July 2015 Meeting Reminder

from Sharon Lux

Hi Everyone​,​

       

Reminder of our MONTHLY MEETING , this Monday evening, 6:30pm to 8:30pm, July 27, 2015 at the Garden Club Center, 911 Parkway Drive, Fort Pierce, Fl. 34954. It is about 4 or 5 blocks west of the American Legion (our old meeting place) on Georgia Ave. It is the yellow building off the circle, right next to Glidden Park, you can’t miss it. Call me if you need directions​, ​772-528-4076, also a map is on our web-site. We will have water and green tea (free) available ​ and movie popcorn. Come early for some social time before our event; doors will open at 6:00pm. We must start on time to ensure we get out on time.

This month we will be showing the FREE film series presentation, "Years of Living Dangerously"

The film explores what is being done to fight the onslaught of population and climate changes .

 ​Please attend to find out how our local activism of Florida fracking bans have progressed and what we can all do to continue to get neighboring counties on board to ban fracking before the start of the January 2016 state legislative session.CLEAN DRINKING WATER is a major battle clearly in Florida's future. Also plans for Moral Monday rallies scheduled for September throughout the state and Awake The State rally plans for the upcoming 2016 state legislative session. Other exciting events includes a fall social gathering with our Space Coast Progressive Alliance neighbors.

 The most important place to be every month is our event, all our work and activism starts with the support we get from each other​ ​and the recognition of our organization depends on the number of people participating. Please come out, we need your support to make a difference, be part of the experience.

SELF HAS RECORD BREAKING MONTH

from Sharon Lux

Congratulations to SELF!  

The non-profit Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF) set another record in June by closing more home improvement loans than in any preceding month over the last 4.5 years. In the past 30 days, SELF assisted 33 families with a quarter million dollars of low interest rate financing. The loan capital was raised from multiple non-governmental sources, including banks, faith-based organizations, impact investors, and worldwide crowdfunding (i.e., KIVA.org). The favorable financing was used last month for various home improvement projects, including 19 high efficiency air conditioners, 14 roofs, and miscellaneous items, such as solar water heaters, solar PV systems, windows, doors, LED lighting, weatherization and more. SELF’s results in June broke the previous record set in April 2015 and are comparable to the total amount of loans closed in the first 6 months of operations.

 SELF provides their beneficiaries with building science expertise, low-interest rate financing, and project management to help homeowners identify and finance cost-effective home improvements. More specifically, SELF finances energy efficiency, assorted solar technologies, wind resistant products (e.g., roofs and impact windows), and water conservation measures.

  

To date, SELF has helped more than 400 families complete $3.5 million of home improvement projects, with 70% of the lending activity occurring in low and moderate income census tracts. SELF has also developed special programs to help female heads of household and U.S. Military personnel, Veterans, and their families. One of SELF’s recent beneficiaries, Ruth Martinez, said, “Thank you from the bottom of my heart for all your help, your enlightenment and your outstanding customer service.”

 SELF’s Executive Director, Doug Coward, said, “The SELF team is excited to see the rapid growth of the organization and the increased demand for our service.” He added, “We have grown from an initial pilot program started by the St. Lucie Board of County Commissioners in 2010 to now operating as an independent non-profit in 30 jurisdictions with 114 approved contractors”. SELF is headquartered in St. Lucie County and recently expanded into the Orlando urban area in partnership with the Orlando City Commission and Orlando Utility Commission.

 For more information about SELF, please feel free to contact the organization by telephone at # (772) 468-1818 or visit www.solarenergyloanfund.org.

CELEBRATING SOLAR PANELS

from Sharon Lux

Jan Booher, a representative from Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth will be speaking at the Unitarian Universalist Church of Brevard on Sunday June 21st,  2185 Meadow Lane Melbourne Florida at 1:00, helping us celebrate the installation of our solar panels. She is a leading Progressive in the Boca Raton/ Miami area and we are honored to have be with us on this happy day.

