Four months after a nonpartisan accountability assembly in which 750 COPS / Metro leaders secured public commitments of support for senior housing rehabilitation from city council candidates, the San Antonio City Council unanimously voted to support the allocation of $6.5 Million during the next year. This represents a 261% increase in funding and will allow the city to rehab 81 homes in the next fiscal year, compared to 25 in the current year.

Said COPS / Metro leader Shirley Ellis of Holy Redeemer Catholic Church, "It is now time for the 'Decade of Neighborhoods.' Instead of investing in developers, we should invest in homeowners -- homeowners who have invested their lives into this community."

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500 One LA delegates from 28 member institutions assembled to hold themselves, and elected officials, accountable on a Sunday afternoon in July. Delegates ratified a new strategy team, updated the bylaws, and pledged increased dues.

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After forcing a runoff election in May, 20 DAI leaders each turned out 20 voters, primarily in the Bachman Lake area near San Juan Diego Catholic Church.

Former Mayor Pro Tem Monica Alonzo, who waited until the day before the election to support Dallas Area Interfaith's agenda in support of affordable housing and early childhood education, lost the runoff by 291 votes - the largest margin of three runoff races that day.

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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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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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One day before the mayoral election in San Antonio, 750 leaders from COPS / Metro Alliance assembled at St. Henry Catholic Church to challenge candidates for mayor and city council around issues that emerged from thousands of conversations with San Antonio residents.

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300 residents of District 6 assembled to grill city council candidates in a impoverished region of Dallas where only 800 votes were cast in the previous election. The nonpartisan accountability assembly was organized around issues leaders have been working on over the course of the year, including affordable housing, early education, an upcoming city bond and improvements to the 311 system.

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Six months after advocating that a 10-acre city-owned property be developed with a variety of affordable housing options for local working families, AMOS leaders succeeded in expanding the number of rental and lower-priced housing units to be made available.

Initially, the land parcel was zoned for single family detached homes, with some of the loudest voices calling for exclusively owner-occupied units. Thanks to the intervention of AMOS leaders, Ames City Council voted for more affordable housing to be developed on-site, including 60% to be made available at affordable rates, and to include rental housing in its Request for Proposals.

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As part of a larger strategy to secure affordable housing options in Portland, Oregon, leaders of the Metropolitan Alliance for Common Good (MACG) and allies secured unanimous passage of an emergency tenant relocation assistance ordinance, persuading an "on the fence" Commissioner to support the measure. Seventy-five MACG leaders packed City Hall chambers, with direct views of the commissioners as they voted.

Three MACG leaders testified in support; one read a statement from a St. Andrew parish leader who had been prepared to speak, but stayed home due to recent ICE activity in the city.

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Fierce winter rains were not enough to stop over 300 leaders of Marin Organizing Committe from convening to discuss the dual threats many immigrants face: deportation and loss of housing.

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