Austin Interfaith Fights for City Temp Worker Wage Standard
Said Strategy Team member Kayvon Sabourian:
Read moreBorder Interfaith Leverages Commitments on Lending, Wages, & Training in County Comm. Race
With over 100 leaders in attendance, Border Interfaith assembled with candidates for County Commissioner Precinct 4 to challenge them to work with the organization for greater regulation of payday lending, a boost to the wage floor for County employees and contractors to $10 / hour, and the investment of $100K in County funds into job training program Project ARRIBA. One candidate, Julio Diaz, committed to the agenda. The other candidate did not. Leaders vowed to spread the word and get out the vote.
Diaz, Haggerty Offer Stark Choices in Race for El Paso County Commissioner in Precinct 4, El Paso Times
200 COPS / Metro Examines Living Wages in San Antonio Wage Fight

A diverse mix of congregational members from Catholic, Unitarian, Lutheran, and Baptist denominations, as well as unions, public schools and colleges, gathered to study the City of San Antonio's proposed budget, its impact on the local economy and how it may fund better wages for working families.
Read moreCOPS / Metro Launches Living Wage Fight

Austin Interfaith Wins Historic Living Wage Vote for School Construction
Labor caucus leaders of Austin Interfaith leveraged a historic living wage vote from AISD school board members in a close-to-midnight vote approving the use of federal Davis-Bacon wage standards for workers employed on school construction projects. After months of deliberation and negotiation, labor caucus members of Austin Interfaith testified at AISD board proceedings, backed by a crowd of supporters.
Catholic Bishop Joe Vasquez's letter exhorting the Board to support Davis-Bacon wages was followed by impassioned testimony from leaders representing LiUNA, Education Austin, IBEW, Painters Local 1779, Pipefitters, Workers Defense Projects, Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church and the Equal Justice Center. Plans are in the works for the school district to soon establish an accompanying living wage floor to raise the wages of the lowest paid workers.
Read moreAustin Interfaith Fights for School Adoption of Davis-Bacon Wages

Activistas Presionan A Distrito Escolar de Austin para Aumentar Salarios, Telemundo Austin
TBO Leaders Leverage Mayoral Candidate Commitments on Water, Wages, Trash & Safety
At an accountability meeting organized by The Border Organization (TBO), both Del Rio mayoral candidates committed to work for the creation of a groundwater conservation district (long fought for by local leaders), higher wages for police officers, matched with accountability measures to be put in place, equitable trash collection rates for both city and county residents, and the establishment of another walking trail on the city's south side.
Read moreAustin Passes Historic Living Wage Ordinance for Future Economic Incentives

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.
Read moreProject Quest Partners with Rackspace for Cloud Academy

"Project Quest, a local jobs training program established in 1992, has partnered with San Antonio-based Rackspace to recruit individuals interested in enrolling in Rackspace's Open Cloud Academy. There have already been 17 Project Quest students enrolled in the Cloud Academy, and Quest is seeking city funding to expand participation by its clients....The additional funding would allow another 200 Project Quest clients to participate in the Cloud Academy...."
Read moreTexas IAF Reconstitutes Launchpad (Job Training) Fund

Said Minerva Camarena-Skeith, a representative of Austin Interfaith, the nonprofit that helped found Capital IDEA with business community members and advocates for public funding: "It still gives these job-training programs the opportunity to apply for these $5 million, and also be able to leverage more city and local funds."
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