Jan Booher is a Board Member of The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Boca Raton (UUFBR), where she chairs the Climate Change Working Group. Last year, this group formed a community effort to promote citizen support for the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Action Plan (RCAP).

This year her efforts have been focused on building an advocacy network of both UU and other groups in Southeast Florida, that is cooperating to support the local, state, and federal agendas articulated by the Southeast Florida Regional Climate Change Compact.

( http://www.southeastfloridaclimatecompact.org/ )

Jan is cooperating with others to organize actions and community outreach efforts that help residents of Southeast Florida make the connection between climate change and the increased flooding, beach erosion, and saltwater intrusion into our water supply. She is also working with others to create Florida Earth Festival ( http://www.floridaearthfestival.com/ ) a celebration of the people, products, policies, and services that are moving us toward sustainability. The absence of love is fear. My hope is that by reaching out in love, and sharing a fun and exciting view of a sustainable world that includes arts that inspire, delicious food, and exciting technology; people will move out of fear and embrace love of Earth. We must see what we might become, so we may chart a course.

From Jan: Love life… it’s far more fragile than we think. Breathe! Hold each other. All efforts to heal ourselves, and all efforts to heal the world, are one and the same. We must reach inward to connect with our life's purpose, and when we are thereby connected to the healing life force, we have the strength and the hope to work outward to create connections between people, among the peoples of the world, and between people and Earth.

MORAL MONDAYS FLORIDA

from Sharon Lux

ALL FLORIDIANS ARE CALLED TO JOIN THEIR SISTERS AND BROTHERS IN THE PUBLIC SQUARE OF TRUE DEMOCRACY

Fall 2015 rallies will be being organized by a coalition of activist organizations. Initial rallies will be held in the following cities:

Jacksonville, Tampa Bay, Orlando, Fort Lauderdale

Large statewide convergent rallies will then be held in Tallahassee in 2016

The Unifying Rally Themes are:

VOTER SUPPRESSION/VOTER TURNOUT/POLITICAL CORRUPTION

LIVING WAGE/POVERTY/JOBS

THE MEDICAID GAP

DEMILITARIZATION OF THE POLICE/IMPROVE POLICE and COMMUNITY INTERACTION

LAND and WATER PROTECTION/BAN FRACKING/AMENDMENT ONE

Great speakers will discuss these and local issues. Next step action booths will provide experts on each Unifying Theme. Great music, food trucks, more!

******RIGHT VERSUS WRONG! NOT RIGHT VERSUS LEFT!******

The rallies are very inclusive with the goal of elevating the popular agenda in Florida. These rallies will demonstrate, beyond question that Democracy is a right that Florida will stand up for. The real impediments, and impeders, to American democracy will be exposed. By 2016, candidates will have a platform to stand on and a statewide movement to support them.

******DEMOCRACY IS OUR RIGHT!******

Ingredients

1 tablespoon vegetable oil
1 head cauliflower
1½ cups plain Greek yogurt
1 lime, zested and juiced
2 tablespoons chile powder
1 tablespoon cumin
1 tablespoon garlic powder
1 teaspoon curry powder
2 teaspoons kosher salt
1 teaspoon black pepper

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 400° and lightly grease a small baking sheet with vegetable oil. Set aside.

2. Trim the base of the cauliflower to remove any green leaves and the woody stem.

3. In a medium bowl, combine the yogurt with the lime zest and juice, chile powder, cumin, garlic powder, curry powder, salt and pepper.

4. Dunk the cauliflower into the bowl and use a brush or your hands to smear the marinade evenly over its surface. (Excess marinade can be stored in the refrigerator in an airtight container for up to three days and used with meat, fish or other veggies.)

5. Place the cauliflower on the prepared baking sheet and roast until the surface is dry and lightly browned, 30 to 40 minutes. The marinade will make a crust on the surface of the cauliflower.

