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Our colleagues in the organization First Friends of NJ/NY are conducting their annual Stamp Out Despair campaign. This effort solicits writing materials to be sent to immigrants who are detained in New Jersey prisons and jails, to help them maintain connections with family and friends. Items needed include:

• Stick pens
• Blank 2-pocket folders
• Small writing paper
• Size 10 and size 6 envelopes
• Assorted greeting cards (Christmas too)
• Blank note cards
• “Forever” stamps
• Blank colored paper (not construction
paper)
• Monetary donation for phone cards
• Notes of encouragement — short notes
that let detainees know they are not forgotten.

Items may be mailed to First Friends of NJ/NY, 53 S. Hackensack Ave., Kearny, NJ 07032, or brought to the CoFiA Board meeting on Thursday, November 3, at 7:15 at the Presbyterian Church in Leonia. They must be received by First Friends by November 30. Another way to help is to participate in a Packing Party on Sunday, December 11, at 1:30 p.m., at the First Friends office.

For more information about the work of First Friends, call 908-965-0455, or go to FirstFriendsNJNY.org.

Our friends at Grupo Cajola have just published a wonderful new video describing their work.

Grupo Cajola is an organization based in Cajola, Guatemala and Morristown, New Jersey, that is committed to creating economic opportunities in Guatemala that will enable more residents to remain at home with their families. Over the past few years the organization has created a chicken and egg factory, a weaving cooperative, a carpentry shop that supports the weavers, a beekeeping operation, and a preschool that is based on Mam culture. Many of the workers are women, who are eager to learn skills and earn enough money that some of the men who have had to leave Guatemala may return home. It is a long, hard struggle, but there are many successes, which are depicted beautifully in the video.

Grupo Cajola is a long-time friend of CoFiA, contributing generously to our annual Fiesta and helping us learn more about the conditions in Guatemala that may have driven the workers we see in Palisades Park to come to the U.S. To learn more about the organization, go to www.grupocajola.org.

In the summer of 2016, New Jersey passed a bill that caps rates of calls from jails and prisons in the state, and addresses the rates of international calls. This is a huge and hard-fought victory for a network of grassroots organizations, lobbying groups, and activist attorneys.

Few people are aware of the egregious overcharging for phone calls from jails and prisons. Although the Federal Communications Commission previously issued a ruling regulating the cost of inter-state calls, charges for intrastate and international calls remained a state issue.

New Jersey was the second state, in 2016, to pass legislation (S 1880) that caps rates at 11 cents a minute for both prisons and jails in the state, and bans all commissions. The coalition of advocates that promoted the bill saw it passed in 2015, but pocket-vetoed by Governor Chris Christie. This year they were able to generate enough bipartisan support to get it passed.

This is an enormous benefit for incarcerated people and their families, including immigrant detainees. At the old rates, families often had to choose between food and phone calls. Anyone who is detained desperately needs to retain connections with family and friends. Congratulations, New Jersey, for leading the way!

Based on an article by Brian Dolinar, “Regulation of Prison Phone Calls Sweeps the Nation,”in Truthout, Thursday, 20 October, 2016. Dolinar cites Karina Wilkinson of New Jersey Advocates for Immigrant Detainees (NJAID) as a key resource for the article.

All children residing in a given school district have the right to enroll in school, and school districts are forbidden from excluding them based on their or their parents’ immigrant status. Nonetheless, after extensive research, the ACLU-NJ found five NJ School districts that put up barriers to enrollment for children of undocumented immigrants. The districts are the Fair Lawn School District (Bergen County), Jersey City Global Charter School (Hudson County), Jamesburg and Spotswood School districts in Middesex county, and Port Republic School District in Atlantic County.

We are glad to see that in Bergen County only the Fair Lawn district is on the list. The documents the districts require include drivers’licenses, automobile registrations, or “state ID”.

CoFiA’s staff person Angelica is often asked to assist parents and students with completing the paperwork required for enrollment in Palisades Park. So far she has received no complaints of difficulties with enrollment.

Some members of CoFiA enjoyed a delicious lunch at Dante’s in Leonia, and supported the Community Chest of Leonia’s fund raiser at the same time. Dante’s was donating 20% of the cost of each person’s meal to the Chest. We were delighted to participate in this drive–not only did we have fine Italian food, we received a double benefit: the Community Chest has been providing regular contributions to our organization!

