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November 30, 2017  |  VIEW IN BROWSER

From the Desk of the Executive Director

Washington Tackles Tax, Appropriations on the Back Burner

Daniel Sheehan, AFOP Executive Director (11/16)


Republicans in Congress are working feverishly this week to advance tax legislation.  The House will consider its version of the bill today.  The Senate Finance Committee hopes to clear its own draft bill today, too, allowing for the full Senate to vote on it after next week’s Thanksgiving recess.  As I have reported previously, the anti-poverty community worries that the Republican majority will use the resulting deficits from the lost revenue of the proposed tax cuts to justify drastic cuts in mandatory spending, like Medicaid, SNAP, and other safety-net programs, and non-defense discretionary funding, like that for NFJP.  The Coalition for Human Needs, in which AFOP participates, is working closely with Washington tax-policy think tanks to make clear to lawmakers the harm this plan will cause non-wealthy Americans: not only will future spending cuts hurt, but tax cuts skewed to the wealthiest one percent and large corporations will further widen the gap between rich and poor in this country. [Read More]
 


Editor’s Note:  For this November Edition of the Washington Newsline, we’ve included a special section on the proposed tax bill, with various articles describing what you need to know about it.

Inside AFOP

AFOP National Conference a Great Success

Daniel Sheehan (10/25)


From September 19-21, the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP) held its annual national conference in Las Vegas, Nevada.  Over 300 attendees gathered to enhance their knowledge, skills, and abilities in serving the nation’s farmworkers through job training, career-advancement activities, and critical health and safety instruction.  I applaud those individuals and their sponsoring agencies for investing the time and resources to engage in this important work. [Read More]
Photo Credit: Richard Roe, Kentucky Farmworker Programs, Inc.

AFOP Inducts Six Awardees into Farmworker Advocate Hall of Fame


At its September national conference, AFOP proudly inducted six outstanding individuals into the Farmworker Advocate Hall of Fame: Lupe Martinez, UMOS President and Chief Executive Officer; Ernie Flores, former Central Valley Opportunity Center Executive Director; Luis Esparza, former MET Executive Director; Franklin Montgomery, also formerly of MET; Velma Smith formerly with PathStone; and former IMC Executive Director Arturo Lopez. See Mr. Lopez’s response to AFOP’s honor. Click Here to VIEW Full Response
Photo Credit: Richard Roe, Kentucky Farmworker Programs, Inc.

Proteus Celebrates 50 Years

Robert Alcazar, CEO


As the needs of our customers evolved over 50 years, Proteus evolved with them. Today, Proteus has a service delivery area expanding five counties and offers over 30 diverse programs being operated out of 30 offices, individual one­stop locations, and mobile units. Our Mission was, and continues to be, "to serve those in need." For that reason, I must thank those who served on the Proteus Board of Directors and those who served as employees, both past and present. Most of all, I thank the thousands of customers who, through the last 50 years, chose Proteus to be their lifelines. [Read More]
See 50th gala video presentations here.


WAFA Convenes Annual Regional Training Conference

Hermelinda Sapien, WAFA Chair, President/CEO of Center for Employment Training (Oct 22-24, 2017)

 
Twenty-seven years ago a group of visionaries decided that in order to preserve and protect farmworkers’ programs it was important to formalize and organize an alliance of advocates that were committed to the service of farmworkers.  Thus, they created the Western Alliance of Farmworker Advocates (WAFA), which has successfully advocated for funding for the National Farmworker Jobs Program, year after year, for nearly thirty years.  WAFA is one of five regional alliances within the national organization that forms the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP). [Read More]

Telamon’s Project IMPACT a Success in North Carolina


Telamon North Carolina's Project IMPACT wrapped up a successful program serving 45 youth members of migrant farmworker families, ages 10-17,this summer in Sampson County.

See Project IMPACT’s Program Booklet Here

La Coop Continues its Successful Ways


La Cooperativa Campesina de California and its member organizations provide employment and job training to over 38,000 Californians, most of whom are farmworkers working toward a new career. La Coop members have an 80% success rate of getting trainees permanent, unsubsidized jobs in their training field.
 


