COPS/Metro Immigrant Leaders WIN Access to Their Kids' Schools
One week after immigrant leaders from El Carmen Catholic Church raised the issue of parental access to schools, delivering poignant testimony at a Southside ISD School Board meeting last week, the Superintendent publicly reversed his position.
In a letter that went out to all parents, he announced that any form of photo identification issued by a governmental entity, including a matricula consular ID card, would be accepted when verifying parents’ identities on school campuses.
The issue originally emerged when Sandra, a member of El Carmen Catholic Church in San Antonio, attempted to join her son at his elementary school for lunch. She was barred from campus because she could not show a Texas ID. When COPS/Metro leaders requested a meeting with the Superintendent to discuss the policy, they were initially denied.
It wasn't until COPS/Metro and El Carmen Catholic leaders joined Sandra at the next Southside ISD School Board meeting that the district began to reconsider its position.
Said Vincent Arreguin, a COPS/Metro leader from El Carmen Church, “We continue to be committed in our interest to build the relationship with the district. This is not only a win for our parents but our children who are the most important. We are glad that now there’s clarification about the policy.”
[Photo Credit: Camille Phillips, Texas Public Radio]
Southside ISD Says Wider Range of Government-Issued Photo IDs Now Will Be Accepted for Campus Access, Rivard Report [pdf]
San Antonio Parents Without Texas IDs Barred from Southside ISD Schools, Texas Public Radio
Parents Without Texas IDs Said They Were Barred from Southside ISD Campuses, Rivard Report
Southside ISD's ID Policy Has Some Parents Complaining it Leaves Them Out of Kid's Schooling, San Antonio Express-News
COPS/Metro Weighs In on Affordable Housing Taskforce
Leading the campaign to increase funding for owner-occupied housing rehab and affordable housing, COPS / Metro is now participating in the City of San Antonio's affordable housing taskforce.
Read moreCOPS/Metro Fights for $6.5M in HUD Funds for Home Rehabs
With three months to decide how to spend $21 Million in HUD funding for affordable housing, several San Antonio Councilmembers are getting direct reminders from COPS / Metro leaders about their campaign promises to invest $6.5 Million in the rehabilitation of owner-occupied housing in older neighborhoods.
In spite of dispute over whether the commitment referred to new money or previous allocations, leaders are pressing on.
Read moreSan Antonio Express News Calls on County Commissioners to Keep its Promise to Highland Oaks Residents and COPS/Metro
Citing the public safety hazard to children that current road conditions pose, the San Antonio Express-News urged the Bexar County Commissioners court to keep the momentum going on stalled road renovations.
Read moreCOPS/Metro Educates San Antonio Residents About $9M Home Rehab Program Leaders Expanded
Less than one year after more than 750 COPS / Metro leaders secured candidate pledges for increased municipal investments in home rehabilitation, leaders are now training hundreds of residents about the new program and how to apply. $9 Million has been set aside for qualifying residents — $6.5 Million from federal funds and the rest through the City of San Antonio.
Read moreSan Antonio Express-News Notes that as the San Antonio Archdiocese Grew, So Did COPS/Metro
In many ways, the history of the Archdiocese of San Antonio is a series of immigration stories that reflect the state's political shifts, its segregation, its social changes and the succeeding waves of religious leaders and workers who came to Texas to convert the population and lead the faithful....
Read moreCollaboration with COPS/Metro Cited in Close-Up on San Antonio Banker Tom Frost
One moment Tom Frost won't forget created an unexpected collaboration. On Feb. 5, 1975, ...Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) formed long lines at his bank to disrupt business. One by one, they asked tellers to exchange pennies for dollars, then dollars for pennies.
Read moreCOPS/Metro Hikes Municipal, County Wage to $14.25 /Hour
Months after 750 COPS / Metro leaders challenged candidates for San Antonio City Council and the Bexar County Commissioners' Court to support their living wage agenda in a nonpartisan accountability assembly -- and then delivered 8,555 voters to the polls in support of their agenda -- both Bexar County and the City of San Antonio increased entry wages to $14.25 per hour.
Read moreCOPS/Metro Calls for Equity in City Budget: More Job Training, Higher Wages
One week before the San Antonio City Council votes on the municipal budget, COPS / Metro leaders descended on City Hall to call for increased funding for long-term workforce development program Project Quest. Increasing the city's investment in Quest from $2.2 Million to $ 2.5 Million would enable the program to train an additional 100 residents for new jobs.
Read moreCOPS / Metro Secures $6.5 Million for Housing Rehabilitation, Ushers in 'Decade of Neighborhoods'
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."
Read more