Copy
View this email in your browser

TOGETHER LOUISIANA HALTS CORPORATE TAX GIVEAWAY BY DEFEATING AMENDMENT 5


If passed, Constitutional Amendment 5 would have allowed major corporations to negotiate added tax breaks with local parishes.  [Whether] "you’re talking about liberal, conservative, Black, White, Democrat, Republican, Independent, it failed by a landslide,” said Edgar Cage of Together LA. 

COPS/METRO LEVERAGES 73% SUPPORT FOR 'SA READY TO WORK' PROPOSITION


The "four-year, $154 million program is aimed at up to 40,000 workers who lost their jobs or are underemployed because of the coronavirus pandemic and at alleviating persistent generational poverty in San Antonio.  Sister Jane Ann Slater and Cathy McCoy...saw the voters’ support as validation of the work done by Project Quest."

AIN LEVERAGES HISTORIC WIN FOR ARIZONA SCHOOLS IN PASSAGE OF PROPOSITION 208

Through an intense mobilization campaign that engaged low propensity voters across the state, Valley Interfaith Project, with Pima County Interfaith, Northern Arizona Interfaith Council and a coalition of education allies, leveraged passage of Prop 208 which will restore hundreds of millions of dollars in K-12 education funding.    

TEXAS IAF DRIVES EARLY VOTING SURGE IN RURAL, SUBURBAN & URBAN TEXAS 

Central Texas Interfaith Boosts Early Turnout in Rural Bastrop & Suburban Williamson Counties

"By the end of early voting, [CTI] saw marked increases in 16 of the 17 precincts they targeted across the Austin area.  Rev. Miles R. Brandon II, of St. Julian of Norwich Episcopal Church in Round Rock, said many of the people they contacted found it refreshing that they were being asked only to vote and weren’t being sold a particular candidate or political party. 'We don’t talk to people about candidates, but we talk to them about issues.”  (Austin American Statesman)

Dallas Area Interfaith Targets Latino Voters in State House Districts 

"Julio Román, a Dallas resident, spent some of his Saturday passing out nearly a hundred voter registration cards to people in the city....Román is with Dallas Area Interfaith, a grassroots coalition focused on improving communities in the DFW area. Throughout the pandemic, the group has been helping immigrant communities pay their rent, conducting food drives and encouraging people to vote." (Dallas Observer)

TMO Works to Reach Election Day Voters After Early Voting Success

"According to The Metropolitan Organization, a coalition of faith-based nonprofits in the Houston area, “low propensity voters” — which the group defines as voters who are newly registered, infrequent, young, or from communities of color — are casting ballots at rates on par with or exceeding those seen in the 2016 election in nearly all of the[ir targeted] precincts." (Houston Chronicle)

WITH NATIONAL SPOTLIGHT ON MARICOPA,
VIP & AIN DENOUNCE ELECTORAL PROVOCATION, URGE TRUST IN PROCESS 

“The unwarranted provocation, aided and abetted by fringe group extremists, is an affront to the democratic process," said clergy and religious leaders of the Arizona Interfaith Network.  Prior to the election, they reminded "all citizens that it is important to vote, regardless of your party affiliation, and to vote with confidence."

EPISO/BORDER INTERFAITH BRINGING CASH ASSISTANCE FOR 1,000 EL PASO FAMILIES


"At least 1,000 El Paso County families this year will benefit from cash grants of up to $500, which they can use to cover any expense or financial obligation. The partnership especially wants to reach undocumented and mixed immigration status households that were barred from receiving $1,200 stimulus checks and other COVID-19 relief help approved by Congress....The Woody and Gayle Hunt Family Foundation is offering a five-year, $500,000 match for the program."  (El Paso Matters)

OTOC CELEBRATES PAYDAY LENDING VICTORY IN PASSAGE OF INITIATIVE 428

After three and a half years working to cap "sky-high" fees that Nebraska payday lenders charge, Omaha Together One Community (OTOC) won a landslide victory (83% to 17%) for statewide Initiative 428, reducing maximum interest rates on payday loans from 387% to 36%.

WTOS LEVERAGES CITY FUNDING FOR NEW MENTAL HEALTH PROGRAM IN RURAL TEXAS


"Due to the stress and anxiety brought on by the pandemic, leaders from the West Texas Organizing Strategy (WTOS) decided to start a program to support mental health.

WTOS asked a variety of members within the Lubbock community how Covid-19 had impacted their family, and the most common answer was mental health. As a result, the grant came from the city’s Covid-19 relief funds.  Catholic Charities has collaborated with WTOS to help bring awareness to the [new] program."

COPS/METRO CELEBRATES TXDOT REPAIR of 'DEATH CURVE' NEAR PARISH in HELOTES

One year after more than 200 people packed the parish hall at Our Lady of Guadalupe Church, voicing their concerns to Texas Department of Transportation officials, crews improved a curve off FM 1560 and Riggs Road that drivers called dangerous and deadly.

