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<a href="http://encuentro5.org/home/sustainers" target="_blank">Become a sustainer or donate now:</a> Prospective landlords have told us that they want...<br><br><a href="http://encuentro5.org/home/node/281" target="_blank">Read the Student Immigrant Movement's testimony</a> about encuentro 5 and their campaign work... see images below...</p>
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<span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><a href="http://www.encuentro5.org" target="_blank"><i>encuentro 5</i></a> is transitioning to a new place! The timing is <i>not </i>of our choice. The success of the transition, the centrality of the new location, and e5's continuing value to the progressive community are all up to you!</span></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:17pt;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><i>The work has begun. </i></span><font face="georgia, serif">Our transition team has identified 6 candidate locations and is talking with building owners about the pros and cons of each.</font></p>
<p style="margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:17pt;font-size:11pt"><font face="georgia, serif">But we need your help—today's equivalent of “guns, money & lawyers”—expertise, donations, and volunteer time, to make this move happen without disrupting our campaigns and without narrowing the movement space that we’ve opened up over our first 6 years.</font></p>
</div><div style="line-height:22px"><p style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:17pt;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">Below we outline (1) our <u>current situation</u>; (2) <u>the achievements</u> we want to continue; (3) <u>how you can work with us</u> to help with programming, fundraising, relocating, and powering our operations. </span></p>
<p style="text-align:center;margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:17pt"><font size="1"><font face="tahoma, sans-serif" style="font-weight:bold">-------------------</font><br><font face="courier new, monospace" color="#3366ff">ALL REGULARLY SCHEDULED EVENTS AT <i>ENCUENTRO 5</i>'S CURRENT LOCATION WILL TAKE PLACE AS ALREADY SCHEDULED</font><br>
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</div><p style="line-height:22px;font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0in 0in 10pt"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><b>[HERE & NOW] </b>Our landlord, the New England Joint Board of UNITE-HERE, has told us to move. We had been <i>already </i><b></b>working on the transition but the timetable they gave is too tight for us to (1) find a suitable location and (2) conduct our ongoing campaigns. Our <u>differences</u> with our current landlord concern <u>costs and uses of the space</u>. While we believe that these can easily be resolved, they insist that it cannot. <i>Given the priority of our campaigns (see list of achievements below) and obligations to our constituencies, we have to move.</i> And, we have to replicate the collaborative relationship that we had with the owners of our current location with a new landlord.</span></p>
<div style="line-height:22px;font-size:15px"><p style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:17pt;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">For a while now, predating this move, we have been looking for spaces that match (1) our commitment to <u>wheelchair accessibility</u>, (2) our requirement for <u>ready subway access</u>, (3) our current unique<u> mix of open office, event, and meeting space</u>. We are looking at union-owned and church spaces in downtown and also accessible locations in Cambridge, JP, East Boston, and Dorchester. <i>Ideas and connections that you have may prove invaluable</i>.</span></p>
<p style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:17pt;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">This Thursday and Friday, our resident organizations are meeting to continue work on solutions; in mid-July, we will host a broad community meeting (location TBA).</span></p>
<p style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif;margin:0in 0in 10pt;line-height:17pt;font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><b>[WHAT WE ARE BUILDING] </b>The totality of our achievements equals an open space that must be replicated many times over as we build progressive movements equal to the challenges of our time:</span></p>
<ul style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We are home to more than 20 resident organizations and host activities for 80 more projects and groups</span></li><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We've raised more than $240,000 to cover our rent, electricity and other site costs</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We've built efficient collaborative calendaring/scheduling/space management systems that emerged out of our collective work and needs</span></li><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We directly leverage more than 3,000 volunteer hours each year for specialized electronic, web, building, electrical, and operations activities</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We've built a broad, uniquely multi-generational, multi-cultural community of individuals and organizations </span></li><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We have a sound, if underfunded, technical infrastructure, web server and computer lab along with the necessary skills </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We've host thousands of events, small meetings, and organizing activities; <i>in the last 6 months, more than 250 took place at e5</i></span></li><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We've become a repository of materials and books from many important city-wide campaigns and projects, especially those of the peace movement. More recently we have received books from the personal collections of Howard Zinn, Noam Chomsky and Richard Levins</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We've built broad person-to-person social networks... even though our social-media presence is just beginning</span></li><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We are broadly recognized to be open minded, "ecumenical" space for the <i>whole </i>progressive community </span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We've become a resilient and dynamic cultural space representing resistance traditions from every continent </span></li><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">We are an organizing platform for:</span></li>
