Activistas

Tell the city: We need a loo @ Jamison Square

At first glance, adding a toilet to a public park might not seem like a news-worthy topic.  But if you've ever tried to play at Jamison Square with your kids and they needed to use the bathroom, you know that it's a problem.  No public bathrooms means parents have to buy something at a local business to use their facilities or worse, kids are using trees, neighboring condo's yards, etc. as outdoor toilets.  And let's not forget that homeless folks have no where to go, either!

According to PHLUSH (Public Hygeine Helps Us Stay Human) - our public restroom advocates - the Pearl district has NO public restrooms.  See their list of downtown public restroom options.

But there's great news our friends at Neighborhood Notes - the City of Portland is considering a new, fancy toilet for Jamison Square.  The "Portland Loo" is a cool, futuristic looking contraption currently in use on NW Glisan between 5th & 6th.  Let's encourage the city to add another one at Jamison.

It's not a simple decision, as you can imagine.  Some don't like the original Portland Loo and see problems.  But neighbors in the Pearl want something done.  Read the full report from Neighborhood Notes.  

Make your voice heard on this issue by contacting these city officials:

Portland Water Bureau: Anna DiBenedetto, adibenedetto@ci.portland.or.us
Portland Parks and Recreation: Brian Aptekar, bryan.aptekar@ ci.portland.or.us
PDNA Planning Committee: Patricia Gardner, patricia@chesshirarchitecture.com

[photo thanks to Flickr CC - JeremyMcWilliams]

Make reducing infant mortality part of the debate

Health care reform is taking center stage in the news these days.  Chances are health care is taking a bigger chunk of your paycheck too.  With everyone talking about reform - what will it mean?  What are the misconceptions (and there are plenty out there!)?  What will it mean for me? - let's talk too about reducing infant mortality.

Each year our country spends $26.2 billion on premature babies.  Yikes!  Did you also know that our rates of premature birth have been rising and can lead to long-term issues for those children, their families and even our health care spending?  You can act now to make prematurity a part of the national health care debate!

DONA International, a certifying organization for doulas as well as a number of other interested groups are partnering on reducinginfantmortality.com to push this agenda forward.  

Learn more about the Midwifery Model of Care.  Find out how to take action and contact your legislators.

Watch this great video they produced to highlight the costs associated with prematurity and what we can do to fix the problem:

  

Originally posted on StumptownMom.com

[Thanks to Flickr CC - protorio for the perfect pic]

Listen up! NW Mothers Milk Bank on KBOO radio 7/13

The Northwest Mothers Milk Bank is spreading the word about their efforts with an interview on Monday July 13th on KBOO Community Radio.

Monday, July 13th at 11:30 AM, Anna Keith Soderberg will interview Dixie Whetsell, MS, IBCLC, board member of the Northwest Mothers Milk Bank.

Listen in to KBOO in Portland at 90.7 FM, in Corvallis at 100.7 FM or in Hood River at 91.9 FM to hear about the importance of breastmilk, efforts to build a milk bank in Portland and how you can help. No calls will be taken due to time constraints, but if you have a question or comment please email beforehand to kboofamilybusiness@gmail.com

If you're out of the listening area, listen to the broadcast online - or just learn more about the bank @ www.nwmmb.org.

UPDATE:  If you missed hearing the broadcast live, you can stream it online anytime!

Family Forward Oregon: Join us 7/8 from 6-9 pm

Did you know that motherhood is the single greatest predictor of poverty in old age?  Did you know that the wage gap between mothers and childless women is now greater than the gap between men and women?  Startling facts that, to me, show a gap between what we say about valuing the work of child-raising and actually valuing it. 

 The idea of valuing parents and caregiving is what prompted a few fellow Activistas to take action!  So, we're excited to announce the creation of a new, local nonprofit called Family Forward Oregon.  Their mission?  "Inspiring workplaces, communities and policies that value families".  

