[SustainableTompkins] The Sustainability Movement - Race and Class Matter- 5/22

[Elan Shapiro]

Multicultural Resource Center and GIAC to hold Annual Meeting May 22


On Thursday, May 22, the public is invited to 
attend a combined Annual Meeting for the Greater 
Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) and the 
Multicultural Resource Center (MRC). The meeting 
begins at 5:30 PM with dinner, and takes place at 
GIAC, 318 N. Albany Street, Ithaca. There is a 
suggested donation of $5.

The featured guest speaker is Scott Perez of the 
American Indian Program at Cornell University, 
Department of Natural Resources. His talk will 
focus on how environmental justice and social 
justice are intertwined and cannot be separated. 
Perez explains, “We cannot have a sustainable 
environment as long as there is poverty and 
bigotry.  Conversely, as we build a more 
sustainable economy, we can refocus our money and 
education to protecting Mother Earth.” Perez will 
talk about what he has learned from the elders, 
from those working for environmental justice in 
the cities, from farm workers and rural folks 
fighting factory farming, and how these issues 
are tied together.

Each organization will give awards to community 
members who took a stand in support of the 
organizations’ missions. The evening will also 
feature a special presentation by the GIAC five 
and six-year old program. MRC, in conjunction 
with artist Erika Medina, will unveil the “I Have 
a Dream” quilt which was created by community 
members at the MLK Day of Celebration in January 
and was funded by the Community Arts Partnership.

The Multicultural Resource Center is celebrating 
more than twenty years of service to the Tompkins 
County community. MRC is a small, non-profit 
organization whose mission is to create dialog 
around diversity issues, particularly racism, in 
Tompkins County. MRC provides resources such as 
workshops, Talking Circles on Race and Racism, 
cultural celebrations, and a free lending 
library, housed at 615 Willow Avenue in Cornell 
Cooperative Extension.

The Greater Ithaca Activities Center (GIAC) is a 
center for all ages, particularly youth and 
teens. It serves the immediate neighborhood and 
the greater Ithaca area by providing 
multicultural, educational and recreational 
programs focused on social and individual 
development.

For more information about the Multicultural 
Resource Center, call 272-2292 or visit us online 
at <http://www.multicultural-resource.org/> 
www.multicultural-resource.org.

For more information about GIAC, please call 272-3622.


Audrey J. Cooper
Cornell Cooperative Extension TC & Multicultural Resource Center
615 Willow Avenue                           
http://www.multicultural-resource.org
Ithaca, NY 14850
(607) 272-2292, ext. 135
ajc39 at cornell.edu



"America does not seem to remember that it 
derived its wealth, its values, its food, much of 
its medicine, and a large part of its "dream" 
from Native Americans." Paula Gunn Allen

"
-- 
Elan Shapiro
Sustainable Tompkins Community Partnership Coordinator
Sustainable Living Associates, Principal
Frog's Way B&B
211 Rachel Carson Way
Ithaca, NY 14850
607-275-0249    607-592-8402 Cell

"We must be the change we want to see in the world"
	          Mohandas Gandhi