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March 20, 2020
We ONE Northside Family:
In the midst of this COVID-19 crisis, we're sending out regular information, action steps and fun distractions. We are keeping up important social distancing but we are still a connected community. Here are ways you can stay connected, inspired, entertained and continue the fight for a just society.
Resources You Can Use:
"In times of crisis, seemingly impossible ideas become possible." Namoi Klein in this must watch short video from The Intercept.
Our calls to action today are not new ideas - reducing the jail and prison population and housing people have been long time demands for many of us working on social justice issues. In this unique time, it's become crystal clear that solutions we have been calling for - Medicare For All, Fair Tax , a Homes Guarantee are ones that create not just a safety net, but a cushion that can support the most vulnerable people in out city and nation. The urgency that COVID-19 has brought us also brings us an opportunity to use our radical imaginations and activate our strongest values to build a better world. What does a better world look like after COVID-19? How can we transform these ideas into actions to create sustainable, thriving communities for all of us?
Watch the Naomi Klein video here and send us your big visions!
Take Action:
1. Help Decarcerate Cook County Jail!
Call-in and demand Cook County decarcerate to protect the health and safety of people inside and our entire community. Scripts and phone number are here.
Jails and prisons are known to quickly spread contagious diseases. Incarcerated people have limited ability to fight the spread because they are confined in close quarters and contact with people who may have been exposed is unavoidable. This poses serious health risks to people within the Jail and to the rest of the community. Our open letter demands Cook County take measures to protect all County residents, including:
- immediately releasing anyone who is incarcerated in Cook County Jail on an unaffordable money bond
- admitting no new people to the jail on money bond
- providing emergency bond reviews for all incarcerated people who request them
- immediately releasing individuals over the age of 50 or with compromised immune systems from the Jail and
- providing personal hygiene, cleaning, and sanitation supplies free of charge to anyone who remains incarcerated.
2. Help house people in need of housing
People in unstable housing conditions need safe places to self isolate and be in quarantined conditions.
We are demanding elected officials and the City's housing staff to use emergency powers to appropriate hotels and other available facilities immediately in order to protect people struggling with homelessness. Everyone deserves safe places to slow the course of COVID-19
Please call:
- Governor Pritzker: 312-814-2121 or 217-782-0244
- Deputy Mayor Samir Mayekar: 312-744-8463
- Housing &Real Estate Chair, Alderman Harry Osterman: 773-784-5277
Use this script:
"Hello, my name is [NAME]. I'm a leader with ONE Northside, and I live
in [ZIP CODE].
I am calling to insist that the [governor/mayor] use whatever means necessary to appropriate hotels and other facilities to house the homeless for the duration of the COVID-19 crisis. As a high-risk population, they are most at risk to die AND may pass the virus to others and make the crisis worse. Do the humane, responsible thing and shelter all people safely without delay. Thank you."
The lines can be busy right now due to the chaos of the epidemic. Please keep trying as long as you can.
3. Demand nurses are protected during COVID-19!
Nurses across the country report that they are not receiving the proper staffing, personal protective equipment (PPE), education, and communication from their employers, or isolation rooms they need to safely care for COVID-19 patients.here is an opportunity to include an emergency OSHA standard to protect nurses working on the frontlines of COVID-19
Sign the National Nurses Unions’s petition to Congress about protections for nurses now or call Congress about COVID-19: 202-335-6015
Use this script:
“Hi, my name is ___________, and I’m a constituent from _(city/town) . I’m calling to ask my representative to demand that H.R. 6139, the COVID-19 Health Care Worker Protection Act, be included in the next COVID-19 omnibus bill, and to vote YES on the House floor. It is crucial that we take action to protect frontline health care workers, patients, and the public during this crisis. This bill would direct OSHA to enact an emergency temporary standard so that frontline nurses and other health care workers have the personal protective equipment they need to care for their patients during this pandemic. If nurses become infected, they won’t be there when our loved ones need them. Protecting our frontline workers is necessary to containing this outbreak. Thank you.”
It's Not All Bad....
Free WiFi For Everyone! Xfinity WiFi hotspots across the country will be available to anyone who needs them for free – including non-Xfinity Internet subscribers. For a map of Xfinity WiFi hotspots, visit www.xfinity.com/wifi. Once at a hotspot, select the “xfinitywifi” network name in the list of available hotspots and then open a browser like Google Chrome, Safari or Firefox. If you need help with this - reply to this email or reach out to someone at ONE Northside by calling 773 769 3232 ext 21. We want to help you stay connected to resources during this time!
After all this is over, I'm expecting to drop my son off at midwestern college campus in the fall. I might get a dog to cope with his absence. Maybe one of these fluffy puppies?
I'm forever contemplating becoming a full time vegetarian - before I started working home, I visited the library to pick up this cookbook. I highly recommend stocking up on books and dvds at the library before they limit their hours even more - they're closed today and will be open tomorrow. You can get up to 30 books and 6 dvds!
Also, Trevor Noah keeps me laughing throughout all the pandemic precautions.
Thanks for making it to the bottom of this newsletter! Stay safe and healthy.
In community,
Anna M and the ONE Northside Staff
March 18 Newsletter
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