Family Forward Oregon begins with the basic premise that our workplace and government policies lag far behind the reality in which most families live.  Namely, policies are still built on the assumption that one parent is home full-time with kids.  Obviously this doesn't account for all that lovely co-parenting, single-parenting, and extended family parenting that really goes on.  It also doesn't account for the fact that in most families *both* parents work outside the home.  And it definitely doesn't account for the fact that most of us (parents and non-parents alike) desperately want some work/family balance.

It's time to value the work of caring for each other.  It's time to end the economic insecurity associated with motherhood.  It's time to develop communities where families can thrive. 

Family Forward Oregon will work to bring our workplaces, communities, and policies forward.  They are creating a movement - and asking you to join them. 

Get involved.  They will be presenting their ideas and soliciting your feedback on a family forward agenda at next week's Social Innovation Forum (hosted by Springboard Innovation). 

Your feedback is essential to creating change for all Oregon's families.  Please come and tell us what you think about where we need to go from here! 

Details:
Social Innovation Forum on Family Forward Oregon
When: July 8th, 2009 6-9 pm (light dinner provided)
Where: Urban Grind NE (NE 22nd & Oregon St)

Movies with meaning this summer

Summer and movies - they just go together.  While we love good escapism as much as the next exhausted and stressed-out mama, sometimes it's nice to test our brains with more meaningful movies.  Lucky for us, our friends at Zenana Spa & Wellness Center are hosting a summer movie series, Matinees for Mamas, on parenting-related topics.  The films will be followed by facilitated discussions.  It gets even better -- proceeds benefit the Nursing Mothers Counsel of Oregon.  

Sunday June 21st 1-4pm = The Business of Being Born

RESCHEDULED to Sept. 20th 1-4pm = Unconditional Parenting

Sunday August 16th 1-4pm = What Babies Want

Take in a thoughtful movie, take part in a spirited conversation and benefit a worthwhile organization.  Sounds like a great way to spend a Sunday afternoon.

Tell Congress to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act

As we recently reported here on Activistas, our very own Senator Jeff Merkeley has introduced the 2009 Breastfeeding Promotion Act.  Now its time to get other Congressional members on board as co-sponsors.  Thanks go to the United States Breastfeeding Committee for giving us a convenient way to voice our support and encourage both our Senators and Representatives to step up for breastfeeding moms.

First the details:

The Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009 (H.R. 2819, S. 1244) includes five provisions:

• Amends the Civil Rights Act of 1964 to protect breastfeeding women from being fired or discriminated against in the workplace.
• Provides tax incentives for businesses that establish private lactation areas in the workplace, or provide breastfeeding equipment or consultation services to their employees.
•  Provides for a performance standard to ensure breast pumps are safe and effective.
• Allows breastfeeding equipment and consultation services to be tax deductible for families (amends Internal Revenue Code definition of "medical care"). 
• Protects the privacy of breastfeeding mothers by ensuring they have break time and a private place to pump (applies to employers with 50 or more employees, see text of legislation for details). 

Now it's your turn!  Fill out this simple on-line form to email your Congressional members and urge them to support the Breastfeeding Promotion Act of 2009.  

[photo courtesy Flickr Creative Commons - Daquella manera]

Working & Breastfeeding? BCO wants your stories!

Working and breastfeeding?  Hopefully it's easier now that Oregon's landmark Rest Breaks for Milk Expression law mandates employers of over 25 employees provide time and space to express breast milk during the work day.  The Breastfeeding Coalition of Oregon wants hear how it's going out there now and/or what your experiences were before the law was passed.  

If you have a story to share, email amelia@breastfeedingor.org with the subject line "workplace testimonial" with the following information stated as simply and briefly as possible:

• your name, email and phone number
• work sector/industry
• city, state
• employer name (optional)
• employer size
• your story

Please indicate if any of the following describe your situation PRIOR TO THE LAW:

• accommodated with written policy
• positive experience breastfeeding and return to work, law unnecessary
• accommodated, but with informal agreement
• discriminated against by managers or co-workers
• quit or altered nursing to accommodate workplace demands
• job loss -- fired
• job loss -- quit
• job loss -- didn't return to work after maternity leave
• other?
  

