If you would like to communicate about any of the tasks listed below, please send an email to contact@communityrights.us .
Event Planning & Hosting


Writing, Editing, & Graphic Design

  • Editing Paul's upcoming book of essays
  • Very basic editing of audio & video talks & interviews
  • Translating our materials into Spanish
  • Designing our new flyer, workshop posters, & a book cover
  • Creating a marketing campaign for Paul's upcoming book of essays

Fundraising

  • Researching & writing grant applications
  • Phone banking
  • Launching & managing a major donor program
  • Encouraging those you know to make monthly or one-time tax-deductible donations
  • Donating frequent flyer miles to help us cut travel costs

Website & Tech Support

  • Media team liaison with local Community Rights groups
  • Periodic updating of our Ordinances database 
  • Transferring numerous articles from an old website to the new one
  • Transferring dozens of audio files from an old site to our PodBean page
  • Moderating our soon-to-launch News Feed Comments section
  • Weekly updating of our website calendar

Research, Outreach & Administration

As the CR movement continues to grow nation-wide, you can help make that possible by stepping up to volunteer with CRUS.

I have now been to the Midwest dozens of times since 2013, have led Community Rights workshops in dozens of mostly rural counties, and the rabble are definitely rising . I'm going to make the bold prediction that this Fall or Winter, at least one of these townships or counties will pass the first Community Rights ordinance in this region. People are fed up with both mainstream corporatized political parties, and they're increasingly ready to leap outside of what we call "the cage of allowable activism" and try something much more edgy. Be a part of making the change - we'd love to have you join us!
Thank you for your support.
Paul Cienfuegos
Founding Director,

PS. Have you heard that I have a new Patreon page ? YOU can make a monthly donation of ANY size , helping me to carve out precious time for public writing amidst my very full schedule. Please consider becoming one of my first patrons, and in exchange for your support at different levels, you can receive my new book, video conference Q&A sessions, and other goodies.
Thank you, generous donors!

Everyone at CRUS extends a huge thank you to all those who donated to our double-your-donation fundraising effort. Our generous matching donors have agreed to continue to match your donations for a bit longer, so please consider making either a one-time or monthly donation of any size TODAY .
Every dollar you donate helps us to substantially build our teaching and organizing capacity.

Reflections on Community Rights
from Rural America
A Little Bit of Kindness Can Go a Long Way
by Curt Hubatch

We're running a new CRUS column by CR activist and organizer Curt Hubatch. Curt is an unschooling father of two young children and one young adult. Currently he works as a substitute rural letter carrier for the USPS. He lives in a cordwood house that he built with his wife, family, and friends in Northwestern Wisconsin.

I'm frustrated. Mad. Ready to withdraw. Shrink within myself.
"He vomited on me", I tell her.
"He didn't vomit on you", she says.
"Well, if he didn't, what did he do then?"
"He didn't actually vomit on you, did he?"
"No", I admit reluctantly "What conclusion are you holding about him?"
"He was being a fucking jerk, that's the conclusion I'm holding!" I notice my blood is starting to boil again.
"Do you see the relationship between you using the word vomit, which he actually didn't do on you, and the conclusion that you're holding?", she calmly asks.
"Yes", I answer. Long pause, "I do."

This is the short version of a conversation between a friend and me. It happened after someone on Facebook said negative things about me as well as Paul Cienfuegos, the Community Rights teacher the Washburn County Community Rights Alliance (WCCRA) invited to give a workshop at the Chicog Town Hall on the first of June. I'd just spent most of the day coordinating with others on how we would get the word out about the event in public spaces and the internet. It's a lot of work. Work that I do not get paid for. I'm hoping the payment will be a future for my children and humanity on this beautiful planet we live in. Yes in, not on. From where I'm looking, we're not on it, we're in the soul of it.

It helps to have friends who will not join in a drama with me. A guy can get down in the weeds pretty fast without having a friend to turn to for some support when I'm ready to react rather than respond intentionally and in line with my values. 

Essential CR News from the Web
Want the latest News & Analysis from and about the Community Rights Movement? CLICK HERE

Want to access all archived articles? CLICK HERE
Momentum in the Midwest
CRUS Director Paul Cienfuegos meets with concerned Monroe County WI residents preparing to speak at their County's Planning & Zoning Committee meeting, demanding passage of a Community Rights ordinance banning any more frac sand mines county-wide. Sparta, WI.
"Hidden in Plain Sight" Exhibit in Your Town
We have produced a captioned photography exhibit titled, “ Hidden in Plain Sight ”, exploring the myriad of ways that business corporations exercise their constitutional “rights” everywhere under our very noses.


Pictured here, Wenatchee, Washington's official directional signs, sponsored by Toyota Corp.

YOU could host this exhibit in your own community’s library or community center or coffeehouse or gallery or college campus. It has already appeared in numerous communities in Iowa, Wisconsin, California and Oregon. Find out more  HERE.
Want to help further the work of Community Rights US?

Your tax deductible donation goes a long way to fund our efforts. Please give generously. Your donation will be doubled when you donate this month.
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