Friday, December 18, 4-6pm
Community Grounds: Coffee & Meeting House, 1134 Parsons Ave. Columbus

Join BQIC for our community outreach program, Free Resource Fridays!

Free Resource Friday is a donation-based initiative to provide free resources like food, clothes, and hygiene items to folks living in predominantly Black, low income neighborhoods. Volunteers distribute items, share information, and provide support for local communities in need.

All are welcome, but QTPOC take priority within the space.

This month, FRF will be a drive-through event and masks are required. Come out today from 4pm to 6pm for free resources such as food, clothing and hygiene products.

If you'd like to support Free Resource Fridays by donating materials, or if you'd like to get involved by offering a skill-share, mini-workshop or educational class, contact us! We are always looking to foster and strengthen our partnerships in the Central Ohio community. We are also accepting donations at the event, particularly warm washed winter clothing as the weather is getting colder.

Immigration activists from across the state claim U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE)recently attempted to deport a Columbus resident who is an immigrant from Africa because he’s a key witness in a federal civil rights lawsuit against the ICE-contracted jail in Butler County.

The suit alleges correction officers at the Butler County jail, notorious for its treatment of immigrants, have beaten and verbally abused African and Muslim immigrant detainees with racial and religious slurs.

The allegations came to light after 50 detainees were able to sign and forward a letter to the Ohio Immigrant Alliance in October, which can be viewed here.

Part of the letter reads, “We the ICE detainees are afraid for our lives because it seems that the lawlessness of the Butler County jail is the norm which includes extremely poor treatment of detainees including but not limited to physical abuse.”

The progressive activist group RootsAction.org announced today the launch of “No Honeymoon” -- a sustained campaign that will mobilize grassroots pressure on Joe Biden from across the country.

With an email list of 1.2 million supporters nationwide, RootsAction backed Bernie Sanders in the primaries before conducting its #VoteTrumpOut campaign that reached millions of mostly progressive voters in swing states during the summer and fall.

RootsAction said on Wednesday: “The ‘Vote Trump Out’ campaign always had a second part to it -- ‘Then Challenge Biden.’ We are now fulfilling that commitment by organizing throughout the United States for a truly progressive agenda.”

The group’s NoHoneymoon.org website, unveiled on Wednesday, invites activists “to join with RootsAction to push back against the destructive forces of corporate power, racial injustice, extreme income inequality, environmental assault and the military-industrial complex.”

Take a deep breath, many of us are getting through this year with our feet still on the ground, albeit in our living room’s makeshift office.

That’s no big surprise coming from Free Press fans, a dedicated and determined bunch of community-minded progressives who are passionate about their careers.

Now consider our community’s growing foster kid population, you might think it can’t get any worse for a child to not be with their parents on Christmas.

But the reality is, Franklin County Children Services (FCCS) for decades through its Holiday Wish programhas gone above and beyond to make these kids have the best holiday season possible. And if it wasn’t for FCCS some of these kids in group homes waiting for placement to a foster home would have no Christmas at all.

The FCCS “Children’s Fund” donation portal is here. Pictured above are gifts purchased this year for FCCS foster kids.

The Ohio House Health Committee approved Senate Bill 260 today, Tuesday, December 15. The full House could vote on the bill by this Thursday.

When a person decides to have an abortion, they deserve safe, legal, affordable, and accessible care in their community. For many Ohioans, that means a local health center and a video conference with a prescribing physician. Don't let Ohio Republicans take that critical option away from your friends and neighbors.

In the midst of a pandemic, where everyone, including the Ohio Legislature has lauded the use of telemedicine as an important way to ensure patients have access to the healthcare they need while simultaneously eliminating the possibility of the spread of a deadly virus, that this legislature would choose to attack the use of telemedicine for a very specific procedure.