As a way to act on the extraordinary pressures they experience around housing, San Fernando Elementary school leaders (including twenty parents and their Principal, Maria Awakian) and One LA's education team testified before the San Fernando City Council.

Publicly speaking for the very first time, three parents shared how 1 of 8 children in San Fernando area schools experience some degree of homelessness, often resulting in disruptions of academic progress and difficulties in staying awake for class.

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'Nevadans for the Common Good' leaders discovered that Nevada was ranked 51st in the nation in terms of the level of state support for Meals on Wheels. As a result, there were over 1,000 home-bound seniors who were on the waiting list. NCG leveraged the support of municipal governments, state legislators and the governor to increase state funding to $3.4 million (a tenfold increase) in order to eliminate the waiting list.

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After forcing a runoff election into June, COPS/Metro Alliance leaders organized a second nonpartisan "Get Out The Vote Rally" with over 350 people to reaffirm public commitments made by mayoral and city council candidates. Leaders (again) asked candidates to recommit their support for increased funding for owner-occupied home improvements (described as a way to help long-time residents age-in-place), protections for undocumented immigrants, and a raised living wage standard for municipal workers.

Some candidates agreed to aggressively push the organization's goals. Others remained conspicuously absent.

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When petrochemical companies operating in rural Louisiana attempted to directly negotiate an industrial tax discount with the local parish (county), the effort ran up against the Louisiana Constitution. The local tax assessor sued and the state courts ruled that the agreement violated the Constitution. Developers then crafted House Bill 444, a constitutional amendment that would legalize direct negotiations with local governments. The amendment would allow corporations to work around Industrial Tax Exemption Program reforms recently won by Together Louisiana.

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Project QUEST, With New Director and Research Ammo, Pushed for More Funding, San Antonio Express-News

Bastrop Interfaith leader Alma Lopez lived in Stony Point in western Bastrop County for thirty years. She grew angry about people doing and selling drugs, abetted by darkness, at a long-neglected Stony Point park. "That is my neighborhood and my friends and family don't want those things happening here," she said.

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Described as a "world leading community change campaigner," IAF Co-Director Ernesto Cortes explained "Why a Strong Civil Society is Needed for a Strong Democracy" at a University of Birmingham event co-hosted by Neil Jameson of Citizens UK and Saul Becker, Pro Vice Chancellor and Professor of the College of Social Sciences.

International Change Maker and Community Organiser Leaves Audience Inspired After Visit to College of Social Sciences, University of Birmingham

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Fresh from a state legislative victory allowing the criminalization of SPICE, Southern Arizona Interfaith leaders succeeded in persuading local policy makers to pass a city ordinance against the nasty synthetic drug. Tucson City councilmembers listened intently as leader Christina Crawford described how SPICE gave her son seizures and spasms, and as Msgr. Raul Trevizo and other leaders described finding vomiting and passed out youth on St. John the Evangelist church grounds.

Councilmembers praised the team for their persistence over 18 months, before unanimously voting to include the new chemical in a Tucson drug ordinance. Reporters recorded the standing ovation Southern Arizona Interfaith leaders delivered to the Council upon passage of the ordinance.

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Incoming, Hopeful City Leaders Pledge to Help Rebuild Jackson, Jackson Free Press

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