Peace Camp 2018 – Week One

Houston Mennonite Church 1231 Wirt Rd., Houston, TX, United States

“Justice” is the theme this summer for Peace Camp 2018.  This is an alternative day camp from 9am -3pm, for children ages 5-18.  The focus will be on developing inner peace and building problem solving skills.  Yoga, gardening, special guests, using puppets co-operative games, and cooking are some of the activities planned.  Youth who are 13 and older will have a curriculum that deals with gun control, racism, LGBTQ issues, PTSD, and other more mature topics. Although several sessions are at churches, the camp is not religious.

With violence permeating our culture, let’s make teaching peace a priority!

Week One takes place June 4th-8th at the Houston Mennonite Church - 1231 Wirt Rd. Houston 77055

Lessons from a Storm: Public Ed and Hurricane Harvey

HCC West Loop Campus 5601 West Loop South, Houston

After seeing their cities flooded and homes destroyed in Hurricane Harvey, Texas teachers and students spent the rest of the academic year struggling to get back to baseline, working through the negative academic and mental health effects of one of the worst natural disasters in the state's history. How are teachers and students focusing on classroom demands while continuing to pick up the pieces of their lives?

Join The Texas Tribune in person or on our livestream for a conversation about the impact Hurricane Harvey had on public education in Houston and across Texas moderated by the Tribune's public education reporter Aliyya Swaby.

Free

HPJC Executive Committee Meeting

Field of Greens 2320 W. Alabama, Houston

Taking place (usually) the first Saturday of every month, and open to the public, is HPJC’s Executive Committee meeting. However, voting only takes place at our Quarterly Board Meeting, which is also open to the public.

Free

Amnesty International Houston Welcomes guest speaker

Central Market Community Room 3815 Westheimer, Houston, United States

Amnesty International Houston, local 23 welcomes guest speaker, Houston DWI Attorney Paul B. Kennedy. Paul handles DWI defense as well as general criminal defense.

Free

Transforming Our Juvenile Justice System

Provision Charter School 4590 Wilmngton St., Houston

A Right2Justice conversation on transforming our juvenile justice system. This is a system that for far too long has criminalized  and dehumanized young people of color, instead of providing them with the support and resources they need to get back into public life and enter the workforce. At this event, we'll be having discussions on what a reformed juvenile justice system looks like.

Free

Can Public Policy Control Rising Drug Prices?

Rice University's Baker Institute for Public Policy 6100 Main Street, Houston

Prescription drug expenditures are projected to reach $360.2 billion in 2018. Per capita spending on these drugs rose 5 percent in 2015 and 3.5 percent in 2016. The public is outraged by stories of Martin Shkreli raising the price of Daraprim by 5,000 percent, and Mylan raising the price of a pair of EpiPens by 400 percent. Meanwhile, the cost of treatment with the most novel anticancer drugs has risen by 400 percent over the past 10 years, and the cost of treatment with new drugs that can cure Hepatitis C is tens of thousands of dollars. Will the prices of prescription drugs continue to rise at extraordinary rates? Are a handful of blockbuster drugs to blame, or will all patients be forced to pay rapidly rising prices? At this event, Vivian Ho, director of the Baker Institute Center for Health and Biosciences, will explore these questions and describe the policy options to control drug price increases being recommended by policymakers, researchers and clinicians.

$50

5th Ward Bond Beautification Project

NEW DATE: JUNE 9th

Neighborhood Cleanup Day!

OPERATION: FLOOD CONTROL (Clearing trash & debris from ditches and waterways).

Walk Gently on Earth

Emerson Unitarian Universalist Church & online 1900 Bering Dr., Houston

  Last fall, world religious leaders presented the interfaith climate declaration, Walk Gently on Earth, to the UN Conference on Climate Change in Bonn. The Interfaith Environmental Network of Houston invites you to a talk about the declaration by Imaad Khan, of the Texas Interfaith Center for Public Policy (TICPP), who was there. Imaad will discuss the presentation of the declaration, its message, and how houses of worship and their members can leverage this initiative. Walk Gently on Earth invites people of faith to lead the world in adopting a sustainable lifestyle.

Free

Texas Migrant and Refugee Leadership Academy

TBD Houston

Do you have what it takes?  Calling on all migrants and refugee leaders in the State of Texas to attend a statewide migrants and refugee leadership training to be held in Dallas, Texas on Friday, June 15* to Sunday, June 17.

This all day training event offers migrants and refugees the opportunity to come together to share experiences, connect with each other, and develop the skills necessary to advocate on issues of importance to migrants and refugees in Texas.

The training is designed to hone your leadership skills; create opportunity for networking; and incentives for participants to take the experience back to their local communities and advocate for issues of concern to the broader migrant and refugee community.  Our goal is to lift up the voices of all refugees in order to create more welcoming communities in Texas.

Free

Mayor Turner’s Annual Acres Homes Juneteenth Parade

Acres Homes Multi-Service Center 6719 W. Montgomery Rd., Houston

Mayor Sylvester Turner’s Annual Acres Homes Juneteenth Parade on Saturday, June 16, 2018 at 10:00 a.m.

The parade will begin at the Acres Homes Multi-Service Center located at 6719 W. Montgomery, travel north on W. Montgomery, west on Dolly Wright and conclude at Greater Zion Missionary Baptist Church located at 1620 Dolly Wright.

