Nan Goldin, Activists Bring Sackler Protest to Harvard Art Museums
Nan Goldin, Activists Bring Sackler Protest to Harvard Art Museums
“Protestors threw pill bottles on the floor of the atrium, handed out pamphlets, and held banners and posters with phrases like “MEDICAL STUDENTS AGAINST THE SACKLERS,” and “HARM REDUCTION NOW/...
“Protestors threw pill bottles on the floor of the atrium, handed out pamphlets, and held banners and posters with phrases like “MEDICAL STUDENTS AGAINST THE SACKLERS,” and “HARM REDUCTION NOW/TREATMENT NOW.” A number of speakers gave speeches about the Sacklers and the opioid crisis in the atrium, including Jennifer Flynn Walker of the Center for Popular Democracy and Goldin, who began organizing against Purdue and the Sacklers, who are major donors to cultural institutions throughout the United States and Europe, following treatment for opioid addiction last year. She said she became addicted after being prescribed OxyContin in 2014 following wrist surgery.
Read the full article here.
Protester shouts at Sen. Jeff Flake in elevator: ‘Tell me it doesn’t matter’
Protester shouts at Sen. Jeff Flake in elevator: ‘Tell me it doesn’t matter’
A protester who said she was sexually assaulted approached Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator Friday after he released a statement saying he would be voting in favor of Brett Kavanaugh for a seat...
A protester who said she was sexually assaulted approached Senator Jeff Flake in an elevator Friday after he released a statement saying he would be voting in favor of Brett Kavanaugh for a seat on the Supreme Court.
Read the article and watch the video here.
Is Zara discriminating against people of color?
Dorian Warren talks with researcher Chaya Crowder about her new report on discrimination at major “fast fashion” outlet Zara.
Source:...
Dorian Warren talks with researcher Chaya Crowder about her new report on discrimination at major “fast fashion” outlet Zara.
Source: MSNBC
Family Resource Centers celebrate 25 years of removing barriers to learning
Family Resource Centers celebrate 25 years of removing barriers to learning
No two days at school are the same for Geri Willis. One day she’s finding hats and gloves for students, the next she’s helping a grandmother navigate the court system to gain guardianship.
...
No two days at school are the same for Geri Willis. One day she’s finding hats and gloves for students, the next she’s helping a grandmother navigate the court system to gain guardianship.
Some of her days are spent searching Ashland’s hotels for a student who hasn’t come to school for several days, others are filled with calls to social service agencies to find a student’s family a place to stay.
No task is too big or too small for Willis, coordinator of the Ashland Family Resource Center, which serves two Ashland Independent elementary schools.
“We’ve even gone so far as to buy alarm clocks,” she said. “You do what you can to help your students.”
Geri Willis, coordinator of the Ashland Family Resource Center, reviews shapes with students at Hager Elementary in preparation for a math-based quilting project. The center serves Hager and Crabbe elementary schools in the Ashland Independent district. (Photo by Kerri Keener)
Geri Willis, coordinator of the Ashland Family Resource Center, reviews shapes with students at Hager Elementary in preparation for a math-based quilting project. The center serves Hager and Crabbe elementary schools in the Ashland Independent district. (Photo by Kerri Keener)
Kentucky’s system of school-based Family Resource and Youth Service Centers (FRYSCs), was created as part of the Kentucky Education Reform Act of 1990 as a way to remove nonacademic barriers to learning. Now in its 25th year, there are 816 centers across the state serving 626,696 students and their families.
“When we first came on board, it was the whole selling of myself as a coordinator, just begging people to let us be involved,” said Mike Flynn, youth services center coordinator for Estill County Middle School. ”Parents didn’t know what we were, schools didn’t know what we were. We had to break those barriers down.”
But 25 years later the centers are an integral part of most schools, he said.
“It’s a complete cultural shift. People automatically expect us to be involved with things,” Flynn said. ”They bring issues and problems to us. We are now really ingrained into the schools as a whole.”
Though they are part of schools, FRYSCs are run by the Kentucky Cabinet for Health and Family Services.
Schools in which 20 percent of students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch are eligible for a center. The center is then funded based on the number of students who qualify for free lunch, said Flynn, who is also past president of the Family Resource and Youth Services Coalition of Kentucky a statewide professional organization.
“Even though we are based on the free lunch numbers, we serve every student regardless of financial status,” he said.
