Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP) is a non-profit, nonsectarian, educational organization affiliated with Cornell University. It states that most but not all of its projects are locally based but seek national and international influence through direct work, outreach, and literature on religious tradition, spirituality and ethical thought.
CRESP states its mission is to "seek the active participation of concerned individuals at Cornell, in Ithaca, and beyond in fostering vital and caring communities to provide a foundation for a world of peace, mutual understanding, and respect for all life" and that its objective is to "increase the number of individuals and groups who are dedicated to building a just and sustainable society." [1]
CRESP was founded in 1971 as an outgrowth of Cornell United Religious Work (CURW). Its administrative offices are located in Cornell's Anabel Taylor Hall. Initially a think tank on issues of social justice, Many CRESP-sponsored projects to address the issues of the day are now independent agencies, including Eco-Justice, the Learning Web, anti-apartheid efforts, socially responsible advertising, draft counseling, and farming alternatives. CRESP now serves as the umbrella for sixteen projects and works with Cornell student groups on progressive issues, and has two affiliates, one located in a traditional village outside Dakar, Senegal, and the other in the rural mountains of the Dominican Republic.
United for Peace and Justice, an anti-war coalition of more than 1,300 international and United States-based organizations, counts CRESP as a member organization. [2]
Current CRESP projects include:
Ithaca is a city and college town in the Finger Lakes region of New York, United States. It is the seat of Tompkins County and the largest community in the Ithaca–Tompkins County metropolitan area. Ithaca is situated on the southern shore of Cayuga Lake, in Central New York. It is named after the Greek island of Ithaca.
Ithaca College is a private college in the town of Ithaca, New York. The college was founded by William Egbert in 1892 as a conservatory of music and is set against the backdrop of the city of Ithaca, Cayuga Lake, waterfalls, and gorges. The college is best known for its large list of alumni who have played substantial roles in the media and entertainment industries.
A non-governmental organization, or simply an NGO, is an organization that is, generally, formed independent from government. They are typically nonprofit entities, and many of them are active in humanitarianism or the social sciences; they can also include clubs and associations that provide services to their members and others. Surveys indicate that NGOs have a high degree of public trust, which can make them a useful proxy for the concerns of society and stakeholders. However, NGOs can also be lobby groups for corporations, such as the World Economic Forum.
An ecovillage is a traditional or intentional community with the goal of becoming more socially, culturally, economically, and/or ecologically sustainable. An ecovillage strives to produce the least possible negative impact on the natural environment through intentional physical design and resident behavior choices. It is consciously designed through locally owned, participatory processes to regenerate and restore its social and natural environments. Most range from a population of 50 to 250 individuals, although some are smaller, and traditional ecovillages are often much larger. Larger ecovillages often exist as networks of smaller sub-communities. Some ecovillages have grown through like-minded individuals, families, or other small groups—who are not members, at least at the outset—settling on the ecovillage's periphery and participating de facto in the community.
Ithaca Tompkins International Airport is a county-owned airport located in the Town of Lansing, three miles northeast of Ithaca, the county seat and only city in Tompkins County, New York. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2019–2023 categorized it as a primary commercial service facility. Federal Aviation Administration records say the airport had 99,070 passenger boardings (enplanements) in 2018.
A living wage is defined as the minimum income necessary for a worker to meet their basic needs. This is not the same as a subsistence wage, which refers to a biological minimum. Needs are defined to include food, housing, and other essential needs such as clothing. The goal of a living wage is to allow a worker to afford a basic but decent standard of living through employment without government subsidies. Due to the flexible nature of the term "needs", there is not one universally accepted measure of what a living wage is and as such it varies by location and household type. A related concept is that of a family wage – one sufficient to not only support oneself, but also to raise a family.
Tompkins Cortland Community College (TC3) is a public community college in Dryden, New York. It is supported by Cortland and Tompkins Counties and has extension sites that are located in Ithaca and Cortland. It is part of the State University of New York system.
The Redbud Woods controversy was a dispute between protesters and the administration of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York over the demolition of a patch of woodlands known as the "Redbud Woods." The area received this name because of the many Redbud trees that grew there and whose blossoms gave the woods a pink tint in the springtime. The website of Cornell University Plantations contained, on September 3, 2005, a description of the woods, and used the name Redbud Woods, so it had some official status at Cornell under this name.
