Organizations featured in this issue:East Michigan Environmental Action Council, Detroit, MIFood & Water Watch, Washington, DCGoodPlanet Foundation, Paris, FranceMetropolitan Community Clinic, Athens, GreeceMichigan Welfare Rights Organizations, Detroit, MIUnited Nations Volunteer Programme (UNV), Bonn, DEU

ITEMSCOMMISSION ON VOLUNTARY SERVICE & ACTION

Summer 2014$5.00 Suggested Donation

ALSO IN THIS ISSUE

Power of a Full-time Volunteer....................................................pg 3International Volunteer Day: Linking Local with Global..........pg 7Water Shutoffs in Detroit: Growing U.S. Trend...........................pg 9Planet Ocean - The Film...............................................................pg 19

Free Health Clinic in Greece Joins CVSAInternational Support Sought to Address Public Health Crisis

CVSA Gains Special NGO Status to UNEconomic and Social Council

Commission on Voluntary Service & Action (CVSA)marked its first year of holding Special Non-GovernmentOrganization (NGO) Consultative Status to the Economicand Social Council of the United Nations (ECOSOC) thisJune, a period active with participation in several conferencesand functions pertaining to the 2014-15 UN GeneralAssembly’s objectives of defining the Post-2015 SustainableDevelopment Agenda.

“Within weeks of receiving its UN credentials and eversince, CVSA has brought key views into the UN arena, emanating from previously unrepresented voices of CVSA

Metropolitan Community Clinic (MCCH), located justoutside of Athens in the city of Helliniko, joined Commissionon Voluntary Service & Action (CVSA) this summer to pub-licize to an international audience the urgent need for moremedical professionals and non-medical personnel to volun-teer their services as they respond to a dire public health crisis in Greece. Founded in December 2011 under the motto,“Nobody will be left alone during the crisis,” the clinic grewout of life-and-death repercussions of a 25% cut in Greece’spublic hospital budget that took place between 2009 and2011. Further cuts have continued since, all part of toughausterity measures imposed by the Greek government toremain in compliance with financial agreements made withthe European Union, the European Central Bank and theInternational Monetary Fund – known among Greeks as the“Troika.”

by Susan Angus, CVSA Executive Director

Volunteers at Metropolitan Community Clinic at Helliniko processinghundreds of medical requests to get people the care they need.

Continued on page 4

Continued on page 8

CVSA’s seat at the September 22, 2013 UN NGO Roundtable discussionon the Post-2015 Sustainable Development Goals.

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ITEMS is published quarterly by Commission onVoluntary Service & Action (CVSA), the consultative andcoordinating body of more than 200 non-government,voluntary service organizations based in North America thatsupport or place volunteers with projects and programsserving people in the U.S. and internationally. CVSA seeks tointerpret, extend, promote and support the world of voluntary service and involvement programs, and maintainand expand the ability and right of individuals to donate theirtime and services to persons, groupings and communities ofpeople in need, free of government restraint.

ITEMS is CVSA’s newsletter information service for organizational members represented in INVEST YOURSELF— The Catalogue of Volunteer Opportunities. ITEMSreports and provides analysis of news related to the voluntaryservice field on a national and international level, as well aspolitical and economic developments relevant to the indepen-dent voluntary service sector.

Many volunteers and volunteer organizations learn thehard way: through their own experiences, using trial anderror. We find that wasteful and contrary to the basic principle of organization: that an organization is strongerthan an individual. Collective experience is therefore alsomore powerful than that of a single individual, or, for thatmatter, a single organization.

Summer 2014Page 2

Publisher................................................................Susan AngusEditor......................................................Konstantine KarakatsanisProduction Manager....................................................Yael AlonsoSponsorship Staff...............Akira Yawata, Christina McHughPhotography............................................Sabbir Ahmed Mashar

ITEMS is free to CVSA members. Subscription rate for U.S.residents is $15/year. Canadians and those abroad please add $10for additional mailing costs. Send your order and submissions ofarticles for publication to CVSA.

CVSA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) charitable corporation with anall-volunteer staff; volunteers are always needed and tax-deductible contributions are welcome.

Contact CVSA: 22-19 41st Avenue, 2nd Fl.,Long Island City, New York 11101 ● (718) 482-8724 www.cvsa-investyourself.org

Your submissions to ITEMS of information, news, advice,photographs and graphics depicting your work or simplyyour comments and concerns are instrumental to theprocess of growth and advancement of voluntary service asa whole.We always look forward to receiving them.

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Summer 2014 Page 3

The Power of a Full-time Volunteer to Break the Popular Sense of Powerlessness

As a full-time volunteer organizer, coordinating theVolunteer Program of Commission on Voluntary Service &Action, I sometimes come in contact with people who,unfortunately, have lost the eagerness to become part of anorganization that is dedicated to changing social and eco-nomic conditions that they themselves recognize as unjustand unsustainable.

Why is this? What can we do to give them the visionthat it is not only possible, it is necessary for the future ofthe whole of humanity that we see beyond the status quo andwork together to change it.

It is understandable why so many people may have losthope. In the history of the United States there have beenmany social movements and organizations that garneredlarge participation and appreciation from the population andhave gained victories. From time to time, politicians makepromises of change and raise hopes. But despite the politicalpromises and successes of people’s organizations, a situationpersists where systemic problems of poverty and injusticepervade our society.

For instance, poverty is growing in the U.S. at a rateeven faster than in the 1960s, when concern and activismagainst unjust conditions were at their height. Currently, oneout of seven people in the U.S. is living in poverty (that’s46.5 million people — the largest number in the 54 years theU.S. census has measured poverty). Almost one out of 16 inthe country is living in deep poverty (which is officiallydefined as having an income 50% below the recognizedpoverty line — that’s 20.4 million people.) And 21.8% ofchildren under 18 — or some 16.1 million American youth— are living below the poverty line.

The U.S. has one in six people unemployed or under-employed — that’s 27 million people who don’t have ade-quate work on which to survive. We have 3.5 million peopleexperiencing homelessness annually — and that onlyaccounts for those who use homelessness services.

Over two million people fill our prisons, with themajority being black and Hispanic, (four times as manyblack males are incarcerated in the U.S. than were impris-oned under apartheid in South Africa.)

In the timesince the VietnamWar, which polls in1973 showed 73% ofthe U.S. populationopposed, the U.S.government has spentover $11 trillion onfurther incursionsinto poor and devel-oping nations, and onweaponry, militarybases and live prac-tice drills all over theworld.

As for our environment, the fact that more than half ofrivers and streams in the U.S. are now unable to support lifeafter decades of pollution, according to a study by theEnvironmental Protection Agency, tells you enough to knowwe are in big trouble – despite all the social, environmental andpolitical movements that have been organized.