Though centers are most known for helping students and their families in difficult situations or supplying food or clothing, that service isn’t required under state law.
Many people don’t realize all the other services the centers provide, which are required under state law– such as referring families and students to mental health and substance abuse counseling, offering career training, summer job placement for high school students and promoting family literacy. The centers also serve as a bridge between school, homes and the community.
In July, coordinators at attended the annual Victory over Violence conference where they received training on helping children from families of substance abuse, bullying prevention and how to involve families in students’ success.
Many centers also provide programs to bolster the learning going on in the classroom. Flynn has worked with teachers to plan math nights for parents. In the summer, many centers provide programing based around the free summer meals program.
“We provide workshops and activities for the kids, so you’re not just getting food but a little be extra instruction,” Flynn said.
Several national education groups have recently taken notice of Kentucky’s system of support centers. Doug Jones, manager of FRYSC Region 7 – which covers northeastern Kentucky led a group of 15 educators from six states last fall as they visited Kentucky to see how FRYSCs work.
The group, which included representatives from National Education Association, the Center for Popular Democracy and Communities in Schools, visited three centers in eastern Kentucky and two centers in Lexington.
“They are looking at Kentucky as a template for trying to legislate FRYSC-model programs across the United States,” Jones said.
The group brought more educators in December and conducted 35 videotaped interviews with students, teachers, legislators and coordinators.
“We are planning educational and motivational materials, legislative pushes and more,” Evie Frankl, organizer of education justice campaigns for the Center for Popular Democracy said in a release. “We are thankful for the Kentucky program for leading the way for so many years and for generously sharing their knowledge with us.”
The idea of resource centers in schools was new to Kentucky 26 years ago as KERA was being drafted. Some opposed their creation, but Harry J. Cowherd, the secretary of the Cabinet for Human Resources in 1990, championed the creation the FRSYC network.
The annual center of excellence award is now named for Cowherd. In November, Wilis and her center received the award for their work with homeless students.
Willis applied for and received a McKinney-Vento grant, which allowed the elementary schools to hire three home/school liaisons to help families get immunizations, physicals and other screenings and provided tutoring for 43 students living in a domestic violence shelter.
“A lot of our student population is from hotels, motels, shelters and public housing,” she said. ”We also have a lot of kids being raised by relatives.”
In addition to the McKinney-Vento grant, she received a $58,000 grant from BBT Bank for homeless students. Part of the money will pay for a nine-passenger van that will let Willis pick up parents who don’t have transportation so they can attend parent/teacher conferences. It also will be used take homeless high school students to co-op sites. Part of the money will pay those co-op students’ equipment for medical classes, she said.
Willis’ center serves Hager Elementary, where more than half of the students qualify for free or reduced-price lunch, Crabbe Elementary, where all students qualify for free or reduced-priced lunch and a preschool/Headstart program. She works closely with administrators, teachers and staff to make sure she her students’ needs are being met and that teachers know what’s going on with their students.
“This staff is probably the most compassionate group of people I’ve ever met in my life,” she said. “They know and understand the situations that our students come from.”
Crabbe Elementary Principal Jamie Campbell, estimates that about 60 percent of his students will go through some kind of change that requires the resource center’s assistance.
“I am firm believer in the fact we have to make sure that their basic needs are met,” he said. “Because if you’re hungry, if you’re freezing, if you’re worried about safety where you’re going to be at home, if you are worried about that, I cannot teach you reading, writing and math.
“Geri and her team take care of that need for the teachers, it translates into students being able to come here and learn.”
Brenna R. Kelly writes for Kentucky Teacher, a publication of the Kentucky Department of Education
By Brenna R. Kelly
Source
Democrats are back in the fight for the Arizona Eighth Congressional District: All Bets are Off.
Democrats are back in the fight for the Arizona Eighth Congressional District: All Bets are Off.
Trump won by over 20 points, the Democrat leads in fundraising as well, aided in part by Ady Barkan, a wealthy Democratic activist with the Center for Popular Democracy who was recently diagnosed...
Trump won by over 20 points, the Democrat leads in fundraising as well, aided in part by Ady Barkan, a wealthy Democratic activist with the Center for Popular Democracy who was recently diagnosed with A.L.S. (Lou Gehrig’s Disease). In speaking with Bill Roe, the First Vice Chair of the Arizona Democratic Party, he indicated that this race is unpredictable for several reasons.
