VOTE TRUTH TO POWER:

A SOUTH DISTRICT VOTER REGISTRATION AND EDUCATION PARTY

Thursday, January 16, 2020, 6:00-7:30, Kingdom Center, 611 Southgate Ave., Iowa City

Hosted by the Johnson County Interfaith Coalition (JCIC), a coalition of 17 churches and organizations committed to social and racial justice in Johnson County. The Congregational UCC has been a member of JCIC since early 2019.

            This family-friendly event will begin with a brief, lively program featuring Charisma and slam poetry by Caleb Rainey and Steve Willis.  A free, international meal will be served prepared by Selina’s Creations (Kingdom Center) and the CWJ Social Enterprise Chefs (Sudanese and Latino food).  Voter registration will be provided by the League of Women Voters, and there will be Caucus information tables and a Census table.  A child entertainment area will be provided.

            There will be six voter information booths.  Each will provide information in English, and will also specialize in another language predominant in the South District (Spanish, French, Arabic, Lingala, and Swahili).  Residents of the South District were surveyed and identified six issues as priorities: health care, affordable housing, education, social services, employment, and immigration.  The Steering Committee is working to provide information about these issues focusing on engaging event attendees to vote in coming elections.

            Co-sponsors of the event include the South District Neighborhood Association, the Kingdom Center, the Center for Worker Justice, the NAACP, the League of Women Voters of Johnson County, the Black Voices Project, and the Iowa City-Cedar Rapids Alumnae Chapter of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority.

            The Congregational UCC is very active in the preparation for this event.  Donna Hirst is the chair of the Steering Committee.  Sally Strang is the Coordinator of the Food Committee and liaison to the public schools.  Lee Wood is in charge of county-wide donations of cookies for the event.  Our church is loaning all our rectangular tables for the event. We are planning for 300 attendees. 40% of the South District do not speak English.  A typical family is a single parent with 3-4 children.  This is an “all hands on deck” event and we will be enrolling volunteers during January.

            Volunteer and donation information can be found at:  https://tinyurl.com/JCICVolunteer .  Our church has donated $500 to the event, but we are still hoping to raise another $1800.  Any unused funds will go toward additional, smaller events in 2020.

            We have special volunteer needs for language specialists who can attend the event. We are looking for someone with a truck or big van who can transport some tables from our church to the Kingdom Center on Saturday, January 15. We also need volunteers to help transport UCC tables at 5:00 p.m. on January 15 and pick up tables the morning of January 17.

For additional information contact Donna Hirst, donna-hirst@uiowa.edu.