GTT and the Homeless Coalition are organizing to bring bathroom facilities and clean drinking water to the homeless residents of San Diego. Now, Chase Community Giving is offering a chance to add $25,000 to that effort, making it possible for Girls Think Tank to continue it’s mission of micro-justice.

If you are on Facebook, you can help can help us with our effort! All you have to do is follow these steps:

1. Click on the Chase Community Giving box above
2. Click on Allow (As Chase says, they will not solicit you, this is only for voting)
3. Become a Fan (Again, just for the voting; you can “Remove Me” later)
4. On the page is a search. Enter Girls Think Tank. It should appear in the drop down box, and select it.
5. Then click to Vote!
6. Post on your wall to get your friends to vote (you will be prompted after voting)

Your VOTE can make a difference and help us create a community where all people have access to bathrooms and clean drinking water.  So VOTE- and tell all your friends to vote- for Girls Think Tank.

Microactivism. The hands-on kind. We are the ones we have been waiting for. We are the Girls Think Tank and we are a collective of women (and men) who do not sit around and arm-chair weep about the problems of the world or our community. Tired of idly passing by a homeless neighbor, our founder gathered the girls, hosted a dinner party and brainstormed action. Over bottles of wine, the tank was formed. The empowerment of women around a dinner table, calling on the skills of our gender – our compassion, mothering, leadership, resources, power, connections; combined – has changed the fabric of our community. We have magnified a collective voice and put a face on homelessness. We are expanding to combat the epidemic of violence against women, using the same wisdom of the collective. Some members focus internationally, some in our backyard, but the lessons we learn are the power of one. Individual action making a difference. A $20 donation, an hour of time. We don’t turn the other cheek because we are small in numbers, we don’t ignore the issues because we don’t have a multi-million dollar budget, indeed, we have had no budget to speak of at all. But our model has required none – only empowerment of each others’ dreams for a better world. We support each other in making things right. We create a safe place to speak up about injustice and utter words like “mass rape”. Microjustice, like microcredit, hands-on and direct, is our model. At the end of the day, we have created a hundred winter survival backpacks for our homeless neighbors and handed them out. We are lithe and fast, mobilizing as needed. Whether in San Diego or Sudan, women coming together over the dinner table make a difference. Our success story is not grandiose but every day, common and growing. We get requests from around the world by women who want to start chapters in their communities. Aren’t we not a world of micro-communities, banded together through empowerment of each over, a collective voice breaking through the silence? What a better world we will be.

We are excited about our third community meeting on homelessness scheduled for this Thursday, October 8th at 6 pm at 655 W. Broadway, Suite 1900 in downtown San Diego. 
 
At our last meeting, a diverse group of stakeholders came together around one table and decided to form the Girls Think Tank Coalition on Homelessness and to start a citywide campaign for short-term needs of water and toilets and longer-term sustainable solutions.
 
This Thursday, we will continue planning a campaign for changing the way we are approaching homelessness in San Diego.  Our fabulous board member Jen Lai brought in Jun Chong, a highly-respected and well-accomplished community organizer who has worked extensively in poor communities and knows how to build campaigns.  Jun will be attending the meeting with the aim of assisting with strategy and developing a work plan.    
 
We hope you can make it!  It is going to be an exciting dialogue.  Please let us know you’re coming so that we will make sure to have enough pizza by emailing us at girlsthinktank@gmail.com.  See you there!!

August 30, 2009 (San Diego, CA) — Flappers, dolls, molls, candy cigarette girls, gangsters, dapper Great Gatsby-types, palookas, and an abundance of fedoras and boas – descended upon a ritzy private home in La Jolla on August 29, 7 p.m. for The Speakeasy Casino & Soirée.   Party goers gave the password and entered a juice joint where the roaring 20s came alive – all to raise dough for a group that is the absolutely the cat’s meow – the Girls Think Tank (“GTT”), a local nonprofit awarded a Channel 10 television Leadership Award in 2008 for its homelessness work. 

The Speakeasy featured a 1920’s costume contest, Jazz Age music, heavy appetizers, an open bar with Prohibition Punch, and unlimited absinthe for donors over $250. Guests played in a No Limit Texas Hold ‘Em poker tournament, craps, and blackjack. Silent and live auctions offered swanky items including a trip to Le Cordon Bleu culinary school in Paris, a ski week in Montana, and an autographed U2 guitar. Radio host Jon Elliott MC’ed the event, and the host committee included City Council member Marti Emerald.

 “Like the end of the 1920’s and the 1930’s, America is facing increased insecurity, joblessness, and homelessness. The number of homeless in San Diego rose over ten percent from 2007 to 2008, and we just learned the number downtown has risen by 1,000. It’s time for Girls Think Tank to jumpstart its efforts. Proceeds from The Speakeasy will help us transition from an all-volunteer operation to one with a paid executive director,“ said Rachel Jensen of GTT.

 In addition to providing Winter Survivor Backpacks with warm clothes and supplies to homeless people, GTT advocates for supportive housing and better living conditions, and has convened a Homeless Action Committee to bring together stakeholders – judges, attorneys, the police department, business owners, citizens, advocates, and homeless people – to find common ground and solutions.  With rape up 30% in San Diego, GTT recently launched a new project, AVOW (Take A VOW to end violence against women). As a grassroots collective that grew out of a dinner party among girlfriends in 2006, GTT provides a vehicle for citizens to become hands-on change agents in San Diego. For more information about The Speakeasy and Girls Think Tank, visit GirlsThinkTank.org, email girlsthinktank@gmail.com, or call 619-228-1686.

We are excited to announce an important meeting this Thursday, August 20th at 6 pm, with community leaders who are interested in pushing forward on critical issues concerning the growing number of homeless in downtown San Diego.  Just this week, it was reported that the number of downtown homeless has risen by by 1,000 people, and business owners and others are clamoring for a solution.  The alliance of those willing to take a stance is broadening — from local businesses to the judiciary, the police department, and beyond.  We hope you will join this conversation.  Meet us at the downtown law firm of Coughlin Stoia, 655 W. Broadway, Suite 1900, at 6 pm on Thursday Aug. 20th.  We will provide pizza and drinks; just let us know you’re coming by emailing us at girlsthinktank@gmail.com.

The Girls Think Tank

~proudly presents our first annual fundraiser~

ONE NIGHT ONLY:

THE SPEAKEASY

a swanky 20’s casino night

August 29, 2009

7 pm -11 pm

Hosted by Julia Yoo and Gene Iredale

6915 Neptune Place, La Jolla, CA 92037

*Valet available*

 Poker Tournament * Black Jack * Craps 

Open Bar, Absinthe, and Heavy Appetizers Served 

Grand prizes for winner of poker tournament and best costume

Absinthe Buy In – $250 – 6 Raffle Tickets, Free Absinthe, $250 in Chips

 White Lightning Buy In – $100 – 3 Raffle Tickets, $100 in Chips

Moonshine Level Buy In - $50 – 1 Raffle Ticket, $50 in Chips

~Additional Chips Available at the Door~ 

Limited Entry Passwords Available * RSVP to gttspeakeasy@gmail.com