Outreach Notebook

This week went by quickly for me. I’m in my second week back, after 7 weeks medical leave, for my paid job as a medical care manager. I had two new patients referred to me, however, I’m more relaxed than when I was recovering from surgery and not working. This is most likely because I have been on social media only about 1/4 the amount of time I was on it when not working🤘

I went out twice this week on a couple camp outreach runs as part of my morning walk regimen. Pro-tip when sharing info about camp outreach: never, never, never share any indication of the location where one is walking when doing this or say, “I saw this camp over by…”

Just don’t do it. I’m sure you understand why. Right?

I found a lot of abandoned camp sites on the first outing. Someone(s) had a setup under a bridge. Then there were four other sites scattered along a short trail in a tree lined area within the city. One of these sites had a large pallet-like wood frame floor. In another area, someone built a sturdy-looking treehouse structure. There were coolers and “deflated” tents scattered about. The entire area could use a cleanup crew from the mutual aid organization Washtenaw Camp Outreach so the next set of campers have a good landing spot when all the winter overnight emergency shelters close at the end of March.

Two days later I went out to another area and found only two camp sites. No one present and it was not looking like anyone would be back. One tent was still erect, but no evidence of anyone using it recently. You never know though, someone could be saving a spot for the next time they need to be away from whichever temporary inside living situation they have.

On Thursday, it was nice and sunny, only slightly brisk outside. I took my clipboard and headed out to ask folks to sign a nomination petition for one of the candidates I am supporting for city council this year. This time I had an assist. I was able to obtain a list and was only knocking doors of registered voters. I did this because in order for a petition signature to be valid, it needs to be a registered “elector” in the ward for which the candidate is running for council. So you can see when contrasting with the results I had last week, I walked less distance, hit more doors and got about the same number of petition signers.

Candidates need 100 valid signatures to get on the primary ballot August 2, 2022. Completed petitions for partisan primaries need to be submitted by April 19, 2022 and candidates can turn-in no more than 200 signatures total to the city clerk.

I was also able to visit Mercy House, a Catholic Worker-model house of hospitality on the west side of A2, just up the street from the Delonis Shelter. There is a breakfast every Saturday from 10a-2p. I saw a few old friends there, caught up with Peggy Lynch who is the owner of the home and longtime volunteer board member with the nonprofit MISSION. During our conversation, she shared how much the nonprofit spent on hotel rooms for unsheltered houseless folks and I was taken aback. We will definitely be bringing this to the table with the Washtenaw County Participatory Budgeting project for which I have a planning meeting next week.

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In non-outreach happenings this week, I want to highlight two events

1. Third Ward Council Candidate Ayesha Ghazi Edwin along with fellow A2 Human Rights Commissioner Aiden Sova authored a resolution passed by the HRC this week that will, in conjunction with the Independent Community Police Oversight Commission (ICPOC) and the Transportation Commission, push council to adopt measures that compel the A2 Police Department to share traffic stop data so we can see who police pull over for which kind of traffic violations, the results of those interactions etc. ICPOC has been requesting this info for over a year and *still* have not received anything from the police in terms of this pullover data. Hopefully, council will find a way to make this happen soon.
2. #eastannarbor neighbor and friend Catherine Hadley is running for the Ann Arbor District Library Board along with Mr Sova, mentioned above, on a “mini-slate.”
3. Whoops, make that three things… Also this week Ward 3 candidate and #eastannarbor resident Ayesha Ghazi Edwin had her first campaign event at Cobblestone Farm on Saturday 3/12, a well-attended event for the cold weather that smacked us yesterday. Below is a photo of Ayesha with some supporters, yours truly on the far right.

Thanks for reading. See you next week when I should have an update on the participatory budget project and surely some more outreach notebook updates. Reach out if you would like to learn more about anything above, get involved 🤘