Change Makers - The Texas Observer Celebrates 60 Years, Texas Observer

When Alamo (Community) Colleges announced a decision to eliminate major designations from associate degrees last summer, AC students fought back. Simon Sanchez, from the Student Leadership Coalition asserted, "we are not victims." With the support of the Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) and Metro Alliance, the organization reached out to hundreds of students, leveraging 595 signatures for a petition against the policy.

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Andrew "Andy" Sarabia, the first president of COPS, Communities Organized for Public Service in San Antonio, argues in the San Antonio Express News that COPS has been a significant and powerful part of the city's history, starting with initial "tie-up" confrontations with the city's power structure to get it to recognize the needs of families and communities. Read more below:

At 40, COPS Still Standing Up For Residents, San Antonio Express News

COPS / Metro Alliance leaders flanked Bexar County Judge Nelson Wolff as he announced his instruction to the County Manager to research and craft a plan to raise the County minimum wage from $11.47 per hour to $13 per hour next year, and to $15 per hour within three years.

Two days prior, 325 COPS / Metro Alliance leaders gathered at Sacred Heart Catholic Church to announce their campaign to boost the wage floor for city and county employees from $11.47 per hour to almost $15 / hour. Elvira Adame shared how it angers her to see her daughter earning only $8.50 per hour at a public community college, leaving her "stressed and tired all the time from working so hard." Adame's daughter works full-time without benefits, sick leave or vacation time; to pick up the slack she picked up a second job, but even then is barely getting by.

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"The Metropolitan Organization, which celebrated the 30th anniversary of its charter this October, works with the voiceless to help transmute their anger into leadership. In a meeting with the Chronicle editorial board, TMO representatives said that the nonprofit, which organizes church congregations and other institutions across the region, encourages residents to say: "This is the city I want," and then to hold government accountable. Under TMO's stewardship, neighborhoods find their voices, and city government acquires a hearing aid...."

TMO at 30: The Metropolitan Organization's Successes Have Changed the Lives of People, Houston Chronicle

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Hundreds of TMO leaders confronted Houston Police Department officers with stories of relentless auto-theft, campus drug sales and physical assaults in North Houston. When the seated assembly was asked to stand if they had been personally been impacted by crime, more than half the room was on its feet. Councilmember Gonzalez was on hand to respond as well.

Cansados del Crimen Que Azota Al Norte De Houston, Univision 45

According to Gloria Mora of COPS / Metro Alliance, "it is unacceptable that in a city where the unemployment rate is only 4.7%, a full 20 percent of our residents live under the federal poverty line." With that statement, COPS / Metro announced a general assembly to address the need for a San Antonio living wage. In that assembly, leaders aim to confront Bexar County Commissioners and San Antonio mayoral candidates to address financial issues impacting families including wages, wage theft and predatory lending.

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Said Strategy Team member Kayvon Sabourian:

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At an assembly with officials of the Texas Commission on Environmental Quality, Valley Interfaith leaders argued that the failure to clean up a 33-acre benzene spill is behind the cancer and other illnesses impacting families living in the area. Leader Frank Pena alerted the assembly that while a legal settlement on the spill resulted in payouts, it did not result in needed environmental cleanup.

That same week, Valley Interfaith threw its political weight behind ballot Proposition 1 for the creation of a new hospital district to drawn down additional federal dollars expand and improve care for local residents.

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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