La Coop Releases October “Voice of the Fields"


The Latino population is at a particularly high risk for labor trafficking. This type of human trafficking can happen in a number of different jobs including farmworkers, landscaper, housekeepers, janitors, construction workers, food service, and factory work. This trafficking occurs to foreign and American born. [Read More]

Proteus Publishes its October Newsletter

 

Proteus is doing some great things. Read on to learn more!
October 2017

Header Image

 

Taking care of our people. One at a time.

 

We provide education, health care and job training.

Read more about the great ways Proteus is improving the quality of life for others.


 

Proteus Client Earns Her Nursing Degree

Haylie graduated with a Licensed Practical Nursing degree in June 2016. Shortly after that, Haylie reached out to Proteus stating she had applied for the Registered Nursing Program at Southwestern Community College and had been accepted...[Read More]

[Read Full Newsletter Here]

AFOP Health & Safety

Children on Farms Face Daily Hazards:

  • Ogdensburg boy, 6, Undergoing Surgeries after Farming Accident [Read More]
  • Teen Injured in Farm Accident [Read More]

NTSB Adopts Report on Deadly Farmworker Bus Accident

Chris Wallace, National Transportation Safety Board (11/28)


The National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) adopted a report today on a fatal highway crash involving a bus transporting migrant agricultural workers that collided with a truck-tractor at an intersection near St. Marks, Florida, on July 2, 2016. The truck driver and three bus passengers died. The NTSB determined that the probable cause of the crash was the bus driver’s failure to stop at the intersection due to inattention, likely caused by the effects of fatigue, and his unfamiliarity with the rural roadway, which was dark with limited lighting. Contributing to the crash were the failure of Billy R. Evans Harvesting, Inc., to exercise adequate safety oversight of the bus driver and the lack of effective oversight of the motor carrier by the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration (FMCSA) and the United States Department of Labor. Adding to the severity of the injuries were the rupture of the truck’s right side-mounted diesel fuel tank, leading to a fast-spreading post-crash fire, and the failure of the truck driver to wear his lap and shoulder belt. A synopsis of the report can be found HERE.

AFOP Children in the Fields Campaign Continues Fight to End Discrimination under Federal Labor Laws


The AFOP Children in the Fields Campaign continues to work hard to raise public awareness and educate members of Congress about how federal labor laws discriminate against farmworker children by permitting them to perform dangerous work for long hours under conditions allowed in no other industry.  To amplify its efforts in this regard, AFOP, for more than two decades now, has participated in the Child Labor Coalition (CLC), a group of like-minded collegial organizations that advocates tirelessly in behalf of the interests of farmworker children.  CLC works with congressional members to promote legislation that would repair these inequitable child labor laws.  The “Children Don’t Belong on Tobacco Farms Act” has 16 cosponsors in the House of Representatives and the Senate companion bill has seven cosponsors.  The Children’s Act for Responsible Employment, which would remove all child labor exemptions that currently apply to children in US agriculture, has 33 cosponsors.  AFOP staff will soon be reaching out to AFOP members to re-endorse these vital legislative vehicles.
 
Other recent work has focused extensively on social media efforts. The CLC issues educational tweets about the plight of farmworker child laborers three to five times a week to its 15,000 followers.  The AFOP Children in the Fields Campaign staff retweets these message to its followers.  AFOP encourages its members to retweet posts from @ChildLaborCLC and @CIFCampaign since the public is largely unaware that migrant children work on American farms.
 
The CLC also continues to promote a video that it produced called the “ABCs of Child Labor” that has children talk about child labor in the United States and abroad.  CLC has posted this engaging video on YouTube where it has had over 34,000 views.  CLC is about to attend the quadrennial International Child Labor conference in Argentina where it hopes to remind the world that our uneven and unfair child-labor laws allow hundreds of thousands of migrant kids to work alongside their parents on American farms.  AFOP has long argued that child labor contributes to the generational poverty that its members work so hard to end.
 
