Cville Dems

The Charlottesville Democratic Committee

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2023 Juneteenth Celebration Events

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1. At the Jefferson School (Saturday June 17)

2023 Juneteenth poster                 2-panel graphic: the white left side lists the concert musicians and Ma Rainey's Black Bottom, the right side in dark red gives date, times, and location of the 9am parade, 11am libation, and 12pm concert. in the middle is a rectangular black graphic showing the back of male slave, shirtless and chained arms outstretch, with the words "Emancipation and Celebration" underneath.

The Jefferson School African American Heritage Center (JSAAHC) is celebrating Juneteenth this year on Saturday June 17th with a full day of events:

  • 9am Parade
  • 11am Libation ceremony
  • 12pm-3pm Concert (3 bands!)
  • 7:30pm CPG’s presentation of Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom

For more information and to sign up (to walk in the parade, to get tickets for the evening play) click here.

2. Other Community Events

• 6/18 7:30pm Concert: Rock & Reel: Monticello’s Folk Traditions Sunday, June 18 | 7:30 pm | UVA Rotunda (register for limited in-person tickets or stream it live)
• 6/19 11am & 4:30pm historic River View Farm Juneteenth Tours (Ivy Creek Natural Area, 1780 Earlysville Rd.)
• 6/22 6:30pm Northside Library screening of The Lives Between the Lines documentary (Reclaim, Honor, Repair: Descendants of Enslaved Communities at the University of Virginia)

REPORT: June 2nd Summer Bash Fundraiser (Featuring Rural GroundGame’s Lynlee Thorne)

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Fundraising Committee Chair Nancy Damon and her group (we thank them all for their great work on this!) gave us this recap of a very fun and successful event (even the weather cooperated!):
We had about 150 people come out to socialize, meet the candidates, and hear our speaker Lynlee Thorne, Rural GroundGame’s Political Director.
Big thanks to:
  • Our 60+ sponsors, at all levels, whose generosity makes all our work possible!
  • Our primary food vendor Soul Food Joint (for the chicken and sides and all their table and chair hauling/set-up/takedown), and to Sticks and Mona Lisa Pasta for some of the vegetarian dishes.
  • To Black Bear Composting for… composting!
  • To everyone who pitched in to help with the cleanup, which included delivering our excess to The Haven, which they greatly appreciated.
It worked out very nicely having Lynlee speak; we got lots of compliments about her organization’s good and important work, and our arranging the chance for them to learn more about it.
As Lynlee explained in her talk, Rural GroundGame (RGG) is a Political Action Committee that provides in-kind assistance to Democratic candidates running in rural areas across the Commonwealth. Our party has tended to neglect rural voters, and that has hurt us badly, especially in state-wide elections. RGG helps candidates in many ways (e.g. supporting canvassing efforts, media coordination), and it’s developing a new online platform and research arm.
For more information about RGG, to make a donation, or to see how you might be able to plug in as a volunteer or collaborator, visit www.ruralgroundgame.org.
                
                 

Draft Zoning Ordinance

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Horizontally-oriented graphic reading "Community Forums" in a yellow handwriting-looking script and "Long-Range Planning" in a standard print font surrounded by a white background and an abstract geometric design
As the City continues to discuss the draft Zoning Ordinance (all three modules are now available), a Cville Dems working group continues discussing how our party might contribute to the process by acting as an additional information channel. If you have thoughts on the matter, please reach out to us: communications@cvilledems.org .
Note: Cville Plans Together is holding a Module 3 open house at CitySpace 4:30-7:30pm on Wednesday, June 14. Members of our working group are planning to attend, please join us!

Cville Dems Zoning Plan Informational Forum is a GO!

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Horizontally-oriented graphic reading "Community Forums" in a yellow handwriting-looking script and "Long-Range Planning" in a standard print font surrounded by a white background and an abstract geometric design

The Cville Dems will host a post-primary informational forum, likely a late summer or early fall in-person event, about the City’s upcoming Draft Zoning Plan (all three mdoules are now available). Our party hasn’t taken a position on the issue yet.
A planning group has started meeting to organize the forum and would like to know:
  1. What issues are you most interested in (e.g. affordable housing, parking, density requirements, trees and environmental impacts)?
  2. What are some of the takeaways and/or fears people have shared with you (in person or online)?
  3. If you’d like to join our group!
For any or all of these, please reach out to us: communications@cvilledems.org .

New Organization Profile: “Rally PVCC”

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A new student political organization is forming at PVCC!
PVCC student Mara Cox took a “Women in American History” course from Prof. Jennifer Tomas in Fall 2022 and, in a class discussion, was really surprised how many of her classmates didn’t realize there was an election coming up that year (didn’t follow current events much at all). Though political decisions impact almost every aspect of students’ lives, from housing costs and food insecurity to health care and transportation, and understanding of the world, most of her classmates were intimidated by politics and political discussion. And in an unrelated Geology Club author event,  Timefullness author Marcia Bjornerud emphasized that addressing climate change and other challenges requires scientists to get involved in politics, and politicians willing to learn and value science.
Putting those two threads together, Mara decided to plunge into political work herself, and that was the beginning of Rally PVCC.
Photo of the founders of Rally PVCC: Emily Moss, Mara Cox, and Justin Roberts
Founding officers of Rally PVCC: (L-R) Emily Moss, Mara Cox, and Justin Roberts
Though the club will be welcoming to all, the three founding officers all personally fall on the progressive end of the political spectrum:
        • Mara Cox (co-President) – Mara, now 33, was working in the food service industry before illness and pandemic boredom led her to start reading about evolution, which led to a passion for geology that brought her to college (at age 31) to study geology and hopefully go on to teach geology at the community college level. She started the Geology Club at PVCC, which is now the most popular student club on campus!
        • Justin Roberts — Justin is a member of Charlottesville DSA who’s done anti-eviction work with its Housing Justice Committee (canvassing tenants facing eviction, court watch, etc.). That work, particularly talking 1:1 with the housing insecure, has galvanized his desire to build working power in Cville. He’ll be attending VCU in the fall.
      • Emily Moss (co-President) — Emily was born and raised on California’s Central Coast, where she was active in local politics. She previously attended design school and worked in product design and brand/media consulting, but her passions for climate justice, human rights advocacy, and politics in general have led her to “switch gears”; she’s attending PVCC to earn general credits to transfer to UVA and then plans to attend law school!
      The group is now chartered by PVCC, with Prof. Tomas as faculty advisor. They’re planning to hold an event in late April or early May (maybe even a City Council candidate forum!?), while school is still in session, to build some momentum for a big launch soon after Fall semester begins.
      Their focus over the past 5 months has been soliciting opinions from other students about the mission and structure of the organization. That process is still ongoing, but a general concept has started to gel; a club without partisan labels, litmus tests, or any set agendas that would help educate students about political issues and encourage students to become more civically engaged in their communities (Charlottesville) and in the political process. To do this, the club would be a safe space where any student who was interested in learning more about issues could come and engage with other students (and potentially outside community members) in a safe space.
      Please reach out to Rally PVCC at rallypvcc@gmail.com if:
      • you or a friend/family member might be interested in keeping informed about their events and programs
      • if you’d be willing to act as a community resource for them (e.g. as a potential speaker, or advisor to students in an area you’re knowledgeable about, etc.)
      The Cville Dems are looking forward to working with these very sharp and energetic founders to help build a vibrant student organization at PVCC. We’re confident that, as its members learn more the serious issues we’re all confronting, they’ll find themselves largely aligned with Democratic Party values and policy prescriptions.
      Note– shoutout to PVCC student Torrance Malone for connecting us with this group!