People Organizing to Demand Environmental & Economic Rights

We recently kicked off our cooperative cooking series CONVIVIO (Get Together). Our friends joined us for a festive evening of cooking at the Fun House, located in San Francisco's Excelsior District and run by our creative hostess Grace Ubiera. On this evening our guests brought an ingredient without knowing who was bringing what. After a collective brainstorm, review of the food ingredients, and a quick assessment of peoples cooking skills the menu was decided. Our chefs organized themselves into teams...

The father/daughter team of Michael and Tatiana got to work on the salsa and lemonade. Our head chef Sofia, aided by Ofelia & Josie, tapped into her extensive restaurant experience and concocted a delicious chicken stew with cactus, cilantro, raisins, tomatoes, onions, peppers & a lil' dab of cola. Gregorio, quite and low key, packed a culinary knockout with his Guatemalan avocado tostadas. The College University duo of Marilyn and Juan felt at ease making an improvised salad dressing for the greens they put together. And Avelina, with her sweet tooth, made an incredible Puebla Mexico inspired dessert with walnuts, raisins, grapes, mangos and yogurt that had us all coming back for seconds.  

Many of our guests first met each other a few weeks back when PODER recruited a over a dozen local community members to participate in the Spanish-language recruitment sessions conducted by Arizmendi Association of Cooperatives in preparation for their opening of a new worker-owned bakery in the Mission District. The sessions informed us about the benefits of cooperative workplaces: democratic decision-making, labor with dignity, defense of worker rights, knowledge in business practices, community building and progressive ideals. This experience was both enlightening and strategic- we are looking forward to strengthening our community activities, youth programing, member program, and campaign demands with explicit cooperative ideals & principles.

 

On Thursday Celebrate Earth Day with us...
El Jueves Celebra el Dia de la Tierra con nosotros (espanol sigue abajo)...

PODER, the Lengua En Salsa Crew & Alba Guerra, local owner of Sunrise Restaurant, invite you to delight in
delicious Salvadoran food, tropical drinks, & live music w/ Filipino soulsters Diskarte Namin & latin music DJ Papikaya'

Thursday, April 22, 5pm-8pm
@ Sunrise Restaurant, 3126 24th St. (Mission District/SF)

On this special evening Sunrise Restaurant will donate 20% of all proceeds to PODER.
Feel good that for less than $40 the whole family can enjoy a mouthwatering meal, support a
Latina-owned business, hear local music, and sustain environmental justice in the barrio.

*Families w/ children are welcome
**Can't join us for food & drinks then click here for a low-carb alternative

********

PODER, la banda de Lengua En Salsa y Alba Guerra, dueña del Restaurante Sunrise, los invitan a una comida Salvadoreña sabrosa, bebidas tropicales, y musica en vivo con el grupo Filipino Diskarte Namin y musica latina DJ Papikaya'

22 de Abril, 5pm-8pm
en el Restaurante Sunrise, 3126 Calle 24 (cerca calle Folsom)

El Restaurante Sunrise donara 20% de todo sus ganancias esta noche a PODER.
Sientase bien porque por menos de $40 toda la familia puede cenar rico, apoyaras un
negocio Latina, disfrutas música sensacional y respaldas justicia ambiental en el barrio.

*Familias con niños bienvenidos
**No puedes cenar con nosostros pues haz click para el alternativo menu bajo-en-carbos

 

The census is a civil rights and an immigrant rights issue!  Join us this Saturday in the heart of the Excelsior at Mission and Ocean Avenue for a home style BBQ, kids activities, a mariachi, and reps from our community organizations on hand to assist residents with the census.

Too often, our communities are undercounted, impacting funding our neighborhood recieves for health clinics, community centers, job training programs, and other important programs.  Our goal is to take a complete count of everyone who lives in our neighborhood to ensure that our community gets our fair share of government funding. 

Brought to you by PODER, the Filipino Community Center, Coleman Advocates and the office of Supervisor John Avalos.

On Monday, March 15th, 2010, the Board of Supervisors Land Use Committee will hold a hearing on the Municipal Transportation Agency (MTA) and the Department of Public Health's (DPH) efforts to create health protective truck routes in southeast SF.  In the Excelsior, almost half (44%) of households live nearby high volume roadways.  They breathe in polluted air that causes coughing, wheezing, and shortness of breath, aggravates asthma and heart disease, and can lead to lung cancer and even premature death.  PODER and the Chinese Progressive Association led a community campaign to urge the City to take action on this ticking time bomb, which led to the city passing a resolution in November 2008 and forming an inter-agency working group to address the concerns.  All three southeast supervisors, including John Avalos (D11), Sophie Maxwell (D10), and David Campos (D9) have joined forces to oversee DPH and MTA's efforts.  "These are life and death decisions made by our MTA every day.  Because of the community's efforts, city agencies have stepped up to reduce the impact of concentrated traffic pollution on local neighborhoods," said Charlie Sciammas, community organizer with PODER.