Wednesday, July 15, 2009

STEP UP2date

Friends of the STEP Alliance: Thought you should know about an upcoming event, 2 recent news stories, and 2 opportunities for email-advocacy. Please take action! And check out the new research links and discussion board stuff on our facebook page . . .

UPCOMING EVENT:

Veronica's Voice is leading a Street Outreach training THIS SATURDAY, July 18th from 10am-noon at Cherith Brook. (3226 E 12th Street, KC MO 64127) All are welcome! Email safecenter@veronicasvoice.org to RSVP, or just come Saturday.

NEWS STORIES:

The County passed a resolution about drug and prostitution activity in the Northeast (6/29) that excluded mention of SOAP/SODA, and adding "restorative solutions" (see news article here: http://northeastnews.net/countysupport.html )

The KC Star had an article Saturday about SOAP/SODA, which was pretty in favor of it and neglected to mention the STEP Alliance or our alternatives. (see here: http://www.kansascity.com/news/local/story/1318816.html )

EMAIL ADVOCACY OPPORTUNITIES:

Write to Lynn Horsley, the author of the KC Star article (lhorsley@kcstar.com). Let her know that there are people in KC who are opposed to SOAP/SODA! There's an example of what you could write in the email here: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhtmjn6d_51f8rqstc5. Feel free to CUT and PASTE, but it's better if you personalize it some. Let us know if you write her!

Write to the City Prosecutor's office (Beth_Murano@kcmo.org, Megan_Pfannenstiel@kcmo.org) if you can't make it to tomorrow's meeting. Let them know that you are in support of the KC STEP Alliance, and hope that our alternatives will be considered. There's an example of what you could write here: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dhtmjn6d_52fmf4f3ct. Again feel free to cut and paste. Let us know if you write them!

Thanks for your support. . .we'll keep you posted!