[Suzanne Belongia]

Greetings, all.  I want to make you aware of an upcoming event that is being (quickly!!) planned by a statewide, broad-based coalition of concerned folks.  It's called the Budget Blitz and it will take place at 8-10 different sites across Minnesota on February 25 and 26.  Winona will be one of the sites where convenings will be held and I have been asked to coordinate the gathering.  The Minnesota Council of Non-Profits is one of the lead groups in this initiative.  As I understand it, the goal is to raise awareness and give concrete information about the state budget situation and how this will all affect service providers in Minnesota.  There is much information flying around out there and this is a chance to get a solid, timely update from folks who know their stuff.  Hopefully leading to folks feeling as though they have a voice in all of this and have the information they need to contact their legislators and the governor.  Since the Minnesota Catholic Conference and Lutherans for Public Policy have been among the partners in this -- along with a host of others -- I thought the Poverty Roundtable would be an appropriate link.    Here are the options.  The group can sign on as a co-sponsor (no cost) and assist us with promotion, turnout and the like.  (We did say that advocacy was an important piece of this puzzle, didn't we?)  Or, you can choose not to do that and simply show up.  In any case, however, I would like you all to provide feedback on the date -- we can do it either Feb 25 or 26 -- and the time.  We are being asked to provide about 2 hours for this.  Would an evening gathering or a long lunch gathering be preferable from your perspective?  There are obvious pros and cons either way, but what do you think?  Any significant community scheduling conflicts it would be helpful for us to know about?   Thanks in advance for any feedback you can provide.  As an aside, if any of your organizations or faith communities would like to sign on as co-sponsors that would be great.  No cost, just a help in promotion and getting folks to show up.  You can trust the organizers -- the coalition is very inclusive and is bent on providing information and tools for advocacy rather than any kind of narrow agenda.   Peace, Suzanne Belongia Director, Parish and Community Social Action Office Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Winona Box 379 Winona, MN  55987 507-454-2270 (ph) 507-457-3527 (fax) [EMAIL PROTECTED]