Campaign News

Washington Post - November 14, by Ylan Mui - Main Street plans to take on the maestros of monetary policy today, armed with a list of demands aimed at prolonging central bank stimulus and increasing public input.

The campaign has been dubbed “Fed Up” and is made up of 20 community and labor groups, ranging from the Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment to the behemoth AFL-CIO. The groups plans to demonstrate in front of the Federal Reserve’s august headquarters on Constitution Avenue on Friday morning. They are slated to present their proposals to Federal Reserve Chair Janet Yellen in a meeting scheduled for this afternoon.

“The point is to start a public conversation and include more voices in it,” said Ady Barkan, staff attorney at the Center for Popular Democracy, one of the groups leading the effort.

Still, debates over macroeconomics can qickly turn wonky. Among the campaign’s requests are for the Fed to reconsider its 2 percent target for inflation and for the central bank to start purchasing municipal bonds to jumpstart local infrastructure projects -- issues that typically don’t come up at the water cooler.

But several other proposals strike a more populist note. The groups says the Fed should wait until there is a significant reduction in the gap in unemployment rate of black and white workers, as well as an increase in the number of women in the force, before it decides to raise interest rates. The coalition also wants the Fed to conduct research on the impact of progressive economic policy proposals -- namely raising the minimum wage and requiring paid sick leave.

Finally, it is seeking time for public comment during the central bank’s policy meetings and a more inclusive process for appointing officials at the Fed’s regional banks.

In some ways, the campaign’s effort coincides with the central bank’s goals. Under former Chairman Ben S. Bernanke, the Fed dramatically increased transparency. It now holds regular press conferences, publishes detailed economic forecasts and attempts to communicate its policy positions.

Current Fed Chair Janet Yellen has made a particular effort to connect monetary policy to Main Street. She recounted the personal stories of struggling workers during a speech in Chicago early this year and visited a jobs training center in Boston last month. She has cited the elevated unemployment rate for African Americans several times as evidence that the nation’s broader economic recovery may not be deeply rooted.

“The recovery still feels like a recession to many Americans, and it also looks that way in some economic statistics,” Yellen said in her Chicago speech.

The Fed also already produces a vast array of research on domestic policy issues. In fact, progressive groups - including at least one involved in the campaign -- frequently cite a study by the Chicago Fed as evidence that raising the minimum wage can boost incomes and spur consumer spending.

Barkan said the campaign is intended to be a counterpoint to the vocal minority of Fed officials who have been calling for the central bank to raise rates soon in response to the improving economy. But even officials counseling patience are not going far enough, Barkan said.

“There’s a lot in there that the Fed has yet to do,” he said. “We want them to be bold and ambitious in their effort to improve the economy.”

Friday will mark the second time demonstrators have confronted Fed officials. This summer, the group traveled to the Kansas City Fed’s annual conference in Jackson Hole, Wyo., an invite-only affair that draws some of the world’s most powerful economic policymakers. The protest was the first time since the 1980s that there has been a grassroots response to monetary policy decisions.

