[Excerpts]

Volunteers with Together Louisiana went door-to-door across several Baton Rouge neighborhoods Monday, April 19, to educate people about the vaccine and answer any questions they might have from the comfort of their own home.

“Reality is we’ve all been held captive for over a year,” said Khalid Hudson.

Hudson is one of the organizers with Together Baton Rouge and Together Louisiana. He said most of the hesitation from people comes from misinformation.

“I know there’s a lot of information, a lot of websites, a lot of news coverage, but many folks may be in some of these communities might not watch regular news or might not have access to regular internet,” said Hudson. “So, it’s like that information still has not got to them. So, we’re bringing the information to their doorstep.”

[Photo Credit: WAFB 9]

Together Louisiana Going Door-to-Door to Sway Residents to Get Vaccinated, WAFB 9 [pdf]

Covid-19 Vaccine Sites and Testing Locations

[Excerpts]

On Tuesday, voters rejected the idea in a landslide. All 64 parishes, including GOP and Democratic strongholds, voted against it. Almost as many Louisiana voters rejected the proposed Constitutional Amendment 5, as it was known, 1.22 million, as voted for President Donald Trump, 1.25 million.

“You’re talking about liberal, conservative, Black, White, Democrat, Republican, Independent, it failed by a landslide,” said Edgar Cage, an organizer with Together Louisiana, which rallied against the amendment. “This should be a clear message to the Legislature that the taxpayers, the people of Louisiana are tired of these corporate tax exemptions and giveaways.”

On Tuesday morning, Khalid Hudson, a Together Louisiana organizer, hopped in a white Chevy Silverado at City Park in Baton Rouge as a volunteer riding shotgun used a PA system to get several dozen supporters lined up behind them. A caravan took shape, as a line of cars and bicycles adorned with signs that said “No on 5” and “Stop corporate welfare” followed Hudson on a route that took them past a host of precincts in predominantly Black areas of Baton Rouge that saw low turnout in the early voting period. A crop of volunteers followed on foot for the journey across Old South and north Baton Rouge.

With the presidential election sucking up most of the oxygen, Hudson said Together Louisiana wanted to get out their message on Amendment 5, which was placed far down the lengthy ballot and asked voters, “Do you support an amendment to authorize local governments to enter into cooperative endeavor ad valorem tax exemption agreements with new or expanding manufacturing establishments for payments in lieu of taxes?”

...

Edgar Cage, a leader of Together Louisiana, a statewide network of congregations and civic organizations, and an opponent of the Amendment, called it “corporate welfare” and another tax loophole that allows corporations to avoid paying their fair share.

Sixty-three percent of Louisiana voters, or a total of 1,221,197, voted against the amendment.

Louisiana voters reject New Tax Break in a Landslide, After Opponents Put on Full-Court press, The Advocate [pdf]

Amendment 5 Opponents Say Louisiana Lawmakers Should Take the Amendment’s Defeat to Heart, Louisiana Illuminator [pdf]

[Excerpt]

...Members of the community are asking why a major New Orleans employer is asking for a tax exemption on years-old additions made to their facilities. The watchdog group Together New Orleans says Folgers Coffee Company, with two locations in New Orleans East, should owe the city millions in taxes on additions at their plants dating back to 2017.

It has people like Shawn Anglim, who helped create Morris Jeff Community School, concerned for the entities that could be receiving much-needed tax money during a pandemic.

“We are not really asking for much, we’re asking for Folgers to follow the law,” Anglim said.

The law Anglim mentioned, requires businesses like Folgers to pay taxes on personal property, machinery, equipment and merchandise.

Zurik: Watchdog, Community Members Say New Orleans Company Owes Millions on Years-Old Improvements, FOX 8 [pdf]

With the state of Louisiana continuing to reel from the impact of the coronavirus, parent and community leaders of Together Louisiana are calling on Congress to invest the funds needed to safely reopen schools.   Parents and teachers worry that students' return to in-person classes without necessary health and safety precautions will spread the virus further and expose people with pre-existing conditions to lethal risk.  

Building on online civic academies with experts including Tulane epidemiologist Dr. Hassig and Danielle Allen of Harvard University, leaders are turning to Congress to finance the cost of ensuring health safety at schools.  Measures proposed by Together Louisiana include funding to: 

1. bridge the digital divide with school districts providing broadband internet free of charge for every public school student who needs it;
2. hire more teachers, aids & tutors to decrease class size for districts where contagion levels make in-person school safe;
3. make a "pod school" model accessible to low and moderate- income families, not just the wealthy, for districts where in-person school is *not* safe;
4. build in-school testing capacity with same-day-results, so that EVERY child gets tested before school starts and periodically throughout the year;
5. extra bus routes and drivers to allow for social distancing in transit; and
6. create a school-based contact tracing operation, with adoption of masks and where appropriate, PPE.

