Events are typically updated at the beginning of each month. See also Local News, WVU News, Regional News, and Calendar
Our monthly meetings are held via Zoom at present and generally occur every third Tuesday of the month at 7:30 p.m.
Our next CCSJ meeting will be on Zoom on Tuesday, December 12th, at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome. (Note the change from our regular schedule.)
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The CCSJ hosted a Social and Environmental Justice gathering on Sunday, November 5th, from 5:00 to 7:00 p.m. at the First Presbyterian Church at 456 Spruce Street in Morgantown. Thank you to everyone who attended. It was a celebration of what all that we have achieved in social and environmental justice over the years followed by a panel discussion of how we can work together so that our achievements are not nullified in the future. It started at with pot-luck meal with food brought by the 50 or more participants from a variety of local social and environmental justice groups. At 6:00 p.m. we had a panel who gave a short talk about their achievements and current actions and missions. The panelists were Judy Ball (Morgantown-Monongalia County League of Women Voters), John Bolt (West Virginia Coalition for Truth in History), Nicole Lauffer (Morgantown/Kingwood Branch of the NAACP), Jim Kotcon (Sierra Club), and Rev. Zac Morton (Greater Morgantown Interfaith Association). The Rev. Jenny Williams (ACLU-West Virginia) was unable to attend at the last minute. Barb Howe moderated the panel for the CCSJ.
Thank you to Eve Faulkes and Reverend Morton for facilitating our use of the church rooms and to Sharon Brinkman-Windle, who provided desserts even though she could not attend. We had extra pizzas that we were able to donate to the Community Kitchen at Trinity Episcopal Church.
Below are three pictures of the event, showing members of the panel (First and third) and the food tables (middle).
We wish to thank everyone who contributed to this event: the Presbyterian church, the panel members, all who brought food, who attended, and the members of the CCSJ who worked hard to arrange everything.
Thank you to those who came out for our fair and, especially to the groups who set up tables. This was the first day of WVU’s Diversity Week, and we appreciated the assistance of Anne Kerns, special events coordinator for the WVU Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, in publicizing our event and encouraging the WVU community to attend.
Steel Away of the CB Drum Studio, the Morgantown-based steel drum band, gave a very popular concert, and Al Anderson sang for us. We welcomed two of Morgantown’s City Ambassadors and met representatives from the local public defender’s office.
Unfortunately we had to cut the event a bit short because the weather did not cooperate. WBOY News came and interviewed Mike Attfield. Their report, including a video can be seen here.
The following groups participated:
Greater Morgantown Interfaith Association
League of Women Voters of Morgantown/Monongalia County
Morgantown City Ambassadors
Morgantown Human Rights Commission
Morgantown NOW
Morgantown/Kingwood Branch of the NAACP
Quakers
Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center
WVU Center for Black Culture
WVU Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
WVU Native American Studies Program
We appreciate the financial support of the City of Morgantown and FirstEnergy Foundation for this event. We were able to use some of the funding from the FirstEnergy Foundation to purchase a new CCSJ feather flag, table covering, and table runner (see PDF for the photo) so we will be more visible at future events, and we especially thank Eve Faulkes for her assistance in designing and ordering these items.
Mike Attfield prepared a short “history/review” of our work over the years for his presentation to City Council on Tuesday, August 29th. The PowerPoint presentation can be downloaded by clicking here.
We voted to support the program entitled “This Land Was Always Loved” with $400 from the funding we received from Duane Nichols and Sue Miles. Further information is provided here.
CCSJ thanks Duane Nichols and Sue Miles for a donation of $2000 to purchase social justice-related books for BOPARC’s summer program. We have purchased 75 books to be distributed to 1st and 2nd graders, 3rd and 4th graders, and 5th and 6th graders, with 25 books for each group.
The titles we purchased were How Not to Start Third Grade by Cathy Hapka and Eileen Titlebaum (Random House Children’s Books); Same Sun Here by Neela Vaswani and Silas House (Candlewick TP Press), and A Skunk in my Bunk! By Christopher Cerf (Random House Children’s Books).
