At the urging of Austin Interfaith, Central Texas Bishops, Catholic Charities and immigration reform allies, Austin City Council unanimously passed an official denunciation of Travis County's "Secure Communities," directing the City Manager to explore alternative ways to book arrests. High achieving 13-year old Alan Gonzalez Otero, from Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church and Austin Interfaith, testified against Secure Communities, describing an occasion when he was 9 years old and thought he might never see his father again. Rev. Thomas VandeStadt of the Congregational Church of Austin reminded the Council that Central Texas Bishops opposed cooperation between law enforcement and immigration, and that "on principle" was opposed to Secure Communities.

City Hall Chambers, filled with 300 supporters of the resolution, erupted in cheers as the Mayor announced the 7-0 vote.

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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 leaders celebrated the passage of a historic living wage ordinance they had fought for over the course of five years. Institutional representatives from congregations, schools and workers associations challenged city council candidates in 2012 to craft an ordinance requiring that jobs emerging from taxpayer incentives pay at least a living wage or prevailing wage, if higher. An economic incentive team put together language, which included an exception process, that was later adopted by a Special Committee on Economic Incentives and proposed by Councilmembers Martinez, Tovo and Morrison (and enhanced by Councilmember Riley) Thursday night.

Catholic Bishop Joe Vasquez intervened reading a statement of support for the ordinance at a 6pm rally, which was later read by an Austin Interfaith leader in Council chambers. After four hours of testimony and debate, the City of Austin passed, for the first time ever, a requirement that corporations receiving taxpayer incentives be required to pay the City established living wage of $11 per hour or prevailing wages, whichever is higher.

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In an unprecedented collaboration between leaders from two Chambers of Commerce and judicatories from Muslim, Jewish and Christian faith traditions, 200 Austin-area stakeholders gathered for an afternoon of learning about economic, business and legal perspectives on immigration reform. This was the second event in a campaign organized by clergy leadership to support compassionate immigration reform, with the number of attendees doubling since the first event.

Austin Interfaith Hosts Immigration Reform Event, Austin American Statesman

"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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"The switch at Travis Heights has been in the making for nearly three years. Austin Interfaith, a coalition of schools, churches and unions, and district labor group Education Austin ...reached out to 100 campuses before they found a partner in Travis Heights willing to become a charter.

Their volunteers then went door-to-door, garnering support and hosting school meetings to find out what parents and teachers wanted in a school. They reached 90 percent of the school's households and got 99 percent support from parents and 97 percent support from staff...."

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In the latest segment of a long-standing battle for living wages in Central Texas, 200 supporters of construction workers, including Austin Interfaith leaders, Catholic Bishop Joe Vasquez of the Austin Diocese and Workers Defense Project, rallied on the steps of City Hall demanding that workers receive the pay promised to them by developers of White Lodging, in exchange for $3.8 million in fee waivers granted by the City.

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"Houston is one of the few southern cities where upward social mobility is as high as cities in the Northeast and West... Roughly 22 percent of Houston children who grew up in the poorest fifth of the national income distribution have ended up in the top two-fifths today, according to the study.

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"Texas officials have declined to establish a state-based health insurance marketplace, a major provision of the federal Affordable Care Act. So private organizations are working to educate Texans about coverage options through the federal health insurance exchange, which opens on Oct. 1....The department will also finance at least two "navigators" — organizations intended to guide people through the exchange — per state.

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In a prayer service and press conference organized by Austin Interfaith, Central Texas Bishops and clergy from six religious denominations "pressed Tuesday for reforms centered on keeping families together and allowing unauthorized immigrants to earn legal residency with a path to citizenship.... such principles are key to what they called just and humane immigration reforms."

Central Texas Religious Leaders: Immigration Change Must be Just, Humane, Austin American Statesman Printable version

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