Celebrating Dignity and Unity in Orick: True North's Regional Leadership Assembly

ORICK, CA, November 16, 2018 — On November 3rd from 1 p.m. - 3:30 p.m. at the Community Hall in Orick, True North Organizing Network held our first Regional Leadership Assembly since 2015. On this beautiful fall afternoon, amidst shadows of redwoods and within earshot of calling elk, more than 100 True North grassroots leaders gathered from Tribal Lands, Del Norte and Humboldt Counties to assess our victories, our challenges and the steps to fully awaken and lean into our power.

From the welcoming and reflections, including Native song and prayer, to interactive encounters; we shared our stories, opportunities and efforts in the community to strengthen our network’s five platforms: 

• Water & Environment 

• Immigrant Rights 

• Police Accountability 

• Housing and Health 

• Public Education

The room was energized by reports of progress and success in these platforms, and re-committed to work together, stand in solidarity across differences, and better our communities now and for future generations.

Reverend Alvin Herring, Executive Director of Faith in Action (formerly PICO National Network), gave a barn burning address toward the end of the gathering. He spoke on the importance of the work that we are doing and emphasized the crucial need for each and every voice in our community to be heard. “We should bring inside everyone who is houseless. We should welcome those that are strangers but in truth are sisters and brothers maybe from another mother. We should NEVER let another man, woman or child go to bed hungry and we should never let anybody that does not hold these values rest comfortably.” Rev. Alvin’s full address can be viewed on Faith in Action’s Facebook page.

The main program was followed by a multicultural dinner catered by local community members and served by True North staff. The crowd sat together to build relationship and enjoy plates of Indian tacos (from the Wiyot Tribe), tamales (from Smith River’s Latino community) and Salvadorian pupusas (from Eureka’s Ebenezer church). Grassroots leaders went home on November 3rd with renewed excitement and hope, and a strengthened sense of connection with their fellow True North leaders from across the region.

Photos from the Assembly can be found on our Facebook page.

True North Organizing Network Spiritual Leaders and Clergy Support Measure K and Keeping Families Together

29 October 2018 - True North Organizing Network spiritual leaders and clergy will be hosting a press conference in support of Humboldt County Measure K and keeping families together Thursday, November 1 at 11:00 am at the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, 24 Fellowship Way Bayside, CA 95524. Members of the press are invited to hear testimony from True North Organizing Network leaders who are affected by immigration enforcement. Accompanying their testimonies will be statements from local and national spiritual and faith leaders, including Reverend Alvin Herring, Executive Director of Faith In Action (formerly PICO National Network).

As a multi-faith network guided by values, our Measure K endorsement is an expression of our desire to promote human dignity and keep families together. We believe in sanctuary as a sacred and safe space, where people are free to live out their lives with peace, no matter where they come from. All of our spiritual and faith traditions emphasize the sacredness of family. Our spiritual and faith traditions also call us to resist racism in all forms. We see the current harsh implementation of anti-immigrant policies as an attempt to return this country to archaic past immigration policies based purely on race and country of origin.

Minister Bryan Jessup of the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Fellowship states, "As faith leaders, we stand up for the humanity and inherent worth of every person. In this country, our economy was built on slave labor and now relies on the cheap and disempowered labor of immigrants particularly of color. Our country’s decision makers harass immigrants to keep them disempowered and dehumanized. We have to stand up for the rights and humanity of immigrants.”

Richard Kossow, of the Humboldt Unitarian Universalist Social Action Committee adds, “It is central to the Unitarian Universalist faith tradition to stand with those suffering from oppression. Recurrent xenophobic US immigration policies and enforcement devastate countless foreign nationals entering and living in the US, often fleeing oppression in their homelands fostered by US political and economic interests. Unitarian Universalists will do what we can to bring about humane justice for our sisters and brothers injured by our government’s injustice.”

Measure K as a local policy would bolster the California Values Act, and ensure local tax money will not be unnecessarily spent on federal duties. Data shows that 41% of ICE arrests happen when someone is transferred from a local jail, and this policy will limit the chances of that happening in Humboldt County. True North Organizing Network leaders have worked with Humboldt County Sheriff’s Office since 2017 to increase transparency around immigration enforcement. In 2017, True North Organizing Network Leaders also built a Humboldt Rapid Response Network to provide support to those being unjustly affected by U.S. immigration policies in partnership with ACLU of Northern California and community allies.  

In this moment, we are called to stand on the side of justice and protect the people who have been affected by the unjust immigration policies and systems that perpetuate trauma and pain.

In this moment, we encourage voters to also stand with us and other supporters and vote “YES” on Measure K. The only way that Humboldt County can continue to thrive as a community is to unite, work to keep families together, and promote belonging in the place we call home.

True North works to promote civic participation including voter registration and education, our organization, including staff and volunteers, does not endorse, support, or oppose candidates for office. For more information, please visit our website at truenorthorganizing.org.

True North Organizing Network Hosts Yurok Tribal Council Runoff Forum at McKinleyville High School

October 22, 2018 (MCKINLEYVILLE, CA) - True North Organizing Network will host a public forum with candidates for the Yurok Tribal Council Runoff Election on Monday, October 29th at 6:30 pm at McKinleyville High School, 1300 Murray Rd, McKinleyville, CA 95519. Frankie-Joe Myers and Susan Masten, candidates for Vice-Chair, and Laura White-Woods and Sherri Provolt, candidates for Orick Representative, will convene in the school’s Multi-Purpose Room. Light refreshments and childcare will be provided.