Just three years ago this fall, a movement raising thecall “We are the 99%” caught the imagination of a large por-tion of the U.S. population, decrying the growing inequalitystemming from less than 1% of the population owning andcontrolling the majority of the finances, natural resourcesand political power in the country. Lack of sufficient organi-zational structure resulted in a dissipation of that movement’sactivity while the inequality quotients have continued togrow. But that expression of energy and interest in workingto make change in our society demonstrates there is suffi-cient desire to make that change — we need to build organi-zation through which that energy can be put to work toachieve lasting and fundamental change.

Young people in particular today are faced with over-whelming social tragedies. They are either going to findways to try to escape from them, be destroyed by them,or…find ways to solve them.

So, what do we do to provide people with the materialhope and vision that we can — and must — change how thecountry is being run?

Continued on page 15

by Yael Alonso, CVSA Volunteer Program Coordinator

CVSA Volunteer Program Coordinator, YaelAlonso, talking to a concerned communitymember about volunteering.

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CVSA Gains NGOConsultative Status at UNContinued from page 1

member organizations throughout the U.S. and the world,”stated Joy Cousminer, CVSA Advisory Committee memberand founder of We Care for Credit Unions in New York City.

CVSA’s application for Consultative Status stated its goalof bringing the perspectives of volunteer leaders from poorand marginalized communities throughout the United Statesand the world into the debates and decision-making processesof the bodies and agencies of the UN, particularly in relationto the current deliberations on sustainable development, cli-mate change, inequality and the elimination of poverty.

Sustainable Development Goals

CVSA was invited by the United Nations Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS) and the Post-2015 Development Planning Team of the Executive Office ofthe Secretary-General to attend “an interactive multi-stake-holder dialogue” on 22 September 2013 titled “AdvancingRegional Recommendations on the Post-2015 DevelopmentAgenda,” held at UN Headquarters, Trusteeship CouncilChamber.

CVSA participated in roundtable discussions with rep-resentatives of over 200 other NGOs from every region of theworld, along with representatives of governments and UNagencies. The agenda addressed critical regional issues andpolicy recommendations to be included in the drafting of thePost-2015 Sustainable Development Goals. The SustainableDevelopment Goals (SDGs) define both quantifiable eco-nomic, social and environmental objectives and policies to improve people’s lives and protect the planet for future

generations. The UN is presently engaged in defining the nextstage of Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which wereestablished in 2000 and intended to be achieved by 2015.

The discussion at first focused on the problems develop-ing nations have faced over the last 14 years in striving toachieve the UN’s Millennium Development Goals, which havelargely not been achieved in most of the nations of the world.

Bathbile Olive Dlamini, South African Minister forSocial Development, served with Joe Costello, Minister forTrade and Development of the Republic of Ireland as moder-ators of the discussion for the first part of the event. Ms.Dlamini reiterated that the post-2015 development agendawill be constructed through an open and transparent inter-governmental process that must take into account theachievements made in the recent decade on regional levels.

Roberto Bissio of the NGO Social Watch noted thatthanks to an active policy of progressive taxation and redistri-bution, Latin America plus the Caribbean is the only region inthe world that reduced inequalities in the last decade, whileinequalities are increasing in developing countries and inadvanced economies everywhere else. He said that furtherprogress in this area, however, faces obstacles due to obliga-tions imposed by the international trade and investment sys-tem that frequently contradict human rights-based policies.Mr. Bissio explained that “Free trade agreements have notdelivered on their promise of prosperity, and the Caribbeanregion, for example, is heavily burdened by debt as a result.”An imbalance of power towards corporations in combinationwith international financial volatility, “derived from theinability of the advanced economies to properly regulate theirfinancial markets, is negatively affecting the developmentprospects of the Latin American and Caribbean region andneeds to be addressed,” he asserted.

you up on your offer.” However, as of this time, no steps havebeen taken on this by any UN agency. CVSA intends to pur-sue this in the coming year.

The September 22, 2013 event also launched a reportentitled Advancing Regional Recommendations for thePost-2015 Development Agenda, which was compiledthrough a series of regional consultations carried out fromMay through August 2013, conducted by UN Non-Governmental Liaison Service (UN-NGLS) for the UNSecretary-General, the General Assembly and the OpenWorking Group on Sustainable Development Goals. ManyNGOs who participated in the roundtable discussions of thisevent and had participated in compiling the report, statedtheir concern about an emphasis being articulated by manydeveloped countries in the SDG deliberations about the rolethey want “the private sector” (i.e., private corporations andthe business sector) to play in pursuing sustainable develop-ment in developing nations. These NGOs stated that the pri-vate sector could provide a positive contribution to develop-ment only within an overall strategy of reasserting the roleof strong public policies, along with assertive democraticoversight. They proposed that all private sector funds mustbe monitoredand strongly regulated by governments, or byindependent commissions (comprised of members from dif-ferent segments of society).

Summer 2014 Page 5

Continued on page 6

Susan Angus, CVSA Executive Director, (bottom, right) suggesting the UNmake an analysis, based on data, of the differences between the eco-nomic policies of nations successful in achieving Millennium DevelopmentGoals and those which were not and have, instead, rising rates of poverty.

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When the floor was open for questions, CVSAExecutive Director Susan Angus stated, “Here in the U.S.,one of the largest and richest of the developed countries,poverty is growing and has especially increased at a morerapid speed over the last five to ten years, with the largestgap between the small minority of very rich and the poorand working people ever in the history of the country. Thereare whole communities in the U.S. living without runningwater in their homes for lack of ability to pay the cost, andwith their electricity turned off due to unaffordable highrates. While the poverty in the U.S. is no comparison to thelevel of poverty in the developing world, yet, it is a trend thatone could call ‘reverse-development’ which is going on inthis nation for an entire class of people.

“At the same time, there are countries in the world thathave made emulative progress in greatly decreasing povertyin their nation. The People’s Republic of China has elimi-nated all extreme poverty and certain Latin American coun-tries such as Venezuela have reduced poverty significantly.

“Therefore, since elimination of poverty was the toppriority of the MDGs and will be the top priority of theSDGs, it seems to us it would be extremely valuable to theworld to have an analysis made of the difference between theeconomic policies in the countries where increased depriva-tion is occurring and the policies implemented by the nationswho have successfully eliminated extreme deprivation. Willsuch an analysis be made, which UN agency will conduct it,and do you need any assistance with this from volunteerswith NGOs in the U.S. who work in the low-income povertyareas and from elsewhere in the world?”

