Just wanted to let you know several pieces of positive news.

1) We have received 83 registrations so far for the non-profit conference on Y2K that will take place this Friday, at the Masonic Building on Broadway

This event is being sponsored by the City of Oakland, CARD, the American Red Cross, and Oakland 2001, and endorsed by La Clinica de la Raza, the Spanish-Speaking Citizens' Foundation, and Catholic Charities. We will be offering help with remediation and contingency planning to non-profits, and, we are inviting them to reach out and help educate their staff, clients, and community about preparedness. We will be serving lunch, and hosting a speaker from DC from the President's Council on Year 2000 conversion, (as well as some local city and county staff.)

It's been a lot of work so far, and it's not over yet, but I am very pleased at the response so far, and hope that it will be a useful day for everyone.

If you know of any non-profits that would like to come, there is still time to register --- ask them to call me at 534-6302, and leave their fax number so I can send them registration material.

2) While a lot of folks are still getting confused by mixed messages, there are growing signs that the progressive community and the environmental community are beginning to recognize Y2K as a social issue, one that can have disproportionate effects on low-income folks, those receiving public assistance, the elderly, and of course the environment -- and an issue that can benefit from everyone's concern and participation.

While some folks might think that it's too little too late -- i think it's very important, since we are going to need all our community leaders to help us through what some folks are calling the "recovery" phase of Y2K -- that is, whatever will take place AFTER January 1st, in the coming weeks and months ahead.

3) There are lots of folks out there who, despite the mixed messages from the media and authorities, are in fact taking basic preparedness steps, for themselves and for their neighbors. (One of the things that made the rounds on the Internet was the recommendation that, since only a quarter of the population was preparing, we should all prepare "for ourselves and for three others."

4) A few of our public leaders are making very sensible statements about the importance of preparedness. At a recent community meeting (where other officials who shall remain nameless were pooh-poohing the need for preparedness) Councilmember Chang made a very helpful statement about the importance of basic emergency preparedness. He also spoke very clearly about that topic on a recent KTOP show. Thank you, Councilmember Chang! If any of you would like to express your appreciation, the number is 238-3266.

5) For those of you who may not have seen it, the Express published a letter that we sent in, in response to their article on the City of Oakland's remediation efforts. While they did not include all of the names of all of the folks who had endorsed the letter, they did publish it. Feel free to contact them and encourage them to provide additional y2k coverage. 540-7400, email info@eastbayexpress.com

6) A last piece of good news -- someone sent an e-mail recently asking for our address, so that they could make a tax-deductible donation! If anyone else is so inclined, by all means, feel free to do so. All of our advocacy work has been on a volunteer basis, as has our work writing the preparedness materials for the City of Oakland, tabling at street fairs, organizing the Preparedness Faire and now the Non-Profit Conference, etc. etc. etc. We are a project of LEAP, a certified 501 (c) (3), and you are welcome to mail any contributions to P.O. Box 17002, Oakland, CA 94601.

-- Daren Henderson (TryChange@aol.com), November 10, 1999