Girls Think Tank

City councilmember Donna Frye breaking bread at community picnic

Join us for a community picnic on Sunday, October 12, 2008, from Noon to 4 p.m. in Balboa Park (6th Ave north of Laurel Street).  This year’s theme is “Local Voices for Community Solutions” to poverty and homelessness.

At the picnic, we’re gathering our members, families and friends to break bread with our homeless neighbors; hear great speakers like long-time homeless advocate Congressman Bob Filner, street guru “Waterman” David Ross, and Shakti Rising’s Shannon Thompson; enjoy performances by local artists including our own Corina Rose, Terry Matsuoka, the Super Sonic Samba School, and DJ Quist; and participate in family games.  The League of Women Voters will be registering voters for the upcoming elections to get out the “street vote” and we will hold small group “story circles” about the issues particularly affecting the poor and homeless in our community.

Your $10 minimum donation will provide BBQ lunch for you and a person in need.  Every penny raised will go directly toward keeping folks warm on San Diego’s streets this winter.  We’re raising money for our winter survival backpacks, which will be loaded (as they have the past 2 winters) with sleeping bags or fleece blankets, knit caps, gloves, socks, ponchos, toiletries, water, non-perishable foods, and laminated resource and phone cards to put people on the streets in contact with people who can help them get back on their feet.  This year, we are adding GTT baby bags — homemade bags with baby wipes, pacifiers, infant bibs, infant socks, receiving blanket, wash cloths, baby bottles, cream or ointment, baby wash/shampoo and onesies for expectant or new mothers.

Co-sponsoring organizations include Foundation for Change, Shakti Rising, Lotus Outreach, The Resolved Church, the League of Women Voters, Progressive San Diego, and the Isaiah Project.  We’re looking for volunteers to help get the word out on the street and lend a helping hand on the day of, whether it’s flipping burgers (veggy too!), registering voters, or helping to clean up afterwards.  Working together, we can create community-based solutions to poverty and homelessness!

BUY YOUR TICKETS HERE TO THE GTT COMMUNITY PICNIC! 

Downloadable 2008 Picnic Flyer

Our monthly meeting is next Thurs., Sept. 18th at 7 pm at Audra’s home, 3450 2nd Ave, Unit 25, San Diego 92103 (in Hillcrest/Banker’s Hill at corner of 2nd and Upas).  We’ll be discussing issues facing low-income seniors in San Diego, and Melinda Bell (volunteer coordinator) from Jewish Family Service will speak about the challenges for elderly as they struggle to make ends meet.  With loved ones gone or living across the country, they are often forgotten by the community they live in.  Melinda will discuss some programs that the JFS has to serve San Diego seniors, and we will discuss/brainstorm ways that GTT can help out in our community.  Bring food or drink to share, or even just your thoughts and ideas!

Please rsvp by emailing us at girlsthinktank@gmail.com if you’re planning to attend so we can plan accordingly.  If you need directions, call Audra at 619.793.4668.

GTT First Annual Community Picnic

It’s almost that time of the year again!  We had a great success at our first annual community picnic and can’t wait for our second, which will take place on Sunday, October 12th in Balboa Park from noon to 4 p.m.  Please come help us plan our fall community picnic to benefit GTT’s homelessness outreach project on Wed., September 3rd, at 6:30 p.m., at Farzeen’s place, 1465 C Street, Unit 3418, San Diego, 92101.  Bring food or drink to share, and we will brainstorm how to repeat and even improve upon the success of last year’s community picnic!  Also, if your organization would like to participate as a co-sponsor or supporter of this inspiring event, please contact us at girlsthinktank@gmail.com. 

GTT is proud to take on the heart-wrenching issue of trafficking.  Living in a border town, some of our members have been assessing regional needs and discovered AT LAST (Anti Trafficking Litigation Assistance Support Team), which is launching a free online resource for advocates representing trafficking victims through the legal system. 
 
In lieu of our monthly meeting, we will pitch in next Wed., August 20th, at 6:00 p.m., by helping with a password-protected database for advocates.  We are meeting at the law firm of Coughlin Stoia Geller Rudman & Robbins at 655 W. Broadway, Suite 1900, 92101, in downtown San Diego.  We will provide pizza and beverages.  No special legal skills are necessary to participate; we will just be removing victims’ names from documents to maintain their confidentiality.  For more information, check out AT LAST at http://atlasteam.org/index.html. 

