For generations, residents on San Antonio’s Southeast Side have grappled with robberies, shootings, and acts of violence in their neighborhoods and in front of institutions like St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church. After years of organizing, COPS/Metro celebrates a major victory - the groundbreaking of the new South Flores Police Substation to serve the Southeast Side community. This new facility will be the first police substation built in San Antonio in 30 years.

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Pastors, priests and other faith leaders in Grand Rapids gathered together on a bitterly cold Martin Luther King Jr. Day to call for the humane treatment of immigrants — citizens and non-citizens — sharing stories from streets, sanctuaries and, in a few cases, detention cells.

The words of the late reverend and civil rights activist, who was assassinated, defined much of the event's rhetoric and tone.

"'Darkness cannot drive out darkness, only light can do that,'" said Lynette Sparks, a pastor and a representative for Together West Michigan, the nonprofit that hosted the Monday event.

After Texas legislators passed the anti-immigrant Senate Bill 4, Dallas Area Interfaith (DAI) leaders didn’t lose hope. Instead, they reached out directly to the Dallas Police Department, engaging them in outreach to parishes and neighborhoods. Police Chief Eddie García responded by joining 50+ DAI leaders for two neighborhood walks, knocking on doors in immigrant communities to listen to residents' stories and reassure them of their ability to trust local law enforcement.

At St. Pius X Catholic Church, Chief García joined Bishop Greg Kelly, Gloria Lam, and Fr. Salvador Guzman, who organized the walk. A second walk, hosted by Our Lady of Lourdes Catholic Church, was led by Frays Angel Rios and Pedro Romero.

As Chief García transitions out of law enforcement, the Dallas Morning News highlighted his involvement in efforts like these as "interactions [that] created momentum" in building trust between the police and immigrants.

After organizing the vote in 2022 to secure the funds necessary to build a new police substation in southeast San Antonio, COPS/Metro leaders at St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church hosted a community feedback meeting and leveraged commitments to address homelessness, mental health services, and neighborhood services.

Public Voice Their Thoughts on New Southside Police Substation Plans, News4SA  [pdf]

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"The Vallejo City Council last week appointed the first members to the city’s inaugural police commission, capping a years-long effort to impose community oversight on a police department known nationally for its high rate of lethal violence...

Common Ground, an organization that Vallejo enlisted to help research oversight models, three years ago drafted the more robust ordinance, which granted commissioners the power to remove a police chief with just five votes. It also charged commissioners with preparing a list of four candidates from which the City Manager could select a new chief. But city officials narrowed the oversight board’s powers, stripping it of those functions, while finalizing the ordinance, Nisperos said."

Vallejo Establishes Police Oversight Amid Legacy of Distrust, Open Vallejo [pdf]

Together New Orleans, in partnership with Together Louisiana, is calling on the City Council of New Orleans to change Police Department policy to allow for immediate review of body camera footage, on demand.  While a process does exist for footage release, it usually requires a public records request and internal process that often results in release of essential footage years after an event.

Together New Orleans Asks Council to Take Action on NOPD Body Camera Release Policy, WDSU

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Beacon Hill Academy parents and students gathered in a parking lot Wednesday morning to watch a dilapidated old school building on the campus fall to a demolition crew. Children donned pink and yellow plastic construction hats that hung low over their eyes and cheered each time “the claw” of an excavator punctured a side of the building.

The 1915 campus building designed by renowned architect Leo Dielmann has long been the bane of campus staff and San Antonio Independent School District officials.

The fate of the aged structure, located near the school’s present building, became the focus of a prolonged debate between SAISD and the city of San Antonio during the two decades when the building sat vacant. Over the last year and a half, Beacon Hill parents and community members teamed with COPS Metro Alliance and rallied to push the district to make a deal with the city to raze the structure, allowing the campus with growing enrollment more space.

Demolition Begins on Historic Beacon Hill Campus Building, Rivard Report [pdf]

200 leaders of COPS/Metro, accompanied by Catholic Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller, descended upon San Antonio City Council chambers with a simple message delivered by Maria Tijerina: "We don't want a study.  We want action."  

A study on displacement in San Antonio was scheduled to begin in 2020, but COPS/Metro leaders are calling for immediate action to prevent the direct and indirect displacement of neighbors.  Said García-Siller, “They have lived simply, and with pride, in their homes, which have belonged in their families for decades.”  He noted that the city gives incentives — tax rebates and fee waivers — to developers while homeowners who improve their own homes see their taxes rise.

Tijerina argued that rather than conduct a study on the root causes of displacement, the city should consider COPS/Metro’s own recommendations (detailed in a recently published oped) which include increasing owner-occupied rehabilitation in vulnerable neighborhoods; a city-coordinated homestead exemption and property tax freeze and deferrals for residents older than 65; tax abatements for homeowners and land preservation for affordable housing.  

Immediately at stake was a $1 Million fund to help displaced and vulnerable residents. After its unanimously passage, COPS/Metro leaders called it "a good start." 

COPS/Metro leaders plan to engage Mayor Ron Nirenberg on further displacement prevention at an accountability session April 7th. 

[Top Photo Credit: Ben Olivo, San Antonio Heron; Bottom Photo Credit: Iris Dimmick, Rivard Report]

City Council Approves $1 Million Fund to Help Displaced, Vulnerable Residents, Rivard Report 

San Antonio City Council OKs $1 Million Policy for Low-Income Families Facing Rising Housing Costs, Eviction, San Antonio Express-News

City Could Fast-Track Help for Families Hit Hard by Housing Costs, KENS5

San Antonio Nearing $1 Million Policy for Low-Income Families Facing Rising Housing Costs, Eviction, San Antonio Express-News  

COPS/Metro to City Council on Displacement: 'We Don't Want a Study, We Want Action', San Antonio Heron

City Considers Fast-Tracking Housing Displacement Prevention Policy, Rivard Report [pdf]

Needed: A Displacement Prevention PlanSan Antonio Express-News [pdf]

Within hours of the shooting in New Zealand, diverse faith groups of Baton Rouge came together to support their Muslim neighbors.  Bishop Michael Duca of the Catholic Diocese of Baton Rouge sent a message of solidarity for both the victims of the attack and the larger Muslim community. 

At Masjid Al-Rahman mosque, Rev. Fred Smith of Shiloh Missionary Baptist Church, and Together Baton Rouge, joined Imam Waiel Shihadeh to speak to hundreds of congregants at Friday services.  “Even though our worship comes from a different perspective, it’s important for us to recognize the value of inclusion — the value of universal love — which is what is a part of our Christian faith,” Smith said.  

[Photo Credit: Jacqueline DeRobertis, The Advocate]

Baton Rouge Faith Groups Show Support for Muslim Community in Wake of New Zealand Mosques Shootings, The Advocate [pdf]

Together Baton Rouge Statement on the Terror Attack on the al-Noor & Linwood Mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand 

One year after a 200-person assembly in which COPS/Metro parent and community leaders called for the demolition of a crumbling building that made the Beacon Hill Academy playground unsafe for its students, parents (and children) celebrated a victory.

The San Antonio City Council and Independent School District (SAISD) came to a negotiated agreement in which the building would be torn down in order to secure the playground and a new 'cultural heritage' curriculum developed for students.  

“It has been such a long process, and really our kids are even happier than us,” said Beacon Hill Academy parent and COPS/Metro  leader Jacklyn Landaverde. 

[Credit for Photo of Building: Bonnie Arbittier, Rivard Report]

City, SAISD Reach Deal to Allow Demolition of Historic Beacon Hill Building, Rivard Report