Common Ground Challenges School Board Candidates in Vallejo
Well over one hundred leaders of Common Ground assembled with Vallejo City Unified School District candidates in the parish hall of St. Vincent Ferrer Catholic. Leaders expressed a commitment to building constructive relationships for strong neighborhoods and schools.
One LA Gets Out The Vote for Los Angeles Public Transit Bond
"We came. We knocked doors. We registered. We organized." Following months of civic academies, in a long campaign to improve public transit in Los Angeles, while creating local jobs and preserving affordable housing, One LA leaders knocked on doors from South Los Angeles to the San Gabriel Valley to West LA and the San Fernando Valley. Leaders are promoting a "yes" vote on Measure M, a ballot measure that they helped shape, in addition to other Propositions. Additional photos, One LA
COPA Secures County Support for Healthcare for Undocumented
Upon successful implementation of a pilot project providing healthcare for undocumented residents of Monterey County, COPA leaders took another major step forward, securing unanimous Board of Supervisor support to create an action team that will prepare and present a proposal back to the Board this spring. This is an important preliminary step in securing Monterey County funds to ensure that all residents have access to quality, affordable healthcare regardless of immigration status.
In photo, Episcopal Bishop Mary Gray Reeves leads joint study session with Monterey County Board of Supervisors and COPA leadership on healthcare for undocumented residents.
Read moreIAF Helps Prepare Episcopal Seminarians for Public Life
Looking for a way to create a "tighter fit between the life of faith and public life," the Very Reverend W. Mark Richardson of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) in Berkeley turned to the Industrial Areas Foundation to help train its seminarians.
Says Rev. Susanna Singer, "Bishops were saying increasingly that community organizing is a good thing." The creation faith, she argues, is about God's vision of flourishing for humanity and the cosmos. "It means that the body of Christ, which is us now, has got to get out there now and be involved in the communities in which we live because that's where God's dream is going to come true."
Read moreMarin Organizing Committee Says, "Yes In My Backyard"
Marin Co., CA - This summer, more than 50 appeared before the Marin County Board of Supervisors to urge them to site, fund and operationalize a year-round shelter for 60 homeless men and women. For the last eight years, Marin's "Rotating Emergency Shelter" (REST) program has operated on a provisional basis, depending on 40 supporting congregations, 17 congregational hosts and thousands of volunteers.
Read moreMOC Signature Campaign Exceeds Goal, Reaches 8,000+
With the goal of building support for the County to site, fund and operationalize a year-round shelter for 60 homeless men and women by 2018, leaders of Marin Organizing Committee (MOC) launched a signature campaign to reach 6,000 voters. Within five months, leaders had collected over 8,000 signature cards, and counting.
One LA Leaders 'Breaking Barriers' Strategy
In South LA, eight institutions gathered at St. Brigid Catholic Church to launch their 'Breaking Barriers' to employment strategy. Proposition 47, which permits individuals to clear their records of non-serious offenses, has the potential to make individuals more marketable as employees if proper paperwork is submitted. To prepare for the day, 30 leaders learned how to guide applicants through the process, while another group of leaders created a resume workshop and panel discussions on restorative justice in the schools and interview best practices.
Read moreCOPA Advances Health Services for Uninsured, Undocumented Children
COPA leaders' impassioned case for county funding of health services for uninsured, undocumented children appeared not to fall on deaf ears at a meeting of the Monterey County Board of Supervisors. The County Health Department director followed up with a request that the Board budget $500 thousand for a pilot project to make low-price prescription drugs and other specialty services available such children.
Read moreOne LA Begins to Tackle Transit, LA County Metropolitan Transportation Authority
One LA leaders are leading efforts around construction of transit lines and the creation of affordable housing around new transit hubs. Leaders hosted a stakeholders gathering in collaboration with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti, drawing over 150 members of One LA congregations, schools, non-profits, unions and public and private entities. Soon after, leaders from ten One LA institutions attended the monthly Metro Board Meeting to welcome the new Metro CEO, Philip Washington, and to present their Opportunity Agenda of jobs, housing, and transit improvements. Metro, also known as the MTA, has a huge opportunity in 2016 to move each of those interests forward. One LA looks forward to being part of the conversation around a potential 2016 ballot measure.
COPA Recognized for Defending Children's Healthcare
When a healthcare program for undocumented children they had created was threatened by Santa Cruz County budget cuts, COPA leaders did not stand idly by. They quickly mobilized supporters from Catholic, Jewish, Methodist and other nonprofit partners to persuade the Board of Supervisors and healthcare provides to fund the effort. And they succeeded.
United Way of Santa Cruz County recognized the organization's efforts (and its collaboration with Community Foundation and 1st 5 nonprofits) with an "Advocacy Award" for COPA leadership (pictured above).