Freedom Center organizer Caty Simon is attending the Community Activation Network's Community Power Kickoff to represent us and would like other Freedom Center members & people interested in the mad movement to join her. The event is on DATE CHANGE March 28th at Hampshire College. 12-6PM--you'll be
directed by signs as soon as you get there showing you specifically where to go.

Here's a quick summary of the event.

The Community Power Kickoff will connect students to our communities. Students and student groups that want to make a positive impact in local communities with be brought together. Community organizations will present their ongoing work on a panel and take questions from a diverse audience of social and environmental justice activists. Students looking to get involved in community efforts related to social justice and sustainability will find many attractive opportunities, while community organizations will make new connections with students to help further their social and environmental justice goals.

The kickoff will be a time and space for activists, student groups, and community organizations to network, and work on building sustainable relationships and collaborative efforts. Break out groups will discuss a
range of topics, from reclaiming abandoned buildings for homeless co-ops and community spaces to consideration of the need for a regional body to respond to local and global state violence (e.g. the racist prosecution of Jason Vassell and the killing of over 1000 people in Gaza).

The kickoff aims to be a stepping stone in the organizing of a poverty social forum, a space in which the oppressed, student activists, community groups, and a diversity of minds will come together to explore ways to
create organic self-perpetuating safety nets in our communities that guarantee people basic necessities.