Zhang Weiwei, Director of China Peace andDevelopment Foundation, an NGO based in Beijing, alsoadded from the audience, “We, too, think it is necessary todo some NGO-based research, or partnership case study,based on successes and failures in meeting the objectives ofthe MDGs over the past ten to 15 years. With all our Chinesemodesty, we do think China has gained tremendous experi-ence in fighting poverty. 70%, if not more, of world povertythat has been eradicated has been eradicated in China. Chinahas also succeeded in providing basic health insurance to its1.3 billion people within less than ten years. Perhaps thisexperience can be shared with others. Our Foundation is setup to facilitate studies and shared experience. Thank you.”

Alicia Bárcena, Executive Secretary of the UNEconomic Commission for Latin America (ECLAC) andCoordinator of the Regional Commissions, moderating thisportion of the discussions, said, “We should definitely take

Summer 2014Page 6

A committee of 30 countries called the Open WorkingGroup on Sustainable Development Goals, commissionedat the June 2012 Rio+20 World Conference on SustainableDevelopment to produce a draft defining the Post-2015Sustainable Development Goals, completed deliberationson July 19, 2014. The committee projects to submit theirdraft for final vote by the entire General Assembly inSeptember 2014. Here is a summary of the 17 Target Goalsthe committee agreed upon after much dispute and debate,with many questions still to be answered as to manner ofimplementation:

Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere

Goal 2. End hunger, achieve food security and improvednutrition, and promote sustainable agriculture

Goal 3. Ensure healthy lives and promote well-being for allat all ages

Goal 4. Ensure inclusive and equitable quality educationand promote life-long learning opportunities for all

Goal 5. Achieve gender equality and empower all womenand girls

Goal 6. Ensure availability and sustainable management ofwater and sanitation for all

Goal 7. Ensure access to affordable, reliable, sustainable,and modern energy for all

Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable

economic growth, full and productive employment anddecent work for all

Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive andsustainable industrialization and foster innovation

Goal 10. Reduce inequality within and among countries

Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe,resilient and sustainable

Goal 12. Ensure sustainable consumption and productionpatterns

Goal 13. Take urgent action to combat climate change andits impacts (Acknowledging that the UNFCCC is the primary international, intergovernmental forum for negoti-ating the global response to climate change.)

Goal 14. Conserve and sustainably use the oceans, seas andmarine resources for sustainable development

Goal 15. Protect, restore and promote sustainable use of ter-restrial ecosystems, sustainably manage forests, combatdesertification, and halt and reverse land degradation andhalt biodiversity loss

Goal 16. Promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development, provide access to justice for alland build effective, accountable and inclusive institutions atall levels

Goal 17. Strengthen the means of implementation and revi-talize the global partnership for sustainable development

Sustainable Development Goals

Continued on page 17

The primary difference between the MillenniumDevelopment Goals (MDGs) that were agreed upon by 189nations of the General Assembly in the year 2000, and thenew Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2015through 2030 are that the developing countries have beenadamant about committing to urgently needed and clearlydefined structural, systemic and policy changes rather thanaccepting solely a quantified listing of objectives. Over thecourse of the past two years, representatives of developingnations have documented in reports and debates that noempirical list of goals towards poverty elimination, healthcare improvement, education, or reversing climate change,is possible without major changes in international trade,financial and currency policies. They call for a reconstruct-ing based on values of equality, solidarity, respect for theirsovereign rights and justice.

Anita Nayar, Chief of UN-NGLS in New York, summedup the findings from consultations held with 120 regionalnongovernmental networks and social movements, in all rep-resenting over 3,000 national and community-based organiza-tions: “In these regional dialogues, civil society called for therebalancing of power for justice – in trade and investmentrules, in reform of international financial institutions, andthrough demilitarization; the fulfillment of human rights forall and overcoming exclusion through a rights-basedapproach; ensuring the equitable distribution and safe use ofnatural resources, particularly regarding issues of extraction,land and resource grabs and in the context of the escalatingrealities of climate change; and implementing accountabilitymechanisms, transparency and ensuring the right to partici-pate in decisions that affect people’s daily lives.”

The Open Working Group of 30 nations that had beencommissioned to draft the Post-2015 Sustainable Develop-ment Goals for the 66th General Assembly to debate and vote

CVSA Gains NGOConsultative Status at UNcontinued from page 5

Summer 2014 Page 7

International Volunteer Day:

CVSA Links Local Community Service and Activism withGlobal Solidarity and the Sustainable Development Agenda

(L to R) Susan Angus, CVSA Executive Director; Jordi Llopart, United Nations Volunteer Programme (UNV) NY Office Chief; Kara Crawford, UnitedMethodist Global Mission Volunteer; Sulma Arzu-Brown, Program Director, Garífuna Coalition, USA, Inc.; Linda Manzione, Program Director, HourChildren; Alex Beauchamp, Eastern Region Organizing Coordinator, Food & Water Watch; and Kimberly Roginski, Development and VolunteerCoordinator of Part Of The Solution (P.O.T.S.)

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“Organizing Our Volunteer Power to Build a BetterWorld: Focus on Youth” was the title of the RoundtableDiscussion CVSA organized in recognition of InternationalVolunteer Day on December 5, 2013 in coordination with theUnited Nations Volunteer Programme (UNV) held at the UNChurch Center at 777 UN Plaza. The room was sponsored bythe United Methodist Women’s Seminar Program.

Susan Angus, CVSA Executive Director, moderated thepanel discussion about how growing youth activism and vol-unteer involvement is strengthening the voice of low-incomeand marginalized communities organizing for change in theUnited States. Her remarks highlighted how best to bringthese voices into the global process of the UN’s Post-2015Sustainable Development Agenda.

Keynote speaker Jordi Llopart, Chief of NY office ofUNV, expressed appreciation to CVSA for organizing theevent and inviting him as the keynote speaker. Recognizingthat the audience consisted primarily of people involved inthe volunteer organizations that were represented on thepanel, Llopart stated, “It is good to be among friends.”

Based in Bonn, Germany, UNV is active in approxi-mately 130 countries every year. UNV, with Field Units in 86countries, is represented worldwide through the offices of theUnited Nations Development Programme (UNDP). UNVadvocates for volunteerism, integrates volunteerism intodevelopment planning and directly mobilizes more than 7,700UN Volunteers every year nationally and internationally, with

80 per cent coming from developing countries, and more than30 per cent volunteering within their own countries.

