After a year-long listening campaign involving 1,000 individual meetings, plus conversations with 50 local business owners and nonprofits, Spokane Alliance launched a campaign to guarantee paid sick leave for workers in Spokane. The press conference announcing the launch drew 130 leaders and allies, including Councilmember Snyder who pledged to help pass a Sick, Safe and Family Leave ordinance by the end of June.

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TMO leaders and parents of children attending Lyons Elementary held a pre-board meeting press conference to detail their concerns about the latest HISD proposal to rezone elementary schools. Rosa Rivera argued that a plan to shift new students to nearby elementary schools would negatively impact the education of her children as the nearby schools are not as high quality as Lyons. "Before they start to do all these movements, I would like HISD to improve the schools."

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Over 250 leaders of Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC) convened at St. Phillips in the Hills to celebrate 25 years of success. Since 1980, PCIC has leveraged upwards of $100 million in state and local funds into projects that benefit the common good including KidCo, JobPath, local parks and recreation centers across the County.

In addition to enjoying a youth-led mariachi band and desserts, participants honored longtime and retired leaders Episcopal priest Paul Buckwalter, Methodist Pastor David Wilkinson, former PCIC/AIN Lead Organizer Frank Pierson, former Diocesan CCHD representative Joanne Welter, and deceased former Tucson Mayor and PCIC leader George Miller. Bishop Gerald Kicanas of the Tucson Catholic Dioceses chaired the event, which included stories from six younger leaders. Congressman Raúl Grijalva, Mayor Jonathan Rothschild, former State Rep. Ethan Orr and Southern Arizona Leadership Council Chair Lisa Lovallo from Cox Communications were among the speakers.

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On Monday, March 9th, President Barack Obama announced a new 'TechHire' initiative, speaking to nearly 2,000 at the National League of Cities Conference. The work of Project Quest Executive Director Pearl Ceasar and Deborah Carter of Rackspace was recognized for moving lower income people into high demand occupations like Information Technology.

Project Quest's partnership with Rackspace has already resulted in the graduation of dozens of lower income people from the Open Cloud Academy. Project Quest played a pivotal role in recruiting and supporting these students, implementing best practices developed by West / Southwest IAF labor market intermediaries.

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Attendees of a SXSW talk on education heard plenty about collaboration from Austin Interfaith leaders Ken Zarafis (President, Education Austin) and Lisa Robertson (Principal, Travis Heights Elementary) in a discussion about AISD's first public charter school. Supt. Cruz, who was Chief Schools Officer at the time, recognized that autonomy and trust was crucial in the process.

"It's about trying to create a different type of culture that allows for excellence and innovation," he said.

The school gained signatures of support from 97 percent of teachers and staff, as well as support from 90 percent of its school community and board approval.

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When Oklahoma Gas & Electric attempted to pass on the cost of updating a gas plant to consumers, rather than to the shareholders who benefited from a 50% increase in dividends while the utility delayed environmental compliance through lawsuits, leaders from VOICE-OKC urged the utility commission to reject the utility's plan. They additionally called on the Attorney General to get involved in the $1.1 Billion case to better protect residential consumers; this is the largest case ever presented to state regulators.

Rev. Jonalu Johnstone, a minister at the First Unitarian Church of OK City, argued, "It falls to you, the corporation commissioners, to stand for the consumers in this case, many of whom barely make it now from paycheck to paycheck."

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Regular Metro bus rider Julia Ramirez and TMO leaders Fr. Kevin Collins and Franklin Olson argue that the Metro bus system of Houston needs major changes if it plans to create a new system. With a commute that currently takes at least two hours each way, Ramirez pinpoints 4 concrete needed changes in the article below.

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The press conference started with the story of teacher in 2001, invited from Mexico to teach in MacAllen in 2001 -- then disinvited when 9/11 attacks led to dramatic changes in the treatment of immigrants.

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On a February afternoon , 77 leaders and potential leaders of AMOS assembled to kick off a year of reorganizing and renewal for the organization. Sponsored by the AMOS Institute of Public Life, the training focused on preparing all participants to conduct relational meetings and then split into three tracks: building research teams, building congregational / institutional leadership teams and looking at the big picture (i.e. world as it is vs. the world as it should be).

People from across the City of Jackson, including State Senators John Hohrn, David Blount and Solly Norwood, and Hinds County Sheriff Tyrone Lewis, joined Working Together Jackson's "We Care for South Jackson" Saturday morning rally. Bishop Ronnie Crudup announced that it is "evident that Kroger does not favor urban folk and urban areas" given their recent withdrawal of four grocery stores from Jackson. Leaders also pointed out that the city (with 180 thousand residents) now has only one grocery store, while suburban Madison (with only 20 thousand residents) has twice that number.

So far, WTJ has helped saved the jobs of 109 workers that would have been replaced, by assuring their relocation to other Kroger stores at their same pay, and secured commitments from the store to continue their support of local schools. Leaders continue to demand that Kroger refrain from putting a deed restriction on the property that would prevent another grocery store from coming in.

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