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Hopeful City
Announces a new initiative: |
Mosaic
A diverse statewide network of individuals, congregations and organizations
MOSAIC: A West Virginia multi-issue statewide citizens' organization dedicated to equipping people with the tools to impact the issues that affect their lives.
Hopeful City leaders recognize that while there are overwhelming problems in West Virginia, the most devastating problem is the hopelessness, despair and depression that have plagued West Virginians for generations. Like other rural Appalachian communities, many West Virginia communities became single-industry towns in which the power out-of-state owners exerted in their company towns not only controlled the economy, but also controlled community life. This was not an accident, but a deliberate effort by those in power to keep people powerlessness and dependent.
This disenfranchisement continues today as residents are pitted against each other within communities and between regions in the state, forcing residents deeper into poverty and the intertwined depression. Those being impacted by the problems have had no role in community decision-making and no voice in issues that affected their lives. MOSAIC is West Virginia's first statewide initiative to organize people who are being impacted by the problems, faith communities and single-issue organizations. Through organizing people, MOSAIC will do more than solve problems; we will change our cultural belief that: "This is our lot in life. We don't deserve any better."
What will MOSAIC do that is not already being done in WV?
In West Virginia, where people have experienced long-term devastating economic decline and the resultant intertwined depression, there is no organization that brings together the broadest possible range of people and grassroots or civic organizations to address the reality that has become West Virginia past-present-future. In the context of such overwhelming decline and depression, MOSAIC will bring together an ever widening coalition that does the following:
- Provides a space for grassroots leaders to discuss their individual self-interests, campaigns, concerns and visions for the state;
- Provides an independent, grassroots, democratic (small 'd') voice of people who can advocate for policies and practices independent of narrow interests;
- Provides a non-political channel for civic participation by the broadest spectrum of the population;
- Forces discussion in the farthest reaches of the state and across the most polarized barriers;
- Provides leadership training in civic participation at the grassroots level that crosses previously uncrossed boundaries;
- Holds the potential for mass action around issues that are impacting residents' lives; and
- Provides a balance between local action and statewide action.
MOSAIC, through Hopeful City's experience in congregation-centered organizing, is uniquely prepared to fight not only the cyclic poverty but also the overwhelming hopelessness and depression that many West Virginians face. MOSAIC will unify people, congregation-centered organizing (with its diverse membership and "The best is yet to come" attitude) and other organizations concerned about issues impacting our residents. This diverse network will build the power to fundamentally change our defeatist culture and create a better future for West Virginians.
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