Guests on the panel were Linda Manzione, ProgramCoordinator for Hour Children in Queens, NY, who spoke ofthe involvement of volunteers in their programs aidingwomen coming out of prison who have children; KimberlyRoginski, Development and Volunteer Coordinator for Partof the Solution (known as P.O.T.S.) in Bronx, N.Y. a commu-nity-based organization that serves people in need seven daysa week; Alex Beauchamp, Eastern Region Organizer forFood & Water Watch, a national consumer rights organiza-tion that fights to protect our most valuable resources fromcorporate control and abuse and is currently focused on alarge statewide campaign to stop the “fracking” industry inNew York State; Sulma Arzu-Brown of the GarífunaCoalition, USA, Inc. in the Bronx, who established a programfor youth from the Garífuna community; and Kara Crawford,a full-time volunteer with the United Methodist GlobalMission program also working in a Bronx community.

Also participating from the audience were Edward Ryan,NGO Representative for AARP; Ben Solotaire from FortuneSociety; and members of Battalion Community Services inFar Rockaway who mobilized hundreds of volunteers in theircommunity when Superstorm Sandy destroyed the area.

Jordi Llopart elucidated that volunteering is “a lot ofthings that we don’t call volunteering.” He said, “Activism is

Continued on page 16

Summer 2014Page 8

Free Clinic in Greece SeeksInternational Support

Christos Sideris, co-founder of the clinic, sent CVSA adescription of the clinic’s work to be included in the upcom-ing edition of INVEST YOURSELF. He explained that theirhope is that publicity through CVSA’s catalogue will not onlyhelp recruit more volunteers, but also make more peopleaware of the extremely harsh conditions and need for inter-national pressure to reverse the budget cuts that have causedtheir public health crisis.

Since its opening three years ago, the clinic has servedmore than 15,000 patients, free-of-charge. In addition tooffering services at its own facilities in Helliniko, clinic staffalso work in collaboration with local hospitals that haveagreed to open up access to specialty services and other hos-pital-based procedures, such as with the Cardiology Clinic atAsklipiou Hospital in Voulas, which offers cardiologicalexaminations.

The clinic offers the uninsured and unemployed freecheckup examinations, preventative oral examinations (in collaboration with the Dental Organization of Piraeus andthe Oral Clinic of Athens University), and medications pre-scribed by the clinic’s doctors.

MCCH non-medical volunteers do advocacy forpatients whose water or electricity had been shut off, advo-cate for expungement of unpayable hospital bills, and nego-tiate with hospitals that reject insured patients to assist themin getting accepted. Such factors can quickly affect one’shealth as a person whose electricity has been shut off does

Continued from page 1

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Continued on page 18Volunteers delivering nappies (diapers) to the Metropolitan CommunityClinic at Helliniko (MCCH) for the parents who come to MCCH.

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Konstantine Karakatsanis, CVSA Administrative Assistant and EducationCoordinator, speaking to people in the local New York City communityabout the ad hoc Solidarity Committee for Health Care in Greece.

Summer 2014 Page 9

Despite such recognition, the problem persists in Detroit, andis growing elsewhere in the U.S.

Bondholders Deemed ‘Secured Creditors’

Michigan Welfare Rights Organization (MWRO) andEast Michigan Environmental Action Council (EMEAC), amember of CVSA, banded together with several other localgroups representing low-income and working people ofDetroit in voicing a demand for an end to residential waterand sewerage service shutoffs. Detroit Water and Sewerage

Water denials a growing U.S. trend

Detroit Residents Fight Household WaterShutoffs, Gain UN Attention

Detroit, Michigan, U.S. may be at the epicenter of astartling drop in U.S. living standards: citizens denied resi-dential water service in their own homes as municipal bond-holders demand payment. Thousands of families there aredaily seeking alternative ways to cook food, bathe their chil-dren, wash clothes and flush toilets due to unaffordable waterrates and lack of public accountability.

Local organizing efforts including Detroit People’sWater Board, Michigan Welfare Rights Organization andEast Michigan Environmental Action Council allied withBlue Planet Project, a Canada-based organization, and Food& Water, a member of Commission on Voluntary Service &Action (CVSA), to file a report on June 18 to the UN SpecialRappateur on the Human Right to Safe Drinking Water andSanitation, Ms. Catarina de Albuquerque.

Ms. de Albuquerque, a Right to Water and SanitationExpert from the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva,issued the following statement to the Human Rights Office ofthe High Commissioner about the Detroit situation on June25: “Disconnection of services for lack of means to pay mayconstitute a violation to the right of water. … Disconnectiondue to non-payment is only permissible if it can be shownthat the household is able to pay but is not paying – in otherwords, that the tariff is affordable. … The affordability ofwater and sanitation services is an aspect of human rights, sothere is a need to assess whether the reasons for any non-pay-ment is a genuine inability to pay or an unwillingness to pay.”

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Members of MWRO and National Nurses United join Detroit residentsin a demonstration on July 18 at Detroit’s Cobo Convention Centerdemanding a stop to the water shutoffs.

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Summer 2014Page 10

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Department (DWSD) shut off some 15,000 households in thesecond quarter of this year alone according to MaureenTaylor, State Chairperson at MWRO.

In July 2013, the City of Detroit filed for Chapter 9Bankruptcy following a declaration of financial emergencyin March 2013. The Governor of Michigan, Rick Snyder,appointed an Emergency Financial Manager, Kevyn Orr, andgranted Mr. Orr authority over the city government in allmatters of finance, contracts, and laws.

Orr released a plan in March 2014 to relieve the cityadministration of debt by collecting on the over $90 million ofoverdue water bills by shutting off 120,000 customers, 1,500-3,000 a week. Priscilla Dziubeck, Educational Coordinator forEast Michigan Environmental Action Council said that whenthe plan was announced it “was plainspoken, very blatant as ifno one would notice.” Orr has said to the press that the shut-offs are “a necessary part of Detroit’s restructuring.”

According to local Detroit news reports, the bondhold-ers of DWSD are considered secured creditors and are protected under bankruptcy law from taking a loss in thebankruptcy process Detroit is going through.

Dziubeck and other local organizers point out that it isresidential and small business customers – mostly in the low-income neighborhoods – who are being targeted for shutoffs.The city’s large corporate water customers such as the own-ers of Joe Louis Arena, home of the Detroit Red Wings, whoowed $82,255 as of April; or Ford Field, where the DetroitLions play, who owed more than $55,000; or the city-ownedgolf courses that owed more than $400,000 are not beingshutoff. This is a case of the city’s budget being balanced onthe backs of poor and working people.

