"Project Quest has helped more than 4,000 obtain jobs paying close to $40,000 per year.... Says Fr. Walter D'Heedene, these 'jobs, with benefits, will last so that families can provide for their children for years." Project Quest was established by the COPS / Metro Alliance.

Project Quest Helps People Get Jobs Through Training, Univision Television - Canal 41

Diana R. Fuentes | Posted: Thursday, November 1, 2012 2:46 pm

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In a weekend accountability session, leaders from The Border Organization leveraged commitments from Sheriff, state District Judge and County Commissioner candidates about immigration, crime and an underground water district. Institutional leaders committed to turning out 2,700 voters in advance of the election.

"We inform and educate the people about the candidates..." said organization co-chair Marta Gonzalez-Stitts. "We are committed to getting out the vote."

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More than 200 leaders of El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization assembled to challenge Clint Independent School District board candidates to "eliminate all disparities in per student funding throughout the district if elected....Challengers Claudia García, Sonia Herrera, Susana Santillan, Dino Coronado and incumbent Patricia Randleel participated at the nonpartisan accountability session at the Holy Spirit Catholic Church in Horizon City."

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"Approximately 1,000 people representing 35 church, school and union groups under the umbrella nonprofit Communities Organized for Public Service and the Metro Alliance, held their own press conference and publicly committed to backing Pre-K 4 SA."

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"Candidates for the U.S. Congressional 16th District of Texas, the Senate District 29 of Texas, Texas House of Representatives District 78 and for District 1 of the State Board of Education participated in Sunday's candidate accountability session...organized by Border Interfaith at the San Judas Tadeo Catholic Church in the Upper Valley."

Local Group Hosts Debate with 8 Candidates Running for Election, El Paso Times

"The roar of a bulldozer will prompt a celebration in an Alief neighborhood whose residents have waged a four-year battle to get rid of an abandoned, burned-out condominium complex....The Metropolitan Organization of Houston, along with determined neighbors, thought the disintegrating structure was so dangerous that the city of Houston should spend money to bulldoze the darn thing, but legal and budgetary impediments precluded quick action..... The machinery, which will demolish the public nuisance known as the Winfield I, represents a triumph..."

Civic Activists Win Fight Over Eyesore Condos, Houston Chronicle

250 institutional leaders from 18 Tarrant County-area congregations celebrated and committed to rebuilding the Allied Communities of Tarrant (ACT).

Said the Rev. Lindsay Woods, pastor at Gethsemane Presbyterian Church, "ACT has allowed us a small church to seek justice. Congregations often do a lot of charity (give food to food bank) or education (explaining what we believe about justice), but our mission sometimes lack the ability to create justice. ACT allows us to be part of a network of different institutions seeking solutions to a common cause."

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"Travis Heights is looking to partner with Education Austin and Austin Interfaith to start an in-district charter model allowing the school to have more autonomy. The school would focus on curriculum with its dual-language program, service learning model and a piloted blended learning program that incorporates digital media, Carstarphen said. 'They're not asking for more money; they're asking for more flexibility....'"

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COPS / Metro Alliance "recently gathered folks — including parishioners at member parishes, the San Antonio police chief and a city councilman — for a "walk for the West Side." It was really something akin to a listening tour, hearing what residents in the neighborhoods and housing projects around St. Timothy's Catholic Church had to say about their circumstances.

I tagged along...."

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