Campaign News

In addition to Wallace-Gobern, panelists will include Alvina Yeh, executive director of the Asian Pacific Labor Alliance; Tracey Corder, director of the Racial Justice Campaign at the Center for Popular Democracy; and Jeremiah Edmond, president of G.A.M.E. Local 101.

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U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) has shown in the past that she is not afraid to aggressively confront members of her own party on issues that she is passionate about.

This has been especially evident on issues facing the mortgage industry. Warren famously grilled FHFA Director Mel Watt in November 2014 in a Senate Banking Committee hearing on why the Director had not yet instituted a principal reduction program for underwater homeowners. In September 2015, she and Rep. Michael Capuano (D-Massachusetts) led a protest in Washington over HUD’s and FHFA’s sales of delinquent mortgage loans to private investors. Both organizations are led by Democrats.

Now Warren has turned her attention toward the Federal Reserve Board and Chair Janet Yellen. On Thursday, Warren and 10 other U.S. Senators, along with 116 of the 193 Democratic members of the U.S. House of Representatives (led by John Conyers, D-Michigan) wrote a letter to Yellen calling for more diversity in the leadership of the central bank.

After starting off by calling Yellen’s tenure at the Fed “historic” and pointing out some economic gains the country has made since Yellen was appointed as the head of the central bank in February 2014, the lawmakers then addressed what they believe to be a problem in the demographic makeup among the Fed’s leadership.

“A lack of diverse leadership is hurting the Federal Reserve's policy decision-making process.”

U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren

“However, despite these gains, we remain deeply concerned that the Federal Reserve has not yet fulfilled its statutory and moral obligation to ensure that its leadership reflects the composition of our diverse nation in terms of gender, race and ethnicity, economic background, and occupation, and we call on you to take steps to promptly begin to remedy this issue,” the lawmakers wrote.

The lawmakers cited a law passed by Congress in 1977 requiring the Fed’s leadership to more reflect the country’s diverse makeup without discrimination based on race, creed, color, sex, or national origin. The letter pointed out that nearly four decades later, “the leadership across the Federal Reserve system remains overwhelmingly and disproportionately white and male, while major financial institutions and corporations are overrepresented in senior roles.”

The letter cited a February 2016 study by the Center for Popular Democracy which found that 83 percent of Federal Reserve head office board members are white and nearly three-quarters of all regional bank directorships are held by men.

 “When the voices of women, African-Americans, Latinos, Asian Pacific Americans, and representatives of consumers and labor are excluded from key discussions, their interests are too often neglected,” the letter stated. Warren further tweeted on Thursday that “[a] lack of diverse leadership is hurting the Federal Reserve's policy decision-making process.”

In addition to what the lawmakers perceive as racial and gender disparities, they also expressed concern over a “persistent lack of occupational diversity, noting that only 11 percent of the Fed’s regional bank directors come from community, labor, or academic organizations compared to 39 percent that represent financial institutions and 47 percent that represent commerce, industry, and services firms.

A Fed spokesperson responded to the letter with the following statement: “The Federal Reserve is committed to fostering diversity—by race, ethnicity, gender, and professional background—within its leadership ranks.

“To bring a variety of perspectives to Federal Reserve Bank and Branch boards, we have focused considerable attention in recent years on recruiting directors with diverse backgrounds and experiences.  By law, we consider the interests of agriculture, commerce, industry, services, labor, and consumers.  We also are aiming to increase ethnic and gender diversity.

“Minority representation on Reserve Bank and Branch boards has increased from 16 percent in 2010 to 24 percent in 2016.  The proportion of women directors has risen from 23 percent to 30 percent over the same period.  Currently, 46 percent of all directors are diverse in terms of race and/or gender (with a director who is both female and a minority counted only one time).  We are striving to continue that progress.”

By Brian Honea

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Dade Middle School in Dallas has had a history of problems. Some community leaders want the Dallas school district to boost neighborhood involvement and turn Dade into what’s called a community school. Some folks believe more community and parental involvement would make a difference there.

One weekend afternoon last fall, parents and children streamed into the auditorium at Dade Middle School. Music in English and Spanish blared from the speakers.

People from around the country showed up to speak at the school and they talked about getting parents and more of the Dade community involved in improving the school.

Yesenia Rosales was at the school with her two daughters ages 12 and 16. They moved to Texas from Maryland and she said things at Dade seem pretty good so far.

"Teachers seem very interested in helping students," she said.

Not long ago, though, things were pretty rough at Dade. Fights broke out regularly, principals were being replaced frequently and parent involvement was dismal.

Community leaders like Monica Lindsey told parents at that meeting last fall that it was time for a change. Together, she said, they could convince the district to adopt a new model at Dade and other troubled schools.

“And we’re pushing to have 20 schools turned into community schools by 2020. Can you repeat after me? 20 by 2020. 20 by 2020 …, ” Lindsey told the crowd.

So, what is a community school? According to the Coalition for Community Schools, it’s one that’s built on partnerships between the school and community groups.

A district’s best teachers work there and the school offers extra social services, like mental health counseling. There’s also more parent involvement and the school doesn’t automatically suspend students who act up.

The Dallas school district has worked to stabilize Dade by adding higher-paid and more experienced teachers. Texas Organizing Project and others involved in community school reform, however, envision a broader effort.

“At a community school, you would have 100 or 200 folks participate in some way or another in that planning process,” said Allison Brim, organizing director for the Texas Organizing Project. “You get real buy-in and also input from a larger group of parents and teachers at the school and students as well to make sure that we’re really addressing all of the needs of the entire school community.”

For the past school year, Brim and other members have been meeting with parents, Dade’s principal and district staff to talk about turning the school around. They’ve hosted several community dinners in South Dallas. And, Brim has sent school board president Eric Cowan a letter asking him to consider the issue at a future board meeting.

Brim says she sees some progress at Dade.

“I would say while it’s still not officially our standard that we’re working toward in terms of a community school, a lot of the foundation has been laid," Brim said. "And there’s been huge improvement in terms of the academics and a lot of the key indicators at the school as a result," Brim said.

Advocates point to progress with community schools in places like Cincinnati and Los Angeles.

Last month, The Center for Popular Democracy released a report citing two schools in Austin that went from facing closure to becoming two of the district’s highest-performing schools.

At one of the Austin schools – Webb Middle School – enrollment, attendance and the graduation rate went up. The school now has a full-time community school coordinator and a family resource center that offers parenting classes.

Dallas school trustee Miguel Solis said he’d like the board to consider adopting the community school model or some variation of it.

“That’s not to say that the model will be 100 percent effective if it is implemented the exact same way in Dallas as it is in these other school districts,” he said. “But the principles and tenets of the model are, I think, perfect for our community and particularly the areas that are the most underserved and need the most support.”

Even if the Dallas school board takes up the issue sometime soon, Solis said turning Dade or other schools into community schools wouldn’t happen overnight.

“What the board is likely to do is at some point just have a better understanding of exactly what a community school is, what the goals of community schools are … ” Solis said.

In other words, when it comes to making a commitment about community schools, Dallas school trustees will want to do their homework first.

This story is part of KERA’s American Graduate initiative.

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Protest organizers, including the Center for Popular Democracy, say they expect more than 500 people from several states to show up and demonstrate against cuts in social safety net programs.

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