Clint Independent School District trustees, presented with an easy opportunity to expand representative democracy, punted. They had no good explanation for failing to make an easy decision, just mutterings about needing more time to study...."The El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization has been the leader in the movement to reform Clint ISD's voting patterns.
TMO Press Conference Responds to Immigration Bill
" Nieto spoke Tuesday during a news conference called by The Metropolitan Organization at which Houston faith and business leaders responded to a new plan for comprehensive immigration reform. The legislation, unveiled last week by a bipartisan group of senators, is the first major overhaul of U.S. immigration policy since 1986.
Speakers including Cardinal Daniel DiNardo, archbishop of Galveston-Houston, Bishop Janice Riggle Huie of the Texas Conference of the United Methodist Church, and Rabbi David Lyon of Congregation Beth Israel said the highest priority should be creating a process for undocumented immigrants to earn legal status and eventual citizenship."
Read moreCapital IDEA Carves Out Career Paths in Austin
"Representatives from Austin Interfaith and the local business community founded Capital IDEA in 1998, and Steven Jackobs has been heading the organization ever since. Under his direction, the group has helped support, train and find careers for hundreds of Central Texas workers and their families. Capital IDEA – the IDEA stands for Investing in Development and Employment of Adults – works closely with unemployed or underemployed workers to identify a viable and fruitful career path. It's a rigorous process that's designed to ensure that workers are committed to the training and completing it...."
Capital IDEA Leads Clients to Career Path, Austin American Statesman
EPISO, With El Paso Elected Officials, Challenges Governor
Elected officials and members of Border Interfaith and the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization joined the CEOs of University Medical Center and Del Sol Medical Center to push for expanded Medicaid coverage to insure 1.5 million uninsured Texans, including about 135,000 El Pasoans....
Lucy Nashed, a deputy press secretary for the governor, in an email said Perry is against a Medicaid expansion under Obamacare, but is interested in flexibility from the federal government "to address the challenges in the current broken Medicaid system."
Read moreIAF Intermediaries Lauded by Harvard Business Review
"Two programs that have achieved high retention, completion, and placement rates in this way are Project Quest, a network of programs linked to the Industrial Areas Foundation in Texas and Arizona, and BioWorks, a consortium of life-sciences firms and community colleges in North Carolina.
Project Quest, which the Aspen Institute and Harvard's John F. Kennedy School of Government have singled out as a potential national model, helps people land their first middle-skills jobs at member companies. Its hallmarks are the high level of personal support that it provides and the strong collaboration among community groups, churches, businesses, and community colleges that it fosters. The programs in the network collaborate with local firms to identify job openings. Employers also provide information about their evolving staffing requirements, cooperate in curriculum development, and offer financial or other support to the trainees and the colleges...."
Read moreBorder Interfaith Brings Clean Water to Hundreds of Families
Leaders "celebrated the completion of the new water distribution system by El Paso Water Utilities. The celebration took place at San Patricio Catholic Church in Canutillo. More than 240 homes in the Mayfair and NuWay communities are now connected to the water system, and 60 more residences in the Schuman Estates will have running water in the next few days.
The community fought for years to get reliable water service, said the Rev. Pablo Mata, a member of the community group Border Interfaith....'At the end, the people got it done,' Mata said."
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