6. Let the cauliflower cool for 10 minutes before cutting it into wedges and serving alongside a big green salad.

Thank you to PureWow for this wonderful photo http://www.purewow.com/entry_detail/recipe/8821/Forget-florets--roast-the-whole-damn-cauliflower.htm?utm_source=synd&utm_medium=ASKDRNANDI&utm_campaign=NOVEMBER14

#‎namaste #‎nomnomnom #‎yummyveggies #‎detroitdoc

We ask that all labor, social and civil justice, education, economic, and environmental activists commit to suspend their worthy work for two fun hours and join their sisters and brothers in the streets in a show of True Democracy. Organizers and volunteers are needed. Please email: moralmondaysflorida@gmail.com Please visit: www.moralmondaysflorida.com Spicy Whole Roasted Cauliflower

CONGRATULATIONS TO SELF

from Sharon Lux

SELF Secures Another Quarter Million Dollars

 St. Lucie County, FL, June 1, 2015 –

 The Solar and Energy Loan Fund (SELF) is pleased to announce that the non-profit community lending organization has secured $250,000 in loan capital from another faith-based organization. The latest Community Development Investment was provided by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, which is an international congregation of Catholic Women who are dedicated to the full development of the human person through education, social justice, contemplation, and the arts. The Sisters of the Holy Names have also made climate change a top priority.

 SELF provides building science expertise, project management, and favorable financing to help local residents identify and complete cost-effective home improvements. Typical projects include weatherization, high-efficiency air conditioners, windows, doors, roofs, solar water heaters, solar PV panels, and more. To date, SELF has completed 1,002 energy assessments and closed 394 loans totaling more than $3.2 million, with nearly 70% of the lending activity in low and moderate income census tracts and 40% of the loans to women. SELF clients have cut their energy use by 23% per household, improved comfort and livability, enhanced air quality and health benefits, increased home equity, and created jobs for skilled craftsmen in the process.

 SELF’s Chief Financial Strategist, Duanne Andrade, said, “We are very excited to be working with the Sisters of the Holy Names to produce more triple bottom line impacts in underserved communities.” SELF has now raised $6.5 million in grants and loan capital since its inception, including partnerships with banks, faith-based investors, impact investors, and an international crowdfunding platform via Kiva.org. SELF also raised the first $1 million in loan capital for St. Lucie County’s new Property-Assessed Clean Energy (PACE) program.

 Property owners interested in making assorted improvements to their property can reach SELF by telephone at # (772) 468-1818 or by visiting www.solarenergyloanfund.org.

UU DOCUMENTARIES

from Nancy Stiefl

What:  Social Justice Film – 2 short documentaries

When:  7:00 PM, Sunday, May 17

Where:  Unitarian Universalist Fellowship at the corner of 16th Street & 27th Avenue, Vero Beach

Two short documentaries comprise the May 17 Social Justice Film.  Both are from Brave New Films which makes videos that inform, change attitudes, and motivate people to take action on important social issues.

To Prison for Poverty exposes private probation companies that profit from charging excessive fees to low income people who can't pay small fines like traffic tickets. If they can't pay, they go to jail. This documentary features two women deeply in debt to Judicial Correction Services, Inc. or JCS based in Georgia.  For-profit companies like JCS contract with cities and counties strapped for cash. The companies collect debts owed to courts with no cost to the government by charging the probationers.

Over Criminalized graphically demonstrates how law enforcement personnel may not be trained to deal with the calls they receive regarding homelessness, substance abuse, and mental illness. This video shines a light on solutions from around the nation that are saving lives and money, keeping the public safer, and moving us away from our national obsession with arresting and incarcerating our fellow citizens.

Following the short films, Sgt. Flowers from the Indian River County Sherriff’s Department will share information about their procedures and programs here in Indian River County.

There is no charge but donations to cover costs are gratefully accepted. The Fair Trade Corner will be open one-half hour prior to the film.

