WTOS Credited With Turning West Texas Neighborhood Around
"The local arm of West Texas Organizing Strategy, an interdenominational coalition of churches, has been the single biggest community organizing force behind the revitalization efforts."
Read moreAustin Interfaith Secures $1.8 Million for Workforce Development
Over the last year, Austin Interfaith leaders publicly pressured the City Council to increase funding for successful programs including job training project Capital IDEA. They eventually held face-to-face meetings with public officials in efforts to get it back to current funding levels of $1 Million, but only after clearing City-imposed legal hurdles.
On the morning of October 6th, Austin City Council passed the Public Health and Human Service budget and two other items that moved additional funding to Capital Idea, keeping the program at 2011 level funding, $1.08 million, for FY 2012. Leaders also leveraged money from the Travis County Commissioners Court which voted not only for the continuation of level funding ($700,000) for Capital Idea, but an additional $97,000 to supplement cuts from the state.
Hundreds March in Pomona Against Waste Transfer Station
After hundreds of leaders marched to City Hall to protest the expansion of a waste station in the poorest neighborhoods of Pomona, the Planning Commission postponed the vote two more weeks to give more time to review the proposal. Says Magdalena Uceda, "I think the commissioners realized that they needed to really do their job and examine what is being proposed."
This march follows One LA's submission of 400 signatures from neighborhoods surrounding the proposed transfer station, and a push from regional clergy and Bishops; 28 businesses also lined up against the waste station.
Read moreOTOC Focuses Nebraska Legislators on Immigration
450 Omaha Together One Community (OTOC) leaders assembled to focus state legislators' attention on immigration. Stories of immigrants and refugees highlighted the economic and legal realities faced by Omaha newcomers while business, religious and academic allies testified about the impact of immigrants on Nebraska, making a case for comprehensive immigration reform at the national level and against piecemeal legislation at the state. Three of the five key Senators on the Judicial Committee participated in the assembly.
OTOC Keeps Focus on Immigration, Omaha World Herald
Read moreOne LA Assembles for Healthcare
"These issues concern our congregants, but they also concern the synagogue itself. We are ...insuring our employees, too."
-- Rabbi Laura Geller
Read moreAustin Interfaith Victorious on Citizen Participation
"After months of complaints from Austin Interfaith over its limited ability to weigh in on funding for local nonprofits, the City of Austin now says that the group can give City Council members a piece of its mind."
Read moreBishops, with Pomona Valley – One LA Leaders, Call on Pomona Council to Halt Waste Transfer Station
-- Most Rev. Gabino Zavala, Auxiliary Bishop, San Gabriel Region, Archdiocese of LA, Roman Catholic Church
Read moreClergy of North Bay Sponsoring Committee Urge Temperance to Rebuild Culture of Civic Participation
Reverend Christoper Bell and Rabbi George Gittleman weigh in on anti-police reaction to hit and run tragedy in Sonoma County.
Read moreTexas IAF Workforce Strategies Praised in National Media
MIT economist Paul Osterman names various Texas IAF strategies 'models' for the nation while discussing his new book, Good Jobs America: Making Work Better for Everyone.
In the New York Times he notes that despite low wages in the Rio Grande Valley, "the Valley is not hopeless....community organization Valley Interfaith has pushed for training opportunities and living wage jobs."
Read moreMarin Organizing Committee Reforms Vehicle Impoundment Policy in San Rafael, Northern California
After assembling over 400 leaders to demand that elected officials in San Rafael include MOC in decision-making about the devastating impact of vehicle impoundment on working families, the San Rafael Police Department announced a change in the policy.
"Since forming a few years ago, the MOC has forged a potent new political force in the county." -- Pacific Sun
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