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Dear Equity Action Team,
We are excited to see you on May 14th! We have some important updates for you, including job opportunities, a chance for a young writer to be the Austin Poet Laureate, and announcements. Keep reading! |
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Upcoming Meetings
Give Input at the Winter Storm Uri Review Task Force's Listening Sessions!
The Austin City Council formed the Winter Storm Review Task Force to hear from the community and organizational representatives about your experiences during and in the aftermath of Winter Storm Uri. Here are the dates and times as follows:
May 14th, 6 to 8 PM
May 28th, 6 to 8 PM
June 11th, 6 to 8 PM
June 23rd, 6 to 8 PM
To sign up to speak, please email Patricia.Bourenane@austintexas.gov or call (512) 974-6339 and give them your name, phone number, and the date(s) you wish to speak at. You must sign up by noon the day before the listening session (for example, if you wish to speak on June 11th, please send in your request to speak by June 10th, 12 PM CST).
If you are not able to join during the listening sessions, send us your unique stories in writing, through video footage, or by sending pictures. You can share your feedback by:
All submittals must be received by June 30, 2021.
The Task Force will gather all feedback and submit a report to Council at the end of July summarizing the stories captured along with their recommendations. Additionally, the collage of stories received will be archived at the Austin History Center.
May Equity Action Team Meeting is on Friday, May 14th from 11:00 AM - 2:00 PM
Every EAT Meeting will start at least 10 minutes early to give everyone a chance to connect with one another, chat, get a drink, and enjoy our EAT Playlist! If you have song recommendations or would like to present at future EAT meetings, email Public Information Officer ena ganguly at enakshi.ganguly@austintexas.gov.
You don't have to register to join but you do have to create or sign in to a free Zoom account to join the meeting. This may pose a barrier for folks to join, but we are trying to keep this space as secure as possible for attendees. If you feel we can do a better job of keeping the space secure and more accessible, please let us know!
If you would like to add this meeting to your calendar, you can do so with these links:
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Austin Transportation is looking for community members to serve on an Advisory Team that would give them feedback on how to direct resources more equitably. No need to be a data scientist, just a member of your local neighborhood! You do not need to be documented to be an advisor.
Advisory Team members will be paid $200, and we expect this project to take up about 10 hours of time over 2 months in June and July. Spanish interpretation available. Fill out this application form and email Daniel. Brooks@AustinTexas.gov with any questions.
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COVID-19 Web Content / Language Access Specialist (Temporary Full-time)
The Community Engagement Division is seeking a dynamic and enthusiastic person to join the team, with a focus on the Language Access Program. For graduate students and young professionals, this program provides a unique opportunity to improve the quality of life of immigrant communities in the Austin Area, and support more than 42 City of Austin Departments that develop and implement strategies to successfully serve the City’s culturally and linguistically diverse communities. The person will work in a diverse, fast-paced and dynamic work environment.
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Minimum Qualifications:
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- Graduation with a Bachelor's degree from an accredited four (4) year college or university with major course work in Business, Public Administration, Languages, Community Engagement or related field.
- Experience in a professional/Administrative capacity.
- Bilingual in English and Spanish, Vietnamese, Burmese, Chinese, Korean, Urdu or Arabic a plus.
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Facing Homelessness is hiring!
Ending Community Homelessness Organization (ECHO) is hiring!
Palm District Planning Input: The City is now taking feedback on the Palm District planning stuff, to include expansion of the Mexican American Cultural Center and a possible creation of a Mexican American Cultural Heritage Corridor/District stretching to Republic Park.
Office of Police Oversight seeking community input on Austin Police Department's use-of-force policies!
OPO will host virtual presentations at 6:00 p.m. on the following dates: May 12th, 19th, and 26th. RSVP to each event here. If you have already RSVP’d for the upcoming events, thank you so much.
Each presentation will include:
- Overview of six APD use-of-force policies
- Restrict shooting at moving vehicles
- Exhaust all alternatives before using deadly force
- De-escalation
- Duty to intervene in cases of improper or excessive use of force
- Comprehensive reporting of uses of force
- Ban chokeholds and strangleholds
- OPO recommended changes
- You can read more about OPO’s recommended changes to APD policy on use-of-force here.
- Space for community feedback.
Other ways you can get involved:
- Share Feedback through Survey
- Access English and Spanish survey here.
- Invite us to your community meeting
- Are you a part of a community group that hosts regular meetings? OPO has bilingual community engagement staff available to present at your next gathering. Presentations are available in English and Spanish, with other languages available by request.
- Use the social media toolkit (attached) to help us spread the word about our upcoming events and survey, an essential tool we’ll use to reflect your thoughts in the final policy recommendations
- Stay informed on our upcoming events
Austin Transportation seeking stories for Vision Zero!
The Vision Zero team has been working to connect with families and friends who have direct experiences with car crashes. We are asking your help to spread our call for stories from people impacted by crashes through your organization’s various social media or email channels and/or any of your personal connections in the community. In particular, we want to emphasize the need for stories from those in our community who are overrepresented or a growing share of traffic crash victims (Black / African American and Hispanic /Latinx communities) to ensure they have an opportunity to share their experiences.
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The Library Foundation is pleased to announce the launch of the Austin Youth Poet Laureate Program in collaboration with the Austin Public Library and the National Youth Poet Laureate Program led by Urban Word. This year, Austin will join over 40 other cities with Youth Poet Laureate programs.
The Austin Youth Poet Laureate program aims to identify and uplift young writers and leaders who are committed to poetry and performance, as well as civic and community engagement, across Austin. The Austin Youth Poet Laureate will have numerous opportunities and platforms to share their voice, leadership, and love of Austin.
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#ICYMI
(In Case You Missed It)
RENT Assistance available for victims of domestic and interpersonal violence through Survive2Thrive. Please email Courtney Santana if you or someone you know is in need of help.
Attendees also shared information about Texas House Bill 2989, which seeks to change the requirements of notice for property rezoning, and rights of homeowners to protest rezoning. This bill is connected to an active suit against the City of Austin, and so we are limited in what we can share about it. However, you can find more information about the bill here. |
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