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Big Sunday is now the largest volunteer event of its kind in the country connecting over 400 organizations with over 50,000 volunteers, and it’s happening right here in Hollywood.

We have two teams committed to going out and helping with these projects:

1. Beautify Another Home for Runaway Teens.

Have a day of spring cleaning at Beachwood House, a long-term LA Youth Network home. (An an annual Big Sunday favorite.) Paint. Repair. Clean up. Fix up. Spruce up. They need a few rooms and a hallway painted. And, if there’s someone out there with carpentry skills, they have some back stairs that could really use your help. Also needed: A large t.v. for the living room and 4 new or gently-used dressers for the bedrooms.

Sunday, May 3rd
Start Time: 09:00 AM
End Time: 01:00 PM

Beachwood House
2471 N. Beachwood Dr.
Los Angeles, 90068 [map]

2. Wash Cars With the Kids From Covenant House

Our friends, the great kids from Covenant House, never just want to get help. They want to give help, too. Join them as they hold their annual, memorable car wash to help a destitute orphanage in Tijuana. (The orphanage is on a site called “The Dump.”) Last year the Covenant House kids raised enough money to help the orphanage get electricity! Sign up here to volunteer. If you need your cash washed, please stop by. They’re at the Corner of Western and Fountain in L.A.!

Sunday, May 3rd
Start Time: 09:00 AM
End Time: 01:00 PM

Covenant House California
1325 N. Western Ave (Fernwood Parking lot)
Hollywood, 90027 [map]

If you can make it, please fill out this formand Cecilia, Leslie, or Nathan will contact you to let you know where and when your team will be meeting up the day of the project. Hope you can make it!

Los Angeles Families Phone City Council Urging Passage of a Mixed-Income Housing Ordinance By June!

Housing Advocates establish a hotline this week to urge city council to take decisive action on the Los Angeles Housing Crisis and pass a mixed-income housing ordinance by June. This ordinance would ensure that in every new development in the city would include units affordable to working families.

This week LA Voice PICO, a faith-based community organizing group and the Housing LA Coalition is urging communities all throughout Los Angeles to make a phone call to City Council and the Chair of the Housing Committee, Herb Wesson to urge him to pass a mixed-income housing ordinance by June of 2009. Recent studies show that out of 14,000 units built in LA in 2006, 90% of those units were affordable only to those who made $135,000 or more. This ordinance would ensure that every new development in Los Angeles would include units affordable to working and middle class families.

Over the last two years, LA Voice and Housing LA secured commitments to address the Cityʼs Housing Crisis from the following Council members: Council Member Ed Reyes (CD 1), Wendy Greuel (CD 2), Richard Alarcon (CD 7), Jan Perry (CD 9), Herb Wesson (CD 10), Bill Rosendahl (CD 11), Council President Eric Garcetti (CD 13), Jose Huizar (CD 14) and Janice Hahn (CD 15).  All pledged to support a comprehensive housing strategy that would ensure affordable housing to Los Angeles residents. In October of 2008, Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa included a Mixed-Income Housing Ordinance as part of his comprehensive housing plan that would ensure that all new developments built in Los Angeles would include affordable units for LA residents. Los Angeles cannot wait to pass this ordinance any longer. Thousands of families are losing there homes during this financial downturn and entering a rental market that is only affordable to wealthy Los Angeles residents.

LA Voice Clergy Leader, Pastor Ryan Bell states, “Los Angeles residents canʼt wait any longer. The City of Los Angeles needs to address this housing problem and introduce a Mixed-Income Housing Ordinance now!”

This Saturday and Sunday, March 7th and 8th residents from all across Los Angeles are launching the campaign and calling the hotline to be directed to their City Officials to urge them to act. The Phone Calling Campaign will continue for the next few weeks.

**************

WHO: LA Voice PICO and Housing LA Coalition, along with residents all across Los Angeles

WHAT: LA Voice PICO and the Housing LA Coalition have created a hotline (1- 888-531-1335) for residents to call City Council and Chairman of the Housing Committee Herb Wesson to urge passage of a Mixed-Income Housing Ordinance for the CIty of Los Angeles.

WHEN: the Campaign will be launched Saturday, March 7 through the end of the month in
neighborhoods across the city

Download PDF of Press Release

A MEAL TO EAT

A PLACE TO SLEEP

A CHANCE TO DREAM

Our audacious aspiration is to take responsibility for every person within this circle having these three things. In a city where we have 78,000 homeless men, women, and children it can be overwhelming to try and tackle even a small part of an issue like homelessness. Instead our strategy will be to take the small circle that surrounds us and focus there. To begin we have three objectives:

1. Familiarize ourselves with the community and the people who live here.

2. Discover what services are already in the area and what they are doing to help i.e. shelters, community clinics, food banks.

