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News & Updates
UVIP and UVIP member receive Champion awards
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September 2010
Greetings from the United Valley Interfaith Project!
UVIP has TWO BIG EVENTS planned for October and your participation
is needed to show UVIP's power and celebrate our success!
On Sunday October 17th we will be hosting a Candidates' Forum with
the Granite State Organizing Project in Concord. PLEASE COME TO THIS!
We will be asking major party candidates for Congress where they
stand on the issues we work on and sharing with them the values that
shape our work.
A goal of this forum is to demonstrate UVIP and GSOP's role as an important community voice that represent the needs, hopes, concerns and values of real people from our member-groups. Our turn out goal is at least 100 UVIP Leaders in attendance. We are also inviting guests from other local groups and faith communities to show them how UVIP works and to build relationships with potential UVIP member groups. The Forum will be at 3pm on Sunday October 17th in Concord. Please contact Tim Lenoch unitedvalleyinterfaith@gmail.com and your UVIP rep to RSVP, for more information and to help out with preparations for this important event.
On Saturday October 23rd we will celebrate
the success of the Support Book campaign with a Celebration Potluck
Dinner. This will be at 6pm at Sacred Heart Catholic Church in Lebanon.
We will be inviting all the individuals, businesses and organizations
that contributed to the Support Book to join UVIP Leaders in breaking
bread, sharing their hopes and concerns for the Valley, and celebrating
their support.
Please contact your UVIP rep to RSVP or to help out with preparations
for the dinner.
We are proud to announce that we have met our Support Book goal of raising $13,000. As of mid-September, we have nearly thirty ads from businesses and non-profit organizations and nearly forty individual supports. Thanks to all the UVIP Leaders involved in this effort for their hard work. In addition to the Support Book, UVIP Leaders met with the office of Vermont Senator Patrick Leahy to express our support for the Local Jobs for America Act and to share with them the work we do.
The Transportation Issue Team continues to make strides in identify funding for the new Lebanon bus route and was asked to have a UVIP Leader serve on the steering committee looking into bus service between Claremont and Lebanon.
The Housing Issue Team continues to assist the Claremont churches
in their cold weather shelter project and has begun to discuss the
next steps for the team.
The Housing Issue Team is still searching for a convener to direct
the team through this transitional phase.
Please remember that the
United Valley Interfaith Project is a community organization led
and governed by YOU and other folks from our member-groups.
If you'd like to get more involved, please contact: unitedvalleyinterfaith@gmail.com
You are always welcomed at any of UVIP meetings.
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July 2010
Greetings from the United Valley Interfaith Project! Our Leaders have been busy over the last month with issue team work and with the Support Book campaign, which is off to a wonderful start.
UVIP Leaders from the Transportation Issue Team participated in a stakeholder’s meeting convened by the Upper Valley Lake Sunapee Regional Planning Commission regarding bus service to Alice Peck Day Memorial Hospital. UVIP Leaders publically stated our enthusiastic support of the commission’s recommendation for the creation of new bus route that will connect APD to the Lebanon green to Centerra. The team will build on this recommendation and work with other stakeholders to identify and secure a stable source of funding for the new route and to continue to identify other concerns people have around transportation.
UVIP Leaders from the Housing Issue Team continue to assist Claremont area churches to establish an emergency cold weather shelter by this winter. Leaders have met with Claremont officials and are working with other churches to develop and implement a shelter plan. In addition to the need for the shelter, this process has allowed for greater interaction with non-UVIP churches to build stronger relationships and address issues of justice in the region.
Also in Claremont, UVIP would like to extend an invitation from Open Hands Mission: they are seeking volunteers from churches to assist in preparing and serving food to their guests. Times are Friday, Saturday and Sunday from 2pm to 530pm, with greatest need on Fridays and the third Saturday of the month. Please contact Doreen Needham at Open Hands if interested at 603-690-5747, ka7oes@gmail.com.
A great deal of our time and energy has been directed toward our first Support Book Campaign. Twenty Leaders are part of this effort and we held trainings to kick off the campaign. We have already secured commitment from both major and minor supporters who will buy an ad in the book. For the next two months, UVIP Leaders will be engaging businesses, organizations and individuals to ask for their support, build relationships and learn of their concerns and vision for the region. Please contact your UVIP Representative or Tim Lenoch with thoughts on who we should contact to buy an ad.