Read the full article here.
COMPTROLLER STRINGER DEBARS CONTRACTOR THAT CHEATED IMMIGRANT WORKERS OUT OF $1.7 MILLION IN PREVAILING WAGES AND BENEFITS
COMPTROLLER STRINGER DEBARS CONTRACTOR THAT CHEATED IMMIGRANT WORKERS OUT OF $1.7 MILLION IN PREVAILING WAGES AND BENEFITS
(New York, NY) – New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer today assessed $3.2 million in fines against K.S. Contracting Corporation and its owner, Paresh Shah, for cheating dozens of workers...
(New York, NY) – New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer today assessed $3.2 million in fines against K.S. Contracting Corporation and its owner, Paresh Shah, for cheating dozens of workers out of the prevailing wages and benefits they were owed under the New York State Labor Law. In addition to being assessed $3.2 million in unpaid wages, interest, and civil penalties, K.S Contracting and Mr. Shah will be barred from working on New York City and State contracts for five years.
K.S. Contracting was named as one of the worst wage theft violators in New York in a report by the Center for Popular Democracy in 2015.
“With President Trump taking clear aim at immigrants across the country, we need to stand up and protect the foreign-born New Yorkers who keep our City running. Every New Yorker has rights, and my office won’t back down in defending them,” New York City Comptroller Scott M. Stringer said. “Contractors might think they can take advantage of immigrants, but today we’re sending a strong message: my office will fight for every worker in New York City. This is about basic fairness and accountability.”
K.S. Contracting was awarded more than $21 million in contracts by the City Departments of Design and Construction, Parks and Recreation, and Sanitation between 2007 and 2010. Projects included the Morrisania Health Center in the Bronx, the 122 Community Center in Manhattan, the Barbara S. Kleinman Men’s Residence in Brooklyn, the North Infirmary Command Building on Rikers Island, Bronx River Park, the District 15 Sanitation Garage in Brooklyn, and various City sidewalks in Queens.
The Comptroller’s Office began investigating the company after an employee filed a complaint with the office in May 2010. The multi-year investigation used subpoenas, video evidence, union records, and City agency data to uncover a kickback scheme that preyed on immigrant workers.
After a four-day administrative trial in May 2016, the Comptroller found that K.S. Contracting routinely issued paychecks to just half of its workforce and then required those employees to cash the checks and surrender the money to company supervisors. Those supervisors would then redistribute the cash to all of the employees on a jobsite, paying them at rates significantly below prevailing wages. K.S. Contracting, however, falsely reported to City agencies that all employees on the jobsite who received checks were paid the prevailing wage.
Between August 2008 and November 2011, the company cheated at least 36 workers out of $1.7 million in wages and benefits on seven New York City public works projects. K.S. Contracting reported that it paid its workers combined wage and benefit rates starting at $50 per hour but actually paid daily cash salaries starting at $90 per day. The majority of the workers impacted were immigrants of Latino, South Asian, or West Indian descent.
The New York City Comptroller’s office enforces state and local laws which require private contractors working on New York City public works projects or those with service contracts with City agencies to pay no less than the prevailing wage or living wage rate to their employees.
When workers are underpaid, the New York City Comptroller’s office works to recoup the amount of the underpayment plus interest.
Since taking office in 2014, Comptroller Scott M. Stringer’s Bureau of Labor Law has assessed over $20 million and barred 40 contractors from state and City contracts due to prevailing wage violations, both record amounts. The assessed violation number includes underpayment of wages and benefits with interest payable to workers, and civil penalties payable to the City treasury.
“We applaud the Comptroller for standing up for the rights of immigrant workers and debarring bad actors like K.S. Contracting – a company identified by the Center for Popular Democracy as one of the worst violators of wage theft laws in New York. The Comptroller’s aggressive enforcement of prevailing wage law is a perfect example of what is needed to effectively combat wage theft throughout the city and state,” said Kate Hamaji, Center for Popular Democracy.
“We commend Comptroller Stringer for defending the rights of immigrant workers and ensure that they receive the wages and benefits that they deserve,” said Steven Choi, executive director of the New York Immigration Coalition. “In a time when immigrant communities are worried for their future in this country, it is essential that we have strong city advocates who will ensure that their rights are protected.”
