Rainbow PUSH is a non-profit organization formed as a merger of two non-profit organizations- Operation PUSH (People United to Save Humanity) and the National Rainbow Coalition-founded by Jesse Jackson. The organizations pursue social justice, civil rights, and political activism. In December 1971, Jackson resigned from Operation Breadbasket after clashing with Rev. Ralph Abernathy and founded Operation PUSH. Jackson founded the National Rainbow Coalition in 1984 which merged with PUSH in 1996. The combined organization keeps its national headquarters on the South Side of Chicago, where I was able to speak with one of the COO (Chief Operating Officer) Bonita Parker, and has branches in Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, Detroit, Houston, Atlanta, the Silicon Valley, and New Orleans. Operation PUSH was successful at raising public awareness to initiate corporate action and government sponsorship. The National Rainbow Coalition became a prominent political organization that raise public awareness on numerous political issues and consolidated a large voting bloc. The merged entity has undertaken numerous social initiatives. Through his organization and its predecessors, Jackson has advocated universal health care, a war on drugs, direct peace, negotiations between Palestinians and Israeli’s, ending apartheid in South Africa and advancing democracy in Haiti. The following is the organization’s list of major issues:
• 1% Student Loans
• Jobs and Economic Empowerment
• Employee Rights and Livable Wages
• Educational Access
• Fair and Decent Housing
• Voter Registration and Civic Education
• Election Law Reform
• Fairness in the Media, Sports, and Criminal Justice System
• Political Empowerment
• Trade and Foreign Policy
• Affirmative Action and Equal Rights
• Gender Equality
• Environmental Justice
The agency's definition of leisure is helping people in need an taking a stand and making our voice be hear in our society. There are many different employment opportunities that are at the agency. A lot of the work is volunteer by the community. According to Ms. Parker, anyone can become a member of Operation PUSH. You just should come to the headquarters and express interest in helping out with any campaign, rally, etc.
The Rainbow PUSH Coalition & Citizenship Education Fund held a daylong conference on the sub-par status of Hurricane Katrina relief for those displaced throughout the Gulf Coast region. Rainbow PUSH held a conference on Financial Literacy and Empowerment to make the victims become more knowledgeable about their circumstances. The conference encouraged the victims to stay involved in their communities and to spend time on the weekends volunteering to improve the condition of the neighborhoods we call home.
Members of the Rainbow Push Coalition participated in an anti-foreclosure rally to send a clear message that home loans need to be restructured instead of foreclosed. This epidemic will continue to have widespread consequences as "it is estimated that 2.2 million will lose their homes to foreclosures with a total equity lost of $164 billion” According to Ms. Parker. Rainbow PUSH is helping get this information out to the community so that we are able to help one another as a people.
Rainbow-Push Coalition is going after the Atlanta Braves. The RPC is upset with the lack of black players on the Atlanta roster, so they requested a meeting with Braves gm John Schuerholz.. and they got it. The Rainbow-Push Coalition’s Southern Regional Director Joe Beasley and Director of Sports Joe Clinkscale had a 2 hour meeting with Schuerholz, assistant General Manager Frank Wren and 3 other Braves officials.
This is the official Headquarters of the Rainbow PUSH Coalition. It is located of Chicago’s South Side in the Hyde Park Neighborhood. This is where a lot of campaigning and other leisure related activities take place. I visited this building to interview the COO (Chief Operating Officer), Bonita Parker.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson and Cook County Clerk of the Circuit Court Dorothy Brown were among a handful of community and political leaders who held a news conference at Rainbow/PUSH headquarters to voice their objection to Ron Huberman being chosen as the new Chicago public schools chief. This is another effort that the PUSH Operation takes in order to help out the community while looking out for the well being of our children. The conference was very respectful and our mayor, Mayor Daley took their concerns into deep consideration.
The Rev. Jesse Jackson joined funeral home directors at Rainbow PUSH headquarters to call for new laws regulating cemeteries. At a meeting at Rainbow PUSH headquarters, funeral directors said they're not hearing enough about efforts to regulate cemeteries. The PUSH Coalition is very involved in the community and try to help them as much as possible. Their goal is to try to help people who are unaware of their rights as much as possible.
I feel as though the Rainbow PUSH Coalition is an excellent organization designed to help the American people. The agency lets the good outweigh the bad. They make sure that our community has a voice and that we are heard and understood. There are a lot of pros to of a career in the agency such as meeting a lot of new people, networking, and giving back to the community. These can help you within your future because networking is also a good tool to keep. You can use the people that you meet as career guides an they can help place you in the right direction, etc. Some cons may be that you are doing so much volunteering that it involves a lot of traveling between different cities nationwide. The agency fits into the leisure service delivery system because the people that work with Operation PUSH think of leisure as helping others in their excess time and making our communities and our societies better places for our youth.
nailed it!
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