Click on this link to download Civil litigation on behalf of victims of human trafficking, an introductory guide to trafficking civil litigation, complements of AT LAST.  Also check out Rachel Shigekane’s article Rehabilitation and Community Integration of Trafficking Survivors in the United States, which appeared in the Human Rights Quarterly.  Also check out this short Lotus Outreach video on trafficking in southeast asia.

What: GTT’s Night at the Art Museum
When: July 31, 2008 at 7 pm
Where: San Diego Art Museum (www.sdmart.org)

The GTT will support women in the arts by checking out the San Diego Museum of Art’s exhibitions on Georgia O’Keeffe and Eleanor Antin before picnicking in Balboa Park.  The museum is featuring two exhibitions and a “Screen on the Green” event which will feature the “Shop Around The Corner.”  We’ll meet out on the lawn at 7 pm and eat while collecting donations for the International Rescue Committee/VISTA.  Bring a dish/beverage/snacks to share and a donation if you can! 

DRIVE FOR International Rescue Committee/VISTA: GTT asks folks to donate items for tutoring kits for the IRC’s work  with refugees in San Diego who are learning English.  The IRC suggests donations of pencils, pencil sharpener, pens, glue sticks, scissors, 24 crayon boxes, 3×5 cards, notebooks, rubber bands, name tags & plastic covering, erasers, large Ziploc bags, coloring books, books, construction paper, white board markers, 1 inch binders, 8 pack of binder dividers, backpacks, and first aid kits.

David Ross, the waterman, is working to bring in port-o-johns on 16th and Island near God’s Extended Hand.  We want to help him also in his efforts to provide water fountains to downtown’s homeless community.  Let us know if you have any ideas or contacts to make this happen.  David also asks for shopping carts to provide community hauling vehicles downtown — these can be used by anyone and will be painted and marked as donated for this purpose.  Blog your comments and suggestions! 

Also click here to see David Ross Proposal for San Diego Homeless Solutions, which asks City Council to approve a budget for downtown temporary water fountains and port-o-johns.

Title: GTT General Meeting: Intl Rescue Committee
Location: Virginia’s place, 2061 Chatsworth Blvd. #5, San Diego, CA 92107
Description: What do Salvador Dali, Gloria Estefan, Albert Einstein, and the Dalai Lama all have in common? They were all refugees. When given an opportunity, refugees do amazing things. Despite the trauma they have endured and the tears they have shed, they are resourceful, resilient, and ready to make a better life for themselves and their children.  The International Rescue Committee works to help refugee like these start their new lives in San Diego.

Who exactly is a refugee and where do they come from?  For FAQ’s like this, check out the IRC website: http://www.theirc.org/what/frequently_asked_questions_about_refugees_and_resettlement.html MTV True Life did a great job of putting the immigrant and refugee resettlement experience into perspective. See the story of a Burmese family, as compared to a Czech immigrant, in True Life ‘I’m Coming To America’ Two foreigners move to the United States: http://www.mtv.com/overdrive/?id=1581101&vid=207987

On Saturday, April 19, 2008, Vice-President Virginia S. Loh represented the Girls Think Tank at a rally for education. Hundreds of community members, mainly educators, protested the Governor’s proposed cuts to education which would terminate much-needed positions and programs. This grassroots event was the brainchild of 2-3 teachers from Hoover High School. This demonstration started in Balboa Park where people gathered at the corner with signs and bullhorns. Then, we marched all the way to City Hall where some students, teachers and parents voiced their concerns to crowds of people.

Girls Think Tank celebrated its reception of the Channel 10 Leadership Award (see below) at Mellow Wine Bar in Point Loma. The GTT also announced its new Board and was honored with a speech by Dave Ross, the Waterman. The GTT supported a local grassroots charity, Cinderella’s Attic, which collects prom dresses and accessories for high school girls who need formal attire. The GTT raised over $1,000 at this event.

GTT was recently honored with a 2008 Leadership Award by Channel 10 News for our grassroots work in the homeless community and advocacy on behalf of folks who have been displaced on the streets of San Diego. We filmed the awards ceremony at the same place where we do our thing - on the streets of downtown near Alpha Project’s winter shelter. Check out the awards news spot, which aired March 6, 2008, by clicking here.