January 31st, 2014
Thank you for supporting us in 2013! With your contributions, we will expand our work in 2014, meeting the growing numbers of requests for help from communities across the United States. If you have not yet donated, please click on the purple DONATE button on our website.
Here’s an update on some of our latest work:
In Colorado, the Colorado Community Rights Network (COCRN) launched this month and is blazing the trail to drive Community Rights into their state constitution. Yesterday they submitted a CELDF-draftedCommunity Rights Constitutional Amendment that, if adopted, will “codify in law the right to local self-government, enabling local governments to define fundamental rights and prohibit activities that violate those rights.” Read the press release here.
In Johnson County, IL, residents have gathered over 1,000 signatures to place a referendum on the ballot in March in support of their County Commissioners adopting a CELDF- drafted Community Bill of Rights banning fracking. Pressure is building as County Commissioners indicate they may not abide by the will of the people. Click here to read the news stories.
In Upper Mount Bethel Township, PA, residents are organizing to stop the spreading of sewage sludge on farmland. The community requested CELDF draft a Community Bill of Rights ordinance banning sludge spreading within the township. Township supervisors are considering the ordinance. Read more here.
In Maine, residents are facing the East-West Corridor, a 220-mile private highway to be used to transport extractive materials that would force unsustainable energy projects and other development into communities and surrounding ecosystems. Cambridge, ME, residents are voting on a CELDF-drafted Community Bill of Rights ordinance banning unsustainable infrastructure projects, such as the East-West Corridor, at Town Meeting on March 1st. Read more about our work with communities on the EWC here.
In New Hampshire, communities are facing an industrial wind project by Iberdrola corporation. In March, Hebron, Alexandria, and Danbury, will vote at their Town Meetings on CELDF-drafted Community Bills of Rights ordinances that ban the project and establish communities’ rights to a sustainable energy future.
Check out our Democracy School schedule. We have Schools this month in Ohio and New Hampshire. For more information, contact our National Democracy School Director, Stacey Schmader, at stacey@celdf.org.
Thank you for your interest in our work! We rely on your support so we can continue assisting the growing numbers of communities asking us for help. Please consider making a donation at www.celdf.org and clicking on the purple DONATE button.