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)
