You are Invited to Attend the Monthly Symposium

What:  Symposium with Q&A

When:  Tue, 2/4/14, 7pm to 8:30pm

Where: Central Presbyterian Church (map)

200 E 8th St., at Brazos St.

Austin, TX 78701

512-472-2445

No cost to attend

All are welcome!   parking info

Save Energy at Home

Learn how Austin Energy can help you SAVE MONEY and reduce your carbon footprint!

You may think saving energy is small potatoes – but a new group of environmental stewards calls energy efficiency “our greatest energy resource.” In fact, according to the American Council for an Energy Efficient Economy, the average US home can easily reduce its energy bills 25% to 35% year-round with basic efficiency improvements.

Fortunately for Austinites, the City of Austin and Austin Energy have numerous programs to help you cover the costs of such improvements. Join us in learning about our City’s world-leading rebate, incentive, and financing programs for home energy efficiency. Speakers include John Umphress, Senior Green Building and Sustainability Consultant at the City’s renown Green Building program. John will elaborate on proven green design solutions and how they’re being effectively called upon to meet Austin’s home energy challenges.

Time: 2:00 pm  to  4:00 pm

Location: Texas Capitol Extension Auditorium (Room E1.004), 201 E. 14th St. Austin

“Inequality for All” features professor and Clinton cabinet member Robert Reich analyzing how the widening income gap has a devastating impact on the American economy. Reich explains how the massive consolidation of wealth by a small group threatens the viability of the American workforce and the foundation of democracy.

Following the film, there will be a brief panel-discussion. The screening is free but RSVP is required.  Seating will be limited, on a first-come, first-seated basis.

The event is sponsored by state Sen. Rodney Ellis, Austin Branch NAACP, the Center for Public Policy Priorities, Workers Defense Project, Austin Area Urban League, Texas AFL-CIO, and the Community Action Network.

– See more at: http://www.thirdcoastactivist.org/events/screening-of-inequality-for-all/#sthash.TbUgvcFu.dpuf

You  Are Invited to Become a Deputy Voter Registrar – February  6

One way to “change the world” is by voting in local, state, and national elections. It’s the American way! Unfortunately, Texans have some of the lowest voter registration and voting rates in the nation. You can help to change that by receiving training as a Deputy Voter Registrar for Travis County and helping with local voter registration.

The Miriam Circle of Saint John’s UMW is sponsoring a one-hour training session for those interested in being a Deputy Voter Registrar. It will be held 7-8 p.m. on Thursday, February 6 in the back room at 5900 Wynona (house at the corner of Allandale and Wyonna across from Saint John’s UMC). The training will be conducted by Cheryl Reese, the county’s Voter Registration Outreach Program Coordinator. To pre-register to attend, send an email to Janice Curry, UMW Social Action Chair, at jlcurry@austin.rr.com. Invite your friends and spouse. This event is open to the public.

Dr. Carl Hart on “We Got Hoodwinked: The Problem Is Drug Policy, not Drugs”

Date: February 6, 2014

Time: 7:00 pm  to  9:00 pm

Dr. Carl Hart will speak about the myths concerning drug use and the consequences of contemporary drug policy. Drawing on his scientific work and social analysis, Hart goes beyond the hype to examine the relationship between drugs and pleasure, choice, and motivation, both in the brain and in society. His findings shed new light on common ideas about race, poverty, and drugs and explain why current policies are failing.

Hart teaches in the Departments of Psychology and Psychiatry at Columbia University, and is a Research Scientist in the Division of Substance Abuse at the New York State Psychiatric Institute. He is a member of the National Advisory Council on Drug Abuse and on the board of directors of the College on Problems of Drug Dependence and the Drug Policy Alliance. A native of Miami, Hart earned his M.S. and Ph.D. in experimental psychology and neuroscience at the University of Wyoming.

Hart’s talk will draw on his 2013 book, High Price: A Neuroscientist’s Journey of Self-Discovery That Challenges Everything You Know about Drugs and Society, in which he writes not only about his academic work but life growing up in one of Miami’s toughest neighborhoods and how it led him to his pioneering work in drug addiction. Hart escaped neighborhoods that were dominated by entrenched poverty but has not turned his back on that world since becoming Columbia University’s first tenured African American professor in the sciences. Determined to make a difference, he applies his science to help save real lives.

The event, which is free and open to the public, is sponsored by St. James’ Episcopal Church, the Third Coast Activist Resource Center, and the University of Texas Department of Psychology, Warfield Center for African and African American Studies, and Division of Diversity and Community Engagement.

For more information, contact Robert Jensen at rjensen@austin.utexas.edu. If you need accommodations for this event, please contact Betty Jeanne Taylor at bjwtaylor@austin.utexas.edu at least five days in advance.

Location: St. James’ Episcopal Church, 1941 Webberville Road, Austin, 78721