“At a time when exploitative employers are feeling increasingly emboldened by Trump’s hateful rhetoric, it is imperative that our City’s leaders are taking a strong stance in defense of immigrant workers. Wage theft is a persistent and pervasive problem in New York, with employers like Paresh Shah cheating their immigrant workers out of millions of dollars in lawful wages and benefits each year. We commend the Comptroller for fighting to recuperate wages for the workers at KS Contracting and for showing employers like Paresh Shah that their behavior will not be tolerated by the City of New York,” said Deborah Axt, Executive Director, Make the Road New York.
“I want to thank New York City Comptroller Scott Stringer for taking the lead in fighting wage theft. Unfortunately wage theft is a crime that is running rampart throughout the construction industry. Hard working men and women, who expect nothing more than a fair day’s pay for a fair’s day’s work are constantly seeing their hard earned wages stolen by dishonest, criminal employers. By debarring KS Contracting for five years, Comptroller Stringer and his office have sent a message loud and clear – stealing workers’ wages will not be tolerated in New York.” said Robert Bonanza, Business Manager, Mason Tenders District Council of Greater New York, LiUNA!.
“I would like to thank Comptroller Stringer and his team in the Bureau of Labor Law for bringing justice to the workers at K.S. Contracting. Unfortunately the Comptroller’s task is made more difficult by the fact that many City agencies do not put top priority on monitoring projects for labor violations. Too many employers in New York City exploit minority and immigrant workers. And it’s no secret that many immigrant workers are fearful of retaliation for standing up for their rights, especially in an environment where they are afraid of being deported. This undercuts labor standards for all workers, and safe, educated workers are our City’s most valuable resource. We need more responsible and proactive leaders like Comptroller Stringer to protect that resource,” said Lowell Barton, Vice President/Organizing Director, Laborers Local 1010, LiUNA!.
“In a city where diversity is our greatest strength, we will not let anyone target our immigrant workers for abuse. Undermining labor standards for immigrants it’s an attack on all workers. I commend Comptroller Stringer for standing up for immigrant workers and against wage theft at a time when our immigrant communities are under attack,” said Renata Pumarol, Communications Director, New York Communities for Change.
“We at the Alliance of South Asian American Labor (ASAAL) are extremely conscious of the rights of every human being who lives in this great nation no matter what their immigration status. Many hard working individuals are taken advantage of by unscrupulous employers. We greatly applaud Comptroller Scott Stringer’s aggressive approach to combat wage theft violations and in this way protect the rights of all workers. I applaud his historic record of debarring 40 contractors since taking office and assessing over $20 million in prevailing wage violations, including today’s order against K.S. Contracting,” said Maf Misbah Uddin, ASAAL National President.
By TIP NEWS
Source
Denver's rapid charter expansion yields underwhelming results
Denver's rapid charter expansion yields underwhelming results
Dive Brief:
Twenty-seven new charter schools have opened in Denver in the last five years with six more set to open this summer, but critics point to data about underwhelming performance...
Dive Brief:
Twenty-seven new charter schools have opened in Denver in the last five years with six more set to open this summer, but critics point to data about underwhelming performance and examples of forced choice that parents don’t want.
An Alternet article reposted by Salon reports some of the charters that have replaced traditional school options practice harsh discipline disproportionately levied against students of color, and opponents argue a small, powerful circle of local leaders have pushed a charter agenda with the support of big money from outside of the city that has bought electoral support.
A report from the Center for Popular Democracy identified 38% of Denver’s charters as performing “significantly below expectations,” and some parents say they’d prefer more funding and support for neighborhood schools over new expenditures on charters.
Dive Insight:
Charter school performance across the country is mixed. There are high-performing charter schools that have impressive student outcomes that proponents can point to as evidence the charter sector should be expanded. At the same time, there are mediocre or low-performing charter schools that critics can point to as saying the sector does nothing more than siphon funding from traditional schools.
While the CPD study found 38% of Denver’s charters to be significantly underperforming, another found six out of eight of the city’s top schools to be charters. A report to the Colorado General Assembly based on data from the 2011-12 school year found similarly mixed results, where charters perform better on some metrics but not on others. Denver is not the only city engaging in this debate, which has become familiar in virtually every major urban area in the country.
By Tara García Mathewson
Source
Bringing Black Voices to the Immigration Reform Debate
A Haitian American who grew up in Miami's Little Haiti community, Francesca Menes remembers the global cries for "Democracy for Haiti" following the 1991 coup. Amidst the current threats to...
