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August 7, 2006

The Racial Divide Hits Home

With our Race Matters conference this past May, we began a community dialog about the impact of institutionalized racism on youth of color in the areas of juvenile profiling, child welfare, access to reproductive and mental health care, and the media. Now, a report by the United Nations' Human Rights Committee points to another country wide disparity - homelessness.

The report, released on July 28th, notes that although African Americans constitute only 12 percent of the U.S. population, they make up 50 percent of our homeless. This is the first time the U.N. has addressed this issue, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty (NLCHP).

You can read the whole report here: http://ohchr.org/english/bodies/hrc/docs/AdvanceDocs/CCPR.C.USA.CO.pdf

Read the NLCHP's response here: http://www.nlchp.org/Press/detail.cfm?PRID=61

Homelessness Here at Home

Of course, New Mexico has its share of homeless - a growing number of whom are families. At any given time, there's an estimated 3,500 individuals in Bernalillo County without permanent housing.

When families are homeless or live in substandard housing, their children suffer from a variety of problems - from lacking adequate space to do homework to being more susceptible to illness and chronic health problems.

The Albuquerque City Council will likely vote tonight on a proposal to earmark capital program money for affordable housing. The Council meeting beings at 5:00 PM in the basement of City Hall.

The Only Home We'll Ever Have

We were reminded recently by a Monday Minute reader of the importance of advocating for the one home on which we all depend - planet Earth. So the NMVC staff hit the movie theater for a viewing of Al Gore's documentary An Inconvenient Truth. We highly recommend it.

While little of the information on global warming will come as news to anyone who's been following the issue, the film presents it in an excellent, even eye-opening format. And it ends on a surprisingly upbeat note with information about how individuals can make a difference.

It's gotten us to reconsider some of our habits here at the office (such as not considering the recycled content on the paper we buy), and we're working to change our ways. We understand that the health and well-being of New Mexico's children is linked to the health and well-being of the planet on which we all live.

An Inconvenient Truth is still playing at Century Downtown in Albuquerque and DeVargas Mall in Santa Fe. Click here for show times: http://www.fandango.com/MoviePage.aspx?mid=95961&location=Albuquerque&source=moviesearch (type Santa Fe, NM in the "by city or zip" box for Santa Fe times.)

To read more about the movie or purchase it on DVD, visit: http://an-inconvenient-truth.com/?gclid=CNPFgPeOzoYCFQNeOAodZyhU7g

Call for Nominations

Know a New Mexico child or teen who's making a difference in his or her community through philanthropic work? Nominate him/her for the Outstanding Youth in Philanthropy Award. Winners will be chosen in three age groups, and will be honored at a luncheon and receive great prizes. For a nomination form and contest rules, email Robin Brule at RBrule@cnm.edu or call her at 505-244-4685. Nominations must be postmarked by Sept. 18, 2006.

Race Matters Task Force

The next meeting of the RACE MATTERS Task Force has been changed! Please join us on Wednesday August 23 at 2:00 p.m. to discuss the recommendations that resulted from the RACE MATTERS conference and how to take those recommendations forward. Visit http://www.nmvoices.org/racematters.htm for more information and to register.