Please indicate if any of the following describe your situation AFTER PASSAGE OF THE LAW:

• law eased the conversation with my employer about my intentions to breastfeed
• my employer accommodates with private space and adequate time, per the law
• positive experience breastfeeding and return to work
• law helps with co-worker relationships
• law has not helped relationships with co-workers and managers
• don't know about this law
• don't know how or am afraid to file a complaint with the Bureau of Labor
• law hasn't helped, still not able to breastfeed and return to work
• other?

  [photo courtesy Flickr Creative Commons -- Daquella manera]

Moms Rising Wants Input from us Mamas

What better way to advocate effectively for mamas than to ask the mamas what they want?  Well that's exactly what the grassroots group Moms Rising is doing, so speak up, mamas, now's your chance to get your agenda on their agenda.  Take the survey here - it's quick and important.  Here's how Moms Rising describes its survey:

It is a core belief of MomsRising.org that we are most effective when we share our priorities, values and ideas with each other. That's why we check in with each of our members periodically -- about every 100 days -- to find out what's on your mind.   Your input will help us do the best job possible representing your needs. Members regularly tell us that they are drawn to MomsRising.org because we speak to the issues they care about. 

Not a member?  Sign up here.

Mamas electing mamas

I’m a big supporter of DNC Chairman Howard Dean’s 50-state strategy.  I like the fact that Obama has run his campaign in all 50 states, instead of adopting a more common recent strategy of focusing only on run-off states like Florida, Pennsylvania and Ohio.  When I was frustrated with my options in some of the Democratic primaries my husband would quote the mantra of a political blog he likes: “More Democrats then better Democrats”. I know how important it is to have Democrats win seats in local and national races, and I’m hopeful that this strategy will produce the majority needed to finally see more support for family-friendly policies.

But, lately I find myself daydreaming about how family-friendly our nation could be if mothers were in charge.  Mothers understand why our nation’s families need universal health care, more child care, better public schools, safe products, fair wages, flexible work options, and paid family leave. Once you’re a mother it’s hard not to see your child in every child, so supporting policies that benefit all children is an easy leap. 

Lucky for me, there are groups like Emily’s List out there helping to make this dream a reality.  Emily’s List is a large network devoted entirely to electing pro-choice, Democratic women to office in local, state, and national elections.  This year, they are supporting women running in a few very close elections in battleground states.  If you’d like to learn more about how you can help elect these and other women, check out their site.   Help put mamas in charge.   

Join the Chalkboard Project's Citizen Corps

If you're involved with an Oregon public school, you're probably familiar with The Chalkboard Project, a Portland-based non-profit whose goal is to improve Oregon's public schools.  The group is well known for its Open Book$ Project, an online tool that 'gives you the facts about Oregon K-12 school spending in a simple, easy-to-understand format. You can view your own district's spending, compare districts and see statewide averages."  It also offer the Running Start training program to increase parent involvement, which we've discussed before. 

If all these programs appeal to you and you're thinking to your active-minded self, how can I get involved?  What a coincidence, because they're working to expand their Citizen Corps, which they describe like this:

Chalkboard’s citizens’ corps consists of a growing number of community leaders from throughout Oregon who support Chalkboard’s long-term K-12 education reform efforts.  These volunteers serve as ambassadors for Chalkboard in their communities, and help promote Chalkboard’s broad set of school improvement proposals. 

We call on citizens’ corps members when we need project-related help. We encourage them to help identify Chalkboard outreach opportunities in their communities. We don’t ask citizens’ corps members to do any fundraising.

Intrigued? Learn more and see who's already involved, then shoot them an e-mail.