Please excuse my posting this press release verbatim, but I think it is a very important development in an issue with which we are all very concerned. I will, unfortunately, not be able to attend this event. I'm hoping someone from OfA South Fork will be able to go and blog about it here. -- Eric
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Local Officials Announce Hamptons Immigration Coalition
Will Host March 13 Forum, “Immigration in the Hamptons: Beginning a Community Dialogue.”
Southampton—Congressman Tim Bishop, Assemblyman Fred Thiele and Southampton Councilwoman Anna Throne-Holst announced that they will hold a forum entitled, “Immigration in the Hamptons: Beginning a Community Dialogue” as part of a new Immigration Coalition they have formed. The forum, which will begin a community dialogue and explore the various ways immigration impacts our community will be held on Friday, March 13 at 6pm at the Southampton Senior Center on Ponquogue Avenue in Hampton Bays.
Bobbie, Tara, Ty and I attended the 3rd meeting of OfA on the East End, at the Southold Unitarian Universalist Church today, Sat., 2/28/09. Their group is about the same size as ours. Counting the four of us, there were 52 people in attendance. In a previous meeting, OfA East End established several committees: leadership, service, environment, youth and economy. Today we heard reports from all the committee leaders. They have a very ambitious agenda, and a lot of energy. It was great to see. Their service group is taking a similar approach to ours; looking for opportunities for their members to volunteer with existing local organizations. The economy group is already planning to start lobbying local politicians to get behind the Obama stimulus plan, and bring it down to the local level. The head of their youth group is an organizer for Communities that Care, which we heard about in our last meeting, and may be involved with the Springs group.
Two nights, two exciting events.
Last night we watched joyfully as our President eloquently elucidated the way forward through the tangled thicket of interconnected problems facing our nation. It was a masterful and inspiring performance that even had the Republicans on their feet and cheering. It was truly heartening to see this show of bipartisanship, however long or briefly, it lasts.
Tonight Organizing for America on the South Fork had its own group of inspiring speakers who pointed out ways that we can implement President Obama's message on a local level. The theme of our third full-group meeting was service to our community. The speakers included Edna Steck, Director of the Dept. of Human Services for the Town of East Hampton, Audrey Gaines, Director, Youth Services Division of the same agency, Diane Petriglio of the East Hampton Food Pantry, Dru Raley of the Springs Food Pantry, Thomas Quinn, Superintendent of the Springs School District, Rivalyn Zweig of Ellen's Run and Island Harvest and Dorothy Reilly of the Women's Initiatives for a Sustainable Earth (WISE). What a line-up! In addition, I passed on information about service opportunities at the Bridgehampton Child Care and Recreation Center. We hope to have more to tell you about that exciting project soon.
The message that we heard tonight was not that different from the message President Obama deliverd to the country last night.
