The Community News Production Institute in partnership with Global Movements Urban Struggles aired its monthly show on July 28th at 10AM on WBAI 99.5 FM. This month’s show features organizers from Unidad Latino in New Haven, Connecticut talking about issues faced by immigrant communities, housing organizers from Picture the Homeless who took over an empty lot in East Harlem, and Sterling Toles, a Detroit-based artists and community organizer discussing the work he does with disadvantaged youths, and a sound collage from the 11th Allied Media Conference held July 17-19 at Detroit’s Wayne State
University.

On July 23rd, community organizers and housing advocates took over a vacant lot in East Harlem to demand an end to homelessness. Several hours after the take-over, NYPD officers moved in to arrest the organizers. Community News Production Institute reporters Kristofer Rios, Christine Lewis, Ravi Ragbir and Jaisal Noor were there to cover the event. This report was filed for FSRN.

This summer, Radio Rootz in DC is working with students from Bell Multicultural High School to produce two pieces about the politics of food in DC. Over the past two weeks,  students have started to learn the basics of recording, editing, and interviewing. We’ve also begun to look more closely at media consolidation and  the ways in which advertising affects our food choices.

To try to understand our topics for this summer on a national level, Selina and I attended a press conference on Capital Hill on June 25^th for members of the Healthy School Food Brigade, a group made up of parents, politicians, and others urging congress to eliminate junk food from our nations schools.  Frustrated by the mixed message that students receive in schools about healthy eating choices in and out of the classroom, this group is working hard to eliminate junk food from vending machines. Check out this piece with audio from the conference and an interview with one of the organizers that we put together for Free Speech Radio News.

This is a picture from a community garden tour that our group took this summer for our radio piece.  This takes place at Common Good City Farm.

More coming soon,

Melissa Langer is a recent addition to Radio Rootz, but was born and raised in DC. I recently graduated from Carleton College in Minnesota where I studied history with a focus on colonial urban planning. I’m happy to be home working, learning and enjoying the city in the summer.

On July 22nd, a new report released by Yeshiva University’s Immigration Justice Clinic says raids conducted by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) are illegal. The report, backed by several law enforcement experts, found a widespread pattern of misconducts by ICE agents who routinely force their way into the homes of immigrants without any judicial search warrants. Community News Production Institute reporter Kristofer Rios filed this headline for Free Speech Radio News.