May 8: Curriculum, Carpools, Money and Media

May 8th's Education Not Incarceration Rally (http://www.may8.org) Updates:

1. Curriculum is online!! http://www.may8.org
Even teachers not going and anyone looking to understand the issues better should check this out and use it with your classes! It is extremely well done!!!!

2. Carpools Meeting Points - Stay tuned for more
MacARthur BART (40th Street, between Telegraph and MLK) at 9:30am
Rosa Parks School 920 Allston at 10:00 AM

It is not too late to call/e-mail -in to try to reserve spaces on buses for your group. Not guarenteed at this point, but we'll do our best! ed_not_inc [at] earthlink.net or 510.444.0484

3. Poster and Banner-Making, Teach-in and Media Training
Monday, May 5, 3:30-7PM at the School for Social Justice
the Harper Building, 10th Street and 3rd Avenue (near the Lake Merrit BART in Oakland)
More Info: 444.0484 or Flyer is available at http://www.may8.org

4. We need $$$ (We need to raise $8,000 in one week!)
please make check out to: BHSDG- May 8th Field Trip
and send it to: BHSDG, PO Box 519, Berkeley, CA, 94701
Fundraising request letter is below

5. Next Planning Meeting:
Monday, May 5, 7PM, Neibel Proctor Library
6501 Telegraph, Just north of Alcatraz


Funding Request letter:
Dear Friend,

I am writing to you as a founding member of the East Bay Educators Justice Network with an immediate request for funding help. Our newly forming group is working for justice for students in the East Bay and to provide resources to our students so that they can work for local and global justice themselves. We are playing an important role in organizing the May 8 Education not Incarceration Rally in Sacramento (http://www.may8.org).

While the war on the people of Iraq continues in more quiet ways, the war on the youth of the United States, particularly poor youth of color, is intensifying. 30,000 teachers in California have received layoff notices, while California's prison budget is continuing to grow. Youth of color in California are 6.2 times more likely to be charged with crimes than white youth, and schools that are at least 90% youth of color are 14 times more likely to have a majority poor students than schools that are at least 90% white. One of every three African-American males between the ages of 20 and 29 is in jail, prison, or on probation or parole.

On May 8, 2003, students, educators, parents and community members, with your help, will travel to Sacramento to pressure state legislatures to find more funding resources for education and less resources for incarceration. This rally will also play an important role in building a movement of youth, educators, parents and community members who are committed and organizing to protect and build public education in the United States and searching for alternatives to incarceration.

This exciting event has the endorsement and support of the City Councils of Oakland and Berkeley, the San Francisco Board of Supervisors, Congresswoman Barbara Lee and many more. It will include speeches by Delores Huerta, California State Assembly Education Chair Jackie Goldberg, and student, parent and community leaders from throughout California. We have also worked extensively to develop curriculum to support field trips for the hundreds of students who will be attending and these students have played an active role in developing and shaping the days events.

Due to the enormous response for this event (requests for buses are still coming in!) I am writing to ask for your support. For every student from the Bay Area to attend this event we need to raise $18,000 to fund buses and food. We need to raise an additional $8,000 in the next week to meet this amount. Please help us cover this cost, so that all students planning on going can attend. $25 will pay for one students' trip, $800 will pay for an entire bus.

Checks can be made out to the Berkeley High School Development Group (Tax ID 94-3173406) and sent to the Education Not Incarceration Coalition c/o Critical Resistance, 1904 Franklin St., Suite 504, Oakland, CA 94612.

Please respond today!

Sincerely,

Jonah Zern

510.654.8613

East Bay Educators Justice Network