Thanks to Dante’s!

We recently received this request from the Sisters of Mercy of the Americas Institute Justice Team to write letters to our Senators, Robert Menendez and Cory Booker, thanking them for urging the Obama Administration to close immigrant family detention centers.  These centers, which are in fact jails in which mothers and children of all ages are held, are unnecessary, cruel and expensive, and some of us working for immigrants rights are demanding that they be closed.  There are other, much less costly and inhumane, ways of keeping track of these desperate families who are fleeing violence in their home countries.

Here in Bergen County, CoFiA is aware of a mother and young child who were allowed to come to Palisades Park.  She must wear an ankle bracelet and report to ICE in Newark every other week, which is difficult and costly.  But much better than being kept in a jail.

You can write to the senators at:  Senator Cory A. Booker, U.S. Senate, 359 Dirksen Senate Office Bldg., Washington, DC 20510-3003; Senator Robert Menendez, 528 Hart Senate Office Bldg, Washington, DC 20510.  Or email www.booker.senate.gov or www.menendez.senate.gov.

Dear Mercy Advocates: Last week, 12 Mercy sisters, associates and co-workers spent some time at the U.S.-Mexico border and learned about our broken immigration system and those caught up in a detention system primarily run by for-private corporations. Some of us also participated in rallies during theSOA Watch Convergence at the Border calling for an end to mass deportation and for a change in U.S. foreign, military and trade policies that are creating the conditions from which migrants are fleeing. You have an opportunity to stand in solidarity with these Mercys and with migrants most impacted by U.S. policies by sending a thank-you to senators who signed a recent letter to Department of Homeland Security Secretary Jeh Johnson. They urged him to end the policy of family detention and recognize that women and children fleeing horrific violence and poverty are no security threat to our country and that detention causes harm to children’s mental and emotional development. Thank you for taking action on this important issue, Sisters of Mercy of the Americas’ Institute Justice Team Thanks for Urging Closing of Family Detention Centers

The Community of Friends in Action held a Fiesta Justicia/Party for Justice on Friday night, September 23, 2016 at the American Legion Hall in Leonia. The party was a fund raiser to support the general work of the organization, and also to bring the various communities together in celebration of our common mission.
The event was everything we had hoped it would be–wonderful food, beautiful and exciting raffle baskets, and the opportunity to make new friends and reconnect with older ones.
Thanks to everyone who planned, facilitated, donated, and participated!

CoFiA’s Fiesta planning included a very ambitious project–to present three bands representing different cultures and styles. We were thrilled that the first three groups we approached, enthusiastically agreed to join us PRO BONO! We all knew it would be a tight fit to arrange three groups with all the instruments and musicians into a very small space. And it was! But the musicians were terrific, not just in their music but in their willingness to adapt to a difficult setting. And a very hot night as well!
Our deepest thanks to the Still Standing Band, who have played for us many times; Marimba Maria Bonita, which introduced us to the wonderful music of the marimba and set us all to dancing, whether we knew the steps or not; and a new group, Talento Juvenil, which plays an exciting mix of various styles of Mexican music.
We were sorry that both the space and time limitations made it necessary to cut the sets short. Next time–we’ll do better!

Fiesta Justicia/Party for Justice offered the opportunity to purchase exquisite handwoven goods made by MayaMam weavers in Cajola, Guatemala. (See www.grupocajola.org for information.) MayaMam graciously shares its profits with us. We were also delighted to have Maria Andreu with us again as MC. In addition to her stand-up talents, Maria, who grew up in the States without documents, is the author of The Other Side of Empty, a Young Adult novel about her life experience.
In addition to just having a good time at the party, we took the opportunity to award an OSHA graduation certificate to one of the OSHA students, Jorge Calan. This is an important document for workers, and we are delighted that we can offer this training.

The regular Tuesday night English class for Spanish speakers began its fall semester at the Palisades Park library on September 6. Former students and new ones are appearing, and former teachers and new ones are happy to see them!

In the intermediate class, teacher Norm introduced the history of the Rosetta Stone, a discussion which led to a parallel story of Moses and the children of Israel wandering in the desert for 40 years. The group decided to focus on similar stories this year, as well as the usual review of nouns and verbs and grammar. Much more fun!

The classes meet from 7 – 8:30. All are welcome.