[Peace-discuss] new campus organization: coalition for social change

[Karen Medina]

a new campus organization
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The Coalition for Social Change:
Statement of Purpose, Spring 2006

The purpose of the Coalition for Social Change is to create a social and 
electronic network that facilitates communication and collaboration 
among the many issue-oriented progressive organizations on the 
University of Illinois campus and in the greater Champaign-Urbana 
community.  In so doing, we hope to create a stronger progressive 
presence in town and bring the resources of the University of Illinois 
to bear on issues of local importance.  The social issues of progressive 
interest we anticipate focusing on may include strategies to empower the 
impoverished and less privileged, addressing systems that perpetuate 
racial inequality, promoting tolerance of social and religious 
pluralism, protecting the natural environment, and advancing peaceful 
solutions to conflict.

There are essentially three strategies we will use to enable this 
cooperation.  First, in creating a more cohesive community, we hope to 
support each other's commitment to progressive work and think about how 
to best accomplish progressive change in our specific areas of interest 
and through our positions in the community.  In these meetings we also 
want to create a space for people who have broadly progressive values to 
join in progressive work for the first time.  Second, in forming a 
network of progressive persons and activists, we also hope to allow for 
better strategic planning of events in C-U including talks, film and art 
showings, demonstrations, advocacy work, and direct service on social 
issues of progressive interest.  Third, we hope to facilitate better 
publicity and information sharing through a web-based repository for 
persons doing progressive work.  This site would include a listing for a 
local speakers bureau, a comprehensive calendars of progressive events 
and meetings, and a list of contact people and list-serves for 
progressive organizations on campus and in the community.

We have used a traditional executive board structure in order to achieve 
recognition by the University as a registered student organization, 
which affords us various University privileges. In general, however, the 
Coalition structure will be largely de-centralized into topical working 
groups where most of the real work will be done.  We will meet as a 
whole group monthly during the fall and spring semesters in order to 
hear updates from each working group, provide opportunities to network 
within and between working groups, and collectively assess the needs in 
the community and strategically plan ways to address these needs.

Thus far, the following working groups have been proposed:
human rights / health care access and education / criminal justice 
system fairness / Spanish-language access to social services / religious 
tolerance

For more information, please contact:
andrea brandon
sbrandon at uiuc.edu