TheocracyWatch is a project run by the Center for Religion, Ethics and Social Policy (CRESP), located at Cornell University. It was founded by Joan Bokaer, an environmental activist because, she says, "After the 2000 election she realized that few people understood that the religious right had taken working control of the Republican Party..."
Gimme! Coffee is a coffee roaster and third-wave coffee shop, based in New York, with espresso bars in Ithaca and Trumansburg. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, Gimme! announced the permanent closure of the Manhattan and Brooklyn based locations and also began an Ithaca-area delivery service. Gimme! Coffee also has a wholesale service that caters to coffee and espresso establishments. In January 2020, Colleen Anunu replaced founder Kevin Cuddeback as CEO after he served 20 years in the role.
The Community Food Security Coalition was a North American non-profit made up of 325 member organizations who focus on social and economic justice, the environment, nutrition, sustainable agriculture, community development, labor, anti-poverty, and anti-hunger initiatives. The coalition was dedicated to building strong, sustainable, local and regional food systems to ensure access to affordable, nutritious, and culturally appropriate food to all people at all times. The organization encouraged a system for food sovereignty grounded in the principles of justice, democracy, and sustainability. The coalition sought to further these goals through a comprehensive approach of policy advocacy, education and networking, and technical training.
Worker centers are non-profit community-based mediating organizations that organize and provide support to communities of low wage workers who are not already members of a collective bargaining organization or have been legally excluded from coverage by U.S. labor laws. Many worker centers in the United States focus on immigrant and low-wage workers in sectors such as restaurant, construction, day labor and agriculture.
The Ithaca Health Alliance is a community-based health care cooperative based in Ithaca, New York. It incorporates financial and service assistance models to alleviate health care costs for its members and is a model for cooperative health care reform in the United States. The mission of IHA is to facilitate access to health care for all, with a focus on the needs of the un- and underinsured. IHA sponsors and operates the Ithaca Free Clinic.
Cornell University is a private Ivy League and statutory land-grant research university, based in Ithaca, New York. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach and make contributions in all fields of knowledge — from the classics to the sciences, and from the theoretical to the applied. These ideals, unconventional for the time, are captured in Cornell's founding principle, a popular 1868 quotation from founder Ezra Cornell: "I would found an institution where any person can find instruction in any study."
The Audre Lorde Project is a Brooklyn, New York-based organization for LGBT people of color. The organization concentrates on community organizing and radical nonviolent activism around progressive issues within New York City, especially relating to LGBT communities, AIDS and HIV activism, pro-immigrant activism, prison reform and organizing among youth of color. It is named for the lesbian-feminist poet and activist Audre Lorde and was founded in 1994.
Kimberly Ann Bobo is an American religious and workers' rights activist, and current executive director of the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), a non-partisan advocacy coalition based in Richmond, Virginia. Bobo is a nationally known promoter of social justice who leads VICPP's advocacy, outreach, and development work. She wrote a book on faith-based organizing entitled Lives Matter: A Handbook for Christian Organizing.
A farmworker or agricultural worker is someone employed for labor in agriculture. In labor law, the term "farmworker" is sometimes used more narrowly, applying only to a hired worker involved in agricultural production, including harvesting, but not to a worker in other on-farm jobs, such as picking fruit.
Domestic violence in United States is a form of violence that occurs within a domestic relationship. Although domestic violence often occurs between partners in the context of an intimate relationship, it may also describe other household violence, such as violence against a child, by a child against a parent or violence between siblings in the same household. It is recognized as an important social problem by governmental and non-governmental agencies, and various Violence Against Women Acts have been passed by the US Congress in an attempt to stem this tide.
Svante L. Myrick is an American politician serving as the mayor of Ithaca, New York. He is a member of the Democratic Party.
Many immigrant communities in the United States are engaged in community organizing activities. Of over 50 million immigrants living in the United States many may experience exploitation in the workforce and different forms of discrimination and challenges in their lives. Many voluntary associations that seek to meet the needs of immigrants utilize community organizing methods aiming to mobilize and empower them and advocate for them.