<ul><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">pro-immigrant campaigns of global importance</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">several peace-movement networks</span></li><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">the regional global justice movement</span></li><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">the Downtown Workers Center and solidarity unionism</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">Single Payer Health Reform</span></li><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">four different youth-oriented projects</span></li><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">the Human Right to Water</span></li>
</ul></ul><span style="font-family:georgia,serif">For <a href="http://www.encuentro5.org/home/node/271" target="_blank">a review of recent activities, see our end-of-May update</a>.</span></div><div style="line-height:22px">
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<b><font face="georgia, serif">[HOW YOU CAN SUSTAIN AND EXPAND UPON THESE ACHIEVEMENTS]</font></b><b style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> </b><font face="georgia, serif">In addition <a href="http://encuentro5.org/home/sustainers" target="_blank">to donating</a>, <b><a href="http://encuentro5.org/home/node/280" target="_blank">you can work with one of our 4 teams [click here]</a></b> whose work is coordinated by the e5 collective and Mass. Global Action board:</font></p>
<ul style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><b>Program Team</b>: Join this team to add to our programming, work on existing programs (including the <i>Peñas</i>, progressive lectures, etc.) that we will host at the current e5 location and at other public venues; you can also help with event documentation and promotion</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><b>e5 Re-Location Team</b>: this team is investigating new sites, working with potential new partners, developing options for the e5 community to consider, we need real estate and legal expertise</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><b>Fundraising Team</b>: we are working on both transition and long-term sustainability. Help needed for organizing house parties, doing grant writing, doing online fundraising, and events. Help implement existing plans to raise $84,000 for our transition and first year in a new space!</span></li>
<li><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><b>Operations</b>: work at the current site and help with move logistics; includes monitoring space, clean up, day-to-day maintenance</span></li></ul><div style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">
<span style="font-family:georgia,serif">From our origins in the <a href="http://www.bostonsocialforum.org" target="_blank">Boston Social Forum</a> and <a href="http://www.fairjobs.org" target="_blank">contingent worker organizing</a>, some 8 years ago now, <i>encuentro 5</i> and Mass. Global Action have tried to model the notion that progressive social change work happens when we move beyond merely taking positions and <i>create new realities</i>, however modest their starting points. This work will continue at a new <i>encuentro 5</i> location, with our resident organizations, through burgeoning projects like the Du Bois Forum, the Color of Water Project, and with our comrades in the pro-Immigrant and the #Occupy movements. Successes turn on your choices.</span></div>
<div style="font-size:15px;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif"><br></span></div><div style="font-size:15px"><font face="georgia, serif"><i>In solidarity,</i></font></div><div style="font-size:15px">
<font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div style="font-size:15px"><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:15px">Alisa LaSotnik</span></div><div style="font-size:15px"><font face="georgia, serif">Rafael Medina</font></div>
<div style="font-size:15px"><font face="georgia, serif">Suren Moodliar<br></font><span style="font-family:georgia,serif;font-size:15px">Sandra Ruiz-Harris</span></div><div><font face="georgia, serif" size="1">(for the <i>encuentro 5</i> Collective & the Mass. Global Action board)</font></div>
<div style="font-size:15px"><font face="georgia, serif"><br></font></div><div style="font-size:15px"><font face="georgia, serif"><img src="http://encuentro5.org/home/sites/default/files/may_day_prep.jpg" alt="Inline image 1" width="420" height="260"><br>
</font></div><div style="font-size:15px"><font face="arial narrow, sans-serif">[Preparing for May Day]</font></div></div>
</div><br><div><a></a><span></span><span></span><img src="http://www.encuentro5.org/home/sites/default/files/SIm_e5.jpg" alt="Inline image 2" width="420" height="279"><br>
</div><div><font face="arial narrow, sans-serif">[SIM: Responding to President Obama's announcement halting deportation proceedings for nearly a million undocumented immigrants and making them eligible for work permits]</font></div>