Should you have any questions about AFOP work regarding the nation’s labor laws, or its training of farmworker children in pesticide safety, please contact AFOP Health & Safety Director Melanie Forti at Forti@afop.org

AFOP H&S Blog
 

The AFOP H&S Blog is back up, with new articles posted every Monday and Wednesday.  For a taste of what we’re working on, see the latest:


The Strength to Stand

Vashti Kelly

Safety first – a key message in any of the AFOP Health & Safety Programs trainings.  The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has recently updated its guidelines to help companies achieve just that in an ever-changing economy and workplace.  The main goal of the Occupational Safety and Health (OSH) Act of 1970 is to prevent workplace injuries, illnesses, and fatalities.  Many of these updated guidelines are proactive, meaning they require an employee to report any unsafe conditions.  However, not all industries are created equal and agricultural work falls under that exception – leaving farmworkers in a tough place.[Read More]

Inside the United States Department of Labor

USDOL Names Rosemary Lahasky as ETA Deputy Assistant Secretary

Rosemary Lahasky has been appointed as ETA’s non-career Deputy Assistant Secretary effective October 29, after having served as ETA's Chief of Staff since late September. Rosemary has worked on employment and training programs for the past 15 years.  Prior to joining ETA, Rosemary was with the both the House Committee on Ways and Means as well as the Committee on Education and the Workforce, and she was the lead on drafting WIOA.

In addition, Diane Auer Jones has joined ETA as a Senior Policy Advisor to the Secretary. She previously worked as a senior fellow at the Urban Institute's Center on Labor, Human Services and Population focusing on public policy issues related to higher education and workforce training.

Amanda Ahlstrand – Administrator - Office of Workforce Investment


Amanda Ahlstrand is the Administrator for the Office of Workforce Investment at the Employment and Training Administration. In this role, she is responsible for overseeing five divisions and their programs with the goal of implementing an integrated national workforce investment system that supports economic growth and provides workers with the information, advice, job search assistance, supportive services, and training in demand industries and occupations needed to get and keep good jobs. Before becoming Administrator in December, 2013, she served as the Acting Administrator for the office starting in October 2011.
 
Amanda joined ETA in January 2003 as part of the Performance and Results Office, working across program offices to implement the common performance measures and providing training to the field on that topic. She joined OWI in Spring 2006 as part of the Business Relations Group, working with her team to facilitate employer engagement with the workforce system and implement a number of competitive grant programs including the Trade Adjustment Assistance Community College and Career Training grants, H1B Technical Skills Training grants, the ARRA competitive grants, and Community Based Job Training Grants.
 
Prior to joining ETA in 2003, Ms. Ahlstrand worked for a private consulting firm, the U.S. Government Accountability Office, and the American Society for Training and Development. Ms. Ahlstrand has a Bachelor of Arts degree in Economics and Sociology from the University of Notre Dame and a Master of Public Policy degree from Georgetown University.

USDOL Celebrates Hispanic Heritage Month


Each year, the United States recognizes Sept. 15 to Oct. 15 as Hispanic Heritage Month. In recognition of Hispanic women’s significant contributions to the labor force, here are six statistics demonstrating their growing influence as drivers of economic productivity and entrepreneurs. [Read More]

Meet President’s Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion

 

Expanding Apprenticeships

Following President Donald J. Trump's Executive Order Expanding Apprenticeships in America, this week U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta announced members of the President's Task Force on Apprenticeship Expansion. [Read More]

WorkforceGPS releases its October and November Newsletters

USDOL Releases October and November Newsletters

October Newsletter Here

November Newsletter Here

Labor Secretary Acosta Comments on Immigration Enforcement Policies

DOL News Release (10/09)

WASHINGTON, DC – U.S. Secretary of Labor Alexander Acosta issued the following statement today on the Trump Administration’s immigration policy priorities:

“Visa fraud and abuse hurts American workers and, at the same time, hurts foreign workers here legally under federal programs.  The U.S. Department of Labor is focused on combating fraud and abuse of Federal visa programs and is taking every available legal action against those who abuse these programs.  Stopping visa fraud and abuse must also be a priority for Congress.” [Read More]

Hill Happenings

House Committee Passes Anti-Joint Employer Bill

By Bruce Goldstein, President, Farmworker Justice (10/5)


Yesterday, the House Education and Labor Committee passed the “Save Local Business Act” HR 3441 (actually a slightly revised version of it), the bill that seeks to prevent joint employer liability under the National Labor Relations Act and the Fair Labor Standards Act.  Several amendments aimed at ameliorating the bill were rejected.  The Committee passed it 23-17.  Rep. Bobby Scott (D-VA), the ranking member of the Committee, led the opposition.  His press release is at this link. His statement is there as well. Farmworker Justice submitted a written statement explaining the historical and policy background on labor contracting abuses that led to laws and court decisions imposing joint employer liability.” [Read More]

