We now have two workshops running at ToCI in addition to the Fall 2012 Inside/Out class. The class is going very well. Students are working on final projects to present to one another and at the closing ceremony.

The workshops are: Urban Policy and US Politics. Urban Policy is being offered for level 3 individuals and US Politics for level 4. We hope to add a level 4 Inside/Out class in Fall of 2013. The workshop is a way of spreading the word and beginning to lay the groundwork for the class inside while we work on recruiting students at the University for the class.

People for Change is launching its first fund-raiser for January of 2013. We are selling men's toiletries to support our efforts as a book-reading group, to get supplies for members, and to support meetings we plan to hold such as the HUB meeting in fall of 2013.

We are also about to put out the fall edition of our newsletter. The question is: "What does freedom mean to me?" Submissions have been steady and powerful. We look forward to the final product and more feedback from readers!

People for Change also continues to read together. We read some chapters from Freakonomics related to criminal justice issues. The chapter discusses the relationship between crime and other social phenomenon. The books just makes me glad I am not an economist. The findings are taken out of context and ignore the scary policy implications of some of the relationships they find, like between the legalization of abortion and a reduction in crime rates. While I know that policy recommendations are not intended by the authors, and in fact that they are fairly progressive types, I would not, personally, spend my time researching such a question. I am more interested in preventing/reducing crime by supporting communities and families of all sorts.

Our next text has yet to be decided. I look forward to extending our discussions, however. We never seem to have enough time to discuss after doing the business of the newsletter and fund-raising and catching up on how workshops are going.