Together Louisiana Calls on Congress to Provide Dollars to Ensure the Safe Reopening of Schools, Fox News

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

[Excerpts]

Together Baton Rouge is calling for the immediate resignation of Cpl. Robert Moruzzi as Chairman of the Municipal Police and Fire Civil Service Board....[saying] his history of police brutality is deeply troubling considering our nation's current climate....

"We are calling for local entities with an appointed position to develop standards for their appointment, considering individuals with an exemplary civil and professional record, free of conflict of interest, and who would serve in the best interest of the community," Together Baton Rouge said....

Pastor Clee Lowe told WBRZ with the current climate around the nation, Moruzzi's past actions are unacceptable.

[Photo credit: WBRZ footage]

Group Calls For Officer With Checkered Past To Resign From Civil Service Board, WBRZ [pdf]

BRPD Officer With Controversial Past Faces Calls For Resignation From Civil Service Board, The Advocate [pdf]

[Excerpt]

...Edgar Cage threw up his hands.

“I feel like David but they’ve reduced the size of my stone to a grain of sand,” Cage said after leaving a Louisiana House committee hearing considering one of many bills that favor business but remove revenues from local governments.

Seventy-nine opponents had emailed their testimony because they couldn’t come to the State Capitol during the coronavirus pandemic. Rather than reading the emails aloud, as Cage wanted, the missives were attached en masse “in the official” record. Less than a minute later the committee voted.

Make no mistake, Cage knows the score when facing the Goliath of business and energy special interests. And he doesn’t fool himself into thinking that most in the Republican-dominated Legislature would vote against business interests. But, legislators in the session that ends June 1 have had little opportunity to hear the other side.

“If those people (email senders) were here, they would have to been allowed to testify and (committee members) would have had to listen,” said Cage, of Together Louisiana. “My big problem is that this is supposed to be a democratic process.”

The pandemic caused by an airborne virus that often causes death necessarily requires keeping people apart during a gathering that usually decides policies up close and personal in crowded halls and hearing rooms. That social distancing has come at the cost of creating an echo chamber where legislators’ preconceived notions are reinforced by lobbyists and partisans. That isolation is what is fueling so much legislation that expand tax breaks, Cage said....

[Photo Credit: Bill Feig, The Advocate]

Relentless efforts by Together Louisiana resulted first in local media attention and then national media focus on the new storm brewing in New Orleans. 

New Orleans Faces a Virus Nightmare, and Mardi Gras May Be Why, New York Times [pdf]

New Orleans Has Some of the Highest Coronavirus Infection Rates in the US - Yet It's Overlooked, The Advocate 

Together Louisiana Press Conference (done online)

March 15th Infographic Demonstrating Outbreak in New Orleans, Together Louisiana 

How Early Intervention Can Save Lives, Together Louisiana

As the rate of coronavirus infection in Orleans Parish consistently outranked most other US counties, Together Louisiana raised an early alarm that the conversation about Covid-19 was overlooking New Orleans.  Weeks after Together LA leaders produced their own research, based on county-by-county analysis of cases per 1,000 people, local media responded and confirmed what leaders had been arguing for weeks.

One “metaphor we throw around every day is, this truck is moving faster and faster; it’s moving at different distances and different speeds in different places,” said Shawn Moses Anglim, pastor of First Grace United Methodist Church, and a leader with Together Louisiana.  “But in New Orleans, the truck is a block away, and it’s coming at 120 mph.”

For weeks, congregational leaders have been educating the public about how early precautionary measures can save lives months later.

[Photo Credit: David Grunsfeld, Times Picayune]

New Orleans Has Some of the Highest Coronavirus Infection Rates in the US - Yet It's Overlooked, The Advocate [pdf]  

March 15th Infographic Demonstrating Outbreak in New Orleans, Together Louisiana 

How Early Intervention Can Save Lives, Together Louisiana

Two years ago, Northern & Central Louisiana Interfaith (NCLI) persuaded the Sheriff of Caddo parish to become the first local official in state history to use newly granted local authority to reject an industrial tax exemption request.  Since then, Caddo Parish, the City of Shreveport, and the Caddo Parish School Board rejected $11.5 Million in property tax exemptions -- effectively clawing back those dollars for human infrastructure and safety including schools and law enforcement.  

At one point, according to KTBS: 

"Caddo Parish was giving away more money than the entire state of Texas....That is why [Caddo Sheriff] Prator reviews each potential tax break thoroughly. He even sends his chief deputy to examine the company in person. He can do that now because two years ago, Together Louisiana along with North Louisiana Interfaith, a citizen's group, pushed lawmakers and the governor to fix the problem by making changes to ITEP.

Now, Caddo parish is faring better.

[Photo Credit: KTBS footage]

Caddo Faring Better After Reforms to Industry Tax Exemption Program, KTBS News [pdf]

Fiscal Impact of ITEP Reform in Caddo Parish, North Louisiana Interfaith

NCLI Effort Leads to First Local Rejection of Industrial Tax Break, The Advocate & More (2018)