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Doña
Ana
Communities United
May 2019
Newsletter
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Happy last hours of May to our supporters and friends!
In this newsletter, you'll read about our visit and picnic with our colleagues from SINC, mapping updates at Community of Hope, Say Your Piece (the story-telling workshop we are hosting), and of course the guests who appeared on Kari's weekly radio show,
Just Community,
this month.
Many thanks for all you do to make our work--and our world--wonderful! It is a joy building community with all of you.
In good health,
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Upcoming DACU Events
Timebank Orientation
June 12, 6-7:30 PM (DACU office)
For those who wish to join the timebank
Timebank Get-together: Story Slam
June 15, 6-8 PM (Cruces Creatives)
Listen to timebankers' true stories from the Say Your Piece workshop!
Click here for full details.
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Picnicking with SINC
In May, timebank members gathered at Young Park to celebrate DACU's renewed funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation! Attendees enjoyed a barbecue, played get-to-know-you games, and shared stories about how our community has been meaningful to us. The evening ended the best way possible in the desert: with a refreshing rainstorm!
We are so grateful that our SINC colleagues from Albuquerque, Jayme and Serena, could celebrate with us and meet so many of our friends. We hope they'll visit again soon!
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| Grill master Enrique also celebrated his 24th birthday! |
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| Jayme and Serena joined us from SINC. |
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Thanks to all who carpooled! |
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Faux Speed Bumps!
For the last two years, DACU mappers have been working at the Community of Hope campus to find ways to make it safer for those who don't use motorized transit. Last year, mappers painted a temporary SLOW murals with artist Saba which slowed traffic by 40% percent, according to mappers' observations of the entrance drive.
This April, the mappers worked with artist Leon Miramontes to paint faux speed bumps and bicycles on the asphalt, footprints on the sidewalks, and directional guides on the roundabout. Staff members report that even though they know the speed bumps are an optical illusion, they still slow down as they drive over them! We are in the process of studying their effect on traffic speeds.
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| Enrique, Stanley, Kari, and Leon recreate Abbey Road. |
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Storytelling Workshop Series Spotlights Equity
Lifting up the voices of those experiencing injustice and inequity helps build movements to improve conditions that shape health, safety, and security. During May and June, DACU is one of three sites nationwide piloting a storytelling curriculum commissioned by the National Collaborative for Health Equity that aims to do just that. The seven-session
Say Your Piece curriculum was developed with support from the Margaret E. Casey Foundation in conjunction with the
W.K. Kellogg Foundation. It aims to empower people from all walks of life to tell their lived experience in compelling, creative, and intimate ways.
DACU's
Say Your Piece participants will be sharing their personal equity stories at our June timebank get-together, a story slam. Join us at Cruces Creatives from 6-8 PM on June 15th to hear these amazing stories rooted in lived experience, and bring your friends and family!
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| Some of DACU's Say Your Piece participants after our second meeting. |
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Kari continues to broadcast her radio show
Just Community on KTAL-LP every Thursday morning from 8 to 9
AM. (Locally, tune your dial to 101.5 FM, or listen to the show
online from anywhere in the world
.)
The show focuses on social equity and features voices not often heard in our community.
These guests and topics have been featured so far in May:
- Sean Bolen (medical cannabis and PTSD)
- Saba (Illegal(?) Arrowsoul Art Show)
- Teague Hartford (living with a family of inner people)
- Sam Hernandez (a professional diver experiencing age discrimination)
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Saba and his daughter, Patience. |
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Sean Bolen at KTAL. |
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Kari and Sam after the show. |
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| Teague Hartford with Kari. |
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You can listen to archived shows
here
. If you know someone who would be an interesting guest, please
contact Kari.
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Directions to Our Office
151 South Walnut Street, Unit B13
You'll find DACU at the corner of Walnut and Griggs in the Walnut Business Park.
Please call before you come by as we may be out and about in the community!
We are just a few blocks away from several bus routes: Route 6 (stops 16 and 17), Route 7 (stop 20), and Route 8 (stop 5).
For more information, visit
the
Roadrunner Transit webpage.
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Our Vision:
Our Mission:
Doña Ana Communities United (DACU) creates welcoming spaces for all people, especially those whose voices and stories go unheard. We build genuine relationships, carry out uplifting projects, and engage with local government.
Our Initiatives:
(1) Social equity mapping: Undervalued community members explore their neighborhoods and work with local decision makers to develop policies that advance health equity. Current efforts focus on the Community of Hope, Gallagher Park, the Nevada Neighborhood, and Lisa Drive in Chaparral.
(2) hOurTime timebank: Members build social cohesion and practice an equitable form of alternative economics by exchanging
services.
(3)
Just Community radio show: Residents with lived experience of social inequities share their insights into how we can work together to advance equity in our county.
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