COMMUNITY JUSTICE RESOURCE CENTER NEWSLETTER ARCHIVES
VOLUME 2, ISSUE 3: JULY 15, 2004
 
The Community Justice Resource Center is dedicated to supporting the exciting movement among Community Organizers/Activists and Lawyers, to work together in the fight for equal justice. This Newsletter highlights information and resources that are available to assist lawyers AND community groups engaged in creative partnerships to advance racial and social justice ( we call this the 'Community Justice’ approach).

We Invite all users of the CJRC to contact us, via email, with your comments and ideas at cjrc@advancementproject.org.
FEATURES


CLEARING THE PATH FOR JUST DEMOCRACY

"Clearing the Path for Just Democracy" is a new initiative spearheaded by Advancement Project in an effort to bring together lawyers, advocates, and activists in eight states--Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Michigan, Missouri, Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin--to be proactive agents for turning voting rights into counted ballots on November 2, 2004. The Top Ten Tasks for this effort are:

  1. Ensure that election officials follow the laws that govern voter registration campaigns.
  2. Monitor the registration process from voter application to placement on the rolls.
  3. Challenge practices that purge names from voter rolls based on erroneous information.
  4. Research and protest procedures for automatically removing voters from the rolls due to DMV address changes.
  5. Scrutinize how and why registered voters are placed on "inactive" lists, and inform voters how to get "active" again.
  6. Determine locations and accessibility of final polling places.
  7. Conduct public education about ID requirements for voting day.
  8. Review plans for poll worker recruitment/training, voter education materials, etc.
  9. Prepare to confront and counter voting-day intimidation, harassment, and any other obstacles to casting votes that count.
  10. Involve corporate, ethnic, and alternative media in making voting day equal rights day.
If you are interested in reviewing any of the various toolkits, legal recommendations, and election guides that Advancement Project has developed for its "Clearing the Path" initiative visit www.advancementproject.org .

Florida Guide to Fair Elections
Advancement Project has teamed with Thomasina Williams, of Miami, Florida, a seasoned and highly respected attorney to publish a legal guide that provides an overview of federal and state legal requirements and protections that impact the voting rights of citizens in Florida. This is the first of at least 8 state legal guides that Advancement Project will publish in partnership with local law firms and lawyers as part of our "Clearing the Path for Just Democracy" project. We encourage our partners to use these legal guides in support of local, on the ground voter protection efforts in advance of Election Day. In addition to this publication, Advancement Project will publish and circulate legal guides for AZ; GA; MI; MO; OH; PA; and WI. Click here to download the guide.

URGENT ALERT: ELECTION OFFICIALS REPORTEDLY DESTROYING VOTER REGISTRATION FORMS
Tips for Voter Registration Groups on Maintaining Proof that Applications Were Turned in to Election Officials
AFU's Voter Protection Project, Advancement Project and other organizations have received scattered reports that registrars or election clerks are destroying voter registration applications that they deem incomplete or improperly filled out. We are investigating these reports and will take appropriate legal action to ensure that election officials handle voter registration applications appropriately. Tips for handling voter registration applications are outlined here.


NEWSMAKERS

Is the Franchise Safe in 2004?
By: Penda D. Hair
Let's get to the bottom line: America's electoral system was broken in 2000, it was broken in 2002, and all indications are that it will still be broken on November 2, 2004 unless major efforts are made to repair the system's embedded flaws. Click here to read the entire article.

Déjà Vu
By: Judith Browne
Have we learned nothing from the 2000 Presidential Election? Is it possible that the state of Florida is more interested in disenfranchising voters than safeguarding the rights of citizens to vote?    Are Florida officials determined to commit, in plain sight, five months before the election, another alleged felon game? Click here to read the entire article.

Making Our Voices Heard: Effective Voter Registration and GOTV
By Kenny Diggs
This Voices for Working Families article offers best practices about effective voter registration campaigns.


FUNDING RESOURCES

Funding/Resource Opportunities for Community Justice Practitioners
This updated list provides information about a few of the funding resources that are available to community justice practitioners. We plan to update this resource periodically as we learn of new opportunities. Please contact us with any opportunities of which you know and we will add them to this new resource. This list includes programs with upcoming deadlines as well as a few opportunities with rolling deadlines.

ON THE GROUND

Clearing the Path to Just Democracy in Florida


DEMOCRACY RESOURCES
Advancement Project has compiled a descriptive list of websites that contain a wealth of information about voting and the voting process. Click here to view the list.

CJRC CALENDAR

Please email us at cjrc@advancementproject.org with information on events of interest.


MAPPING THE LITERATURE
We encourage you to visit our updated bibliography (partially annotated) of recent publications and articlesof interest to racial justice advocates. This bibliography features a dynamic array of publications spanning several exciting topics. The subject areas for this volume are as follows:
  • Mobilizing Community
  • Health
  • Education
  • Poverty and Homelessness
  • Toolkits and Training Manuals
  • Voting
  • Workers Rights
  • Multiracial Coalition Building and Race Relations
  • Community Economic Development
  • Policing
  • Miscellaneous

This newsletter is supported in part by grants from the Program on Law & Society of the Open Society Institute, Ford Foundation and The Rockefeller Foundation.