Please take this opportunity to use this community event as it was meant to be! Many are concerned about recent violence and lack of opportunity for our youth Use this event to speak to the community, join with existing efforts, develop or unveil plans. GET INVOLVED!!! BE PART OF THE SOLUTION.


3rd Annual 10,000 Strong Boston
Sunday, June 20th 2010 | Franklin Park Playstead
10,000 Strong Boston - STOP THE VIOLENCE Sun. 6/20/10 noon-5pm

12Noon – 5pm (Speakers begin at 3pm)

For more information, details about the schedule and speakers, visit 10000strongboston.com

Greetings! This is a formal invitation requesting your presence and your words of wisdom for the 3rd Annual 10,000 Strong Boston! Feel free to use your own experience to deliver an uplifting message to empower, inform and inspire the community.

Since 2008 (each year held the day after Boston’s Roxbury Homecoming and Juneteenth Celebration) 10,000 Strong Boston has brought together Black, Latino & Cape Verdean Community Members, Clergy, Educators, Activists, Parents, Youth, Elders and Elected Officials for this one of a kind community event standing for Justice & Peace in Boston.

Each year 10,000 Strong Boston has garnered crowds of 100-400 all standing in Unity for Peace & Justice with speakers, food and fun for the entire family. 10k Strong Boston has received excellent coverage in the Press and has been featured in the Boston Globe, Boston Herald, Boston Phoenix, Boston Banner and Channels 4, 5 and 25.

PAST EVENTS: photos, videos, past speakers and media from 2008 & 2009 10,000 Strong Boston
please see our website: http://www.10000strongboston.com/

10K AGAINST: 10,000 Strong Boston takes a stand against Racism, violence, drugs, guns, gangs, prostitution, domestic abuse, sexual abuse, police brutality and more!!

10K FOR: 10,000 Strong Boston stands for Strong Families, Education, Political/Civic Engagement, Leadership Development, Prison Reform, Fair Housing, CORI Reform and more!!

10,000 Strong Boston is coordinated by Jamarhl Crawford and organized in conjunction with the Blackstonian Community Newspaper, which has grown into a website blackstonian.com and internet radio station blogtalkradio.com/blackstonian

For this 3rd Annual 10k Strong Boston, the newly formed Boston Black Men’s Leadership Group is also taking a lead role in fulfillment of the group’s commitment to grassroots community efforts.

Please consult your schedule and confirm your availability ASAP as we will begin heavy promotions and press in the first week of June.

THANK YOU FOR YOUR TIME!

Contact:
617-755-6463
blackstonian@verizon.net
Labels: Call to Action , Community , CORI , Education , Events , Housing , Immigration , Police , Political Prisoners , Prison Conditions , Service Cuts , Stop the Violence , Street Violence , Youth

This Friday, April 9th at 8:30 a.m., the trustees of the Boston Public Library will meet to vote on a budget plan which includes proposals for closing somewhere between four and eight branch libraries and cutting services at the main library in Copley Square.  BPL president Amy Ryan has endorsed a proposal to close four branches this year.  However, many believe that her ultimate  goal is to close all 10 branch libraries that she had originally targeted.  She has realized the opposition was too fierce when she proposed that many closings all at once, so she is being strategic and trying to pick off the branches a few at a time.

We need to IMMEDIATELY CONTACT BPL TRUSTEES, BPL PRESIDENT AMY RYAN, MAYOR MENINO, AND CITY COUNCILORS TO DEMAND THAT THEY NOT APPROVE ANY BUDGET THAT INCLUDES CLOSING BRANCHES OR CUTTING SERVICES.  THE TRUSTEES NEED TO HEAR FROM YOU BEFORE 8:30 FRIDAY.

It is clear, after hearing Amy Ryan speak, that this is not really about a budget emergency.  It's true that there is a budget shortfall that must be addressed.  But this shortfall is actually a convenient excuse for her to push a pre-existing agenda that seems Orwellian - that library services will be "transformed" and "improved" by cutting services and closing neighborhood branches.  Ryan's "vision" for the BPL is to have fewer, "big box" libraries and to provide library services via the internet.  She has completely discounted the role that branch libraries serve as community spaces - to her, "21st century" libraries are meant to exist primarily in cyberspace.  It's an ugly, misguided "vision" and completely discounts the loud, clear opinions expressed by patrons of the BPL.

Contact info below.  Thanks so much.

BPL public comment email: feedback@bpl.org
BPL Trustees clerk, Jamie McGlone: jmcglone@bpl.org
BPL president, Amy Ryan: aeryan@bpl.org
Mayor Menino: mayor@cityofboston.gov
City Council members: firstname.lastname@cityofboston.gov
Felix.Arroyo - at-large
Mark.Ciommo - dist. 9
John.R.Connolly - at-large
Rob.Consalvo - dist. 5
Maureen.Feeney - dist. 3
Salvatore.LaMattina - dist. 1
Bill.Linehan - dist. 2
Stephen.Murphy - at-large
Ayanna.Pressley - at-large
Michael.Ross - dist. 8
John.Tobin - dist. 6
Chuck.Turner - dist. 7
Charles.Yancey - dist. 4

For more information:
People of Boston, citywide library support group: http://peopleofboston.org/
official BPL budget page: http://www.bpl.org/general/budget/
Labels: Community , Education , Library Closings , Service Cuts