If you live in the Nashville area, or the Cookeville area, or, well, anywhere in the Tennessee area, there’s good news.
Let’s start with the good news for the Cookeville area. There’s a new group forming: the Upper Cumberland Progressive Coalition. Some of the member groups of the coalition include:
Cookeville High School Gay-Straight Alliance Cookeville High School Young Democrats Cumberland Gender Advocacy Indivisible TN 6 PFLAG Putnam County Democratic Party Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cookeville Putnam County NAACP Statewide Organization for Community eMpowerment Upper Cumberland Sierra CommitteeWe’ll be meeting this coming Tuesday, August 29th, from 5:30 to 6:30, at 111 N. Cedar in Cookeville.
More good news: after the UCPC meeting, at 6:30 there’ll be an Indivisible TN 6 meeting. Same location (111 N. Cedar)!
And still more good news: before the UCPC meeting there’ll be a brief chapter meeting for SOCM, from 5:00 to 5:30. Same location (111 N. Cedar) — so you can come and attend meetings for one, two or three great groups in the same evening!
If you’re not familiar with SOCM you can read a little more about it in a previous diary I wrote about its upcoming 45th anniverary celebration. But here's a quick intro from that diary:
SOCM (pronounced sock-em) was founded in 1972. Originally the letters stood for Save Our Cumberland Mountains, which was one of the early priorities of the group. But over the years SOCM’s mission has expanded from primarily environmental justice concerns (such as mountaintop removal, surface mining and strip mining) to a broader range of concerns including racial justice and economic justice. So a decade ago the name was changed to Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment.
And here’s the official SOCM Mission Statement:
SOCM is a member-driven organization that encourages civic involvement and collective action so that the people of Tennessee have a greater voice in determining their future. Our mission is to empower Tennesseans to protect, defend, and improve the quality of life in their communities across the state. We are working for social, economic, and environmental justice for all. We are committed to the journey of becoming an anti-racist organization. Recognizing our interdependence, we are committed to overcoming social and institutional racism and embracing our diverse cultures.
This Tuesday’s meeting is primarily to select a new chapter rep, but that shouldn’t take long. So if you live in the Cookeville area but aren’t already part of SOCM this is a good chance to meet a few of us who are active in SOCM and learn more about SOCM.
But what if you don’t live in the Cookeville area? Well, if you live in the Nashville area you’re in luck too. Because there’s a Davidson County chapter which has been starting up. They meet the third Monday of each month, from 6:30 to 8:30, at the MNEA (Metropolitan Nashville Educational Association) building, 531 Fairground Court, Nashville TN 37211. (Click the MNEA link for a map of where that is if you’re not sure how to get there.) For more information about the Davidson Co chapter and about the upcoming meeting on September 19th, e-mail Rosa@SOCM.org.
But what if you don’t live in either the Cookeville or Nashville area? Even if you don’t you’re still in luck. But you’re especially in luck if you do live in Nashville -- because the weekend of October 7-8 SOCM will be celebrating its 45th anniversary at the Scarritt-Bennett center in Nashville. (And the celebration is free to all members of SOCM, so that makes this an especially good time to become a member.)
I had intended to write and post a longer diary telling more about the upcoming 45th anniversary celebration, but unfortunately I don’t have internet at home this week so am typing this on a library computer. I should have internet working again next week and will write more about the celebration then, but wanted to get word out about the UCPC meeting while there’s still time (and to get word out about the September Davidson County SOCM chapter meeting, since I failed to get word out about the August one.
And apologies that after I queue this diary to post this evening I’ll be heading back home and won’t be able to go online again until next week. But hopefully everything in this diary is reasonably clear. (And if it isn’t I’ll try to answer any questions or clear up any confusion in a SOCM diary I’ll post in early September.)
Noble Fur is not member of SOCM. But I couldn’t resist adding a picture of her to this diary!