“Are we truly welcoming to immigrants if they don’t have decent housing, equitable healthcare and mental health access, and are being preyed upon by unjust lenders or landlords?” asks Rabbi Paula Marcus of Temple Beth El in Aptos (Central California).

The COPA Immigration Campaign team organized a press conference to announce theirfocus on securing commitments from local officials to collaborate with COPA on issues affecting immigrant families: housing, healthcare, education, safety and economic development. COPA leaders plan to further recognize these commitments at its 15^th Anniversary Convention on September 30^th.

[Photo Credit: Jack Herbig]

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COPA to Hold Prayer Service in Salinas to Help Immigrants, Monterey Herald

Oped by Beatriz Trujillo

500 One LA-IAF leaders assembled with Los Angeles Mayor Eric Garcetti to discuss implementation of the recently passed linkage fee for affordable housing at St. Agnes Catholic Church, and to report on what is happening in their neighborhoods. Representing the first community organization with which the Mayor met, leaders challenged him to more deeply collaborate with the organization in the next few months.

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After working for the last 6 years to increase City funding to demolish 800 condemned buildings in Omaha, Omaha Together One Community (OTOC) testified in favor of $1.1 Million included in the proposed 2018 City budget for demolition of condemned structures, up from just $250,000 in 2012 when OTOC started pushing for increases. As a result, the backlog of abandoned houses has been brought down from over 750 to less than 125.

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Several hundred Border Interfaith and EPISO leaders assembled for an accountability session, one day before early voting began, to challenge candidates for Mayor, City Council and the Board of Trustees for El Paso and Ysleta School Districts around the issues most impacting residents' daily lives.

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TMO leaders of Resurrection Catholic Church won the first of two council votes to protect the Denver Harbor neighborhood from predatory development. This council vote established Chapter 42 Minimum Lot Size protection for 100 properties in the Denver Harbor area, preventing the lots from being subdivided below the minimum prevailing lot size, as is often the practice when developers build multiple townhomes on what was originally a single residence.

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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.

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In reaction to a proposal from the Omaha Public Power District to more than triple fixed fees from $10.25 to $35 per month, Fr. Mike Eckley and other OTOC leaders publicly challenged the wisdom of punishing low-income families for conserving energy. OTOC not only succeeded in compelling the Board to reduce the proposed increase by 80%, the Board was forced to create a $1.5 Million customer assistance program for low-income low-use families. Leaders plan to intervene in the November 2016 Board election to prevent future fixed fee hikes from being phased in.

On the dignified housing front, Omaha Together One Community (OTOC) not only succeeded in tripling the budget for demolition of blighted properties between 2012 and 2015, it persuaded the City Council to increase housing re-inspection fees levied on neglectful property owners, sufficient to increase the number of trained rental housing inspectors in the field to nine. In a move against slumlords who abandon their properties, OTOC compelled the Council to pass a vacant property registration ordinance requiring owners to pay $500 for every quarter a house lies vacant (up to $2,000 / year). OTOC succeeded over the opposition of the Landlord's and Nebraska Bankers associations.

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According to Rick Nicholson, "Winter is the hardest time to be homeless in Federal Way."

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Marin Organizing Committee (MOC) leaders are fighting to expand a seasonal Rotating Emergency Shelter program to a year-long program benefiting people that need emergency shelter. Leaders propose that the initiative be funded and supported not just by Marin County but by municipalities within county lines. More than 40 congregations participated in the program last year, taking turns sheltering and feeding homeless families overnight at their facilities; about 360 men and women benefited from the collaboration.

MOC leaders presented their proposal to the San Anselmo Town Council Tuesday night, asking for the city's support. "We feel strongly that homelessness is a countywide issue and needs a countywide solution," said Meredith Parnell, leader from Congregation Rodef Sholom and MOC. She is part of team of leaders who will be making similar presentations to the cities of Tiburon and Fairfax.

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Omaha Together One Community wants both candidates to commit $1 million a year to the problem.

The city has 748 houses on its demolition list. On average, it costs the city about $12,000 to knock down a house -- but neighbors say it's worth every penny.

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