A Haitian American who grew up in Miami's Little Haiti community, Francesca Menes remembers the global cries for "Democracy for Haiti" following the 1991 coup. Amidst the current threats to American democracy, she sees a reawakening of the political consciousness of American citizens and an opportunity to build real people power. As a longtime social justice activist and member of the Black Immigration Network'ssteering committee, Menes has learned to use her resources to lift up the voices of the most vulnerable.
Read the full article here.
Why can't we get a vote on the one thing the parties agree on?
When the two parties adopted their platforms this summer, observers noted that the Democratic platform was possibly the most progressive platform in the recent history, while the Republican...
When the two parties adopted their platforms this summer, observers noted that the Democratic platform was possibly the most progressive platform in the recent history, while the Republican platform lurched even further to the right on a number of issues.
But on one topic (you'll be surprised which), they actually agreed: Breaking up too big to fail banks. Both parties' platforms include calls to re-instate the Glass Steagall firewall between boring banking (you know, lending money to people and businesses) and risky casino-style investment banking (think "credit default swaps").
Election day is fast approaching and Congress's approval rating has barely improved from a few years back when it lagged behind root canals. So you'd think agreement on a major policy -- particularly one with broad and deep public support -- might be occasion for swift enactment of a bi-partisan bill. Indeed, the 21st Century Glass-Steagall Act is championed by both Elizabeth Warren and John McCain, popular leaders in their respective parties. Instead, with Congress set to adjourn this week until after election day, Congressional leaders have yet to take a single step to live up to the words of their platforms.
Organizers of a new campaign to Take on Wall Street decided to do something about it. With strong support from the Daily Kos community and working with allies from labor, netroots, and community partners, we launched a petition to Congressional leaders asking them to back up their rhetoric on Glass Steagall with action. The petitions were gathered by the AFL-CIO, American Federation of Teachers, American Family Voices, Americans For Financial Reform, Campaign for America's Future, Center for Popular Democracy Action, Courage Campaign, CREDO, Daily Kos, EPI Policy Center, Franciscan Action Network, Jobs with Justice, Just Foreign Policy, People for the American Way, Presente.org, Progressive Congress Action Fund, the Nation, and Rootstrikers, generating over 350,000 signatures.
Yesterday we delivered those petitions on Capitol Hill, bringing them directly to the office of Republican Jeb Hensarling, Chair of the House Financial Services Committee. As Chair of the Committee that oversees the banks, Hensarling has had ample opportunity to show leadership on the issue. Instead he has spent the past two months advancing legislation that weakens oversight of the financial industry rather than strengthening it. Last week Chairman Hensarling held a vote in his committee on the highly partisan CHOICE Act -- an early Christmas present to Wall Street benefactors that repeals many of the regulations established by the Dodd Frank Financial Reform legislation enacted following the financial collapse in 2008. The prior week Hensarling pushed through a vote on the House floor that reduces transparency and disclosure rules for private equity firms.
Representative Hensarling was not in his office when we arrived but in addition to the petitions we delivered, we also brought to his office a reminder of the Republican Party's platform regarding Glass Steagall -- language that is remarkably clear and explicit: "We support re-instating the Glass-Steagall Act of 1933 which prohibits commercial banks from engaging in high-risk investment."
To be fair, not all Democrats support reinstating Glass-Steagall either. But Republicans have adopted a party platform that includes "tough on banks" references to Glass-Steagall while actively moving a Wall Street wish list of deregulation. That hypocrisy is egregious even by Washington standards.
Representative Hensarling isn't likely to change his tune, and as political observers delight in reminding us, the party platforms are not binding. But we should use even the rhetorical support for our agenda to hold elected officials accountable. And in the mean time, judge them by their actions not their words.
By jgreen612
Source
Senator Warren, 100+ Members of Congress Call For Diverse Federal Reserve
05.12.2016
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-MI) Thursday released ...
05.12.2016
WASHINGTON -- U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-MA) and U.S. Representative John Conyers (D-MI) Thursday released a letter signed by 116 Members of the House of Representatives and 11 senators urging the Federal Reserve to reform its governance by committing to more diverse leadership and prioritizing full employment for all communities. The letter represents a major development in the Congressional-Fed relationship and a sign of increasing interest on Capitol Hill for rigorous Fed oversight and reform.
