Virtual Meeting-Oct. 13 NOTE DATE CHANGE

 It's time for our first ever Canton Democratic Club Adopt-A-Road clean-up!  For a fun two hours of good conversation and discovery, please join us on Saturday, October 2nd to help make Palmer Road (beween Hannan and Haggerty) look spiffy!   

Trash bags and safety vests will be supplied.  Please bring gloves and  dress appropriately for the weather.  Meet us in the CVS parking lot at  Palmer and Haggerty by 9:30am.  Coffee and donuts will be devoured by 9:35am.  If you have any questions, email Mary Griffith at marygriff52@gmail.com. 

We are very excited for our annual June forum. Our focus this year will be on criminal justice.

The Zoom login information is:
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84904313371...

Meeting ID: 849 0431 3371
Passcode: 730994

Our forum will be moderated by Canton Township Trustee Sommer Foster and our esteemed panel will include: 

ELI SAVIT is an American lawyer, law professor, and politician. 

He  is currently serving as the Prosecuting Attorney in Washtenaw County,  Michigan. His areas of expertise include civil rights, education law,  environmental protection, state and local government, and  criminal-justice reform.

Prior to his election as Prosecuting Attorney, Savit served as senior legal  counsel in the office of Detroit Mayor Mike Duggan, and as a law clerk  to Supreme Court Justices Sandra Day O'Connor and Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Savit is also a lecturer at the University of Michigan Law School.

ANGEL  MCKISSIC is a Program Manager in the Just Cities Lab, Detroit Justice  Center. She is the founder and coordinator of the Metro Detroit  Restorative Justice Network, a collective of volunteers from a wide  swath of disciplines and system sectors who are working to advance  restorative justice in Detroit.

She  is a psychotherapist by training and recently joined the faculty of the  psychology department at West Virginia Wesleyan College where she  integrates psychological and abolitionist theory in her teaching.

Angel  is currently a Racial Equity Fellow with the Detroit Equity Action Lab  (DEAL) as part of their 2021 cohort. She is the mother of two free-range  daughters. She enjoys mushroom hunting and pottery.

LOREN KHOGALI joined the Michigan Indigent Defense Commission as Executive Director in 2018. 

Prior  to joining MIDC, Loren served as an attorney for 13 years with the  Federal Public Defender Office in Detroit, advocating on behalf of  persons charged with federal crimes at the trial, appellate and  post-conviction stages. During her time at the Federal Defender Office,  she participated in the development and leadership teams for the court’s  reentry and alternative to prison programs. 

Loren  earned her B.S. and B.A. from Western Michigan University in 1998 and  her J.D. from Northeastern University School of Law in 2003. She serves  on the board of directors for MI Voices, as a member of the State Bar  Criminal Jurisprudence and Practice Committee and on the steering  committee for Advocates and Law Enforcement for Police and Community  Trust (ALPACT). In 2021, Loren was appointed to serve on the Michigan  Supreme Court’s Justice For All Commission in her capacity as Executive  Director of MIDC.

CHAD  BAUGH is Director of Police Services for Canton Township. The Canton  Police Department’s administrative team is responsible for establishing  and enforcing department policies and procedures. 

Baugh  manages about 100 police officers, including detectives, sergeants,  lieutenants and dispatchers and will oversee all police operations in  his new role. He has served the township for nearly 25 years and has  been in a leadership role for the past 12 years.

Baugh  graduated from Eastern Michigan University’s School of Police Staff and  Command. He has a bachelor’s degree in criminal justice from Madonna  University and a master’s degree in technology from Eastern Michigan  University in Ypsilanti.

 Please  join us for our May Membership Meeting. We will be joined by Christine  Jensen, Executive Director for the Michigan Democratic Party. Christine has been involved in Democratic politics in Michigan for many years and is extremely knowledgeable, having run multiple campaigns in the past.

Zoom info: 

Link to join meeting: https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84904313371?pwd=akQrTE9kVjNjdFpnZkJIL2p1YjBJdz09

Meeting ID: 849 0431 3371
Passcode: 730994

We  hope you can join us for our April membership meeting. Our featured  speakers will be Monica Andrade, from ACLU of Michigan, and our State  Senator Dayna Polehanki. 

