On May 10th, Austin Interfaith held an Accountability Roundtable with Texas House District 46 candidates Sheryl Cole and Chito Vela as well as US Congregational District 25 candidates Julie Oliver and Chris Perri at the Congregational Church of Austin. 100 leaders representing 10 Austin Interfaith institutions in East Austin and the University area gained commitments on an agenda of issues, developed from hundreds of small group conversations, which included education, immigration reform, affordability, and funding for public schools and workforce programs like Capital IDEA.

Leaders told stories about their experiences with homelessness, deportation of neighbors, essential financial support for adult job training, and inadequate school funding. All four candidates committed to advancing legislation regarding local control, limiting property taxes for low-income homeowners, restoring cuts to federal student aid, and repealing SB 4.

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TMO leaders stretched beyond Houston, organizing four nonpartisan accountability assemblies and leveraging public commitments in some of the most competitive legislative and congressional districts in the state.

In Congressional District 7, reaching into Katy (West of Houston), TMO leaders from Faith City, Chapelwood United Methodist and Memorial Drive Methodist assembled at Congregation Beth Israel to engage primary candidates around the flooding of a nearby bayou (and need for local Harvey recovery) and comprehensive immigration reform -- securing commitments from both.

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"As far as Michael Brown is concerned, he wasn't supposed to be here.

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At a press conference held the day after the passage of the new City budget, Austin Interfaith leaders celebrated a historic living wage win and other 'budget priorities' that were included. Austin Interfaith leaders thanked the Mayor and specific council members for acting as "budget champions." As a result, the City of Austin will now pay their workers an increased living wage of $13.03 per hour (up from $11.39) and for the first time will include temporary AND contracted workers in that wage standard. Workers employed for at least 12 months will additionally qualify for healthcare benefits. Employees of private corporations receiving public subsidies will also benefit from the wage increase.

Leaders celebrated additional wins in areas impacting workers, children and families: $350K in increased investment in long-term job training program Capital IDEA, $3 million in added investments in parks, pools and libraries, $684K for AISD parents support specialists, $520K for Primetime after-school programming, and at least $1.6 Million for property tax breaks for seniors and disabled homeowners.

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Leaders in Austin continued a push to shift city budget priorities from police-dominant public safety to long-term investments in children and working families. At the second public hearing on the budget, Rabbi Alan Freedman testified that while public safety is "critical to existence...our goal should be to have a city where people can live." He was accompanied by other leaders from Austin Interfaith, Seton Healthcare and UT Austin who all urged the council to invest in long-term job training program Capital IDEA.

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Denouncing the proposed City of Austin budget for not going far enough to pay its part-time, temporary workers well and to provide essential services to low and middle income families, eighty Austin Interfaith leaders descended on City Hall to urge the Council to prioritize the concerns of residents. Five city council members (Garza, Casar, Pool, Kitchen and Tovo) participated in an afternoon press conference in support of Austin Interfaith's budget priorities.

Later that night, one dozen leaders spoke in support of specific priorities including a wage increase to $13.03 for all adult city employees, including part-time temporary workers; investment in Capital IDEA training; after-school programming; investments in branch libraries; improved park facilities and more.

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300 leaders of Austin Interfaith convened Mayoral and County Judge candidates for a teach-in and accountability session on Austin child poverty (30%), affordability, investments in human development and local immigration reforms. In addition to yes / no responses, candidates were given several minutes to explain how they would work with the organization to address child poverty and inequality. Assembly night highlights included Mayoral candidate consensus on local immigration reforms (municipal identification and withdrawal) and Judge candidates commitments transforming from "No" to "Yes" on doubling County investments in job training program Capital IDEA. Additional coverage of the statistics and stories below.

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Capital IDEA celebrated its 15th anniversary and 1,000th graduate at the Norris Conference Center in Austin. Elizabeth Soltero, the 1,000th graduate entertained the crowd with her story of triumph -- learning English then learning her third language, Technical English, before landing a job in computer security. Elected city and county officials were in attendance, and other graduates honored -- including a single father who not only worked his way through college, but volunteered at his son's pre-school.

Facebook Album, Capital IDEA

Koreena Malone, an accounting graduate of Capital IDEA, was confronted with the threat of losing her home when a developer's plans involved razing her apartment and replacing it with a higher cost unit. In collaboration with Austin Interfaith she formed a tenant's association and negotiated a new deal on the redevelopment with Travis Heights Elementary School, the neighborhood association, her tenants' association, and the developer.

"'I strongly believe that the redevelopment of Oak Creek Village won't just lead us to a better community but a model for the city of Austin,' Malone said.

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"Austin Interfaith worked from the ground up to get its priorities included in the budget....It represents the interests of low-income families and has become a familiar presence at City Hall in recent years. Austin Interfaith leaders mobilized members to show up en masse to city budget hearings to plug these programs, meet with council members and bombard council offices with calls and emails in the days leading up to the final budget vote. The nonprofit was elated that council members agreed to spend money on all of Austin Interfaith's priorities, totaling $2.4 million."

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