The local press in Detroit has been echoing the claimsof DWSD that the shutoffs are an effective measure to getlow-income people to pay their water bills. Jean Vortkamp, aDetroit resident who attended a court hearing on the city’sbankruptcy case, spoke up against the water shutoffs. Shetold Voice of Detroit on July 16 that, “Many of the childrenin my neighborhood had their water cut off. Families are tak-ing money from things like rent to pay the bill that they couldnot afford with our high water rates.”

According to Priscilla Dziubeck, Education Coordinat-or at EMEAC, the city government has stated that 62% of

customers have paid their bills or entered affordable paymentplans within two days of being disconnected and that the cityhas reconnected customers within 24 hours of these agree-ments being made. However, Dziubeck reported in Augustthat in fact, most of those customers are still waiting to bereconnected. In addition, if a customer who makes a pay-ment plan misses a payment by one day, their water gets shutoff permanently, without notice, until the entire amount ispaid in full.

The MWRO and EMEAC received reports from resi-dents that the private company, Homrich, hired by the City ofDetroit to carry out disconnections, has been aggressivelyand unprofessionally shutting off people’s water before thespecified date on their DWSD shutoff notices, often between6:00 and 8:00 a.m.

Charity Hicks, a Detroit water rights activist was recent-ly killed in a hit-and-run accident in front of Penn Station,New York City when she was en route to make a presentationabout the situation. She had reported to Voice of Detroit onMay 28, “There was a contractor on the block shutting off thewhole block. They were no-knock, no-notice shutoffs ofhomes, including those where pregnant women and childrenlive. After they shut mine off, I went two houses over to askthe man if he could wait until the family could gather somewater together for their immediate needs – at least to fill theirtub. He told me he doesn’t have to give notice to the homesand that he was just doing his job.”

When DWSD announced in March the plan to discon-nect service to thousands of households per week if

Water Shutoffs in Detroit

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Citizens of Detroit gathered at the the city’s Cobo Convention Center onJuly 18 protesting the water shutoffs.

Summer 2014 Page 13

customers’ bills were not paid up, DWSD also increased waterand sewerage rates by another 8.7%, on top of a total of 119%of prior increases over the past decade. The added sewerage service charges caused a jump in the averagehousehold water bill of $70 per month to roughly $160 permonth. According to Ann Rall, volunteer at MWRO, $160 isabout 20% of the monthly incomes of many of the affectedhouseholds.

Detroit has lost over 400,000 jobs since 2000 andunemployment is officially counted at 17% of the population.As of 2013, 43% of Detroiters are living below the federalpoverty line including many elderly and disabled living onlow fixed incomes.

During World War II, tens of thousands of workersmoved to Detroit from the South in search of factory jobs. Aworker there could earn enough to purchase a home. Manythat held onto their property despite the sub-prime lendingcrisis of 2007-2008, now face losing their family homes – notbecause of unpaid mortgage bills, but due to inability to keepup with property tax bills with added liens for overdue waterand sewerage payments.

Typically, households where service was shut off wereno more than two months or $150 behind on a bill. After aprivate construction company was hired by the DWSD tocarry out the disconnections, residents reported to MWROand EMEAC instances of entire blocks being disconnected atone time. Two-thirds of these shutoffs are occurring in homeswith children. MWRO explains that low-income women livein fear of a visit from social services, knowing they couldtake their children away if it were discovered that the house-hold has no running water.

International Spotlight, Temporary Moratorium

Organizations such as the Council of Canadians ofToronto and Keeper of the Mountains of West Virginia, were

inspired to send caravans of volunteers to Detroit to carrytruckloads of donated bottled water that were distributed toaffected households on July 30th. Local efforts also calledupon churches throughout Detroit to provide no-cost accessto clean running water at their church facilities to assist vic-tims of discontinued water service.

In late June, shutoffs were officially halted for 60 daysthrough August 25 after local protests reached the UnitedNations Human Rights offices.

In the meantime, the city announced on August 7 thatthey had set up a new fund with United Way of Detroit, a non-profit social service charity, to provide assistance to those thatcould not afford to pay their bills. Local organizers underscorethe reality that this action fails to address the long-term prob-lem of rates being too high and a system of water managementthat is unsustainable – that is, treating access to water as aprivilege of private property rather than a public utility of anatural resource, a public health issue, and human right. Theyalso note that such charity funds will be insufficient to meetthe need and shutoffs will, therefore, continue.

A joint statement issued by Food & Water Watch, BluePlanet Foundation, MWRO, and the Detroit People’s WaterBoard on July 25 said, “These are the sort of conditions youhear about in developing nations, not in the United States. Itis abhorrent that in this day and age, people should be facedwith these conditions anywhere, let alone in one of thewealthiest nations in the world. The UN experts pointed outthat it is the state’s obligation to provide urgent measures,

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Summer 2014Page 14

including financial assistance, to ensure access to essentialwater and sanitation. So why isn’t this happening?”

By bringing the matter to the UN, the concerned orga-nizations did gain international media attention whichinduced national news sources such as New York Times, topick up the story briefly.

It’s Not Just Happening in Detroit…

Brandon McDonald, Operations Manager of WesternService Workers Association (WSWA), an association oflow-paid service workers in San Diego, California, recentlyreported to CVSA a situation mirroring that of Detroit.McDonald reported that, according to the City of San Diego’sown statistics, some 24,000 to 28,000 people are being shutoff from water service each year.

The municipal water department is taking measures tore-establish the credit rating of its bonds, which are in thehands of private investors. Too many delinquent accountsbring their credit ratings down, creating a desperate incentiveto shut off the poor.

McDonald, along with teams of WSWA members – allvolunteers – are carrying out a campaign to warn their mem-bership of low-paid workers of public health risks associatedwith an absence of running water in the home. Associationvolunteers provide advocacy for people who have been or arebeing threatened with shutoff, teaching how to challengedenial of this basic service.

Finding a dearth of information in mainstream nationalmedia coverage, CVSA volunteers began a campaign of call-ing CVSA members and other volunteer-based organizationsacross the country to see if the Detroit and San Diego situa-tions are part of a national trend of discontinued water ser-vice to low-income people due to an inability to pay bills infull and on time.

CVSA staff phoned organizations in Mobile, Alabama;Tuscon, Arizona; Denver, Colorado; Chester, Pennsylvania;Patterson, New Jersey and elsewhere to gain reports frommultiple regions and alerted community leaders to be vigilantof such policies coming to their areas as well. CVSA learnedof widespread occurrences of gas and electric utilities shut-offs being experienced in each of these cities by the low-income population, and the advocacy and other attempts bythese organizations to lower utility rates.

