"The Launchpad Fund, which gave nonprofits $10 million starting in the 2010-11 biennium to support career training programs for low-income students, will be replaced by the Texas Innovative Adult Career Education Grant program. The ACE grant program will award about $5 million under a similar model to nonprofits for the next biennium. It will be administered by Austin Community College, which will step into the comptroller's office's current oversight role....

Said Minerva Camarena-Skeith, a representative of Austin Interfaith, the nonprofit that helped found Capital IDEA with business community members and advocates for public funding: "It still gives these job-training programs the opportunity to apply for these $5 million, and also be able to leverage more city and local funds."

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"The switch at Travis Heights has been in the making for nearly three years. Austin Interfaith, a coalition of schools, churches and unions, and district labor group Education Austin ...reached out to 100 campuses before they found a partner in Travis Heights willing to become a charter.

Their volunteers then went door-to-door, garnering support and hosting school meetings to find out what parents and teachers wanted in a school. They reached 90 percent of the school's households and got 99 percent support from parents and 97 percent support from staff...."

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"Interviews with current and former public officials, real estate experts and citizen activists suggest that Austin has simply lacked the political will to do things differently.

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"In the disagreement between Polk County officials and the citizen group AMOS, logic seems to favor AMOS. Especially in the long run.

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Taking full advantage of the August recess, Arizona Interfaith leaders met with Senator John McCain for frank conversation about the prospects for comprehensive immigration reform. Judicatory leaders and key Arizona clergy discussed with the Senator how to broaden Congressional support for reform that includes a path to citizenship.

McCain: Backing Immigration Reform Sends Right Message, Arizona Republic

Three and a half years ago, leaders of The Border Organization pressured the Val Verde Regional Medical Center board to contract with a reputable health management system in response to deteriorating hospital services and several million dollars of public debt. The Board of Val Verde eventually chose Methodist Healthcare System (MHS), and the hospital is currently millions of dollars in the black.

However, the Board recently held a secret election to vote in a new CEO, nullifying the managing contract with MHS and sparking public concern about the possibility of corruption:

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Northern Arizona Interfaith Council leaders, including Catholic clergy Manuel Hernandez and lay leader Leah Mundell, convened at the office of US Representative Ann Kirkpatrick of Flagstaff to urge her to support comprehensive immigration reform.

"One attendee told of a young Flagstaff woman who qualified for temporary legal residency as a so-called "Dreamer." She was caught, however, driving to work without a license because Arizona does not allow Dreamers to apply for licenses. She obtained a license in California, but it is considered only temporary if she lives in Arizona. 'She still has to violate the law,' said the attendee. 'We have to go forward with reform.'"

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In the latest segment of a long-standing battle for living wages in Central Texas, 200 supporters of construction workers, including Austin Interfaith leaders, Catholic Bishop Joe Vasquez of the Austin Diocese and Workers Defense Project, rallied on the steps of City Hall demanding that workers receive the pay promised to them by developers of White Lodging, in exchange for $3.8 million in fee waivers granted by the City.

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"Members of The Border Organization group expressed frustration Wednesday over Val Verde Regional Medical Center's process in hiring new chief executive officer Victoria "Vicky" Barnthouse. The closed-session, private-ballot vote in favor of Barnthouse was done at VVRMC's July 1 hospital district board meeting.

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"When Gov. Brian Sandoval signed AB 67 into law on June 6, the volunteers celebrated ...The anti-trafficking campaign wasn't the first time that area faith communities joined forces to work toward a common social or political goal.

However, ...the number of religious congregations represented by the group, the number of people who participated in it and the interdenominational makeup of the effort made the campaign something Southern Nevadans hadn't seen before...."

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