Progressive planners and others interested in labor and community development--

We are planning an exciting June 1999 PN conference to be held at the University of Massachusetts-Lowell: "Working for a Decent Living: Bridging the Gap between Labor and Community". The conference description is attached (and also printed in the most recent PN newsletter).

We ask you to do the following:

* Propose a paper, workshop, or activity! Our main theme is linking labor and community, but papers/workshops/activities on other themes are welcome as well. Activities can include tours, charettes, meetings with local groups, participation in ongoing community events, etc.

* Spread the word! Email (or photocopy) this message to other interested

folks. If you would like a formatted hard copy or a formatted attachment file (specify Windows or Mac), let one of us know.

* If you are in the Lowell/Boston area, join the local planning committee! The local planning committee will work on planning the content, lining up co-sponsors and keynote speakers, fund-raising, logistics, and recruiting attendees. We will keep meetings at a minimum and try to do most of our

work through email and phone conversations. Let Marie Kennedy or Chris Tilly know if you are interested.

* Mark your calendars now for June 17-20, 1999.

Marie Kennedy Center for Community Planning, College of Public and Community Service University of Massachusetts, 100 Morrissey Blvd., Boston MA 02125-3393 marie.kennedy@umb.edu 617-287-7262, 617-983-3202 (home)

Patricia Nolan panolan@primary.net 618-271-9605

Ken Reardon Department of Urban and Regional Planning 312 Temple Buell Hall, 611 Taft Drive, Champaign IL 61820 kjmr@uiuc.edu 217-244-5384

Chris Tilly Department of Regional Economic and Social Development University of Massachusetts, Lowell MA 01854 chris_tilly@uml.edu 978-934-2796, 617-983-3202 (home)

WORKING FOR A DECENT LIVING: BRIDGING THE GAP BETWEEN LABOR AND COMMUNITY

Planners Network Conference, June 1999 Lowell, Massachusetts

It is a critical time for work and workers in the United States. Most workers are putting in longer hours, at lower wages, in less stable jobs. Inequalities by race and education are widening, and gender inequality persists as well. New, harsh work requirements and time limits push welfare recipients into dead-end jobs. Anti-immigrant policies intensify the second-class status of undocumented workers, and of all immigrants. At the same time, the U.S. labor movement is newly revitalized, and community-based campaigns such as those for living wage ordinances have scored many successes.

At this critical juncture, the June 1999 Planners Network conference will explore the connections and intersections between community and work. There are many such connections. Community and labor initiatives/organizing can both be more effective if they collaborate, but too often these different approaches are disconnected or even working at cross-purposes.

Successful community economic development depends on expanding and improving employment. This can encompass anything from commercial area development, to skill training, to living wage ordinances. Residential location, school quality, and transportation and communication options also affect what jobs are available to a given community. Environmental planning often confronts widely perceived tradeoffs between jobs and environmental protection. Immigrant communities, communities of color, rural areas, and single mothers all face particularly daunting labor market challenges. And the unpaid work needed to keep families and communities

functioning is too often devalued or ignored. Finally, planners, community organizers, and agency staff are themselves workers, in some cases unionized, with their own set of workplace issues.

The conference will take place at the University of Massachusetts at Lowell, June 17-20, 1999. Lowell, cradle of the U.S. industrial revolution, has a long history of immigration, labor struggles, and creative economic development initiatives. Lowell’s National Park showcases the textile industry of a century ago, with a focus on work life. Recent Latin American and Southeast Asian migrations have changed the face of Lowell and neighboring communities, and a vital and diverse set of community organizations have sometimes collaborated with government officials and at other times struggled against them. The University’s Lowell campus is home to innovative programs focusing on economic and social development and environmental stability. Other area educational institutions, including the College of Public and Community Service at the University of Massachusetts-Boston, known for its work in participatory planning, will be contributing to the conference, as will a variety of community organizations and agencies in the Lowell and Boston areas. The Massachusetts labor movement, which has actively pursued labor-community

collaborations, will also take part. Lowell is within commuting distance of Boston by car or commuter rail.

Planners Network is an association of practitioners, activists, educators and students involved in physical, social, economic and environmental planning in urban and rural areas who work to promote fundamental change in our political and economic systems. We believe that planning should be a tool for allocating resources and developing the environment in order to

eliminate the great inequalities of wealth and power in the contemporary

world, rather than to maintain and justify the status quo. This includes in particular racial injustices and discrimination by gender and sexual orientation. We believe that planning should be used to assure adequate

food, clothing, shelter, health care, jobs, safe working conditions and a healthful environment. We advocate public responsibility for meeting these needs as the private market has proven incapable of doing so.