After years of public pressure on Austin's Central Health District, Ofelia Zapata, a leader with Austin Interfaith, celebrated the opening of a modern wellness clinic in Southeast Austin, a comprehensive health center near Dove Springs. "We are finally getting that holistic health care facility we wanted!" she said.

Officials expect 80,000 patient visits this year, mainly from low-income or uninsured residents of Dove Springs, Montopolis and Del Valle. The one-stop shop will include access to on-site imaging services, a pharmacy, laboratory, pregnancy support, and hearing tests in addition to nutrition classes, same-day appointments when sick, dentist appointments, community space and a garden. University of Texas Dell Medical School students and new doctors will train at the center.

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Arguing that the "stress of poverty" has a toxic effect on children's developing brains, COPS / Metro leaders stormed a San Antonio Independent School District Board meeting asking for wage raises for the lowest paid district workers, including bus drivers and cafeteria workers, to at least $13 per hour. A low wage job, said Maria Tijerina, "undermines a child's ability to learn."

Cafeteria manager Vanita Rodriguez spoke on behalf of her employees, revealing that every one she works with holds down at least two jobs to make ends meet. As the parent of 7 and the grandparent of 24, most of which are SAISD students, she knows that poverty hampers children's capacity to learn. COPS/Metro joined forces with the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel to raise this issue with the School Board and met with all 7 trustees prior to the board meeting.

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At the Sound Alliance's Action Assembly on Homelessness, leaders confronted state legislators from District 46, including Senator David Frockt, Representative Gerry Pollett, and Representative Jessyn Farrell about the lack of affordable housing and the regressive tax structure of the Washington state budget. Leaders secured public commitments for statewide budget reform in order to expand the resources available to fund public education and other human services.

Sound Alliance leaders are planning to partner with Spokane Alliance to work with statewide legislative allies to develop a proposal in time for the 2017 legislative session. House meetings are being organized now to determine statewide priorities.

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150 leaders of Austin Interfaith gathered for an evening delegates assembly that soon transitioned into a nonpartisan accountability assembly with all primary candidates for Travis County Sheriff. Candidates were limited to timed responses to questions about the processing of undocumented immigrants and cooperation with ICE, workforce development for people before release and face-to-face visitation for prisoners. Most candidates responded yes to each of the questions.

Austin Interfaith Calls for Compassion in Sheriff's Race, Time Warner Cable

Talking to someone in jail costs a lot of money -- and the people footing the bill are families. Says Sundra Flansburg of VOICE, the state of Oklahoma is "trying to fund the criminal justice system on the backs of these inmates and their families."

VOICE is siding with the FCC in the implementation of a rule passed last year reducing phone call charges to inmates by 40%. Fighting the new rule is the Oklahoma Department of Corrections, the Oklahoma County Sheriff and the Oklahoma County Sheriff's Association.

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Invited as honored guests by Bishop Mark Seitz of the Diocese of El Paso, leaders of EPISO and Border Interfaith traveled to the US levee to celebrate mass with Pope Francis during his historic visit to Ciudad Juarez on the border. They were included in a "small contingency of the faithful" to greet him as he approached the river's edge from Ciudad Juarez to deliver a special blessing and prayer for the safety and security of immigrants in their search for a better life.

Before departing to the levee, leaders joined US Catholic Bishops and Cardinals for a special gathering in which they reported local action around immigration, including work around the recent increased presence of State Troopers in El Paso County.

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The night before early voting began, undecided voters from Valley Interfaith congregations held a nonpartisan accountability assembly with candidates for Cameron County judge and Commissioner positions in Precinct 1 and Precinct 4. Said Valley Interfaith leader Tina Ramirez-Tetecatl: "We selected questions through house meetings and talking about issues around the parishes."

Leaders asked candidates to respond yes or no to questions about investments in light posts, workforce development program VIDA, ambulance services into the colonias and the creation of a unified county drainage district. In order to pay for these requested expansions, Valley Interfaith asked candidates whether they would deny tax abatements to companies seeking to expand in Cameron.

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One hundred Valley Interfaith Project leaders from Legislative District 28, North Phoenix and Paradise Valley, gathered February 11th for a Civic Academy on state education finance.

VIP leaders detailed fiscal constraints the state placed on public education over the past 40 years, which once ranked in the upper half of states for per pupil spending.

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Albuquerque Interfaith leaders breathed a sigh of relief when the official votes came in with more than 65% of the voting public casting ballots in support of a $575 Million bond package. Overall, voter turnout was double the average for similar elections.

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An economic impact study examined almost 400 people who graduated from JobPath in the last five years to track their progress. They found that the vast majority of people who graduated from JobPath still have a job five years later in the Tucson area, and that many have tripled or even quadrupled their pre-training wage.

Said Applied Economics researcher Sarah Murley, "That is a huge increase over a relatively short period of time." JobPath was established by Pima County Interfaith as part of a multi-pronged living wage strategy.

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