No Peace Local
No Future Global
Newsletter of Omni Center for Peace Justice Ecology
This year more than ever!
Pride Parade needs Omni Marchers today!
Pride Parade June 24
4:00 pm start line-up
5:00 pm Parade steps off

We all know that LGBTQIA+ friends are seriously under attack. This is the perfect year to stand by them in a clear way. Please email us at omni@omnicenter.org if you're ready to walk with the Omni Board and others to support human rights and well-being on June 24. Or just show up

Not to mention that the whole thing is SERIOUSLY FUN. It might be surprising that people under so much threat can be this joyful, but they take it as a matter of PRIDE and have a blast. They also don't mind sharing the fun.

Look for Omni at the parade We'll be on Highland Ave between the Methodist and Baptist churches and just off Dickson. We are participant number 36 and we'll be between Get Loud Arkansas and the League of Women Voters. Just watch for the blue Omni banner.

Parking will be getting scarce by 3:30 so bring a cold drink and come early. The Baptist Church has a very big parking lot right on Highland. They didn't complain when we used it last year so that was very convenient.

Got questions or anything? Call 479-283-2167 if you can't find us.

Weekend Activities
NWA Trans Fest and March Friday was really great!

Pride Parade and Festival
Saturday June 24
11:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. - NWA Pride Festival at West Ave. & Dickson St. Parking Lot in Fayetteville
11:00 a.m. - 4:30 p.m. - NWA Pride Youth Zone inside Fayetteville Town Center (details here)
2:00 p.m. - 4:00 p.m. - 4th Annual NWA Pride Bear Contest at Kingfish, Fayetteville (must be 21+)
5:00 p.m. - 19th Annual NWA Pride Parade down Dickson Street in Fayetteville
Omni marchers will be informed of where to meet as more information comes out
9:00 p.m. doors open; 11:30 p.m. show starts - Glitterville at George’s Majestic Lounge, Fayetteville (Ticketed Event)
UU Fellowship Collaboration
Visiting Author Diana Goetsch speaks in Fayetteville
July 18 - 3:00 pm - Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 109 W. Cleveland
Invitation from Rev. Stevie Gaines
 
You’re invited to a free event at 3:00 p.m. on Sunday, June 18. It will be in the Unitarian Universalist sanctuary, followed by refreshments.
 
Award-winning author Diana Goetsch from New York will speak about transgender history, identity, awareness, and allyship; and there will be time for conversation.
 
Diana is a poet and essayist. She’s the author of eight collections of poems, the “Life in Transition” blog at The American Scholar, and the acclaimed memoir This Body I Wore. Her writing has appeared in The New Yorker, Poetry, The Chicago Tribune, The Los Angeles Times, The Washington Post, Best American Poetry, and the Pushcart Prize anthology. Her honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York Foundation for the Arts, and the New School, where she served as the Grace Paley Teaching Fellow. For twenty-one years Goetsch was a New York City public school teacher, at Stuyvesant High School and at Passages Academy in the Bronx, where she ran a creative writing program for incarcerated teens.
 
This event is co-sponsored by UUFF, the Cocoon Collective, and Pride at NWACC. For more information about Diana’s recent book, click here.

here’s a link to her article published this week by the Tampa Bay Times:
National Pollinator Week
June 19 - 25, 2022

National Pollinator Week is an annual event celebrated internationally in support of pollinator health. Your Climate Victory Garden does just that! It's a time to celebrate pollinators and spread the word about what we can do to protect them. 

See the entire series on Climate Victory Gardens at the YouTube channel:
Climate Victory Gardens
A Favorite Solution for Homelessness.that's based on community

Remarkable Tiny Home Village for Formerly Homeless
in Austin
This week's video is a backgrounder about the beginning of Community First Village. It's been around for over 20 years and is now getting ready to expand again.

The nonprofit that runs Community First Village is Mobile Loaves and Fishes. MLF started a food truck project to feed the several thousand of Austin homeless 20 years ago and then got into the housing business.

Founder Allan Graham says "We want to empower the community around us into a lifestyle of service with the homeless. We achieve this vision through Community First! Village by taking a relational approach for connecting with our homeless brothers and sisters, instead of a transactional approach." #TinyHomeCommunity Features: -130 tiny homes, 100 RV/Park homes

When Fayetteville City Counselor Sonia Harvey Guitarrez visited Community First recently, she was bubbling with excitement, and said ".... It's just a big puddle of love!" It would be great to see that kind of project in Northwest Arkansas.

Learn More about Community First! Village: http://mlf.org/community-first AND see Mobile Loaves and Fishes YouTube page
The Climate Moment ....
What's happening around the world about climate? Selected moments from the collection of Reevaluation Counseling leader Russ Vernon-Jones and shared by local Omni member Dorothy Marcy

*#225  Rain- 25 inches in 7 hours*
In early April, Ft Lauderdale, Florida in the U.S. got 25 inches of rain in
7 hours. The previous record rainfall there for the entire month of April
was 19 inches. This unprecedented type of storm is made much more likely as
a result of the much greater amounts of moisture in the atmosphere as a
result of global warming. Many scientists think it is likely that such
storms will occur more frequently in the coming decade in many parts of the
world.