Lastly, we want to inform you of two important UVIP events that we hope for strong turnout. First, we will host a Candidate’s Forum with the Granite State Organizing Project and invite major party candidates for New Hampshire Governor, the open Senate seat and the Second Congressional District. This will occur the weekend of October 16th or 17th, so please mark your calendar. The following week, Saturday October 23rd, we will host our Support Book celebration pot-luck dinner, where we will invite Supporters to celebrate with us. All UVIP Leaders and invited and encouraged to attend both of these events, so please be on the lookout for more details as we get closer.
As always, all UVIP Leaders are invited to attend our issue team meetings. Please contact Tim Lenoch (603-276-8787), unitedvalleyinterfaith@gmail.com with any questions or concerns and to learn how to get more involved in working for justice.
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June 2010
Greetings from the United Valley Interfaith Project. We hope you are enjoying the summer. UVIP Leaders have been busy preparing for our first ever Support Book campaign, working on the housing and transportation issue teams, and building off our Base Camp training to plan a Candidates Summit for the fall.
As many of you know, UVIP is in the planning stages of our first fundraising campaign. Our approved 2010 budget includes projected income from a campaign and as a young non-profit organization it is crucial that we raise money beyond dues and grants. We call this the UVIP Support Book Campaign and it includes UVIP Leaders reaching out to businesses, organizations and individuals and asking that they buy an ad that will be published in the Support Book. We will be having a training for the campaign on July 8th at 6:30pm at Lebanon United Methodist Church. All are invited to attend and participate in training. The campaign will kick off shortly after the training and will cumulate in a celebration potluck dinner on October 23rd. Please mark calendars for this event, as all are invited. More information will follow on this in the months ahead.
The Housing Team officially said good bye to our convener, Rich Kremer and welcomed Anne Jette as our temporary convener for June and July. We thank Rich for all his hard work, he will be missed as he spends the next year in Germany. The team instituted a plan to have temporary conveners until a Leader emerges to take on this important role. At our June meeting we identified organizations and businesses to build relationships with and ask to buy an ad in the Support Book. UVIP Leaders conducted research actions on weatherization with the Sustainable Energy Research Group and Southeastern Vermont Community Action. UVIP Leaders continue to be involved with Claremont churches in establishing a cold weather emergency shelter. We always welcome more participation from our member groups.
The Transportation Team identified businesses and organizations to build relationships with and ask to buy an ad in the Support Book. We have a specific focus on those that will benefit from the work of the Transportation Team on establishing a new flex route between Alice Peck Day campus, the Lebanon Green and Centerra. UVIP Leaders organized with community leaders in Sullivan County to pressure the legislative delegation to continue full funding of Community Alliance’s bus service. This included UVIP Leaders addressing the delegation at a public hearing and meeting with legislators to express UVIP’s support for public transportation. UVIP Leaders also attended the Regional Planning Commission’s dinner where our organization and work was brought up numerous times as an example of the community organizing for a better United Valley.
Lastly, UVIP Leaders met with leaders of the Granite State Organizing Project to plan our Candidate’s Summit to be held in the fall. After the party primaries, we will invite New Hampshire candidates for Senate and the Second Congressional District to a Summit. We will ask them where they stand on the issues we work on and the values that guide us; and ask for a commitment from them if they win the election represent us in Washington. More details to come as we continue to plan this exciting event. Please contact our Lead Organizer, Tim Lenoch (603-276-8787, unitedvalleyinterfaith@gmail.com with questions and concerns and to get more involved in our issue team work, the Support Book campaign and the Candidates Summit.
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May 2010
Greetings from the United Valley Interfaith Project. We hope this update finds you, your family, and your congregation well. Over the last month, UVIP has continued to work at building relationships across the United Valley, developing our leadership skills, and moving forward in our issue teams.
The Housing Issue Team organized the "Greater Claremont Churches’
Initiative for an Emergency Cold Weather Shelter." Made up of
leaders from six Claremont area churches, the initiative drafted
its own mission statement and has met with city officials and congregations
on how to establish the shelter. The Housing Issue Team has been
successful in getting Claremont churches to lead the effort and will
continue to assist with the project as we move on to other housing
issues.
The team will spend the next month researching weatherization programs
in both states to better understand the impact of stimulus funding
and to identify UVIP’s potential role in organizing for more stable,
long term funding.
The Housing Issue Team is saying goodbye to Rich Kremer, who has
convened and led the team for the last two years. Rich and his wife
are off to live overseas for a year. Rich's passion, intuition, intelligence
and leadership will be missed. Thank you, Rich.
