Events are typically updated at the beginning of each month. See also Local 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 meeting will be by Zoom on June 20th at 7:30 p.m. All are welcome.
Zoom Meeting information:
Topic: Community Coalition for Social Justice March Meeting
Time: May 16th, 2023 at 7:30 p.m. Eastern time (US AND CANADA)
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Meeting ID: 814 1170 4210
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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.
We will also have a booth at the Morgantown Pride Block Party on Saturday June 24th at the Hazel Ruby McQuain Park and amphitheater. See details about this event below. We will look forward to seeing you there.
We will be back at the Hazel Ruby McQuain Park and amphitheater for our second Social and Environmental Justice Fair on Sunday, September 17th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. This will be the first day of WVU’s Diversity Week, and we are coordinating with the organizers of Diversity Week to publicize our event and encourage the WVU community to attend. At “press time,” we have commitments from Morgantown Pride, the Morgantown/Kingwood Branch of the NAACP, and, possibly, the ACLU of West Virginia. We also plan to have music by the steel drum band.
If you are interested in participating this year, please contact Mike Attfield at mdattfieldo@gmail.com.
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).
We hosted a social justice/environmental justice “fair” at Morgantown’s Ruby Amphitheatre on September 18th from 2:00 to 4:00 p.m. This was funded with support from the FirstEnergy Foundation.
The following groups joined the CCSJ in participating: ACLU West Virginia, Appalachian Book Project, Church of the Brethren, Friends of Deckers Creek, League of Women Voters of Morgantown-Monongalia County, Mon River Trails Conservancy, Morgantown Human Rights Commission, Morgantown NOW, Morgantown-Kingwood Branch of the NAACP, Morgantown Quakers, PFLAG Fairmont, Rape and Domestic Violence Information Center, West Virginia Rivers, West Virginia Poor People's Campaign, West Virginia University LGBTQ+ Center, and the West Virginia University Native American Studies Program. Al Anderson sang, and several groups spoke about their activities. We know that some important connections between groups have already started and hope to continue to strengthen those connections.
A few pictures from the event are shown below. For more photos, please go to our Facebook page. We also were featured in a WBOY TV News article. In speaking with the participants we heard that there was interest in repeating the event next year. Please email CCSJWV@gmail.com if you would like to have a table.
Thanks to Mike Sharley and Mike Attfield, who staffed a table for us at the block party on Sunday, August 28th, 2022.
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.”