*"We humans are meant to be connected to each other and to the earth. When we are disconnected we create grossly unequal societies that harm humans and harm the earth." - *paraphrase of Marama Davidson, female Maori member of the New Zealand Parliament.
Your Own Climate Victory Garden!
Dear Friend,
Have you been toying with the idea of gardening? Growing food and flowers can be part of the climate solution if done regeneratively. And, it’s easy! Learn about the basics of gardening and tips for getting started. 

No matter where you live or how much space you have (even if you live in an apartment), your garden is part of the movement of thousands of individuals across the country (and world!) who are gardening for the climate.
Climate Victory Gardens are having
a real impact on the planet.
Good Housing is a Human Right
Help for new home buyers
Upcoming Freddie Mac CreditSmart® Essential workshops
Tenisha Gist

Dear Community Partners,
 
Partners for Better Housing is excited to introduce 7 FREE Freddie Mac CreditSmart® Essentials cohort-based workshops 
designed to equip individuals with the tools to explore homeownership from April - October 2023! Each workshop will offer lessons about money management, homebuyer readiness, credit foundations and so much more. Each lesson is designed to empower and to encourage people to take the reins on their financial future so that they can reach their goals on their terms.
 
Workshops will cover the following topics:
  • Managing Your Money
  • Understanding Your Income
  • Basics of Banking
  • Building Savings
  • Thinking Like a Lender and Borrowing Basics
  • Managing Debt
  • Renting a Home
  • Consumer Protection Laws
  • Resilience to Disasters
  • Planning for Your Future and Building Wealth
  • Planning for Higher Education
  • Understanding Credit
  • Understanding Credit Reports
  • Improving Credit
  • Avoiding Predatory Lending and Scams
  • Cyber Security and Fraud Prevention
  • Introduction of Homebuying
  • Basics of Insurance
  • Insurance Basics
  • Buying or Leasing a Vehicle
Anyone that is interested can apply here: (https://forms.office.com/r/t42hmuVnHW)! Seats are limited! The first cohort, workshop dates, times, and locations will be announced March 24th. If there are any additional questions, don't hesitate to contact me or send folks my way. Thank you for sharing!
 
Tenisha Gist, M.Ed. 
Director of Community Outreach and Homeownership
Partners for Better Housing
1670 E. Joyce Blvd., Suite 1
Fayetteville, AR 72703
Main line: 479-755-3497
Direct line: 479-434-1163
DOWNLOAD THIS FREE RESOURCE NOW. Available only through May.

How to make an impact!

New (free) book on Climate Change and Advocacy
Mark Dunlea' via People vs Fossil Fuels <build-back-fossil-free@googlegroups.com>
 
Green Education and Legal Fund - www.gelfny.org - January 1, 2023
 
Dear Climate Activists and friends:
 
As we welcome a new year, time is rapidly running out for the world to avoid climate collapse. I have compiled a new climate book - Putting Out the Planetary Fire: An Introduction to Climate Change and Advocacy – which you can read for free on the Green Education and Legal Fund’s website. The link is to the index and chapter outline; each chapter is also posted separately on the site. There is also a pull-down menu on the top of the website for the book and its chapters.
 
Extreme weather and global warming continue to accelerate. The Secretary-General of the United Nations (UN) has repeatedly warned that the world is not acting fast enough to deal with climate crisis. With presumably seven years or less left for drastic climate action, there is no time left for incremental changes.
 
I was inspired to write the book after teaching a course on climate change and advocacy at Bennington College. I was unable to find a book for the course that provides basic introductory information about the climate change issue and advocacy / organizing techniques. While the book draws on my fifty years on advocacy experience on environmental and economic justice, it incorporates the research and work of the many groups, scientists, and journalists in the climate movement. It is heavily footnoted, enabling readers to readily obtain more information on the various issues.
 
I plan in the next few months to print the book, either with a commercial publisher or to self-publish, as well as utilizing an e-book format. However, I wanted to make the book available as a resource as soon as possible. I do plan to regularly update it.
 
The first part of the book is an overview of key aspects of climate change and renewable energy. The second part addresses the theory and practice of social change. It outlines the various strategies and techniques that can be used to persuade governments and other decision makers to take the rapid action needed to prevent climate chaos. It examines the role of the legislature, executive branches, courts, and international bodies (e.g., IPCC, COP) in determining climate action. It provides an introductory how-to overview of lobbying, public education, media, protest, art, litigation, elections, and direct action / civil disobedience.
 
Feel free to utilize the book in whatever way is useful for your work. You can let your members know that the book is available on the gelfny.org website. Feel free to submit comments or suggestions to dunleamark@aol.com. I am also happy to give talks about the book and climate change.
 
If you would like to support the publication of the book, you can send a tax-deductible donation to GELF, 156 Big Toad Road, Poestenkill NY 12140. (Any donation of $25 or more will receive a copy of the book once it is published.)
 
Yours for peace and justice, Mark