Kitchen Table Activism (KTA) is a monthly project of the Rural Organizing Project. Often building on quarterly themes, short actions are described in each KTA. The theory is that basic steps and tasks can lead to powerful collective results as small groups of people gather to complete the same action throughout the state of Oregon. ROP works to keep the basic tasks easily achievable so that groups with other projects or groups with limited immediate energy can still manage to complete the KTA each month.
As the summer adventures nip at our heels, many of us are taking roadtrips to the far reaches of Oregon – from Hells Canyon in Wallowa County to the Tropical rain forests of Curry County, rural Oregon is a destination.
This month, our elected officials will be doing the same thing, stopping in small town cafes and browsing books at the library as they prepare for the August tradition --- the Town Hall.
This month’s Kitchen Table Activism is to get you and your group ready and attend your local Town Hall or if there isn’t one in your area give your Congressperson or Senator a call to ask them some questions about the important topics of the day.
July's Kitchen Table Activity is to set up your Human Dignity Group's website. And yes, it is possible for a volunteer-run group to get this done in one month or less! ROP has created a simple, customizable, economical and user-friendly template using googlesites technology that will allow ROP member groups to get a site up and running in no time! (And if your group's already got a website, make sure that we link to it on the ROP website by sending the address to kari@rop.org today!)
We all scream for... Social Change! (and Ice Cream!)
ROP often highlights the three keys to a Human Dignity Group's success: 1. a committed, named leadership team, 2. effective communication systems, and 3. a strategic action plan. But for this month's Kitchen Table Activity, we want to focus on three different, yet critical elements that will keep your Human Dignity Group strong for the long haul: Fun, Friends and Funds.
Why this Activity? Over the last year, ROPers have been considering who holds our money and just what those banking institutions stand for. What we've learned is that many of us already bank with local institutions - institutions that are more likely to keep our money invested in our communities and more likely to be democratic. Nationally the "Move Your Money" campaign has taken fire, and people all over the country are researching their local banking institutions and moving their funds into credit unions and community banks. This month Kitchen Table Activism is to consider just how you and your group might want to ramp up our Move Our Money efforts, and put Oregon in the national spotlight as a state that prioritizes local banking, not big bank profits.
"It’s imperative that all of the visionaries, the thinkers, the movers, the believers should start getting yourself ready and on your way to Detroit right now.”
-- Maureen Taylor, US Social Forum Detroit Co-Coordinator
WHAT IS THE ACTIVITY?Movement building!To change the world, we need a coordinated movement of people joining together and demanding and making change.This movement has got to be stronger, more strategic, and better networked than what we’ve got now.Fortunately, this spring and summer, opportunities abound for building a stronger movement – here in rural Oregon and nationally.
“A hometown newspaper feels the pulse of the community. A [hometown paper’s] success lies in the community keeping the lines of communication open with the newspaper.” Lake Placid News
March’s Kitchen Table Activism asks you to sign up for ROP’s Rural Media Center (RMC) -- let's reclaim local media in rural & small town Oregon for use in the movement for democracy, immigration justice and welcoming communities in rural Oregon.
At a time when we could really use opportunities to connect across divisions, our local papers can be powerful organizing tools to share our message of human dignity and democracy. In John Day, the response to the Aryan Nation moving to town has been lead by the local paper and supported by hundreds of local community members. That is a power that the RMC wants harness in each of our small towns!
ROP’s Rural Caucus & Strategy Session: Saturday, April 10th in Albany
WHAT IS THE ACTIVITY? On Saturday, April 10th rural and small town leadership from across the state will be gathering for a day of strategizing, networking, and organizing. ROP’s annual Rural Caucus and Strategy Session will be from 8:30am- 5pm in Albany. This month's Kitchen Table Activism is to decide who will represent your group and community at this year's Caucus.
This year’s Caucus will focus on Hometown Strategies for a Democratic Economy. We’ll look at strategies that work in rural and small town Oregon that not only address the current needs of our communities, but build a long-term movement for an economy that is people-centered and sustainable. Join your peers from around the state for conversations on topics such as: moving our money, local banking and creating an Oregon state bank; what’s ahead for immigration reform; organizing secure food systems to feed our communities and promote local sustainability; LGBTQ organizing for safer communities; and much more.
It's the last month of the first decade of the 2000's. Can you believe it!
Do you remember where you were in 1999? Maybe you were battling corporate dominance in Seattle or maybe you were watching the challenge to corporate free trade policies play out on your TV. We've come so far! This year, as we turn the page to 2010, we are on the verge of voting for human needs over corporate profit in Oregon.
This month's KTA is about embracing the long-haul movement & the joy in activism. Let's have a good time together and start using our charm to get what we want: justice, dignity & a democracy that keeps getting stronger.
This Saturday, December 5th , the movement for global justice and local democracy continues! 10 years ago the World Trade Organization was shut down in Seattle. As the WTO meets this year in Geneva, Oregon is joining a global wave of solidarity rejecting the neoliberal globalization model and showcasing our local justice movements.
In 2009, we see the narrative of the economic crisis playing out on TV and in the newspapers as something related to stocks, quarterly earnings of corporations, real estate prices. But then even as we are told that these numbers are improving or leveling out, in our own communities we see more of our neighbors and family members out of work, we see more hunger, more homelessness.
Do you remember where you were in 1999? Maybe you were battling corporate dominance in Seattle or maybe you were watching the challenge to corporate free trade policies play out on your TV. We've come so far! This year, as we turn the page to 2010, we are on the verge of voting for human needs over corporate profit in Oregon.
In 2009, we see the narrative of the economic crisis playing out on TV and in the newspapers as something related to stocks, quarterly earnings of corporations, real estate prices. But then even as we are told that these numbers are improving or leveling out, in our own communities we see more of our neighbors and family members out of work, 