Read more

Leaders from 'Nevadans for the Common Good' launched "It's About Time," a film documenting domestic minor sex-trafficking in Vegas and broad-based community efforts to combat it.

It's About Time, Nevadans for the Common Good

Read more

Elected officials and members of Border Interfaith and the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization joined the CEOs of University Medical Center and Del Sol Medical Center to push for expanded Medicaid coverage to insure 1.5 million uninsured Texans, including about 135,000 El Pasoans....

Lucy Nashed, a deputy press secretary for the governor, in an email said Perry is against a Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, but is interested in flexibility from the federal government "to address the challenges in the current broken Medicaid system."

Read more

When approached by a call center seeking to train workers for high turnover jobs paying $8 / hour, NOVA challenged the employer to invest in worker development for higher paying work. The call center responded and now NOVA trainees start at $10 / hour and move to $12.50 / hour within three months, including benefits; call center attrition has dropped. NOVA is becoming a new kind of hiring hall, offering training for dignified work that pays fair wages and offers benefits.

"National Instruments Corp. won approval Thursday for $1.7 million in city of Austin incentives to support the company's proposed expansion of 1,000 Austin jobs over the next 10 years....

Read more

"Hundreds of people gathered Tuesday on the front steps of the Capitol to rally in support of Medicaid expansion....Willie Bennett, along with 45 other members of the Dallas Area Interfaith, turned up for the march that snaked down Congress Avenue and up to the Capitol. Bennett said more than 3,000 individuals and 38 institutions had signed up in favor of Medicaid expansion."

"Anderson and her 66-year-old mother, Martha Anderson, were among about 60 Tarrant County residents who gathered at the St. Andrews United Methodist Church in Fort Worth ... for the 200-mile bus trip to Austin. The trip was organized by the Allied Communities of Tarrant (ACT)" in coordination with the Network of Texas Organizations, including Austin Interfaith, The Border Organization, EPISO, Border Interfaith, TMO, WIN, WTOS, Valley Interfaith and COPS / Metro Alliance.

Read more

"Last week, the Travis County Commissioners Court tweaked a Feb. 19 resolution calling for a Medicaid expansion to satisfy its lone Republican member. That bipartisan support was 'absolutely critical,' said Oralia Garza Cortes, a leader with Austin Interfaith, an advocacy group. Sister organizations in Dallas and Bexar counties helped pass similar resolutions.

Read more

Over the last 30 years transnational auto manufacturers have placed plants all over the world; in the US most of the new plants have landed in the South.

Read more

Bay Area IAF organizations have been in local action for years around issues effecting immigrants, and are getting ready for federal immigration reform. Leaders in Marin, Sonoma, Solano, and Napa counties have been organizing immigration workshops and clinics aimed at connecting immigrants with trusted legal support, educating people about immigration reform proposals, and building a constituency of immigrant and non-immigrant leaders to lay the local foundation for a successful pathway to citizenship. Since December, more than 500 people have participated in workshops and clinics focused on youth applying for Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and over 100 native-born allies have taken part in local Immigration Action Team workshops on the history and current implications of US immigration policy.

 

150 PCIC leaders, DREAMers and their parents filled the Board Room at Pima Community College and cheered when the Board of Governors voted 4-1 in favor of in-state tuition discounts for DACA students. Currently, hundreds of undocumented local students pay five times the in-state rate and are not eligible for financial aid.

PCIC leader Melanie Nelson spoke of the six Deferred Action Civic Academies held at her church, Sacred Heart Catholic Church, last fall. "These students have lawful status now, but they can't afford the high tuition. Before DACA we had several attempted suicides in our parish. Now they need an pathway to an education and a future," she said. Before the vote, Jimmy Ojeda, a homeowner and parent, from St. John's, and Monica Leon, a U of A graduate, from Casa Maria Catholic Worker shared their own immigration stories. The group's goal is now to get the University of Arizona system to follow Pima's lead.