<== Check out our new logo!!! Infinite thanks to the very talented and hardworking Jon Doyle of Jon Doyle Design.
After feedback, constructive criticism and more time on the ground, we’ve decided to amend our mission statement. Without further ado:
Our mission is to empower and connect communities adapting to water scarcity. By providing technical assistance to expand the use of social media, we are contributing to participatory grassroots organizing within local communities. Over time, we aim to improve the communication internationally among communities that are facing water scarcity.
We’re gearing up to finally start our community video project with the FlipVideo cameras in El Salto and Juanacátlan. Our first group will be made up of high school students already working to investigate the serious negative health effects of the highly polluted Rio Santiago. We’ll be posting more details soon!
We thought it would be a good idea to take a step back and share a brief overview of the communities around Guadalajara that we’re working with. At the moment, there are three:
While they are geographically disparate and are facing their own unique issues, they are all a part of the Río Santiago watershed. To get a better sense of the area and the communities we’re working with, be sure to check out the map at the end of the post!
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On Wednesday our friend Pablo from IMDEC took us on a powerful tour of the municipio of El Salto where he lives. We revisited La Huizachera and voyaged southeast away from the city, tracking the Canal Ahogado’s path to where it feeds into the Rio Santiago. Then we followed the Rio Santiago through the largest industrial corridor in Guadalajara, stopping to explore the El Salto/Juanacatlan waterfalls, and finished our trip along the Rio Santiago in rural Juanacatlan. It was a difficult journey.
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Last night I attended a screening of Liz Miller’s documentary film The Water Front at the Food and Water Watch (FWW) office in San Francisco. FWW wrote the documentary “offers a sharp look at the possible risks ahead for communities looking to privatize their water supply.” The movie highlighted a community’s struggle to maintain their right to affordable water amidst a privatization scheme pushed forward by outside consultants hired to balance the city’s budget. The citizens of Highland Park, Michigan, right outside of Detroit, successfully organized a grassroots campaign to maintain control of the public water supply, however lost a million dollars by employing the consultants.
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Tags: campaign, El Salto, Food and Water Watch, grassroots, Highland Park, IMDEC, infrastructure, La Red Vida, Liz Miller, public private partnership, public water, The Water Front
Literature, Relationships | sarah | 
28 April 2009 18:31 | 
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My first major fundraiser will be June 14th at El Rio in San Francisco from 1-3! Thank you El Rio! El Rio is a really awesome community bar that makes it a priority to host fundraisers. My friend Matt is a bartender there, and I was really blown away by the generosity of the owner, Dawn. I’m planning on bringing in a DJ, serving some delicious brunch food, and organizing displays of water issues in the Bay Area and Guadalajara. The intention of the event is to not only raise money for a digital video camera and editing software, but also to raise awareness and build the water network in the Bay Area and in Guadalajara. I hope to hold a raffle with donated prizes, so if anyone has connections with businesses and nonprofits who might be interested in making a donation, please pass on their information or get in touch with me.
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<== Check out our new logo!!! Infinite thanks to the very talented and hardworking Jon Doyle of Jon Doyle Design. 
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