Addressed to Fed Chair Janet Yellen, the letter calls attention to the lack of diversity across the Federal Reserve system. White men from the financial and the corporate sectors dominate Fed governance in Washington D.C. and around the country, according to a study conducted by the Center for Popular Democracy for the Fed Up coalition.
“The overwhelming support for this letter demonstrates that Members of Congress want to see a Federal Reserve that truly represents the American people - and that makes sure the economy works for all with a mandate for full employment,” said Connie Razza, author of the report cited by the Congressional letter and Campaign Director at the Center for Popular Democracy, which coordinates the Fed Up coalition. "As it becomes clear that the recovery has yet to reach many millions of Americans, the momentum behind this cause is growing. Now it’s time to hear from all of our Presidential candidates. Do Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump believe that the Fed should do a better job reflecting the American people?”
The letter comes amid growing attention to the governance practices of the Fed by Democrats and progressives. In February, at her testimony in front of the House Financial Services and Senate Banking committees, fifteen Democratic members of Congress asked Chair Yellen questions about racial disparities in the economy and lack of diverse leadership in Fed governance. The Fed Up coalition, comprised of community-based organizations, labor unions, and policy advocates from around the country, has over the past eighteen months turned Fed governance and policy into an important issue for the progressive movement.
The letter’s signatories include Democratic Presidential candidate Senator Bernie Sanders (VT), every Democratic member of the Congressional Black Caucus, as well as a significant percentage of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, and House Financial Services Ranking Member Maxine Waters (D-CA), Senator Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Rep. James Cleburne (D-SC), who are members of the Democratic Party’s leadership.
Currently, 11 of the 12 regional Federal Reserve Bank presidents are white and 10 of the 12 are men. Not a single regional Bank president is Black or Latino and, indeed, there has never been an African American president of a regional Bank in the history of the Federal Reserve System. This year, all voting members of the interest rate-setting Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) are white.
The Congressional letter quotes from a former regional Fed president and argues that the lack of diverse leadership is hurting the Fed’s policy decision-making processes: “When the voices of women, African-Americans, Latinos, and representatives of consumers and labor are excluded from key discussions, their interests are too often neglected,” the letter says.
While the unemployment rate for whites is near 4 percent, the unemployment rate for African-Americans currently stands at 9 percent. The vaunted recovery has never fully reached Black and Latino communities, where stagnant wage growth and involuntary part-time work is widespread. The Congressional letter calls on the Fed to remedy this reality: “By fostering genuine full employment, the Federal Reserve can help combat discrimination and dramatically reduce the disproportionate unemployment faced by minority populations.”
Some Fed officials want to intentionally slow down the economy in June by raising interest rates; the Congressional letter urges Chair Yellen to “give due consideration to the interests and priorities of the millions of people around the country who still have not benefited from this recovery.”
The letter also calls for a more transparent process in appointing Fed leaders, pointing to the recent re-appointments of all 12 regional presidents to new five-year terms in February.
The full text of the letter can be found here and below.
May 12, 2016
Dear Chair Yellen,
We write to thank you for your strong leadership at the Federal Reserve throughout your historic tenure. Beginning with your first public speech in Chicago, you have placed crucial renewed emphasis on the importance of building a full employment economy, which will raise Americans’ wages and combat inequality. And you have displayed an appreciation for the fact that, as you have said, “there are real people behind the statistics, struggling to get by and eager for the opportunity to build better lives.” Over the past two years, thanks in no small part to your leadership and that of President Obama, our economy has added more than 5.5 million new private-sector jobs.
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.
In 1977, Congress responded to concerns that monetary policy was being set by a body that fell short of reflecting the diverse makeup of the United States by passing a law that requires the Federal Reserve to “represent the public, without discrimination on the basis of race, creed, color, sex, or national origin, and with due but not exclusive consideration to the interests of agriculture, commerce, industry, services, labor and consumers.” Nearly 40 years 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.
According to a study by the Center for Popular Democracy released in early February, 2016, 83 percent of Federal Reserve head office board members are white, and men occupy nearly three-fourths of all regional bank directorships. The lack of public representation on regional Banks’ boards is even more distressing in light of the lack of diversity among regional Bank presidents and the resulting lack of diversity on the Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC). Currently, 92 percent of regional Bank presidents are white, and not a single president is either African-American or Latino. Moreover, at present 100 percent of voting FOMC participants are white, while 83 percent of regional Bank presidents and 60 percent of voting FOMC members are men.