Free

Emancipation Park Juneteenth Celebration

Emancipation Park 3018 Emancipation Ave., Houston

Emancipation Park's Juneteenth Celebration
10 am - 5 pm
Hosts: City of Houston and Emancipation Park Conservancy
Location: Emancipation Park, 3018 Emancipation Avenue, Houston, Texas 77004

EMANCIPATION PARK opened in the Third Ward in 1872, on a plot of land purchased for $800 by a group of former slaves. The opening took place nine years after president Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, and seven years after slaves were formally freed in Texas.

Free

24th Annual Juneteenth Ally Award Luncheon “Giving our Youth a Voice”

First Methodist Church (Lower Level Fellowship Hall), 1320 Main Street, Houston, TX 77002 1320 Main Street (at Clay), Houston

The Center for the Healing of Racism will hold its 24th annual Juneteenth Ally Award luncheon, “Giving our Youth a Voice," on Saturday, June 16, 2018.  This year’s award recipients are:
- James W. Loewen, sociologist, historian and author of Lies My Teacher Told Me: Everything Your High School History Textbook Got Wrong;
- Tahirih Justice Center, a nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting immigrant women and girls and promoting a world where women and girls enjoy equality, safety and dignity;
- Lisa Falkenberg, Houston Chronicle columnist and Pulitzer Prize recipient (2015) for her groundbreaking columns about corrupt grand jury practices and egregious problems in the legal and immigration systems;
- Ben and Sarah Becker, who will receive the Center’s "Individual Initiative Award.”

$50

Going Green for Home Building/Remodeling Projects

The amount of resources borrowed from our Earth to create the buildings in which we spend 93% of our lives is staggering. If we look at just the residential building industry, we see that we are building homes with a life span of 40-100 years, with the interior materials having an even shorter lifespan.

Through this discussion, Caroline Kostak, secretary of the Texas Gulf Coast Region chapter of the U.S. Green Building Council, will look at how we can meet the need to shelter and provide work space for a growing population while also being respectful of the resources given to us on Earth.   We will explore different strategies that can lead to efficient resource management and produce beautiful, healthy, and efficient buildings that celebrate the gifts and abundance of the Earth while also protecting them.

Free

Progressive Movie Night: “The Battle of Algiers”

Houston Communist Party Headquarters 3100 McKinney Street, Houston, TX, United States

"The Battle of Algiers" is a 1966 Italian-Algerian historical war film co-written and directed by Gillo Pontecorvo and starring Jean Martin and Saadi Yacef. It is based on events during the Algerian War (1954–62) against the French government in North Africa; the most prominent being the titular Battle of Algiers, the capital of Algeria. It was shot on location and the film's score was composed by Ennio Morricone. The film, which was shot in a Roberto Rossellini-inspired newsreel style—in black and white with documentary-type editing—is often associated with Italian neorealism cinema.

The film has been critically celebrated and often taken, by insurgent groups and states alike, as an important commentary on urban guerrilla warfare. It occupies the 48th place on the Critics' Top 250 Films of the 2012 Sight & Sound poll as well as 120th place on Empire magazine's list of the 500 greatest movies of all time.

Free

Peace Camp 2018 – Week Two

First Congregational Church of Houston 10840 Beinhorn Road, Houston, TX, United States

“Justice” is the theme this summer for Peace Camp 2018. This is an alternative day camp from 9am -3pm, for children ages 5-18. The focus will be on developing inner peace and building problem solving skills. Yoga, gardening, special guests, using puppets co-operative games, and cooking are some of the activities planned. Youth who are 13 and older will have a curriculum that deals with gun control, racism, LGBTQ issues, PTSD, and other more mature topics. Although several sessions are at churches, the camp is not religious.

With violence permeating our culture, let’s make teaching peace a priority!

Week Two takes place June 18th-22nd at the First Congregational Church, 10840 Beinhorn Rd.  Houston 77024

International Food and Cultural Festival

Shape Community Center 3903 Almeda Rd, Houston, TX

SHAPE Community Center is forming a coalition of community partners are bridging the gap between cultures by showcasing the international flavor, through food and culture, of countries, regions, and traditions operating within ourcity. Food, music, and art have long been national as well as international genres of communication. This International Food and Cultural Festival will allow participants a global experience into the culture and customs of many countries and traditions through food, music, dance, dress, art, literature, and more. 

$5 – $20

Houston Pride Festival and Parade 2018

City Hall 901 Bagby, Houston, TX, United States

2018 marks 40 Years of Pride in the city of Houston. Join us in Downtown Houston where our very own "Stonewall" occurred in 1977 as thousands protested against Anita Bryant's anti-gay campaign.

This event is ADMISSION FREE and open to the public to attend/watch and open to the public (no age limit). No tickets are necessary except for the VIP Parade area. There are no tickets necessary for general admission.

For VIP Parade Tickets: pridehouston.org/vip

The Houston Pride Festival® and Houston Pride Parade® are at the center of the Celebration with an attendance of over 700,000 people every year from all over the world. Come and join all of the LGBT Community in celebrating who we are as a people and how much more we still need to FIGHT FOR.

Houston Ebony Opera Guild Annual Concert

Westbury United Methodist Church 5200 Willowbend Blvd., Houston

ANNUAL SUMMER CONCERT: A JUNETEENTH CELEBRATION

"Steady Soldier"
Music commemorating the 50th anniversary of the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr.

$10 – $50