It is evident that the mood of the country is shifting, and the IAF is happy to see attention being paid at the national level to the issue of wages. The President has announced plans to sign an executive order mandating a minimum wage of $10.10 / hour for all jobs that emerge from federal contracts.

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It is evident that the mood of the country is shifting, and the IAF is happy to see attention being paid at the national level to the issue of wages. The President has announced plans to sign an executive order mandating a minimum wage of $10.10 / hour for all jobs that emerge from federal contracts.

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135 Valley Interfaith Project leaders convened at Paradise Valley United Methodist Church to celebrate last year's Medicaid Expansion victory and announce its Spring action agenda to key legislative allies including Governor Brewer's Policy and Budget Directors, who briefed the leadership on the Governor's proposed budget, released just the day before.

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At a press conference less than three months before a critical city-wide vote, leaders of Working Together Jackson publicly endorsed the proposed 1% sales tax earmarked for infrastructure repairs across Jackson. The weekend before the vote, leaders reached as many as 1,200 voters by phone. Of those, about 1,000 pledged their support. And on election day, some 90% of voters supported the new tax, far surpassing the most hopeful of predictions. The Clarion Ledger credited Working Together Jackson with doing the "heavy lifting" of educating and turning out voters to pass this important initiative.

Jackson Residents Approve 1-Cent Sales Tax, Clarion-Ledger

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Leaders of EPISO and Border Interfaith leveraged enough City Council votes to restrict how much payday lenders can make off low-income families. Lobbyists flew in from Dallas and Austin to fight this ordinance, but this did not keep the council from heeding the organized voice of families and institutions, and voting 6-1 in support. Bishop Mark Seitz of the Catholic Diocese of El Paso supported these efforts to protect families from compounding debt and excessive fees.

The new payday lending reform in El Paso allows lenders to loan no more than 20% of a borrower's gross income. Contracts must now be presented in the person's dominant language and short-term loans cannot be rolled over more than three times.

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Koreena Malone, an accounting graduate of Capital IDEA, was confronted with the threat of losing her home when a developer's plans involved razing her apartment and replacing it with a higher cost unit. In collaboration with Austin Interfaith she formed a tenant's association and negotiated a new deal on the redevelopment with Travis Heights Elementary School, the neighborhood association, her tenants' association, and the developer.

"'I strongly believe that the redevelopment of Oak Creek Village won't just lead us to a better community but a model for the city of Austin,' Malone said.

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Leaders from the St. George / Sutherland district of the Sydney Alliance, Rockdale neighborhood allies, stepped up their campaign for a railway lift at the Arncliffe Station by standing outside and directly engaging with commuters about their interests. Kate Fitzgerald asserted that not just the elderly would benefit from a lift -- "We have heard countless stories from the Arncliffe community about the disadvantage many... families with prams and people with disabilities or limited mobility endure as they struggle with the three flights of stairs."

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After a bill that would have mandated the posting of the hotline number in Nevada was killed at the eleventh hour (11:30 PM on the last day of the session) due to unrelated political squabbles, leaders of Nevadans for the Common Good pursued a local route. Barbara Bell of Green Valley UMC and Nancy Thompson of Grass Valley UMC organized a meeting with the County Commissioner to discuss posting the National Sex Trafficking Hotline number at important transportation hubs so that trafficking victims could see them. The Commissioner agreed to work with NCG and changes are already in place; the McCarran International Airport has posted the number and signs are now displayed on buses and at bus shelters throughout Las Vegas. Taking the local route was an effective way to accomplish an important goal without waiting for the next legislative session in 2015.

Stories of Human Trafficking Turn Valley Woman into Activist, Las Vegas Review Journal

The Sound Alliance partnered with the Tahoma school district, parents, and other organizations to sway voters to overwhelmingly pass a school bond. Two years ago, the vote on a smaller bond failed to receive the 60% supermajority needed to pass, and failed with 53% of voters supporting it.

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At a press conference convened by Valley Interfaith Project with the Arizona bishops, Catholic Bishop Thomas Olmsted signed a letter to the Arizona congressional delegation for immigration reform, attesting that "the cost of inaction is too high." Bishop Olmsted was joined by Auxiliary Bishop Eduardo Nevares, Rabbi John Linder, ELCA Bishop Steve Talmage, Denise Resnick of DRA Stategic Communications in Phoenix and Barry Broome, president and CEO of the Greater Phoenix Economic Council. Broome noted that some companies don't come to Arizona because they think the state does not treat people well.

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