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Miami Diario - March 4, 2015 by Donatella Ungredda - Existe una preocupación creciente entre padres, representantes, maestros y contribuyentes a nivel regional y nacional con relación al rendimiento y cumplimiento de los objetivos educativos establecidos para las escuelas chárter. Las escuelas chárter son una forma más libre de educación pública o privada. Usualmente son fundadas por padres o maestros, manejadas por organizaciones con y sin fines de lucro; funcionan independientemente del sistema de educación pública y hacen hincapié en métodos y aéreas educativas más específicas. Normalmente atienden a un universo mucho más variado de alumnos y deben cubrir los requerimientos de educación especial de los mismos. El tamaño de las clases es más pequeño y en general se espera que tengan un nivel de rendimiento superior al promedio ya que, en teoría, al ser más libres de ensayar nuevas metodologías los alumnos encuentran más oportunidades para explotar sus capacidades. Estas instituciones conviven con las escuelas públicas que están sometidas a los estándares y regulaciones del Departamento de Educación y se mantienen con fondos públicos así como recolección de fondos privados. El crecimiento del número de escuelas chárter a nivel nacional se ha duplicado tres veces desde su implementación en el año 2000, según Donald Cohen, Director Ejecutivo de la organización no gubernamental In The Public Interest (ITPI). Cohen, junto a Kyle Serrette del Centro para la Democracia Popular (Center for Popular Democracy, CPD), revelaron los resultados de una reciente encuesta realizada entre un universo de 1000 votantes: la gran mayoría apoya la existencia de las escuelas chárter, pero asimismo exige una más exhaustiva supervisión del funcionamiento de estas instituciones, así como la realización de auditorías en sus finanzas, dados los pobres resultados académicos y la falta de transparencia en su administración. "Las escuelas chárter han estado presentes desde hace 20 años, y su funcionamiento se implementó para servir de ejemplo, marco referencial para la reforma del sistema educativo estadounidense. Nuestras investigaciones nos han revelado que 75% de las escuelas chárter han tenido un rendimiento igual o peor que las escuelas públicas para las cuales se supone debían servir como modelo de reforma. Este es un síntoma de falta de supervisión de parte de los responsables", afirmó Serrette "Lo que estamos tratando de lograr es poner un alto al crecimiento momentáneamente y asegurarnos que estamos obteniendo unos resultados educativos idóneos. Recordemos que estas escuelas se financian con fondos públicos y tomando en cuenta las dificultades que enfrenta la nación, debemos hacer una pausa y asegurarnos que tenemos una serie de medidas legales robustas para la protección de los alumnos, maestros y contribuyentes", agregó Cohen. ITPI y CPD consultaron a los encuestados acerca de una serie de 11 propuestas para la mejor supervisión de las escuelas chárter y su administración y en base a los resultados obtenidos dieron a conocer su Agenda de Responsabilidad de las Escuelas Chárter. Las 11 propuestas son abarcadas por 4 puntos principales: ·         Transparencia y responsabilidad, ·         Protección a las escuelas del vecindario, ·         Protección de los fondos aportados por los contribuyentes, ·         Educación de alta calidad para cada alumno.

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The Express-Times – October 21, 2013, by Colin McEvoy -

Hilda Gonzalez, who moved from Mexico to Allentown 12 years ago, was handed a speakerphone tonight and asked to tell an assembled crowd of 50 people her personal story.

But when the time came, Gonzalez said she couldn’t bring herself to do it because her own experiences felt so small compared to the roughly 11 million undocumented immigrants living in America.

“These are immigrants who have experienced the fear of being separated from their families,” she said. “Immigrants who have many times had to duck their heads. Immigrants who aren’t treated with dignity.”

Gonzalez was one of about 50 people who took to the streets of Allentown tonight in protest, urging their legislators to take action on immigration reform now that the government shutdown has been resolved.

“I think it’s well overdue that we as a nation do the right thing,” said Guillermo Lopez Jr., of Bethlehem, as the group marched on Hamilton Street. “No human is illegal. That is the truth of this land.”

With the debt ceiling crisis temporarily averted, President Barack Obama has urged Congress to pass a comprehensive immigration reform bill by year’s end.

The Senate approved such a bill in June that included investments in border security and a path to citizenship for millions of undocumented immigrants. But the House did not take action on such a bill and many in Congress have expressed skepticism that action will be taken now.

The Allentown protesters held such signs that read “We yearn to breathe free” and “We bleed red, white and blue,” and chanted phrases such as “Undocumented, unafraid” and “No papers, no fear.”

They carried candles and flashlights, which symbolized the hope that reform could bring immigrants out from the darkness, according to organizer Max Cohen, of the Center for Popular Democracy, which organized the event in conjunction with Communidad Unida de Lehigh Valley.

A similar rally will be held Tuesday in Easton, urging support for a resolution Easton City Council is scheduled to consider urging Congress to enact immigration reform.

That rally, run by Organizing for Action, will be held 5 p.m. in Centre Square, with the city council meeting starting at 6 p.m.

The Allentown protesters voiced particular hope that U.S. Rep. Charlie Dent, who they called a “level-headed, moderate Republican voice in Congress,” would be an outspoken voice on the issue.

Dent previously said the Senate’s bill had major problems, saying the border security elements in particular needed strengthening.

“We will work on practical solutions that respect the rule of law while responsibly dealing with the 11 million people, slightly less than the population of the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, who are in this country unlawfully,” Dent said in July.

But the protesters said they hope Congress will move quickly before the midterm elections become too much of a distraction.

Among the participants was Adrian Shanker, president of Equality Pennsylvania, who said there are about 1 million gay, bisexual or transgender immigrants in the United States, and about one-third are undocumented.

“We can’t be equal until we are all equal,” Shanker said. “Eleven million people live in the shadows. That is not freedom.”

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At Local Progress’s 150-person meet-up, left-leaning politicians from around the country share plans to build rebel cities.

Read the full article here.