The Transportation Issue Team remains focused on getting public transportation to Alice Peck Day Hospital. UVIP Leaders reviewed and support the consultant’s recommendation to establish a new route to the hospital. Van Chesnut, Executive Director of Advance Transit, presented to the team on how AT is funded and we explored ways UVIP can organize around increasing local, private and state funding to match Federal funds for a new route to Alice Peck Day. UVIP Leaders worked with the hospital’s schedulers on how to better address the transportation needs and potential problems of patients, and to inform patients of available public transportation options.
On Saturday, May 8th, eleven UVIP Leaders participated with leaders
from the Granite State Organizing Project in “Base Camp: A training
on values and power.” Leaders were trained on how to identify our
values and how our values help frame the issues we work on. Participants
also conducted a power analysis of New Hampshire. Our two organizations
decided to plan and host a values summit for the New Hampshire Senate
and Second Congressional District candidates in the fall. More details
will follow as we start to plan for this big event.
Another big effort underway right now is the solicitation and creation of a "Support Book." The Support Book Committee is already hard at work and continues to develop our plan to raise financial support from the larger community. The Executive Council approved the committee’s plan to have leaders indentify potential businesses, organizations and individuals to ask for support. As these lists are developed, the committee will create teams of three to five UVIP members who will reach out to the community and solicit support. A training will be held in early July and all UVIP Leaders are encouraged to attend.
We always welcome more participation from our member groups. Please contact your UVIP representative or Tim Lenoch at unitedvalleyinterfaith@gmail.com, 603-276-8787. You can also join us on Facebook by searching “United Valley Interfaith Project.”
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April 2010
Greetings from the United Valley Interfaith Project!
We hope you are doing well and enjoying the springtime. We have two
important successes to report as both the transportation and housing
issue teams have made significant progress in the last month.
The Transportation Issue Team is happy to report that the consultant's study for public transportation to Alice Peck Day will recommend a new "flex route" be added connecting the hospital campus to the Lebanon Green and, eventually, Centerra Center. The report also recommends creating a pedestrian-safe walkway connecting Mechanic Street to Mascoma Street at the dangerous underpass. The Transportation Issue Team will build on this recommendation by continuing to work with stake-holders to identify ways to fund the recommended plan and ensure decision makers solve this problem.
The Housing Issue team is happy to report that our work on establishing an emergency overnight cold weather shelter in Claremont made significance progress this last month. UVIP Leaders organized a series of meetings and discussions with Claremont church and lay leaders that resulted in these leaders-representing six churches-forming the Greater Claremont Churches' Initiative for an Emergency Cold Weather Shelter. This group's goal is to work with city officials to ensure that a shelter is in place by next winter. As this initiative takes hold, UVIP Leaders will continue to assist the group and provide our organizing experience and skills to win on this important issue. The Housing Issue Team is now is the process of identify new issues to work on, including hosting a presentation by the Dismas House of Vermont, an organization hoping to establish transitional housing in Hartford. We are also looking for new UVIP Leaders to convene the Housing Issue Team and help guide us in our new direction.
Beyond the issue team work, we continue to hold UVIP Discussions at member churches and our support book campaign is starting to be planned. This campaign will be carried out in the summer and is crucial to our organization's health and growth. We hope to have active involvement from many UVIP Leaders in building relationships with the larger community and getting support for our work on justice.
Lastly, we invite all UVIP Leaders to attend our May 8th training with the Granite State Organizing Project: Base Camp for Building Statewide Power. This is an excellent congregational development opportunity to explore how our religious values shape and influence our work on social and economic justice. From a deeper understanding of our values, we will explore power in the state of New Hampshire and how best to engage with decision makers about issues we care about.
We are always welcoming new ideas and greater involvement from members of UVIP groups. If you are interested in the issue team work, our search for a new Housing Issue Team convener, the support book campaign, or the Base Camp for Building Statewide Power, please contact your UVIP representative or UVIP Lead Organizer, Tim Lenoch, at unitedvalleyinterfaith@gmail.com or 603-276-8787.
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March 2010
Greetings, and Happy Easter from the United Valley
Interfaith Project.
We hope the Spring season finds you and your family well. UVIP is
proud to announce that we are now an official 501c3 non-profit organization.
Over the last month we've continued to work on the issues affecting
our communities and to build relationships with other churches, organizations
and decision makers. UVIP Leaders have been engaged in a variety
of activities.
Leaders of the Housing Issue Team met with thirteen church and civic
leaders in Claremont to engage on the need for an emergency overnight
cold weather shelter and held a very successful public discussion
on the problem and how to address it. Claremont leaders representing
seven churches agreed to take on this project and UVIP will continue
to provide assistance.
UVIP Leaders also visited the new 100 Nights Shelter in Keene to
learn more about the challenges of starting a shelter and to continue
to build relationships to address this growing problem.