3. Understand the social programs that exist and how they work.

From this place of understanding we can be a resource to anyone we meet who might need help. In addition, we can discern with our experiences of learning in what specific way we are being called to serve.

While meeting the needs of the community, whether that be food, education, or housing, we will also look for ways to change the systems that contribute to the cycle of poverty. To do this there will be no one leader to light the way but all of us within our one mile working together to find a way out and through. By together continuing to learn and understand why things are the way they are we will find the solutions yet to be discovered. It is not a clean and clear path. Beginning we must be okay with not knowing where we will end up or how we will get there!

Sound exciting?

Please, join in the journey! There will be efforts happening on a weekly basis to move forward on our mission. Keep your ears open during announcements or check the blog to see what’s happening if you want to get plugged in. I believe totally that God has given us everything we need to accomplish this. Together we can do it!

Peace, Love, and Justice,

Nathan French - 740.504.6499

buckeyenathan@gmail.com

Many of us at the Hollywood Adventist Church have been deeply involved with LA Voice/PICO in a campaign to raise awareness about LA’s need for affordable, mixed-income housing. This campaign is reaching a very critical point and needs your support! Here is an email from LA Voice Community Organizer, Joe Hari:

HSDA FRIENDS,

We’ve learned of some very troubling news regarding the campaign for mixed income housing. Last week, a technical advisory committee met to discuss the financial feasibility of mixed income housing. The committee was formed to advise the Mayor. Our developer allies, who support a housing policy that will provide for all income levels, WERE DROWNED OUT by the other developers, who support a weak and watered down law.

Possible Action:
LA Voice and our Housing LA allies are strategizing on how we might counter the setback. One idea is to attend and organize for the next technical advisory committee on Thursday, January 29, 8:00 am – 10:00 am. Perhaps you could check your calendars and see if this day and time would work for you. Our concern is that we are overextending ourselves by organizing for both the evening meetings and the morning meeting. What are your thoughts?

Scheduled Action:
At the very least, we need to have a great turnout for the Mayor’s evening community meetings on January 27, 28, and 29!!!

I’ll give you an update as soon as I have more information.

Keep our campaign in your prayers.

Joe

If you would like to become more involved, you can attend one of these three upcoming important meetings held by the Mayor’s Office. There will be breakout discussion groups, and the Mayor’s Office will be taking notes on our community priorities.

East LA
Tuesday, January 27, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Young Nak Presbyterian Church
1721 N. Broadway
LA, 90031

San Fernando Valley
Wednesday, January 28, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Van Nuys City Hall
14410 Sylvan St., Room 211
Van Nuys, 91401

Central Los Angeles
Thursday, January 29, 6:00 – 8:00 pm
Immanuel Presbyterian Church
3300 Wilshire Blvd.
LA, 90010
(2 blocks west of the Wishire/Vermont Red Line station.)

Some talking points for discussion:

1. We need a mixed income housing law that will ensure production for a range of incomes, including the lowest incomes.
2. We need a mixed income housing law that will preserve apartments that have modest rents because they are protected under rent control.
3. We need a mixed income housing law that will have a significant impact in all areas of the city.

In connection with the Salvation Army, we’re adopting a family for Christmas: parents Jonah and Cynthia, daughter Jania (6) and two sons, Joquin (9) and Josiah (4). 

Three years ago this family became homeless. For a year they lived in various emergency homeless shelters, and then they were accepted into a two-year transitional housing program. They recently moved into their own apartment and are very grateful for the skills they learned while staying at the transitional housing. Neither parent is working right now, but Jonah is currently a student and hopes to become an ESL instructor.

We only have one week left to collect gifts for the family. Please bring your gifts to put under our Christmas tree next Sabbath, December 13th. If you cannot personally bring a gift to church, please call us to discuss other ways that you can help. Here is a PDF with a list of the gifts this family needs. If you cannot personally bring a gift to church, please call us to discuss other ways that you can help.

For more information, contact Lennox at (323) 462-0010, ext. 3.

In order to make sure we grab everything we need for our adopted family we need you to post in the comments below what you will be purchasing. If we can get everyone’s purchase plan posted asap we can make sure we grab anything left over before this weekend.

