CUPE 4163 Social Justice Fund

What is the Social Justice Fund?

Once a year CUPE 4163 members donate $1 from their pay cheques towards the CUPE 4163 Social Justice Fund. This fund is used to donate to groups working around the world which pursue goals that we deem important. Half of the Social Justice Fund will be distributed by vote of the members at the October General Meeting and half will be distributed by vote of the members at the March General Meeting.

Past beneficiaries include: The Tyee, PEERS, Our Place, Haliburton Farm, The Stephen Lewis Foundation (twice), Save The Children, Victoria Street News, Cool Aid.

Next Vote: October 28, Semi-Annual General Meeting

SOCIAL JUSTICE FUND NOMINEES
October, 2011-10-28

Harm Reduction Victoria (Mark Wilson)

The recent supreme court rejection of Harper's attempt to criminalize addiction offers Victoria an important opportunity to demand essential health services for people who use illicit drugs. Harm Reduction Victoria is working with local drug-user run organizations (SOLID, Beddow Centre) to build a strong advocacy campaign to demand these health services, which have already been denied to people who use drugs in Victoria for too long.  A core part of this campaign involves building up the capacity of people who use drugs to advocate on their own behalf for the types of services that they need. In May 2012, Harm Reduction Victoria will co-host a regional convergence of drug user organizations, consisting of two days of advocacy skills-building workshops and a day of media-oriented political action. The convergence will cost roughly $15,000, which will go primarily to venue booking fees, travel stipends and food. The financial support of the union can play an important role in sustaining this growing movement of drug-user run advocacy, which is ultimately a movement demanding quality health services for all!

http://harmreductionvictoria.ca/

Vancouver Media Co-op (David Huxtable)
The Vancouver Media Co-op (VMC) is a unique participatory and grassroots media project that is member-run. The Vancouver Media Co-op is your source for local, independent news. Our model - reader funded, collectively run, open publishing - creates a space for critical, high-quality, democratic media in Vancouver. But VMC is much more than a progressive news-site! VMC puts mutual aid and community-building into practice by regularly hosting workshops and skills training. We're not complaining about the state of the mainstream media. We're changing the very system of news production in the city. The VMC also produces a fortnightly print broadsheet called Balaclava!; hosts journalism, video and graphic design trainings; provides media skills workshops upon request for communities and groups such as youth at the Purple Thistle Centre; and organizes social events and film screenings. These have all proven to be hugely beneficial to grassroots groups, youth, and DTES residents seeking to empower themselves to create their own media!

http://vancouver.mediacoop.ca/about/vancouver

Umbrella Society (Alison James-Lomax)
The Umbrella Society actively promotes understanding, acceptance and support for people affected by substance use and mental health issues through advocacy, education and other assistance. This year across Canada, more than ten thousand people will die as a direct result of substance use.  Many more will have their quality of life severely compromised by addiction and mental illness, yet few people in our community know much about these issues, or understand how they can help.  Educating others is one of Umbrella's primary purposes. Substance abuse and mental health issues affect our community deeply and yet these issues are still severely stigmatized. I believe that organizations such as the Umbrella Society that serve to educate the public and offer support to those affected deserve our funding.   

http://www.umbrellasociety.ca/web/

The Otesha Project (Marc Labelle)
The Otesha Project is a youth led charitable organization that mobilizes and equips Canadians to create local and global change through individual and collective choices. It is founded on the idea that every individual has the power to make choices that affect our world and that step by step, choice by choice, we can build a more sustainable future by building community and making conscious lifestyle choices. The Otesha Project's education programs use theatre, experiential activities, and storytelling to engage a wide range of audiences. Their main projects are cycling and performing tours, where groups of volunteers travel by bicycle (usually over 2000 km) and deliver a play on environmental and social justice issues to schools and other community groups. The Otesha Project should be the recipient of CUPE Social Justice fund because they are able to motivate and empower Canadians to become agents of change for environmental and social justice issues. Their strength resides in their use of theatre as a method to share a message of hope through positive action. The results of their efforts are seen in the individual and collective actions taken by youth to better their schools, their communities, and their world.

Capital Region Good Food Society (Suzan Last)
The Capital Region Good Food Society runs the Good Food Box program, a non-profit alternative distribution system for fresh produce. Its mandate is social justice and food access. High quality pesticide free, local, sustainably grown (including organic) produce is often far too expensive for lower income families to buy – and yet so critical to their health. The Good Food Box program pays farmers fairly and directly for produce. The packing, marketing, and distribution are funded by volunteer labour and in-kind donations. These savings are passed directly on to clients who purchase the monthly fruit and veggie boxes. A recent client survey indicates that hundreds of families who use the good food box would not normally be able to access as much (if any) fresh produce. Anyone can participate in the good food box program without having to "prove" poverty. Outreach and education campaigns focus on communities who are most food insecure including low income, working poor, at risk, and Aboriginal families. The Good Food Box program helps feed over 400 hundred families across the CRD from Port Renfrew to inner city Victoria. Demand is increasing every month and they are working hard to keep up and expand to meet the need. This includes expanding our box program to UVic in 2011, implementing a bi-weekly service in the winter of 2012, and beginning healthy taste education at schools in lower income neighbourhoods across the CRD in September 2011. This is an organization truly worthy of our support!