True North welcomes all community members to participate in this public forum, whether by attending in-person, watching the live stream of the event on our Facebook page (facebook.com/TrueNorthON), or submitting questions via facebook (bit.ly/yurok-runoff) or voicemail at 707-844-0217. We believe that civic engagement empowers our communities to hold our elected officials accountable. Our strong commitment to our families and the land that we live on demands that we act as a community.

Candidates will be asked questions centered around what it takes to keep community ties strong in the 21st century. True North’s River People’s Platform is focused on economic development, educational opportunity, the safety and health of our communities and the preservation of the region’s vast natural resources for our descendants. Candidates will have the opportunity to share with their constituents how they plan to help the Tribe leave a legacy of opportunity and healing for generations to come.

On the significance of this election, Yurok Tribal member and True North Leader Josh Norris says, “The Yurok Tribe’s influence in our region is growing. It is important that our council members represent a diversity of backgrounds and experiences.” Chrystal Helton of Klamath, says “I want Yurok voters to have the opportunity to hear from candidates for Tribal Council so they become more informed and better able to align their votes with their values. ”

True North Organizing Network is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and is not aligned explicitly or implicitly with any candidate or political party. While True North is working to promote civic participation including voter registration and education, our organization, including staff and volunteers, does not endorse, support, or oppose candidates for office. For more information, visit our website at truenorthorganizing.org.

True North Hosts Yurok Tribal Council Candidate Forums in Weitchpec and Klamath

SEPTEMBER 26, 2018 (WEITCHPEC, CA and KLAMATH, CA) - True North Organizing Network will host two public, nonpartisan forums with candidates for Chair, Vice-Chair and Orick Representative to the Yurok Tribal Council. On Wednesday, October 3rd at 5:30 pm. The candidates will convene at Weitchpec Elementary School (444 Upper Weitchpec School Road, Weitchpec, CA). On Friday, October 5th at 5:30 pm, another forum will be held in Klamath at the Yurok Tribal Council Chambers (190 Klamath Blvd, Klamath, CA).

Both events will include light refreshments and childcare.

True North invites the community to participate in these public forums. We believe that civic engagement empowers both tribal and non-tribal individuals. Our strong commitment to our families and the land that we live on demands that we act as a community. Candidates will be asked questions relevant to True North’s values of community, opportunity and development, education, water and the environment, and more. Through their answers to these questions, candidates will have the opportunity to share with their constituents how they plan to help the tribe leave a legacy of opportunity and healing for generations to come.

True North’s Weitchpec to Wotec Local Organizing Committee (WWLOC) will debut their River People’s Platform at the Weitchpec Forum on October 3rd and state their group’s commitment to improving life along the river, led by a set of guiding values.

On the topic of civic engagement, True North Leader Josh Norris from the Klamath Local Organizing Committee (KLOC) says: “The Yurok Tribe’s influence in our region is growing. It is important that our council members represent a diversity of backgrounds and experiences.” Another KLOC Leader, Chrystal Helton, invites the community to the forums: “I want Yurok voters to have the opportunity to hear from candidates for Tribal Council so they become more informed and better able to align their votes with their values. As a Leader, I want to invite folks to our 2018 Tribal Council Candidate Forums.”

True North Organizing Network is a registered 501(c)3 nonprofit organization and is not aligned explicitly or implicitly with any candidate or political party. While True North is working to promote civic participation including voter registration and education, our organization, including staff and volunteers, does not endorse, support, or oppose candidates for office. For more information, visit our website at truenorthorganizing.org.

Del Norte Residents Seek Solutions to Homelessness with Board of Supervisors and City Council

Don’t just manage homelessness — end it!

CRESCENT CITY, CA, AUGUST 8 — Seeking sustainable solutions to address homelessness, a concerned group of Del Norte County residents, supported by the True North Organizing Network, is launching a comprehensive campaign to end it — not just manage it — by rallying the community and critical stakeholders to the cause. Our group will meet with the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors at 10:00 AM on August 14, and with the Crescent City City Council at 6:00 PM on August 20.

For the past year, human beings without shelter have sought assistance in one form or another from Pastor Dana Gill Port of the United Methodist Church in Crescent City. “There are at least 156 homeless students in the Del Norte School District and it’s trending up,” Gill Port said. “We have as many as 500 homeless adults as well. It’s a crisis, and not just a crisis for the people closest to the pain. This is a moral crisis for our community as well.”

Equipped with sobering and hopeful information gained from 10 months of research on local homelessness and what other communities are doing to solve it, our group will encourage the Del Norte County Board of Supervisors and Crescent City City Council to pass resolutions making ending homelessness in our community a top priority. Our group will also invite officials to join in a community-wide collaborative effort to develop innovative and sustainable solutions to homelessness.

“People are suffering, and it’s impacting our entire community,” said group member and Crescent City resident Jill Lapple. “We don’t pretend to have all the answers, but we can’t keep pointing fingers at each other or demanding that the people who are homeless somehow solve the problem. The communities that are being successful are doing so by working together in a collaborative manner. That’s what we’re hoping to achieve with our effort here.”

True North supports local grassroots leadership and action to address important community issues. “People have more power than they realize”, says True North, Lead Organizer Mike Thornton. “We encourage people who care about making our community better by solving homelessness to come to the County Board of Supervisors meeting on August 14 at 10:00 AM, and the Crescent City City Council Meeting on August 20 at 6:00 PM, and show them that this is a priority for their constituents.”