Join Zoom Meeting 

https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84904313371?pwd=akQrTE9kVjNjdFpnZkJIL2p1YjBJdz09 

Meeting ID: 849 0431 3371
Passcode: 730994

Monica  is an attorney with the ACLU of Michigan, where she advocates for and  protects the civil rights of the immigrant community. In this role, she  has been involved in many of the ACLU’s legal challenges on behalf of  immigrants’ rights, including Hamama v. Adducci, Malam v. Adducci,  Michigan Immigrant Rights Center v. Department of Homeland Security, and  multiple lawsuits on behalf of Jilmar Ramos Gomez, a U.S. citizen and  Marine Corps combat veteran who was unlawfully detained by ICE and placed in proceedings based on his ethnic background.

Before  joining the ACLU of Michigan, Monica represented children in immigration court through MSU’s Immigration Law Clinic and handled eviction cases at the Harvard Legal Aid Bureau through an Equal Justice  America Legal Service Fellowship. She was also an intern at the ACLU of Arizona and a judicial extern for Michigan Supreme Court Justice Bridget Mary McCormack. 

Prior to law school, Monica was a case worker at an in-custody substance abuse treatment and education program in Flagstaff, Arizona where she worked with individuals to develop transition and treatment plans post-release.

In 2020, Monica was selected by the Detroit Bar Association as the recipient of their Outstanding Young Lawyer award. She is also the current Co-Chair for the Michigan Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee  Rights.

Senator Polehanki will be giving us a Lansing update and taking us through the 39 GOP voter suppression bills currently in the Michigan State Senate. 

Before her election to the state legislature, Sen. Dayna Polehanki was a leader in the classroom.

She is a two-time Teacher of the Year award winner and has almost 19 years of experience in the classroom.

Dayna  is up for re-election in 2022 and we, as a Club, are making a commitment to help keep her in office. She has done a tremendous job representing our district. 

Please join us for our March membership meeting on St. Patty's Day. We have some great speakers joining us. 

We will be hearing about the state's budget from Dwayne Barnes, Community  Engagement Specialist for Detroit for the Michigan League for Public  Policy. https://mlpp.org/connecting-with-communities-and-expanding-my-family-at-work-and-at-home/

We  also will be hearing from Seth Furlow, UniServ Director, Region 2-A,  for  the Michigan Education Association, about the reopening of schools  and how we can help teachers feel safe at work. https://mea.org

Hope everyone can join us!

 
Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84904313371?pwd=akQrTE9kVjNjdFpnZkJIL2p1YjBJdz09

Meeting ID: 849 0431 3371
Passcode: 730994

 We will be holding our club elections at this meeting. 

Our club bylaws state:
To  be able to vote in the election, a member has to be current on 2021  dues (as of 11:59pm the day before the meeting) and have attended at  least 2 of the meetings in the six months prior (July 2020 to January  2021) to this meeting - which includes all Zoom monthly meetings and  volunteer events. 

If you do not qualify, you are still welcome to join us .. we just ask that you don't vote for the board positions. 

Please send an email to cantondemclub@gmail.com with any nominations or questions about the process.

Join Zoom Meeting https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84904313371...

Meeting ID: 849 0431 3371 

Passcode: 730994

Happy New Year! Canton  Democratic Club's January Membership Meeting will be one week early with our featured speaker,  Mark Brewer -- Former Chair of MI Democratic Party, President of Association  of State Democratic Chairs and DNC Vice Chair; campaign finance,  election, nonprofit, and union lawyer. Our usual 3rd Wednesday of the month meeting date is Inauguration Day, so join us on Jan. 13 for our meeting and enjoy watching the Inauguration on Jan. 20. 

Join Zoom Meeting
https://us02web.zoom.us/j/84904313371...

Meeting ID: 849 0431 3371
Passcode: 730994  

 The outbreak of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), social distancing  and having to quarantine ourselves for an undetermined amount of time  are taking their toll on all of us. We wanted to make sure to reach out  to our valued members and check-in on your well-being. Please feel free  to contact us if you are in need of any assistance. We are happy to  check-in, via phone or video, and see if we can connect you to the right  resource for help.
 

We are doing our best to adjust to this unprecedented situation. At this  point, we have postponed our brunch, canceled our spring gala and we  are looking into ways to convert our April 15th meeting to a  teleconference. We will keep you posted with any updates. 
 

Keeping our local Democratic community safe and strong is of the utmost  importance to us. I'm also listing some possible resources and volunteer  opportunities. 
 

Please take care of yourselves and we will see you soon. 
 

Sonia Patel
President, Canton Democratic Club

We have links to some COVID 19 resources available here.  Please send any links to additional resources to cantondemclub@gmail.com. Thank you!