Water Shutoffs in Detroit Demand for Long-term Solutions

The demands of the Detroit community-based organi-zations are: abandon the plan for further shutoffs; restore ser-vice immediately to households that have been shut off; thefederal and state governments should work with the city toensure a sustainable public financing plan and rate structurethat would prevent a transfer of the utility’s financial burdenonto residents who are currently paying exorbitant rates;establish fare rates; and return to a Water Affordability Planof 2006 (which had been accepted by the City Council, butwas cancelled by the current Emergency Manager who isnow running the city’s financial department while the cityprepares for its bankruptcy trial).

Four of the local groups have launched a petition thatcalls on U.S. President Barack Obama and MichiganGovernor Rick Snyder to “stop the water shutoffs and workto make water accessible and affordable for all.”

The July 25 joint statement from Blue PlanetFoundation, Food & Water Watch and the involved localorganizations stated, “This is a major crisis. When 45% ofwater customers struggle to pay their water bills, it is clearthat this is not just a problem with delinquent payment. It’sindicative of broader, systemic issues resulting from decadesof policies that put profits before people. Because leasing orselling the DWSD will only lead to more problems, MayorDuggan and Emergency Financial Manager Kevyn Orrshould abandon all plans to privatize the DWSD.”

As Ms. Dziubeck said to CVSA, “This has hit us hard;we are not conditioned to stand up for our rights.”

Susan Angus, CVSA Executive Director, explained at aCVSA staff meeting upon reviewing the findings of CVSA’ssurvey of a sampling of its member organizations about thedenial of water service, “The political, economic and socialconditions in Detroit can be found in most major U.S. cities.All concerned non-government volunteer organizationsacross the country need to be vigilant to this situation,become familiar with the policy issues at hand and be pre-pared to engage with allies at a local, regional, national andinternational level to demand the human right to water.”

Please contact CVSA if your organization has pertinentinformation to share with other groups embroiled in mount-ing a demand for affordable water service and to stop shut-offs, or if you would like to request information as to how togo about making an analysis and strategy in your own geo-graphic area.

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Summer 2014 Page 15

Full-time Volunteers

CVSA has long promoted the idea that volunteering isa fundamental rejection of the notion that things are too bigand powerful to change; that it is a self-aware determinationthat action can and must be applied to advance and achieveprogress. How do we build that self-awareness of the ability tomake change? For one thing, we know it takes organization.

CVSA’s founding principle in 1945 was that volunteerorganizations could exemplify policies as they should beenacted, rather than blindly following the status quo. CVSAmaintains that without the freedom and flexibility to devel-op their own strategies for change, volunteer organizationsare reduced to mere extensions of the very same failed gov-ernment policies from which the need for their volunteerassistance arose. This is a profoundly relevant principle toorganize around today.

CVSA is an all-volunteer organization comprised offull- and part-time volunteers who are dedicated to the goalof organizing independent, non-government organizationsthat involve concerned volunteers in their efforts to addressthe basic needs of people and to organize members of thecommunity to assist and support this work through their vol-untary contribution of time and resources. Through CVSA’sapproach to organizing, leaders and volunteers of memberorganizations can gain from the experiences of all the othermember organizations on matters of method, tactics andstrategies that have been successful and can cultivate morestrength in their programs. Demonstrating growth and win-ning fights on behalf of their constituencies begins toreplace the sense of powerlessness with which the people ofour country are being dragged down, with a belief in thepower of organization and the confidence to fight for a bet-ter future.

While the types of organizations that join with CVSAand list in INVEST YOURSELF vary greatly, one of the char-acteristics they have in common is that they are run by peo-ple who saw hardships or injustice in their communities orconstituencies and took action to address these problems inan organized, material way. Whether they are building andrepairing homes; advocating for people’s right to basic utili-ties such as water, electricity and heat; preparing, serving,and delivering meals to working people in need; organizingfor living wages for all working people; providing free med-ical care as a right, or fighting to change energy and envi-ronmental policies that are destroying our planet, they have

initiated material programs to tackle the results of misman-agement of our natural, human, and financial resources.

As a volunteer organizer with CVSA, you can strength-en our efforts to generate more volunteer participation forthese organizations; provide organizing methodology andstrategy consultations; expand the base of national and inter-national allies and support for the member organizations;help expand the voice of these organizations we representthrough our work in the United Nations as a Non-Government Organization (NGO) with consultative status torepresent their interests and struggles to the internationalcommunity.

CVSA’s INVEST YOURSELF: A Guide to Action is themost comprehensive guide for full- and part- time volunteeropportunities in the U.S., listing the organizations we repre-sent and explaining how volunteers from across the countryand world can get involved with any of these efforts. Thiscatalogue is a powerful tool that can be used to great effectas it is distributed to invite people who care to volunteertheir time and make a real difference in community organi-zations around the U.S. and internationally.

Free-of-charge consultations to all our members serve asan opportunity to help develop and build strong organizationsthat make up an independent volunteer movement. Togetherwe hold the potential to challenge the status quo and reversethat sense of powerlessness. CVSA has the experience of 60years of struggles and gains to provide substantial advice toorganizations seeking to grow support within and to act asleaders in your community.

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What?! You haven’t become aSPONSOR of the new edition of INVEST YOURSELF yet?

Show your support with a display aboutyour organization, school, company

or your personal support.Reach an audience of people who care,

are action-oriented, people-centered and earth-conscious.

Call CVSA TODAY for more information. (718) 482-8724

Summer 2014Page 16

volunteering, Occupy Wall Street was volunteering. Issuesthat have never been associated with the volunteering ethosare actually part of it. Volunteering is a strong part of civicengagement, creating societal cohesion, making a hugeimpact in societies and contributing to progress measurednot just in the GDP, but in this whole notion of ‘well being;’this whole notion of going beyond the macroeconomic indi-cators that we have been using.”

Alex Beauchamp spoke about the difficulties in strate-gizing the fight to turn away from fossil fuels, and how “thestakes couldn’t be higher; humanity is at risk.” Beauchamppointed out how much excellent, well-documented, in-depthresearch Food and Water Watch has compiled and presentedto legislators, “but being right and having all the facts isn’twhat wins change in this system.” He said, “The thing werealized over time is that the environmental movement doesnot lose these fights because we have the wrong ideas. Welose these fights because we don’t have the political powerthat the industry has and the only way you change that is bybuilding it, and the only way you can really build it is at thegrassroots level. We can’t fight dollar-for-dollar with theindustry. We can’t play the same game as the industry does.So we’re not going to win the same way they do by hiringtons of lobbyists, flooding the state houses and funding cam-paigns and elections. We’ll never be able to win that way. Youhave to build the other way; you have to build from theground up and organize from the grassroots level. That’swhat we’ve been trying to do on our issues, trying to makethe connections with others, like what CVSA is facilitating.”

