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BROWNSVILLE, RGV – Over 300 Texas Industrial Area Foundation leaders from across the state will hold a press conference on the south steps of the State Capitol on Thursday.

There, they will call on the House and Senate to invest in families through adult workforce development and public education.  

Among those present will be more than 75 members of Valley Interfaith, which is part of the IAF network. In addition to pushing for adult workforce development and public education, Valley Interfaith members will also call for investment in border colonias.

The Rev. Kevin Collins of St. Eugene Parish in Brownsville is a leader with Valley Interfaith. He said Valley Interfaith wants legislators to increase the state’s overall share of the cost of public education and to increase the per-pupil allotment. 

“Quality public education is a question of a strong Valley economy and quality of life,” Collins said. “The state needs to step up its game and invest more in public education. Property taxes skyrocketed because the state’s share of school funding went from 50 percent to barely 36 percent. The state needs to increase investment to improve the quality of public education in Texas.”

[Photo Credit: Rio Grande Guardian]

Valley Interfaith: State's Share of School Funding Has Dropped From 50% to Barely 36%, Rio Grande Guardian

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]

Five years after COPS/Metro's first wage win, the San Antonio Express-News is crediting the organization with the most recent wage floor hike at Alamo Colleges to $15 per hour. 

"The COPS/Metro Alliance, a community organizing coalition, has for years pushed local public entities to adopt a minimum 'living wage' of $15 hourly as part of a national movement. The Alamo Colleges had already raised its minimum wage, along with the City of San Antonio, Bexar County and some public school districts, with the stated intent of moving gradually toward the $15 goal. The city and county reached $15 last fall."

In photo top left, taken in 2014, over 300 COPS/Metro leaders publicly launched a "living wage and economic security" campaign to raise the living standards of public employees.  In 2014, in top photo at right, a St. Alphonsus Catholic parishioners tells a reporter that her daughter, a full-time Alamo Colleges employee, earned only $8.50 / hour without benefits or vacation.  In bottom photos, Alamo Colleges workers Jose Rodriguez and Jennifer Wilgen describe the impact of the wage raise.

The $15/hour minimum represents a 30% increase over the previous wage floor.  Alamo College representatives argue that raising the wage floor “supports the economic and social mobility of the families of the lowest paid members of the Alamo Colleges District workforce and the persistence of a growing body of students” employed part-time at the colleges. 

This position is consistent with what COPS/Metro leaders have argued for years. 

[Photo Credits: Top left and bottom photos by Bob Owen, San Antonio Express-News; top right photo by Rafael Paz Parra]

Alamo Colleges, Other San Antonio Employers, Embrace 'Living Wage', San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

Alamo College Trustees Raise Hourly Minimum Wage to $15, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

2014 Report on COPS/Metro Launch of Living Wage Campaign 

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

COPS/Metro leaders Sister Jane Ann Slater of the Congregation of Divine Providence (and chancellor at the Archdiocese of San Antonio) and Linda Davila of St. Timothy Catholic Church penned an Oped calling on the Mayor to prevent displacement in San Antonio.

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Mayor Ron Nirenberg and members of the City Council have expressed concern about the Decade of Downtown causing neighborhood displacement. Nirenberg said it best last year, “We should not be resigned to displacement as an acceptable condition in the community.”

COPS/Metro takes the City Council at its word, but actions speak louder than words.... 

COPS/Metro supports a thriving downtown and the benefits that UTSA’s expansion will offer. We do not support development that pushes people out of their homes and uses public dollars to do the pushing. We are against development happening so fast and furiously that existing residents cannot take advantage of the improvements. Development must be planned so that it benefits everyone, not just developers. As it stands, the city’s decisions benefit developers with little consideration for current residents.

[Photo Credit: William Luther, San Antonio Express-News]

Needed: A Displacement Prevention Plan, San Antonio Express-News  [pdf]

Arguing that current City of San Antonio incentives are causing displacement, 100 COPS/Metro leaders pressured the mayor of San Antonio to directly prevent it.  

Fr. Larry Christian, of St. Ann Catholic Church and COPS/Metro, called for increased public efforts to educate residents about available resources including “property tax freezes for senior citizens... and tax credits for homeowners that improve their homes.” 

The mayor affirmed that he is listening to the organization and committed to collaborating with COPS/Metro leaders on this issue.

[Photo Credit: Scott Ball, Rivard Report]

COPS Metro Urges Mayor to Ramp Up Implementation of Affordable Housing, Rivard Report [pdf]

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In August 1974, the same month that President Richard M. Nixon resigned amid the Watergate scandal, COPS members marched on City Hall and demanded better drainage.

Some areas of the city lacked paved streets, running water, sanitary sewer service, adequate police protection and other basics.

The group won the support of Mayor Charles Becker, who worked to pass a $46.8 million bond issue to fund long-neglected drainage projects on the West Side.

With a power base that was rooted in Catholic parishes, COPS members focused their anger in a positive way, remaining vocal but never violent, and brought lasting change.

[In photo: Candidates for District 6 listen to a question in a 1983 COPS “accountability session.” Staff File Photo, San Antonio Express-News]

Grassroots Group Energized Hispanics: COPS Launched Efforts in 1974 to Improve Basic City Services, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

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Project QUEST, the nonprofit workforce development organization created more than a quarter-century ago by the COPS/Metro Alliance, has been awarded a $1 million grant that the organization says will allow it to serve more San Antonians with expanded job training programs.

The award comes from the Rockefeller Foundation and Chan Zuckerberg Initiative as part of their Communities Thrive Challenge, which awarded $1 million each to 10 organizations across the nation, working to “help low-income and financially insecure people find and retain well-paid, meaningful work, achieve financial security or build economically vibrant neighborhoods.”

San Antonio’s Project QUEST wins national $1 million grant, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

In fall of 2018, the federal government proposed redefining who might be considered a “public charge” -- a federal designation for people it believes are overly dependent on federally-funded social services.  Under proposed changes, immigrants who are "likely at any time" to become a public charge could be ineligible to get visas and green cards that give them legal permanent residency.

Dallas Area Interfaith soon began receiving calls from parents of US-born children who stopped getting medical care and nutrition assistance for their kids.  In response, DAI began organizing parish-based efforts to educate and urge the public to weigh in on the proposed changes . 

US Citizen Kids May Go Without Medical Care, Food Because Their Immigrant Parents are Afraid to Accept Help, Dallas Morning News

Millions of US Citizen Children Risk Losing Health Insurance Under Rule Change Affecting Immigrants, Study Says, Dallas Morning News

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A handful of Dallas-area churches, with the support of Dallas Area Interfaith, started issuing their own ID cards this year. Police departments in Dallas, Carrollton and Farmers Branch have been given discretion to accept those church cards as a form of identification.

Socorro Perales, a senior organizer at Dallas Area Interfaith, said her group was excited about the possibility of a city-issued card....

[Photo: Dallas Morning News]

Dallas Draws Local Support, Faces State Resistance as it Inches Closer to Issuing City ID Cards, Dallas Morning News