Get Involved

WNPJ has 4 major work-groups, focused on anti-militarism, immigration justice, prison reform and environmental justice. Racial justice is a part of each of these working groups. At each Board meeting, representatives from these work groups will provide an assessment of the work going on in each of these arenas.


A) Anti-militarism work:

Mission: To organize and build opposition to the U.S. occupations of Iraq and Afghanistan, and to oppose militarism in our society, especially in our schools.

Objectives for 2009:

  1. Win passage of legislation creating a state statute requiring the Governor to review federalization requests of his national guard troops and if the authorization is invalid to refuse deployments of his Wisconsin National Guard members;
  2. Educate the public about the illegality of the use of Wisconsin Guard for deployment to Iraq;
  3. Reach out to Guard families and active-duty Guard members with the message that we support the Guard, and want them at home;
  4. Connect concerned citizens with their legislators to build support for “Bring the Guard Home” legislation;
  5. Reduce the presence and effectiveness of military recruiters in Wisconsin schools through creation of new recruiter access policies working with students and parents to get these policies passed by the school board;
  6. Reduce the availability of student information to the military by working with students and parents to get the guidance counselors to change their release option on the ASVAB and by promoting the use of opt-out forms in schools;
  7. Tour of Wisconsin schools by U.S. Navy veteran, member of Iraq Veterans Against the War and WNPJ staff member Todd Dennis;
  8. Distribute Truth in Recruiting materials, including information on career alternatives to military services to guidance counselors;
  9. Assist parents and students in Wisconsin high schools to organize peace groups, and to initiate peace studies classes.

 

B) Immigration Justice:
Mission:

 -  Welcome immigrants in our communities and organizations, while supporting policies that honor the dignity of every human being and recognize the positive contributions that immigrants make to Wisconsin every day

 - Provide resources, information and action alerts to WNPJ member organizations regarding immigrant rights as an integral part of broader work for peace, social, racial and economic justice

 - Collaborate with immigrant rights organizations and allies working to change the unjust laws of the United States' broken immigration system and working to address the root causes of forced migration.  

For more Policies and Objectives: click here,  for a list of WNPJ member groups working on Immigrants Rights, click here

To become involved with the Immigrants Rights Workgroup Contact: Cindy Breunig: cindyvoces@gmail.com or Stefania Sani: stefania@wnpj.org

 

C) Prison Reform:

Mission: to promote sustainable, community-based solutions to crime, that go beyond punishment and incarceration.

Objectives:

  1. Outreach and education on prison injustice;
  2. Organize a grassroots campaign to overturn WI Department of Corrections' ban on prisoners receiving used books from retail bookstores;
  3. Build a strong alliance with the WI ACLU Restore the Vote campaign to restore the vote to all un-incarcerated individuals. 

D) Environment:

Mission: to promote renewable, sustainable energy; to preserve our natural resources; and to end environmental degradation and pollution.

For 2010, we are focused on building alliances with Native groups and doing outreach and education in opposition to mining projects proposed on Native lands.  Our other priority is to promote truly clean renewable energy and energy efficiency in Wisconsin, and to oppose any expansion or public support for nuclear reactors in the state.  For more on this issue, see this page on our Carbon Free, Nuclear Free campaign.