Hundreds of Spokane Alliance leaders crashed City Council chambers in a final December push for 'Quality Jobs' in Spokane. They succeeded, with a 5-2 vote in favor of an Apprenticeship requirement that contractors on public works projects larger than $350K hire apprentices for at least 15% of the work . Leaders supported this measure to create pathways to careers for living wage jobs.

Council Passes Public Works Project, Spokesman Review

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200 TMO leaders assembled at St. Peter Catholic Church with an agenda: to clearly lay out their public safety concerns to the police and obtain responses to those concerns. They walked away with much more.

Assistant Police Chief Josh Bruegger related, "It is important..., obviously to us, that we have this relationship." Father Pedro Lopez of St. Peter Episcopal told leaders,"We have a moral obligation to do everything within our power to stop crime in our community. We do not want more people robbed at gunpoint, we do not want our children to be victims of drug use, of gun violence or our homes to be vandalized. Be good Samaritans, take action and keep our eyes open, and call and report any crime. Will you commit to that today?"

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Andrew "Andy" Sarabia, the first president of COPS, Communities Organized for Public Service in San Antonio, argues in the San Antonio Express News that COPS has been a significant and powerful part of the city's history, starting with initial "tie-up" confrontations with the city's power structure to get it to recognize the needs of families and communities. Read more below:

At 40, COPS Still Standing Up For Residents, San Antonio Express News

"....This wave of activism reflects the difference between what community organizer Ernie Cortes calls hot anger and cold anger. With hot anger we act irrationally and misdirect it toward the wrong people. With cold anger we focus on what we can do to change oppression, exploitation and injustice...."

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Though no public comments were included in the Val Verde Medical Center District Board's agenda, The Border Organization leaders were called up to deliver scathing remarks to District decision makers. Said Ms. Queta Quinonez, "The Val Regional Medical Center is a public hospital.... the hospital employs a law firm in Del Rio to collect delinquent bills.... Your lawyers may wear fancy, expensive suits, but they are no better than back-alley henchmen."

Read the full comments below:

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From the Huffington Post:

"Alinsky protégé and 'genius grant' recipient Ernesto Cortés, Jr. cites Catholic social teaching as influential in the development of community organizing, and when the nation's largest denomination holds that Thanksgiving-week special collection of mostly small donations, it will be supporting one element in a broad-based coalition aimed at empowering ordinary folks. As Ernie Cortés notes, 'The only answer to organized money is organized people.' For all the efforts that are furthering that vision, we can truly give thanks."

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At a fundraising gala put together by VOICE-OKC, leaders awarded the former Speaker of the House with the "Lifetime Civic Engagement Award" in recognition of his collaboration on the Justice Reinvestment Initiative, designed to direct taxpayer resources towards programs for supervision and rehabilitation of offenders.

Steel, a conservative Republican, argued to loud applause that "it's immoral for a private business to make money off of people who commit crime...it's wrong for ...governments to make money off people who commit crimes..."

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COPS / Metro Alliance leaders flanked Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff as he announced his instruction to the County Manager to research and craft a plan to raise the County minimum wage from $11.47 per hour to $13 per hour next year, and to $15 per hour within three years.

Two days prior, 325 COPS / Metro Alliance leaders gathered at Sacred Heart Catholic Church to announce their campaign to boost the wage floor for city and county employees from $11.47 per hour to almost $15 / hour. Elvira Adame shared how it angers her to see her daughter earning only $8.50 per hour at a public community college, leaving her "stressed and tired all the time from working so hard." Adame's daughter works full-time without benefits, sick leave or vacation time; to pick up the slack she picked up a second job, but even then is barely getting by.

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At a meeting convened by Together Baton Rouge and the Baton Rouge Food Access Commission, TBR leaders announced a new limited-stop route to run Saturdays from 'food deserts' to grocery stores as a temporary measure to ensure access to healthy food. Asked Tamika Porter, "If there's such a thing as Whole Food, then what am I giving my children? Half food?"

Capital Area Transit System (CATS) CEO committed to providing the new Saturday bus route by June 2015. He also promised to re-evaluate every route to ensure that buses are stopping at at grocery stores where possible.

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According to Rick Nicholson, "Winter is the hardest time to be homeless in Federal Way."

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