In addition to racial and gender disparities, we are also concerned with the persistent lack of occupational diversity. Despite the important role they serve in reflecting the interests of working families, only 11 percent of the Federal Reserve’s regional Bank directors come from community, labor, or academic organizations. By contrast, 39 percent of all regional directors represent financial institutions, and 47 percent represent firms in commerce, industry, and services.
Given the critical linkage between monetary policy and the experiences of hardworking Americans, the importance of ensuring that such positions are filled by persons that reflect and represent the interests of our diverse country, cannot be understated. When the voices of women, African-Americans, Latinos, and representatives of consumers and labor are excluded from key discussions, their interests are too often neglected.
For example, it is widely accepted that employment discrimination against women and minorities decreases as our economy approaches full employment. The data is unambiguous: even when comparing workers with the same levels of education, African-American workers face higher unemployment rates and are paid less than their white counterparts, women make less than their male counterparts, and women of color are particularly disadvantaged. A recent study by the Economic Policy Institute confirmed the importance of full employment for African-Americans, demonstrating that for every .91 percent reduction in unemployment for whites, black unemployment drops 1.7 percent. This reality is particularly relevant today, as the unemployment rate for African-Americans (8.8 percent) is currently more than double the unemployment rate for white Americans (4.3 percent), with Hispanics also suffering worse unemployment rates (6.1 percent).
By fostering genuine full employment, the Federal Reserve can help combat discrimination and dramatically reduce the disproportionate unemployment faced by minority populations. Unfortunately, it seems that this perspective is missing from FOMC deliberations. Reflecting on his experience on the FOMC in a recent blog post, former Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Narayana Kocherlakota wrote: “There is one key source of economic difference in American life that is likely underemphasized in FOMC deliberations: race.” He reviewed the most recent full year of FOMC meeting transcripts available (2010), and found that “there was no reference in the meetings to labor market conditions among African-Americans,” although the unemployment rate for African-Americans never dropped below 15.5 percent during that year. It is unacceptable that discussion of the job market for these populations would be an afterthought, or worse, ignored entirely, and we are concerned that the lack of balanced representation may be a significant cause of this oversight.
We are grateful that you pledged to consider African-Americans for future positions as regional Bank presidents during your recent Humphrey-Hawkins testimony before Congress, and appreciate your concern that no African-American has led a regional Bank to date. While some recent progress has been made, the Federal Reserve still has considerable work to do in order to comply with both the letter and spirit of the requirements of the Federal Reserve Act that seek to ensure fairness in the representation within the leadership of the Federal Reserve.
On February 19, 2016, the Federal Reserve announced that 10 regional presidents (eight men and two women, all white) had been re-appointed to new five-year terms. Despite the importance of this decision, there appears to have been no public consultation, and limited transparency regarding the metrics and criteria used to evaluate the presidents’ performance, or in the decision to reappoint them. As the Board of Governors embarks on its search for regional Bank directors to serve beginning in 2017, and as you consider future regional president vacancies, we urge you to engage in an inclusive process to consider candidates from a diverse set of backgrounds, including a greater number of African-Americans, Latinos, women, and individuals from labor, consumer, and community organizations.
Moreover, as you make crucial monetary policy decisions in 2016, we urge you to give due consideration to the interests and priorities of the millions of people around the country who still have not benefited from this recovery. We share the vision that you laid out in Chicago two years ago: an economy in which all working families “get the chance they deserve to build better lives.”
Thank you for your continued pursuit of these vital goals.
Sincerely,
Members of Congress
# # #
www.whatrecovery.org
Fed Up is a coalition of community organizations and labor unions across the country calling on the Federal Reserve to reform its governance and adopt policies that build a strong economy for the American public. The Fed can keep interest rates low, give the economy a fair chance to recover, and prioritize genuine full employment and rising wages for all communities.
www.populardemocracy.org
The Center for Popular Democracy promotes equity, opportunity, and a dynamic democracy in partnership with innovative base-building organizations, organizing networks and alliances, and progressive unions across the country. CPD builds the strength and capacity of democratic organizations to envision and advance a pro-worker, pro-immigrant, racial justice agenda.
Press Contact:
Asya Pikovsky, apikovsky@populardemocracy.org, 207-522-2442
6 days ago
6 days ago