NJFAC Sponsors Town Hall Meetings in Ohio Featuring Rep. John Conyers, Jr.

Full Video of 12/5/15 Dayton Town Hall Meeting

1 Hour Video of 12/5/15 Dayton Town Hall Meeting

by Logan Martinez, Outreach Coordinator, National Jobs for All Coalition

The Town Hall Meetings in Dayton and Columbus featuring Rep. John Conyers went extremely well with good turnouts in both cities.  The speeches were informative and the dialogue during questions and answers was positive and highlighted the economic hardship and inequality facing the American people both locally and nationally.  The Town Hall meetings succeeded in raising the prominence of the need for jobs, health care, raising the minimum wage, and other key issues.  Rep. Conyers has initiated two pieces of legislation that would go a long way toward reducing these problems: HR 1000, the “Humphrey Hawkins Full Employment and Training Act” and HR 676, The Expanded And Improved Medicare For All Act.  Prof. Philip Harvey spoke at both Town Meetings, explaining how this legislation would work and what it would do for the unemployed and the nation.

Two great teams worked independently on the Town Meetings but with shared agendas. As principal organizer of these events, NJFAC Outreach Coordinator Logan Martinez  thanks everyone involved in both Town Hall meetings; the volunteers who put many hours of time in organizing and publicizing, the great co-sponsors in Dayton and Columbus, the financial supporters who made it possible, and the great speakers and panelists.

And thanks to Rep. John Conyers for his continuing leadership in the fight for jobs, health care, and  a better America.

NJFAC looks forward to building an ongoing network for jobs, health care and social justice in Ohio and to mounting comparable Town Meetings around the nation.

Dayton Program

  • Welcome and Opening Remarks, Rev. Robert E. Jones
  • Jeff Mims, Dayton City Commissioner
  • Mayor Nan Whaley and the Dayton City Commission have declared Saturday December 5, 2015 John Conyers Day in Dayton.
  • Moderator, Debbie Silverstein, SPAN Ohio State Director
  • Keynote, U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr.

Panel:

  • Charles Morton, Executive Secretary, Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO
  • Phillip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics, Rutgers School of Law
  • Morris Brown, MD, Family Practitioner, Single Payer Health Care
  • Acknowledgements, Derrick Forward, President NAACP
  • Closing Remarks, John T. Donnellan, President &CEO Community Action Partnership
  • Adjournment, Rev. Robert E. Jones

Dayton Sponsors: Community Action Partnership of the Greater Dayton Area;  Dayton-Miami Valley AFL-CIO; Dr. P. E. Henderson Jr., Corinthian Baptist Church;  Greater Dayton Move to Amend;  Miami Valley Full Employment Council; Edgemont Neighborhood Association; SPAN Ohio (Single Payer Action Network of Ohio);  Rev. Robert E. Jones, United Theological Seminary; Dayton Unit NAACP; Organize!Ohio; Pastor Jerome McCorry;  National Jobs for All Coalition

Columbus Program

  • Moderator, Melissa Cropper, President of the Ohio Federation of Teachers
  • Keynote, U.S. Congressman John Conyers Jr.

Panel:

  • Tim Burga, President Ohio AFL-CIO
  • Debbie Silverstein, State Director SPAN Ohio Kevin Kee, President Local 4501 Communication Workers of America
  • Phillip Harvey, Professor of Law and Economics Rutgers School of Law
  • Rubén Castilla Herrera, Central Ohio Worker Center

Columbus Sponsors: SPAN Ohio (Single Payer Action Network of Ohio); Communication Workers of America District 4; Dr. Victor M Davis, Trinity Baptist Church;  Columbus Effective Resistance; Elder Dale Snyder, President Columbus Interdenominational Ministerial,  Pastor Bethal AME Church;  Community Organizing Center;   Jobs for Columbus;  Central Ohio Worker Center;  Democratic Socialists of Central Ohio;  Columbus Free Press;  Rev. Joel L. King Jr.;  Bounce 23 TV;  Organize!Ohio;  National Jobs for All Coalition

Thanks to Trudy Goldberg, Chair  and to the other members of the Board of the National Jobs for All Coalition and to the Jobs for All Network for their support in this effort; and to Erik Sperling, Legislative Assistant to Rep. John Conyers Jr., and Maria D.Reddick, Scheduler for to Rep. John Conyers Jr.

Special Thanks to the Dayton Team: Mary Sue Gmeiner, Deborah Ferguson, Renee Shephard, Tim Bruce, Rev. Robert E. Jones, and Chuck Morton. And Carla Pitsinger, Carole Grimes, Adbullah Shakir, Tiki Kai-Krismano, Gwen Woodall Given and Michelle Jone, and John Bennett, Director of Communications and Public Relations Community Action Partnership of the Greater Dayton Area.

Special Thanks to the Columbus Team: Marilyn Webster, Connie Hammond, Elicia Finnell, Debbie Silverstein, Rev. Joel King, Rev. Thomas Toney, Ruben Castilla Herrera, Mark Stansberry, Kurt Bateman and Terrence Gilchrist.   Thanks to:  Dr. Victor M. Davis, Pastor, Trinity Baptist Church, Brian Coston, Media Ministry, Trinity Baptist Church, Stan Cartwright, Facilities Administrator, Trinity Baptist Church, Hostess Ministry, Trinity Baptist Church, Gabrielle P. Moore and Ron McGuire with Representative U.S. Congresswoman Joyce Beatty, Diane Bailey, Communication Workers of America, Bob Fitrakis and Suzanne Patzer of the Columbus Free Press.