PRISON REFORM ISSUES

from George Mallinckrodt

Hello Everyone,

This is perhaps the most important email I've sent regarding prison reform issues. If the House has its way, Bill 7020 will become essentially worthless. Please read the following and respond to House members as quickly as possible. 7020 needs to go to the floor in its original form.

Please share this with as many friends and contacts as possible. Legislators need to hear from people in Florida and around the country on Prison Reform. My fear is that without a bill such as 7020, it will be business as usual in the Florida Department of Corrections: Abuse, torture, and killing of inmates by correctional officers. Cover-ups by officers and administrators above them. Little or no accountability and transparency.

Please leave a comment on my blog as well: http://www.georgemallinckrodt.com/blog.htm

On March 18th, historic Senate Bill CS/SB 7020: Corrections, made it through appropriations only to be weakened by House version HB 7131. Below is a Side-by-Side Comparison of Senate and House Corrections Reform Bills. I need your help to encourage House members to re-provision HB 1731 to full strength. After my analysis, email addresses and contact info for House members will be provided. Please send them an email or call - we need an immediate response to show legislators that the public at large is informed and expects the strongest possible legislation to keep inmates from being tormented, beaten, tortured, and in some cases, killed by correctional officers.

For those interested in the actual wording of the Senate and House bills, click on the links above. You will be redirected to legislative websites. Read my initial assessment of 7020 as well. Click here for a terrific Senate analysis of 7020.

Side-by-Side Comparison of Senate and House Corrections Reform Bills

	Issue	CS/SB 7020, 1st Engrossed	HB 7131
1.	Requires CJEC to project elderly inmate population	Yes	Yes
2.	Removes exemption for victim injury points for officers who commit sexual misconduct	Yes	Yes
3.	Expands security review committee to include safety issues	Yes	Yes
4.	Allows inmates to receive education gain-time	Yes	Yes
5.	Requires Memorandum of Understanding between FDLE and DOC to be in writing and for legislative notification	Yes	Yes
6.	Requires inspector generals who conduct sexual abuse investigations to receive specialized training	Yes	Yes
7.	Revises method of appointment for DOC Secretary	Yes	No
8.	Creates the Florida Corrections Commission	Yes	No
9.	Requires multiple ways for inmates to file grievances and requires overview of health-related grievances by CMA	Yes	No
10.	Requires use-of-force reports to be under oath, allows nurses to use identification numbers when completing incident reports, limits officers with use-of-force notations from working with mentally ill, requires tracking of use-of-force reports	Yes	No
11.	Creates a new felony for employees who withhold water, food and other essential services and authorizes employees to anonymously report abuse to the inspector general	Yes	No
12.	Requires DOC to establish policy to protect employees who report wrongdoing from retaliation	Yes	No
13.	Requires DOC to track health care costs for elderly inmates	Yes	No
14.	Provides legislative intent to expand veterans dorms and requires DOC to track recidivism for veterans who participate in programs	Yes	No
15.	Recreates the inmate welfare trust fund, caps the fund at $5 million and specifies purposes (CS/SB 540 is linked)	Yes	No
16.	Requires CJSTC to expand the annual training for correctional officers to include more information on techniques to avoid the use-of-force	Yes	No
17.	Increases the frequency of medical surveys conducted at the prisons from every 3 years to every 18 months	Yes	No
18.	Requires inmate health care contracts to contain damages provision	Yes	No
19.	Requires DOC to establish minimum health care standards for inmates over 50 years of age	Yes	No
20.	Allows for inmates to have outside medical evaluations performed under certain circumstances	Yes	No
21.	Creates a geriatric release program	Yes	No
22.	Requires DOC to establish a policy to track the use of chemical agents and requires video recording all nonreactionary uses of chemical agent	Yes	No
23.	Provides funding	Yes	No

My Analysis:

All senate provisions left out by HB 7131 are important. However, I will focus on what I believe are the absolutely essential "Issues" to reverse the culture of abuse, brutality, and cover-up that plagues the Florida Department of Corrections (DOC) and the Office of the Inspector General (OIG).