Agricultural Guestworker Act Passed in House Judiciary Committee

Adrienne DerVartanian, Farmworker Justice (10/27)


On Wednesday, after multiple hours of debate over the course of two days, the House Judiciary Committee narrowly passed Chairman Bob Goodlatte's (R-VA) Agricultural Guestworker Act, HR 4092, by a vote of 17-16. Rep. Goodlatte’s bill would create a massive new anti-worker, anti-immigrant guestworker program – the H-2C program – to replace the current H-2A temporary guestworker visa program. The H-2C program would reach far beyond the H-2A program to year-round agricultural work, as well as work in industries such as food processing, forestry and aquaculture.[See Fact Sheet] , [See Farmworker Justice Blog]
 

DC High School Students Take Over Senate Office Building for DACA Protest

Benjamin Freed, Washingtonian (11/9)

 
Students who walked out of nine DC public schools on Thursday have taken over the Hart Senate Office Building to protest the end an Obama-era program protecting some undocumented immigrants from deportation. The demonstration, organized by the pro-immigration group United We Dream, is aimed at pressuring members of Congress to provide a legislative fix to President Drumpf‘s cancellation of the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, known better as DACA. [Read More]
Tax Cuts
Republicans in Congress seek to make good on their campaign promise to cut taxes by approving a budget resolution that allows them to move tax-cut legislation that opponents in the Senate cannot filibuster.  They argue that reducing taxes on corporations and certain high-income earners will spur economic growth that will make up the initial cost of these revenue reductions.  Several anti-poverty advocates and think tanks take issue with that argument, saying that the plan’s resultant federal deficits will force cuts to important life-sustaining entitlement programs, like Medicaid, food stamps, and Temporary Assistance to Needy Families (TANF), and put pressure on discretionary programs, like those involving workforce development, for deep cuts.

See below their several analyses.

Senate GOP Tax Plan Raises Taxes on Middle and Lower Income, Adds Millions to Uninsured, to Pay for Corporate Tax Cut

By CBPP (11/20)

Senate Republican leaders are rushing to pass a tax bill that will ultimately raise taxes on many middle- and lower-income households and leave 13 million more people uninsured, to pay for permanent tax cuts for profitable corporations — the opposite of their claim that the bill will “strengthen the middle class.”  Republicans blame their choices on “the absurd rules of the Senate,” as White House Budget Director Mick Mulvaney asserted over the weekend. But that doesn’t make sense. The rules don’t force Senate Republicans to write the bill as they did. They chose to do so — and to prioritize permanent deep corporate tax cuts above all other concerns. [Read More]

Republican Plans to Cut Taxes Now, Cut Programs Later Would Make Most Latinos Worse Off

By CBPP (11/6)


Congressional Republicans this fall are poised to launch step one of a likely two-step tax and budget agenda: enacting costly tax cuts now that are heavily skewed toward wealthy households and profitable corporations, then paying for them later through program cuts mostly affecting low- and middle-income families.  Most Latino families would lose more from the program cuts than they would gain from the tax cuts. [Read More]

Special 50-State Report: How the Republican Tax Giveaway to the Wealthy Would Hurt Families

By Miranda Margowsky, Democratic Policy & Communications Committee (10/23)


Washington, D.C. – The Senate Democratic Policy and Communications Committee today released a special 50-state report detailing how the Republican tax plan is a giveaway to the wealthy that would hurt families across the country.  The report shows how the Republican plan would raise taxes on middle-class families, give a huge tax break to millionaires and billionaires, and put deductions and tax credits that working families rely upon at risk. 
 
All 50 state reports may be found Here.
 