Kimberly Roginski of P.O.T.S. spoke of the necessity forlow-income communities to have a place like P.O.T.S. wherethey can go for assistance in day-to-day survival and which istheir organization. Without such an organization, they haveno ability to attend meetings or address issues such as frack-ing, which directly affects them, but is not as immediate ashaving no food for dinner, or receiving an immediate evictionnotice. She expressed interest in staying connected with theactivities of Food & Water Watch to find ways to involve thelow-income community of the Bronx in these issues.

Angus pointed out that this is an example of CVSA’svalue in bringing together organizations who otherwisewould not meet each other and discover ways they can assisteach others’ common goals, and how this can be motoredentirely by goal-oriented volunteers.

In closing, Mr. Llopart encouraged the participatingorganizations on the panel and in the audience to get involvedin the United Nations’ debates through their membership inCVSA. He said, “We are looking forward to collaboratingwith colleagues that have NGO accreditation that can openthe door for grassroots organizations to be involved in theUN process to get the conversation about development andthe needs of people flowing in a much more comprehensiveand direct way. The issues of relevant organizations at thelocal level can be brought to the front, and we can make themvisible to the member states of the UN in relation to theissues with which they are faced.”

The 2014 International Volunteer Day event whichCVSA is planning now for December 5 will coincide withthe launch of the national and international distribution cam-paign of the new edition of the INVEST YOURSELF, CVSA’scatalogue of volunteer opportunities.

International Volunteer Day:CVSA Links Local with Global

Alex Beauchamp, Eastern Region Organizer for Food & Water Watch,explains the grass-roots approach to organizing necessary to effectchange in the U.S.

Susan Angus, CVSA Executive Director, closes the International VolunteerDay discussion, elaborating on the importance of independent volunteerorganizations building communication with each other to enhance theirwork towards common goals.

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CVSA’s NGO Special Consultative status to theEconomic and Social Council (ECOSOC) of the GeneralAssembly of the United Nations provides us the opportunityto represent our member organizations in an internationalarena and to organize international support behind grassrootsdemands. Coordination between our members allows us tobuild relationships of solidarity regionally, nationally andinternationally.

Volunteers with CVSA learn to produce the INVESTYOURSELF catalogue, communicate with our memberorganizations, conduct speaking engagements about theproblems of our society and the needed solutions, distributethe catalogue, participate in CVSA’s activities at the UnitedNations and much more.

Volunteering is more than an experience to have andthen move on from; it is taking on responsibility to workwith others to change the reality of a world where the major-ity of us currently hold no power.

Becoming a full-time volunteer at CVSA gives you theopportunity to learn as we build an organization providingleadership at the forefront of the independent volunteermovement. You can take part in generating sufficient motionto reverse the unsustainable misuse of resources and humanproductivity currently benefiting only a few at the expenseof the majority, while half-hearted, counter-productive anddamaging official policies do nothing to stop the institution-alized violence people are facing every day.

Being a full-time volunteer can be an opportunity todeal with the problems we face hands-on, to dedicate your-self to learning the discipline and practice of building anorganization that can benefit a great many people in the longrun through successfully changing the power framework andempowering communities by putting needed resources in thehands of the people themselves.

This is the time to dedicate yourself to the goal of build-ing a world where all people can live decent and respectablelives. Who else is going to build this but us?

Through CVSA you can learn how to put your volunteerpower towards transforming the conditions that have kept themajority of us powerless for too long. Call us at (718) 482-8724 to learn more about how you can become a full-time vol-unteer and learn what is needed to make a better world.

Full-time VolunteerContinued from page 15

on in September 2014, concluded their work and issued a draftproposal on July 19 (see side bar on page 6). In their two year-long deliberations, the “Means of Implementation” for thenew Sustainable Development Goals have been the most con-tentious portions of the debates, and are still to be settled.

CVSA was accepted by the Planning Committee of the65th Annual DPI/NGO Conference to lead a workshop atUN Headquarters in New York City on August 27 to 29,entitled “Organizing Our Volunteer Power: SharedExperiences from Honduras, Guatemala, Philippines, theBronx on Methods of Grassroots Empowerment to Reversethe Trends of Poverty.” CVSA planned the workshop in con-junction with Dr. Luther Castillo, founder of the FirstPopular Garífuna Hospital; Caryn Maxim, North AmericaCoordinator with Grupo Cajola; Linda Oalican, Coordinatorof Damayan Migrant Workers Association and JoyCousminer, Founder of Bethex Credit Union and We Carefor Credit Unions. The conference planning committeeasked CVSA to also collaborate with Association for WorldEducation (AWE), a Denmark-based network of individualswho work with innovative methods of education and cultur-al exchange around the world.

CVSA member organizations, organizing for change insolidarity with the people of developing and emerging nations,now have an international forum through which their concernto seek policies, at home and abroad, that prioritize the well-being of people and the environment can gain internationalrecognition through good use of CVSA’s NGO status. CVSAwelcomes written proposals by member organizations.

CVSA Gains NGOConsultative Status at UNContinued from page 6

Last Chanceto submit organizational

listings or updatesfor the new edition of

INVEST YOURSELF.

Deadline: September 20Call CVSA today. (718) 482-8724

of the Greek population that they can serve with their limit-ed resources.

Currently, Sideris explained, they are in great need ofvolunteer general medical practitioners, pharmacists, cardi-ologists, adult and child psychiatrists, pediatricians, gynecol-ogists, rheumatologists, endocrinologists, gastroenterolo-gists/hepatologists, endodontists, speech therapists, andsocial workers who can volunteer their time and expertisewith MCCH’s efforts in Greece to care for its people.

Local Queens, New York Solidarity Drive Begun

Konstantine Karakatsanis, CVSA AdministrativeAssistant and native of Astoria, Queens, New York – an areathat is home to a large Greek community and very near toCVSA’s headquarters — is working with several members ofthis New York City neighborhood to launch an ad hocSolidarity Committee for Health Care in Greece. The com-mittee is calling for volunteers in the New York metropolitanarea who will commit to carrying out collections of suppliesto fill specific needs requested by the clinic and assist withpreparation and shipping of those supplies to theMetropolitan Community Clinic in Helliniko. The ad hocCommittee for Solidarity with Health Care in Greece seeksphysicians or other licensed medical professionals that cancollect medicines and communicate with counterparts inGreece regarding how to deliver them to authorized medicalpersonnel there. Lay people can collect non-pharmaceuticalmedical supplies and also baby food, hygiene supplies andother requested items. “We also want to shed a light on thedisastrous results of European Union and IMF economic pol-icy on the Greek nation,” said Karakatsanis.