7.

Revises method of appointment for DOC Secretary

Yes

No

This provision gives legislators more power in the appointment process that now rests solely with the governor. Floridians have seen a revolving door policy that ends with the retirement or resignation of DOC Secretaries who will not submit to Gov. Scotts' agenda of continued secrecy and prison privatization. 

8.

Creates the Florida Corrections Commission

Yes

No

Creating the FCC is the most important issue and the heart of Senate Bill 7020. An oversight commission is essential in investigating the corruption, cover-ups, quashing of investigations, and retaliation against DOC and OIG personnel who have the courage to come forward with evidence implicating "upper level management." The DOC and OIG cannot be trusted to police themselves - history provides ample evidence of their ineptitude. Nor can they be trusted to engage in first rate investigations of suspicious inmate deaths or brutality at the hands of correctional officers.

10.

Requires use-of-force reports to be under oath, allows nurses to use identification numbers when completing incident reports, limits officers with use-of-force notations from working with mentally ill, requires tracking of use-of-force reports

Yes

No

  

As a psychotherapist, what most concerns me is the elimination of: "limits officers with use-of-force notations from working with mentally ill." In the psychiatric unit I worked in at the Dade Correctional Institution, guards with multiple use-of-force notations continued to abuse inmates with impunity. Inmates were beaten, tortured, and slammed to the floor requiring medical treatment to stitch up gashes to their heads.

11.

Creates a new felony for employees who withhold water, food and other essential services and authorizes employees to anonymously report abuse to the inspector general

Yes

No

There are no consequences now for officers who withhold food by giving inmates "air trays" or "skip trays." Likewise, the widespread practice of denying medical services by doctors and nurses had resulted in numerous needlessly painful deaths that rise to the level of torture. 

12.

Requires DOC to establish policy to protect employees who report wrongdoing from retaliation

Yes

No

Without whistle-blowers, Floridians would not have found out about the rampant abuse, corruption, and cover-up that is at the core of the DOC. They need to be protected. For details how the DOC treats whistle-blowers, please scroll down on this link, Miami Herald story: After Florida inmate’s lethal gassing, claims of cover-up.

16.	Requires CJSTC to expand the annual training for correctional officers to include more information on techniques to avoid the use-of-force

  

All officers should receive Crisis Intervention Training and yearly training updates from the Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission. Many episodes in my unit found guards using excessive force on the mentally ill when it was not called for. The progress I had made with my patients was routinely sabotaged by this practice.

18.

Requires inmate health care contracts to contain damages provision

Yes

No

  

Corizon Health and Wexford have between them nearly 1700 malpractice lawsuits. The Palm Beach Post and a host of others have published stories of medical negligence that details longstanding practices of withholding or providing inadequate medical treatment to inmates who died agonizing deaths. Corizon and Wexford must, at the very least, be held accountable financially.

22.

Requires DOC to establish a policy to track the use of chemical agents and requires video recording all nonreactionary uses of chemical agent

Yes

No

The punitive use of chemical agents (gassing) is a widespread practice confirmed by many relatives I speak to with loved ones on the inside. On March 24, 2015, the Miami Herald published a story detailing this practice and its alleged endorsement by highly placed administrators: Culture of brutality reigned at state prison in Florida Panhandle. 

23.

Provides funding

Yes

No

7020 asks for $7 million out of a state budget of $77 billion. If my math is correct, that is 1/1000th of the total. Need more be said?

________________________________________

Call to Action!

Please email or phone members of specific House committees to encourage them to pass the full Senate version. I've only provided contact info for Committee Chairmen. Clicking on the links to the committees will take you to House of Representative pages featuring members of those respective committees (Justice Appropriations Subcommittee, Judiciary Committee, Criminal Justice Subcommittee). All House members may be emailed in this format:

FirstName.LastName@myfloridahouse.gov