| Community Outreach |
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WISOMMM has a rich history of Community Outreach. Below is a list of many of the community development and enrichment programs that the organization has sponsored.
The Boycott Crime Campaign was launched in October, 1998 by a group of concerned citizens and elected officials in Newark, NJ and other surrounding cities. The initial intent of the campaign is to serve as a "wake-up call" to urban communities in particular and to all people in general, to refrain from any and all activities or behavior that could be considered "criminal" and subject to inevitable short or long-term prison sentences. The ultimate goal of the campaign is to empty jail cells and reduce the American prison population to zero. One might perceive such a goal as unrealistic, even foolish. Ask yourself however, how foolish is it for any group of people to continue to allow itself to serve as fuel for an "industry" which feeds on the bodies, lives, civil and human rights of that people? Today prisoners are owned by the state and denied all civil rights while incarcerated on probation or parole. BOYCOTT CRIME is a campaign to obey all "just" laws and to keep our people out of the penal system. The word Boycotting means to combine with others, to abstain from buying, using or patronizing a business or product as a means of coercing those in power. We are boycotting the prison industrial complex. Boycotting has been used as an effective tool historically by oppressed people throughout the world. Boycotts worked for African Americans during the Civil Rights era in the 50's and 60's, most notably the Montgomery Bus Boycott sparked by Mrs. Rosa Parks and led by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Prisons are one of the largest growth industries in America. We must create positive alternatives to drug selling and car theft. Crime becomes the natural alternative and a necessary evil to those with no hope. Educating our youth and providing constructive opportunities for personal development are inoculations against negative, criminal lifestyles
Sisters Network is part of a national organization of Breast Cancer survivors. The group meets Tuesdays at the WISOMMM Mansion to support women in our local area who have overcome the devastating effects of this deadly illness.
With the help and support of the community WISOMMM constructed an ancestral tribute and memorial to the fallen Africans who perished in the MAAFA (African Slave Trade). This worthwhile, historical project was unveiled in the Summer of 2003. Supporters purchased bricks that were inscribed with the names of African heroes and sheroes, names of their families, organizations, religious affiliations and words of inspiration. “The Sacred Wall” overlooks the WISOMMM Children’s garden, a safe haven in a peaceful and natural environment for young children to play and learn in. Children will help to grow garden flowers and vegetables and learn the wonders of nature. Food from the garden will be harvested and cooked, then served to the children for meals during school time. The wall is one of the first that remembers an important chapter in the African American experience. More importantly it is a reminder of the triumph of the human spirit.
WISOMMM has co-sponsored with numerous community organizations, agencies and businesses to present public forums, workshops and seminars to the community:
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