Maria Zapatina, Volunteers Coordinator for MCCH inGreece, said the most urgently needed supplies at MCCH arebaby food, baby diapers (nappies), vaccinations (for infants,children, teens, and adults), cancer medications, insulin,radiation protection aprons, supplies for pap tests, and sca-bies medication, but this is just a partial list.

To join with this campaign and find out how you canhelp, and to get a list of the specific medication suppliesneeded, contact Konstantine at CVSA at (718) 482-8724.

Anyone that would like to volunteer in the clinic pleasecontact the clinic directly: Christos Sideris at+30.210.9631.950, at Metropolitan Community Clinic atHelliniko. Address: Inside the old military base at Helliniko,200m away from the traffic police of the Municipality ofHelliniko next to the cultural center in Helliniko, Attiki16677, Greece.

Summer 2014Page 18

not have the ability to refrigerate insulin, charge an electricwheelchair, cook food, etc., and further may resort to lightingtheir home with candles, potentially causing a house fire.

Austerity Measures Cause Public Health Crisis

Economic and related social conditions in Greece havebeen deteriorating since 2008. Greece is a country wherehealth care is conditional to being employed, enrolled in col-lege, serving in the military, or being on disability benefits.Unemployment is officially 24.3% in Greece; triple what itwas in 2008. Unemployment is 50% among the youth. Theausterity cuts have left over 3 million people uninsured andunable to get access to medical care or medicines for every-thing from common illnesses to required ongoing treatmentfor chronic conditions, according to the National Organiza-tion of Health Providers in Greece.

The effect of public health budget cuts and the growingnumber of uninsured is a general health crisis. Underfundingof mosquito-spraying programs has led to the resurgence ofmalaria in Greece, a disease eradicated in the country 40 yearsago. The Greek National School of Public Health has report-ed that between 2008 and 2011 there has been a 21% rise instillbirths and a 43% rise in infant mortality, both directlycaused by the reduced access to prenatal care and medicines.

In 2009 there were a reported 15 cases of HIV, and in2012 that rose to 484 after government programs to distrib-ute syringes and condoms were defunded. Due to economicuncertainty and the general social chaos of the crisis, the sui-cide rate has also risen 45% between 2007 and 2011.

Further exacerbating the medical situation in Greece isthe “brain drain” of thousands of Greek doctors who have leftthe country to find better-paying work in other countriesacross Europe and in the US. This has been a longstandingproblem of the developing world, in which the developingcountry pays for the education and training of professionalsonly to have them enticed by foreign hospitals in developedcountries to move and work at a far higher salary than theycould receive in their own country. Now this is happening inthe developed country of Greece.

It is within this context the doctors and other medicalprofessionals and hundreds of volunteers now working withMCCH have taken on the responsibility to care for a portion

Free Clinic in Greece SeeksInternational SupportContinued from page 8

from the Earth Institute of Columbia University and otherguests. CVSA Executive Director, Susan Angus andAdministrative Assistant Konstantine Karakatsanis attendedthis special screening and received a copy of the film. CVSAorganizers have since presented Planet Ocean to audiences inNew York and in Boston, with discussions on how people canorganize to change the policies and practices that are destroy-ing the oceans and the planet.

If you wish to organize a free screening of the filmPlanet Ocean for your community, please contact theGoodPlanet Foundation: jacqueline@goodplanet.org. CVSAorganizers can also be available to introduce and lead discussions with screenings of Planet Ocean and Home. CallCVSA at 718-482-8724.

Summer 2014 Page 19

Planet Ocean: a Film of Beauty and Urgent Warning To mark World Environment Day on June 5, Yann

Arthus-Bertrand and the GoodPlanet Foundation, founded byYann Arthus-Bertrand and based in Paris, France, made thefilm accessible in full version and in 10 languages onYouTube channel “Planet Ocean – the movie.” Co-directed byYann Arthus-Bertrand and Michael Pitiot, originally releasedin June 2012 in time to be premiered at the Rio+20 Sustain-able Development Summit, Planet Ocean was made possiblethrough the collaboration with Tara Expeditions and its net-work of scientific experts, and the sponsorship of OMEGA,the prestigious Swiss watch company.

Planet Ocean, like Arthus-Bertrand’s film Home, isstunningly beautiful and filled with alarming facts that are acall to action. Planet Ocean provides a vivid picture of thedire need to protect and preserve the marine world and thehealth of the oceans. The oceans cover more than 70% of thesurface of the Earth, produce the oxygen we breathe and reg-ulate our climate. It is in the oceans that life began. Seafoodproducts comprise the main source of animal protein for 3billion people. Yet, governments are not acting quicklyenough to stop the pollution, over-exploitation, destruction ofhabitats, global warming, acidification and coastal develop-ment that is causing the oceans to collapse as living systems.

On September 11, 2013 Yann Arthus-Bertrand presentedthe film Planet Ocean to United Nations Secretary GeneralBan Ki-moon at the UN headquarters in New York along withstaff members of the UN Environmental Programme, students

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Organizing Our Volunteer Power to Build a Better World!Volunteer with CVSA to strengthen the voluntary service & action movement

CVSA needs volunteers for these areas of work:

Volunteer Outreach Phoning

Volunteer Organizer Training & Education

Volunteer Community Outreach Events

On-the-job training is provided in publication work sessions every Wednesday night, Saturday afternoonand all day Fridays. If you have skills in writing, editing,proofreading, desktop publishing or photoshop — youcan become one of the trainers!

Volunteers phone people who give their contact infor-mation and express an interest in the current volunteerneeds and activities of CVSA; a vital part of keepingthe movement growing. We do volunteer phone training on Monday and Wednesday evenings, as wellas weekdays.

Volunteers help schedule and participate in informa-tion tables and speaking engagements throughoutthe New York metropolitan area. This is CVSA’s mostvaluable means of connecting with people from allwalks of life looking for meaningful and productivevolunteer opportunities.

Volunteers maintain ongoing contact with publiclibraries, colleges, universities, faith-based organiza-tions, schools and professional organizations throughphoning, mailings and meetings all year round toexpand the distribution and use of INVEST YOURSELFto increase the flow of volunteers to vital projects.

All CVSA volunteers and staff of member organizationsare welcome to participate in our organizer training programs which include on-the-job practical training as well as classes in history, strategy and methods oforganizing and current world affairs.

Volunteers can participate in our site visits, consulta-tions and training workshops with member organiza-tions of CVSA, help maintain and build more arenasof communication with member organizations aroundthe country and collect news for the newsletter.

Call CVSA at (718) 482-8724 to schedule an orientation or time to volunteer.