Susan Brown and Lee Petsonk delivered the books to Louisa Mae at the Wiles Hill Community Center/BOPARC office on July 25. Lee took the photos below showing Louisa in the left photo below and Louisa and Susan in the right photo below. Susan said that BOPARC was very appreciative of our donation and gave the books to the campers in the “Arts in the Park” program at the Wiles Hill Community Center during the week of July 24. There were a few extra books, which we are donating to the Shack Neighborhood House.
Susan Brown, a member of the CCSJ steering committee, had a letter to the editor about Juneteenth in the Sunday, June 18th, issue of the Dominion Post.
Mike Attfield represented us at the Morgantown/Kingwood NAACP Branch Community Day at the Marilla Center on Sunday, May 7th. Social justice-related groups and neighborhood associations discussed their work, and, as a group, brainstormed about ways to improve voter turnout for the 2024 elections.
Thanks to Mike Attfield and Mike Sharley, pictured here in a photo by Mike Attfield, who represented us at the Morgantown Pride Block Party on June 24th at the Hazel Ruby McQuain Riverfront Park.
Thank you to everyone who made our 17th Annual Martin Luther King, Jr. Day event on Monday, January 16th, a success. We could not do this without the financial support of the City of Morgantown. We also appreciate the publicity support from Amy Loomis of Main Street Morgantown, which has co-sponsored this event with us for many years. We held our event virtually this year with the support of Jascenna Haislet, Michelle Klishis, and Diane Cale of the Osher Lifelong Learning Institute at West Virginia University.
Our theme this year was “Telling West Virginia’s Stories and Dreams,” so we want to thank all those who participated in the program: Jeremy Thomas as master of ceremonies; Morgantown Mayor Jenny Selin; Al Anderson, Charlene Marshall, and Sarah Little, who shared their stories of growing up in Osage and attending segregated schools; local musicians Al Anderson and Chris Haddox; the WVU Community Choir under the direction of Dr. Kym Scott; and WVU music faculty member Dr. Hope Koehler. Jeremy Thomas read a children’s story about West Virginia native and NASA mathematician Katherine Johnson.The Morgantown-Kingwood Branch of the NAACP contributed to the program by inviting Dr. Joseph Jones, visiting assistant professor at the WVU Reed College of Media, to speak on is “Communities of Care: West Virginia and a Civic Identity for the 21st Century.” We had over 150 people attending.
Charlene Marshall, Sarah Little, and Al Anderson
The event was recorded and to watch the video on YouTube go to https://youtu.be/9-lGBh8EY0k. The video is one hour and 10 minutes long.
There is also a story about the event on Black by God: The West Virginian at https://blackbygod.org/articles/community/martin-luther-king-jr-celebration, and we thank Crystal Good, the editor and publisher of Black by God, for asking us to provide this story and photos of Al Anderson (below,left or first), who sings at each of our events, and Morgantown musician Chris Haddox (below, right or second).
Please send your web site suggestions to Mike Attfield at mdattfieldo@gmail.com. Please contact any of the steering committee members to volunteer to help and to share your suggestions for our work or e-mail us at ccsjwv@gmail.com. Please send items to share with our membership to Barb Howe at barbara.howe@mail.wvu.edu.
Please also remember to send your dues - $10 for individuals and $25 for organizations – to CCSJ, PO Box 160, Morgantown, WV 26507-0160. You can join or donate by credit card via PayPal on this web site. Go to Join Us.
Please note that CCSJ is a 501 (c) (3) organization and therefore is non-partisan. While we encourage everyone to vote and participate in the political process, we do not endorse candidates, provide a forum for candidates to campaign, or publicize partisan political statements.
FIND US ON FACEBOOK! Just look for “Community Coalition for Social Justice” under “Groups” and become our friend. Thanks to Mike Sharley for being our group “leader.”