In This Message: I. Workers' Center First Annual Picnic to Take Place, Saturday, September 29th, from 1-5 p.m. in Stewart Park (Ithaca)--Theme: Get Up, Stand Up; Stand Up for Your Rights! II. Workers' Center's "Service Learning for Social Justice" Program Expands to Include Middle and High School Students III. Two New Living Wage Employers: Ithaca Health Alliance and First Baptist Church of Ithaca I. Workers' Center First Annual Picnic to Take Place, Saturday, September 29th, from 1-5 p.m. in Stewart Park (Ithaca)--Theme: Get Up, Stand Up; Stand Up for Your Rights! Please join the Tompkins County Workers' Center as we hold our first-ever Annual Picnic on Saturday, September 29th, from 1-5 p.m. in the large pavilion at Stewart Park in Ithaca. The public is invited; free meat, veggie burger, hot dogs, beverages, and ice cream will be provided. Folks are encouraged to bring a dish-to-pass as well. Musicians and speakers will focus on themes of organizing around workers' rights issues. There will be activities for kids. The theme of the Picnic is: "Get Up, Stand Up; Stand Up for Your Rights", a central organizing principle of the Workers' Center. From the Workers' Center's Mission Statement: "We seek to inform, educate and shape community values and standards of employer behavior with respect to workplace rights and the treatment of low-income people. We support the use of diverse strategies to achieve social change, such as popular education, public testimony (telling what is really happening in our workplaces and in the lives of low-income people), public protests, direct action, dialogue with employers, and legislative campaigns." For more information, and/or if your organization would like to "table" at the Picnic, please contact the Workers' Center at 269-0409. II. Workers' Center's "Service Learning for Social Justice" Program Expands to Include Middle and High School Students This past spring, the Workers' Center started its Service Learning for Social Justice program with a Community Organizing School for students and community members. As we broaden our Service Learning for Social Justice program our commitment is to reach middle and high school students throughout Tompkins County, particularly in rural areas. We can come present for classrooms, youth groups, and families about living wage, workers' rights, poverty in our county and what people are mobilizing and organizing to do about it. We can come and facilitate for groups of students who want to make change by helping to identify what's wrong, where change can happen, who the power players are, and how to organize around an "issue". (This would be a longer-term project.) Some students can participate in our Community Organizing School which begins in October '07. We'll be examining the ways that our own struggles and historic/current peoples' struggles connect, making new friends and building organizing skills. For more information, please contact Service Learning for Social Justice Coordinator, Jeci Brown at nariah@gmail.com or 607.269.0409 III. Two New Living Wage Employers: Ithaca Health Alliance and First Baptist Church of Ithaca Now up to 45 Employers, the Workers' Center is proud to welcome aboard the following organizations as Living Wage-Certified Employers: Ithaca Health Alliance First Baptist Church of Ithaca Says Ithaca Health Alliance Board President, Bethany Schroeder,  about the importance of Certification: "The Ithaca Health Alliance has historically had a commitment to the concept of a Living Wage. The Living Wage is writen into our bylaws, and we have long provided a Living Wage for our staff". If you are an employer or if you know of an employer that pays a Living Wage, or could/would be supported to make the change, please visit our website for Living Wage Certification criteria and application. The community is made stronger with each new Living Wage Employer acting as a model to all other employers!