Op Ed: Don’t Be Fooled — GOP Tax Plan Hurts Working Families

By Kristin Rowe-Finkbeiner, MomsRising Executive Director (10/26)


No matter how much the administration and congressional leaders insist their tax plan is for all of us, it isn’t. It would be bad — even devastating — for low- and middle-income families and for our economy. According to the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, 80 percent of the proposed tax cuts would go to the richest 1 percent of Americans. Meanwhile, a quarter of Americans would actually owe more taxes as the plan eliminates most itemized deductions...[Read More]

House Republicans’ Tax Bill Makes Significant Corporate Changes

By Politico.com (11/2)

 
House Ways and Means Republicans released the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act on Nov. 2, the next step in achieving comprehensive tax reform.  This follows passage of the budge in October. The bill broadly aligns with prior tax proposals and would implement new means for taxing global U.S. companies, pass-through businesses, and other corporations.  It also eliminates many deductions and credits...[Read More]

The House Tax Cuts:  Trillions for Corporations and the Rich; Losses for Low- and Middle-Income People Later

By Deborah Weinstein, Coalition on Human Needs Executive Director (11/3)


The full analysis is not yet in, but the outlines are clear.  The corporate tax rate drops from 35 percent to 20 percent.  Companies that have avoided taxes by sheltering income in overseas tax havens will get increased incentives to keep doing so.  Millionaires get multiple breaks.  Their gains are in the trillions of dollars.  Who pays?  The rest of us, and especially low- and moderate-income people...[Read More]

Americans for Tax Fairness States its Strong Opposition to Pending Tax Legislation

By Americans for Tax Fairness (11/3)

  1. Showers most of the tax cuts on the richest 1% of tax payers. They would get nearly half (47%) of the tax cuts in 10 years—a tax cut of $62,000 on average. [Tax Policy Center (TPC)]
  2. Makes 36 million middle-class families pay more in taxes. One-quarter of households would pay more in taxes in 10 years because the tax plan repeals or limits deductions these families rely on. Out of a total of 45 million families paying more, 36 million are of low-or-middle-income. Three in 10 families earning $55,000 to $93,000 will see a $1,230 tax increase on average. [TPC]

Joint Committee on Taxation Distribution Tables Confirm Skewed Priorities of House Tax Bill

By CBPP (11/5)


The Joint Committee on Taxation (JCT), Congress’ official estimator of tax legislation, has released an estimate of how the tax bill proposed by House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady would change revenues at different income levels across the distribution. Because the JCT estimates exclude the bill’s proposed cuts to the estate tax and present a limited set of distributional measures, understanding them requires some analysis and adjustment. But the estimates show that the tax cuts proposed in the House bill are overwhelmingly skewed to the top. They also show that some income groups, including some moderate-income households, would see tax increases (on average) in some years, in a bill that cuts taxes overall by $1.5 trillion over a decade. [Read More]

Poverty In The US

Child Poverty Falls to Record Low, Comprehensive Measure Shows Stronger Government Policies Account for Long-Term Improvement

By CBPP (11/5)


The child poverty rate fell to a record low of 15.6 percent in 2016, a little more than half its 1967 level of 28.4 percent. The data show that this near-halving of the child poverty rate since the late 1960s is largely attributable to the creation or expansion of various safety net programs, particularly SNAP and two major refundable tax credits. When poverty is measured without counting the income that safety net programs provide (i.e., under the official poverty measure), child poverty has fallen significantly the last two years as the labor market tightened, but is only modestly lower than it was in the 1960s. But once these benefits are taken into account, a large decline in child poverty is evident. [Read More]

Poverty and Progress: Poverty is Down in the U.S., but New Threats Ahead

By Coalition on Human Needs (10/26)

 
Sustained economic gains and strong federal and state programs have led to welcome progress in the fight against poverty over the last several years.  This is good news.  But actions from Congress and the Trump administration threaten to weaken the very programs that contribute to this progress. [Read More]
 

Disaster Recovery and Relief


U.S. Department of Labor to Provide Immediate Grants and Assistance for Hurricane Maria Recovery Efforts (09/21)  [Read More]


U.S. Department of Labor Making Grants Available To California for Wildfire Relief (10/31)  [Read More]

Weary Families Wait for Disaster Food Assistance in the Wake of Hurricane Harvey

By John D. Harden, Houston Chronicle (10/4)


Thousands of people recently waited in lines to apply for D-SNAP benefits at four relief centers across Houston. “I live paycheck to paycheck and after losing my car and my home, I don’t have enough money to get back on my feet on my own and provide for my girls,” said Eduardo Sanchez, one of thousands struggling in the aftermath of Hurricane Harvey. “Look around. I’m not alone.” More than 200,000 people have received D-SNAP benefits in Harris County, Texas. Sanchez said he would have applied earlier, but “[i]t’s easy to lose track when you have lost so much and you’re trying to figure out your new reality." [Read More]