The Transportation Issue Team continues to work with Alice Peck Day
Hospital to identity reasons for transportation difficulties of patients
and how the hospital can better reach out to patient. The team submitted
our survey findings to the Regional Planning Commission and-- in
anticipation of their upcoming proposal-- has begun to look at the
funding process. This included a presentation at our last meeting
by the Regional Planning Commission on how transportation is funded
in New Hampshire and a visit by UVIP Leaders to Amherst, NH to learn
and participate in the Souhegan Valley Transportation Collaborative
campaign to increase local funding for non-emergency medical public
transportation.
The Executive Council approved a proposal for a support book campaign
for this summer and will include raising funds and developing relationships
with the region's business community and a celebration pot-luck dinner
in the fall. We are looking for leaders interested in developing
a creative, thoughtful and meaningful campaign to help strengthen
our organization. The Executive Council continues to meet and discuss
UVIP's work with each member group. By the end of March we will have
visited three congregations and hope to visit all our groups by the
end of May.
Lastly, UVIP officers and issue team conveners met with leaders from
the Granite State Organizing Project and planned a base camp workshop
to be held on Saturday, May 8th. This will include training, joint-issues
work, and a deep discussion on values and the role of the faith community
in social and economic justice. All are invited to attend and we
will have more information over the next few weeks.
We are always looking for more leaders from our member groups to
get involved. If you have questions or interest in our issue team
work, planning our support book campaign, or our base camp workshop,
please contact our Lead Organizer, Tim Lenoch, at unitedvalleyinterfaith@gmail.com or 603-276-8787.
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February 2010
UVIP Leaders have been active over the last month in leadership training, testifying in the state legislator, engaging in community dialogue concerning Dartmouth layoffs, issue team work, and continuing to strengthen our core teams.
Seven UVIP Leaders attended the three-day InterValley Project Leadership Institute training. This brought together a diverse group of over forty leaders from New England and focused on all aspects of effective community organizing, including relationship building, leadership development, understanding power, turning problems into issues and how to develop a campaign for justice. On the heels of the training, UVIP Leader Gisela Jones testified before a New Hampshire legislative committee in favor of bill that will improve code enforcement and accountability on run down rental property.
UVIP Leaders and other clergy wrote a letter to Dartmouth President Jim Kim and the Board of Trustee stating their concern on the impact layoffs will have on families in the area and received a kind response from President Kim. UVIP President Rev. Nancy Vogele took part in editorial board meeting of the Valley News as they developed their position on the layoffs and spoke as an alum and community member at the February 4th vigil organized by Dartmouth faculty, staff and students. The housing issue team has reached out and met with key Claremont church and civic leaders regarding the need for an emergency cold weather shelter and will be hosting a Public Discussion in March. The goal of this event will be to create a core team of Claremont leaders to develop and implement-with UVIP assistance-a shelter plan for next winter. The transportation issue team is happy to report the approval of a consulting study on how to best provide public transportation to Alice Peck Day. The team has been analyzing survey data to understand people's transportation problems and will reach out to people to gather stories to show the importance of bus service. The team will begin research on how transportation is funded in anticipation of the consulting study's proposal. UVIP Executive Council members are working with their churches to hold UVIP Member Group Discussions. Two groups have already done this and we look forward to every group holding these discussions where we will update and engage with one another on UVIP's work and the issues facing our communities. Please contact our Lead Organizer Tim Lenoch (608-276-8787, unitedvalleyinterfaith@gmail.com with question and concerns and to learn how you can get more involved in the issue team work, community organizing and social and economic justice.
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2009
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Moving to Action: We held a successful Public Action to win transportation service to a community hospital and won commitment from key local and state officials to find a solution to the problem.
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Building a Foundation: Our Housing Issue Team built support for increased funding of weatherization programs for low-income residents and the establishment of an emergency cold-weather overnight shelter in Claremont.
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Engaging Power in New Hampshire: We worked closely with the Granite State Organizing Project on issues of mutual interest aimed at building our collective, state-wide power and influence in New Hampshire.
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Strengthening Ourselves: We built our capacity and developed our Leaders through training and connecting more deeply with our member groups.
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Developing Relationships in the Region: We reached out to non-profits, elected officials, social service agencies, member-based organizations and faith communities to better understand the issues facing the people of our region and to expand our organization.
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Organizational Structure: 2009 was our first full year being governed by an Executive Council; we received official 501(c) (3) non-profit status in early 2010 and hired a new Lead Organizer.
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Membership and Financial Support: We secured financial support from member groups, state and local judicatories, national denominational programs and private foundations.
