Local – INDIVISIBLE VENTURA

Action #1 – Write a comment to oppose the Plains permit for an oil pipeline in SB,SLO and Kern Counties! Deadline today!

More information here. The people who brought us the Refugio Oil Spill in 2015 are back for another bite of the apple. Tell the BLM “no thanks”.

Action #2 – Support our local year-round homeless shelter/housing navigation center! Attend the City Council meeting tonight at 6 pm.

More information here. If you’ve ever wondered how you can help the homeless people you see around you, this is it. Sit at the City Council (it won’t be for long) and let your support be seen.

Action #3 – Donate to “Spread the Vote”.

More information here. “Spread the Vote” helps people get that ID in their pocket that allows them into the polling place in our more oppressive states.

Action #4 – Join in a free online course on reducing gun violence.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins University are offering an online course, which begins today, to teach the academic research and strategies they say are the best weapon to curb gun violence. Gun violence experts put the course together after hundreds of thousands of people — many of them students — participated in March For Our Lives last year, calling for tighter gun laws.”  You can take the online course here from Coursera for free (or pay $49 for a certificate) and learn how to combat gun violence in our communities.

Action – Mark your calendar! Come out on June 3rd and show our city council our support for a year-round shelter/housing solution!

At the Monday, June 3, meeting at 6pm, the Ventura City Council (at City Hall – California & Poli) will be taking four very important actions regarding the opening and operation of the year-round shelter/housing navigation center. The agreements with the County, city of Oxnard and with Mercy House (the center’s proposed operator) are on the agenda to be approved.

It’s important that you come!!!!!

We want to fill the room as a visual symbol of the importance of this shelter to the community in addressing our homelessness issues.

Wear BLUE if you can.

We’ll provide matching signs for you to use in thanking our council for their positive actions.

This time, we’re not asking for speakers, just for an enthusiastic group of supporters to be seen and be counted. Kevin and I will arrange for no more than 3 speakers to address the council.

There is now real data and there are real solutions for homelessness. For more information to share with friends, here are 3 significant talking points on housing, including the benefits of affordable rental housing, the state’s proposed budget impact, and how supportive housing reduces homelessness.

Thank you for your support!

Judy and Kevin
Co-Directors of Ventura Social Services Task Force