Wine Country Wildfires Affect Workers and Winemakers Alike

By Food Tank


Unprecedented wildfires broke out in California’s Napa Valley early last month. One of the fires has been considered among the deadliest in the state’s history. Raging for more than a week and reaching 90-percent containment two weeks after ignition, the fires collectively destroyed a reported 8,400 structures and burned 220,000 acres in California wine country. [Read More]

Puerto Rico’s Agriculture Apocalypse

By Melanie Forti, Health & Safety Director (and Puerto Rico native) (10/23)

 
On Wednesday, September 20th, Puerto Rico was devastated by Hurricane Maria.  The estimated cost of destruction has risen to over 90 billion dollars.  Structural damages, lack of food supplies, mass layoffs, and cut water and electricity are the order of the day. Maria’s passage devastated the island’s agriculture, leaving 80% of crops destroyed as stated by Puerto Rico’s Secretary of Agriculture, Carlos A. Flores Ortega.
 
Read More:  Puerto Rico’s Agriculture Apocalypse

Immigration

“Know Your Rights” Cards Available from Immi

 
Everyone in the United States has rights, regardless of their immigration status. Immi, an organization that helps immigrants in the U.S. understand their legal options, offers "know your rights" cards, which are wallet sized, available in English and Spanish, and have information on what to do if questioned by law enforcement or immigration. The cards also have a place to put a lawyer's phone number.
 
Click here to order the Immi “know your rights” card.

The State-by-State Economic Benefits of Passing the Dream Act

Center for American Progress (10/26)


In the wake of the Trump administration’s decision to end Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA), all eyes are on Congress to pass the Dream Act, to provide permanent protection and a pathway to citizenship for unauthorized immigrants who came to the country at a young age. As a previous Center for American Progress study found, passing the bipartisan Dream Act and putting potentially eligible workers on a pathway to citizenship would add at least $281 billion to the U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) over a decade, and as much as $1 trillion over a decade. But the benefits from the Dream Act accrue not just to the nation as a whole, but to individual states as well, and individual industries in those states.

Read more:  See what passing the Dream Act would mean for your State

Thousands of DACA Recipients Are Already Losing Their Protection From Deportation

By Center for American Progress (11/9)


Each day that Congress delays acting on the Dream Act from now until March 5, 2018, approximately 122 people will lose their Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) protection. That is more than 7,900 since the announcement. When President Donald Trump terminated the program on September 5, 2017, he gave the 154,000 DACA recipients whose protections were set to expire between then and March 5, 2018, just 30 days to submit costly and arduous renewal applications. With every passing day, DACA recipients lose their protections and become vulnerable to a regime of enforcement overdrive. Shortly after the October 5 deadline, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security announced that 22,000 DACA recipients did not meet the Trump administration’s arbitrary deadline for renewal. [Read More]

TPS Holders are Integral Members of the U.S. Economy and Society

Center for American Progress (10/20)


Currently, more than 300,000 people from El Salvador, Honduras, and Haiti live in the United States with Temporary Protected Status (TPS), a temporary legal status granted to individuals from designated countries facing ongoing armed conflict, disaster, or other exigent circumstances. These TPS beneficiaries are integral to the American economy and American society: They have lived in the United States for an average of 19 years and are employed at high rates, ranging from 69.2 to 83.5 percent. The contributions made by TPS holders, moreover, will only continue to grow in the future, as they are collectively raising families that include nearly 275,000 U.S.-born children.

If the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) allows their protections to expire—as it appears poised to do in the coming months—TPS holders will face the difficult choice of either returning to countries that still face many of the same extraordinary conditions that led to the initial grant of TPS or remaining in the United States without lawful immigration status. Those who return to their home countries would be placing their lives and the lives of their family members in jeopardy. But staying in the United States without protected status would mean being unable to work legally and living under constant threat of deportation and family separation. [Read More]

Expelling Immigrant Workers May Also Send Away the Work They Do

By New York Times (10/24)


American-born workers probably won’t benefit from a job bonanza if laborers who are in the United States illegally, especially farmworkers, are deported, most research has shown. [Read More]

