In this issue…
In CT and NY: Building Power Through Educating Residents
Join Us For “Path to Justice: A Conversation on Criminal Justice Reform”
In CT and NY: Building Power Through Educating Residents
The Katal team including organizers Shaka Colon and Cedric Fulton, alongside Katal members and leaders tabling at the Wayside Outreach Development Health Fair in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
On Friday, August 2nd, a crew of our Albany leaders alongside our organizing team, Kenyatta Thompson, Shaka Colon, and Cedric Fultonwere in NYC tabling on our work during the Wayside Outreach Development Health Fair in Brownsville, Brooklyn.
Our team engaged with Brownsville residents alongside leaders, Shawn and Marketa, about our #LessIsMoreNY bill and how they can get involved in our effort to get transformative parole reform legislation passed next session.
Learn more about our bill by visiting our #LessIsMoreNY page here.
The Katal team talking to Brownsville residents about our work across NY and CT.
In Connecticut, our Apprentice Organizer, Dajuan Wiggins, alongside Community Organizer Kenyatta Thompson, facilitated our Incarcerated Communities exercise at Youth Council for Justice (YC4J) earlier this week. They spoke with young people about how incarceration and hyper-surveillance affects all community members. The exercise led to an in-depth discussion on fentanyl, and the classic drug war approach the legislature took this session through the passage of the Act Increasing Criminal Penalties for the Sale of Fentanyl (HB 5524) which could ultimately worsen the opioid crisis.
Read our op-ed for the Hartford Courant, discussing a number of new drug laws passed in Connecticut this session including HB 5524.
Apprentice Organizer, Dajuan Wiggins, facilitating our Incarcerated Communities Workshop.
The group also discussed the issues they want to tackle within their communities, such as the streets being too narrow, and the need to have a better hiring process for teachers in schools (many in the group felt like the teachers at their high school didn’t care and were “teaching only for the money”).
Youth Council for Justice and the Katal team join for a photo at the close of our exercise.
We thank the YC4J team for having our team connect with their young people! We look forward to returning to organize alongside them, and to take them to both Norwalk’s city hall and the state house in Hartford.
Check out our Twitter thread including photos and videos from the Wayside Outreach Development Health Fair here.
Check out our Twitter thread from the Incarcerated Communities Exercise here.
Join us at our next Healthy & Just CT meeting, Thursday, September 12 by registering here! For details about our next Monthly Member Meeting in CT, contact Kenyatta Thompson at kthompson@katalcenter.org or 860.937.6094. For details about our next Monthly Member Meeting in NY, contact Cedric Fulton at cfulton@katalcenter.org or at 518.965.6771.
Join Us For “Path to Justice: A Conversation on Criminal Justice Reform”
Join us Thursday, August 15, 2019 at JM Kaplan Fund as Katal’s Donna Hylton will be a featured panelist at “Path To Justice” a workshop for millennials designed to start the conversation about reforming the criminal justice system. The workshop will give millennials tools on how to effectively advocate for change and educate the community on reform efforts underway in New York State, including our #LessIsMoreNY parole reform campaign.
The event is hosted by Remedy Network Inc. Partners include: The New York City Mayor’s Office, New York Urban League Young Professionals,Thrive NYC, The JM Kaplan Fund, Katal, and The Brownsville Community Justice Center.
Make sure you get your ticket for this powerful event as space is limited. Drinks and light refreshments will be served. Details and tickets are available here.