'WEST MICHIGAN COMMUNITY ORGANIZING' LAUNCHES with MOMENTUM

In late October, more than 200 people from dozens of Grand Rapids area institutions gathered virtually to launch a broad-based organizing sponsoring team in West Michigan. At the event dubbed "Momentum," ten institutions committed as sponsoring members and pledged a combined $33,600, to be matched by an anonymous donor.  Leaders pledged to double the number of institutions at the table and raise sufficient funds to build a sponsoring committee.

COPA MOVES TO THE CENTER OF COUNTY STRATEGY TO TAMP DOWN THE PANDEMIC  


Adriana Molina (in photo above) believes her late father contracted COVID-19 while working in the fields.  COPA organizing efforts have unearthed countless stories illustrating significant information gaps when it comes to wage replacement, temporary housing for supported isolation, contact tracing and more.  COPA is now working with the Monterey County Board of Supervisors and Health Department to ensure county strategies leave no such gaps this winter.       

DAI BUILDS ALLIANCES WITH BUSINESS COMMUNITY IN JOINT CALL FOR EXPANDED ELIGIBILITY TO FEDERAL STIMULUS

Auxiliary Bishop Greg Kelly and Chris Wallace, Co-Chair of the Texas Business Immigration Coalition, note in an editorial that the CARES Act "was supposed to provide stimulus checks for all Americans with Social Security numbers. But a subtle change in federal tax law in 2017 requires both spouses in a marriage to have Social Security numbers, resulting in many Americans becoming ineligible for assistance because they are married to foreign nationals who are not U.S. citizens.  As a result of this careless oversight, 1.7 million U.S. citizens or green-card holders, along with their 3.7 million children, were left out of the stimulus package...."

CCG CALLS ON ATTORNEY GENERAL TO ADDRESS WORKPLACE CONCERNS AT PLANT


After Coloradans for the Common Good, with UFCW Local 7 and other allies, urged Colorado's Attorney General Phil Weiser to investigate workplace safety and public health concerns reported at a JBS facility in Greeley, CO, OSHA issued a citation for only $15,615.  CCG argues that this "meager and insulting penalty, which amounts to only around $2,500 per worker life lost at that plant, will only embolden JBS’s brazen prioritization of its extraordinary profits over the health and safety of working Coloradans."

AMOS FIGHTS FOR LANGUAGE ACCESS TO 
IOWA ELECTION MATERIALS

"In Iowa, it’s illegal for the state to translate official government forms. including anything election-related, [but] Jan Flora and Terry Potter of A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy (AMOS) say... the state has a responsibility to Iowans, whether they speak Spanish, Burmese, Karen or anything else."

VIP/AIN PERSIST IN PUSH FOR ONGOING TESTING IN STATE PRISONS

Kim Crecca, VIP leader and coordinator of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona's prison ministry program, commends the department for testing all inmates in the state in a short period of time, but says "There's no plan in place for continued testing...so, somebody who tested negative, you know, a week ago, could be positive today based on something somebody brought in from the outside." (Arizona Republic)

TMO HIGHLIGHTS DISPROPORTIONATE IMPACT OF PANDEMIC ON MOST VULNERABLE



"Angela Orea, a community organizer with The Metropolitan Organization of Houston, said each day she receives desperate calls from families trying to get tested or find care. Many struggle to find transportation. Some who aren’t sick are moving out of their homes or apartments because they lost jobs and can no longer afford rent..."

TMO HOSTS JUSTICE SUMMIT WITH TEXAS IAF, REITERATING CALL FOR POLICE REFORM


“The cry now across the nation is for justice,” [said Rev. John] Ogletree.  “Since May, there has been a heightened sense of rage, desperation, and resolve to shift the way policing is done in America.”

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT.....

California IAF Succeeds in Effort to Extend Tax Credit to ALL Eligible

Months after the California IAF initiated a drive to expand the California Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) to include ALL Californians, regardless of immigration status, the Governor signed into law precisely that expansion: EITC coverage for 2 million undocumented immigrants.

“What we have been pressing for is justice for essential workers, not charity,” said Fr. Arturo Corral, Pastor at Our Lady Queen of Angels Church in Los Angeles. “It cannot be disputed that immigrant workers are bearing the brunt of pandemic-related health risks in order to keep all our boats afloat. We could not provide food for our families without their labor. They pay billions in local and state taxes, and they contribute over 180 billion dollars to our economy. And they have been ruthlessly left out of federal relief."

"Governor Newsom’s decision to include these taxpayers in the Cal EITC means that our state is finally beginning to recognize our immigrant workforce and to value their labor.” -- Fr. Arturo Corral

On May 5, 2020, over 1,200 California IAF leaders convened on Zoom, along with 10 Bishops and 9 state legislators to press Governor Newsom to expand the Cal EITC. More than 1,000 faith and community leaders signed on to a letter in support of the expansion, and in the thick of budget negotiations organized hundreds of leaders to send letters to the Governor and to the top leadership of the Senate and Assembly.
Twitter
Facebook
Website
Copyright © 2020 West / Southwest IAF, All rights reserved.


Want to change how you receive these emails?
You can update your preferences or unsubscribe from this list.

Email Marketing Powered by Mailchimp