The Hollywood Adventist Church has taken some small steps to give a public witness against all forms of torture in our country. As a congregation who has been involved in this important moral issue, we invite you to participate in what promises to be an incredible interfaith service against torture.

Sunday, November 23, 2008 

St John’s Cathedral - 514 W Adams Blvd, L.A. 90007
3:00-4:45 PM Program
5:00-6:00 PM Choral Evensong

Speakers: 
The Reverend Canon Henry Atkins, St Michael’s & All Angels Episcopal Church
Dr. Sarah Sentilles
Glen Stassen, Fuller Theological Seminary
Eisha Mason, American Friends Service Committee

Moderator:
Rev. Gwynne Guibord

Homilist at Evensong: 
Rt. Rev. Jon Bruno, Bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles

Canon Henry Atkins will frame the U.S issue of U.S. Sponsored Torture historically and theologically and present a Christian perspective on the moral imperative for mobilizing against torture.

Dr. Sarah Sentilles, whose dissertation at Harvard Divinity School focused on the photographs of Abu Ghraib will speak on the erosion of morality and the soul of the nation when it engages in torture.

Glen Stassen, will discuss the role of Evangelicals for Human Rights in opposing torture and the call to abolish torture from an Evangelical Christian Perspective.

Eisha Mason will discuss recent successes in grassroots mobalization on the topic and will provide specific opportunities for action.

Did you know that there is a proposal to build a park right on top of the 101 Freeway? It’s being called the Hollywood Freeway  Central Park and the plans are well under way. Join members of our community for meeting on Tuesday, November 18 at 6 p.m., where the feasibility study will be unveiled! The consultants, EDAW, will present the  results of the study and the  reasoning behind their recommendations.

Location: Helen Bernstein High School, 1309 N. Wilton Pl, enter off of Fountain.
Download the flyer here.

Today we announce that the Hollywood Adventist Church has finally gotten its act together and started a recycling program. For a while we’ve been carting some bottles and cans to a remote recycling center but now we have our own dedicated recycling bin next to the trash bin on the Canyon Drive side of our property.

You will also notice several blue recycling containers around. There is one in the Fellowship Hall and one on the East side of the church foyer. There is also a green bin in the church office work room for recycling. While you are on the church property, please recycle all paper, cardboard, cans and bottles.

Also, if you don’t have a convenient way to recycle at your apartment or home and would like to bring your personal recycling to the church, please contact Marcel Schwantes to discuss this option. As long as there is room in the bin, we are happy to have you recycle your trash at the church.

This coming weekend (November 1 and 2) will bring two opportunities to volunteer with LA Voice/PICO to Get out the Vote!

Here’s what LA Voice’s community organizer, Joe Hari, has to say about this event:

Besides encouraging people to vote, we’ll be conducting a survey where we ask people how they feel about their community in Hollywood. We’ve already met many fascinating people that have given us valuable insights…….everything from a little old Russian lady who insisted that whether she votes or not is “Top Secret,” the Japanese woman who said that her biggest problem is the cockroaches in her apartment, and the struggling artist that “knows” that his landlord would like to evict him to get higher rent.
BONUS: BONUS: BONUS: Join us and get a groovy LA Voice t-shirt for the low, low price of FREE!!!!

Saturday, Nov 1
Meet with Mireya Peña after potluck this Sabbath. Then we’ll meet up with Joe at 3:00 p.m. at the Pollo Loco at 1260 Vine Street, 90038.
Add to Google Calendar

Sunday, Nov 2

Meet at the church at 2:00 p.m.

Our community organizing work around affordable housing in Los Angeles with LA Voice swung into high gear again this past week. On Saturday, several of our members attended a town hall meeting with Mayor Villaraigosa. Mireya Pena chaired that meeting in an extremely successful way. Here’s a quote from our organizer Joe Hari sent by email this week:

Mireya Pena did an excellent job chairing the meeting. A staff member from a coalition organization approached me afterwards and said that “we’re going to win mixed income housing because of her.” Mireya was cool, smooth, intelligent, in control, funny, and full of God’s spirit.

Alburn Binkley also gave a testimony at Saturday’s meeting.

On Monday Pastor Ryan was privileged to attend a press conference where the mayor unveiled his plan to aggressively address the housing crisis in Los Angeles. Kelsy Jarboe (above, with Mayor Villaraigosa looking over her shoulder) was one of only four speakers at this press conference (the other three were the mayor, a Councilmember and a big developer. Pretty good company if you ask us!). We are so proud of the work our members are doing to advance economic justice in our city.

You can read more at the LA Voice - PICO blog.