Local activism roundup

Sleep Out: On Nov. 17 and Nov. 18, Covenant House California hosted an event raising awareness about the youth homelessness crisis and also raised funds to help this organization provide young people with 24/7 support. Covenant House California is an organization that provides supportive housing services to youth facing homelessness and trafficking in numerous cities across the United States, Latin America and Canada. In efforts to end youth homelessness, participants slept out of their beds for one night to demonstrate the hardships people experiencing homelessness face according to the Covenant House California’s website.

Protest Animal Abuse: On Nov. 12, the Humane League, an organization dedicated to animal protection, hosted a protest in Irvine, California to bring awareness to animals who are trapped in factory farms. According to the Humane League’s website, protesters met at the University of California–Irvine to ignite change with UCI’s food service provider, Aramark. Aramark promised to end cruel animal abuse practices years ago, but has reportedly not yet fulfilled that promise. 

Creative Activism: On Nov. 12, the organizations Write Now and the Imaginists’ Guest House hosted an event in Santa Rosa filled with visual art and readings of poetry with roots in Native American, African, Asian, Latin American, Caribbean, and Muslim culture according to the Imaginists’ Guest House’s website. 

Two-Spirit Identity: On Nov. 10, the California Institute of Integral Studies Public Program held an online event to spread awareness on two-spirit identity and cultural expression. The two-spirit identity is used by some Native Americans who identify with various cultural, spiritual and sexual gender identities. After surviving five centuries of colonial terminology and ideology, two-spirit people are now coming together to spread awareness about their identity across North America according to the California Institute of Integral Studies’s website.

Animal Liberation: On Jan. 9 to Jan. 14, the Animal Liberation Conference will host a conference in Berkeley available to all animal rights activists as they hope to inspire people to take bold and collective action. According to the organization’s website, the goal is to get animal liberation into mainstream conversation and to achieve social and political change for all animals.

Free Racial Justice Course: Starting on Nov. 14, the Stanford University School of Medicine sponsored the Presence 5 for Racial Justice curriculum that aims to promote social justice and health equity for Black. Open to all, the curriculum enhances confidence and skills incorporating racial justice strategies in daily clinical practice according to Stanford’s website.