What We’re Reading

Faces of Austerity 2.0: How Budget Cuts Continue to Make Us Sicker, Poorer and Less Secure

By Coalition on Human Needs (10/26)


Little did Melissa Armas know that getting a bonus at work would mean losing access to affordable child care for her daughter Leila. But that is exactly what happened after it was determined that she made $100 a month too much in order to qualify for the program. Melissa and others shared their stories about the negative impact budget cuts have had in areas such as child care, public health, housing, and others. [Read More]

How to Teach for Work, Care for Children, Aid Job Tenure

Employment and Training Reporter(10/30)


In pockets of rural poverty families need a way for the adults to get the learning they need to work, care for preschool children and aids to stay on the job, say professionals who work on these matters.
 
Modern rural America is no longer primarily agricultural, but the education levels of its population remain low, explained Beth Mattingly, director of research on vulnerable families at the University of New Hampshire’s School of Public Policy. Three rural leaders, one in a community college, another in an early education program and another involved with a job retention program, showed how each of their efforts attempts to address the new rural America. [Read More]

Finding the CTE Sweet Spot

By Employment & Training Reporter

 
High school students who take career and technical education courses during their junior and senior years are more likely to graduate on time and less likely to drop out, according to a study by the American Educational Research Association. The same isn't true for students taking the courses during their freshman and sophomore years, and taking CTE courses at any point during high school had no effect on whether students enrolled in college after high school. 
 
The findings come as CTE has become en vogue among policymakers, with the Trump administration regularly touting it and dozens of states expanding programs. A Brookings report earlier this month noted that in 2015 alone, 39 states instituted 125 new laws, policies or regulations relating to CTE, many of which increased state funding for such programs. "Knowing how the timing of course taking can make a difference, states and schools can better structure and invest in CTE courses to create stronger high school outcomes," said Michael Gottfried and Jay Plasman, the AERA study's authors who are both at the University of California, Santa Barbara.

Americans in Rural Areas More Likely to Die by Suicide

Children’s Mental Health Network(10/5)

 
Rural counties in the U.S. consistently had higher suicide rates than metropolitan counties from 2001-2015, according to data released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The new report examined annual county-level trends in suicide rates during 2001-2015 for rural counties, medium/small metropolitan counties, and large metropolitan counties, as well as demographics and mechanism of death. [Read More]

Supporting Brain Development in Traumatized Children and Youth

By Children’s Mental Health Network


This Administration on Children and Families (ACF) bulletin summarizes the effects of early trauma on brain development and looks at steps child welfare professionals can take to screen for developmental delays and identify the trauma-affected children and youth in their care. It also looks at ways to access cross-sector, therapeutic, and evidence-based treatment to encourage healthy recovery for trauma-affected children and youth. [Read More]

NIH to fund Centers of Excellence on Minority Health and Health Disparities

By NIH (10/27)

The National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (NIMHD) is supporting 12 new specialized research centers that will conduct multidisciplinary research, research training, and community engagement activities focused on improving minority health and reducing health disparities. The centers will share approximately $82 million over five years, pending the availability of funds. The Centers of Excellence program is designed to foster collaborative research in minority health and health disparities to identify critical biological, behavioral, environmental, sociocultural, and health systems factors, which will aid in developing optimal interventions to reduce targeted health disparities. [Read More]

In Memoriam

Christopher Paige, Former CEO, California Human Development, 1943-2017


Chris Paige passed away suddenly on October 8, 2017.  Chris recently retired from CHD as their third CEO, having first joined the organization back in 1975.  He was a past Board member and President of the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP). In 2016 he won the AFOP President's Award for exceptional contributions to improving the lives of migrant seasonal Farmworkers.  His death came just weeks before he was set to receive WAFA’s 2017 Quality of Life Award.He will be missed by so many in the farmworker community. 
See more in CHD’s press release. [Read More]
The AFOP Washington Newsline (ISSN# 1056-8565) is produced by the Association of Farmworker Opportunity Programs (AFOP), a national federation of agencies serving migrant and seasonal farmworkers. AFOP’s mission is to improve the quality of life for migrant and seasonal farmworkers and their families by providing advocacy for the member organizations that serve them.

The publication is funded by subscriptions and the members of AFOP. The Washington Newsline receives no financial support from the federal government. Staff may be reached by calling (202) 384-1754.
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