Yellen, Departing Fed, Will Join Brookings
Fed Up, a coalition of unions and community groups, said it would deliver a giant “Thank You” card to the Fed on Friday afternoon to celebrate Ms. Yellen’s success in reducing unemployment.
...Fed Up, a coalition of unions and community groups, said it would deliver a giant “Thank You” card to the Fed on Friday afternoon to celebrate Ms. Yellen’s success in reducing unemployment.
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Zara Employee Humiliated By Managers For Her Braids
Twenty year-old Zara employee, Cree Ballah from Toronto, Canada, has spoken out after she was recently humiliated by two of her managers for having what the fashion chain staff members deemed an ‘...
Twenty year-old Zara employee, Cree Ballah from Toronto, Canada, has spoken out after she was recently humiliated by two of her managers for having what the fashion chain staff members deemed an ‘inappropriate’ hairstyle.
Ballah, who is of African American decent, was wearing four box braids pulled into a low, simple ponytail when she was reprimanded.
Originally, the young sales assistant was told by a manager that her hair was not in keeping with Zara’s image, telling her, “We’re going for a clean professional look with Zara and the hairstyle you have now is not the look for Zara.”
Afterwards, another manager pulled Ballah aside, lead her out of the store and attempted to ‘fix’ her hair in the middle of the crowded mall, leaving the Zara employee feeling humiliated and offended.
“My hair type is also linked to my race, so to me, I felt like it was direct discrimination against my ethnicity in the sense of what comes along with it,” Ballah told CBC News in a recent interview.
“My hair type is out of my control and I try to control it to the best of my ability, which wasn’t up to standard for Zara.”
This isn’t the first time the Spanish retail giant has been in hot water for its questionable treatment of employees. Last year, a survey conducted by the Center for Popular Democracy (CDP) found Zara was demonstrating racial bias not only towards its employees but its customers as well.
The report established darker-skinned employees were far less likely to get a raise or be promoted and were twice as unhappy with their working hours compared to their fairer-skinned peers. As well as this, the report discovered employees were trained to report ‘special orders’ to in-store management.
‘Special orders’ are considered to be suspicious looking customers who, after being reported, are tailed by a Zara staff member to ensure no items are stolen. Results uncovered the majority of employees used the code on African American and Latino shoppers, and, according to the CPD survey, an actual member of staff of African American decent was deemed as a ‘special order’ when entering the store on his day off to collect a paycheque.
Adding insult to injury, the brand released a line of shirts emblazoned with the slogan ‘White Is The New Black’ on them in 2014, causing public outcry for their racially insensitive message.
And while the fashion chain has continued to escape largely unscathed under pleas of ignorance, its run-in with Ballah may be the final straw, with the ex-staffer currently pursuing her options, which include taking the issue to the Ontario Human Rights Commission.
By Isabelle Gillespie
Source
118-Mile March to Confront White Supremacy Reclaims Farragut Square in D.C.
118-Mile March to Confront White Supremacy Reclaims Farragut Square in D.C.
On Wednesday afternoon, the 118-mile March to Confront White Supremacy culminated in Washington, D.C. near the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Also referred to as the “Cville 2 DC March,” the...
On Wednesday afternoon, the 118-mile March to Confront White Supremacy culminated in Washington, D.C. near the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial. Also referred to as the “Cville 2 DC March,” the nonviolent protest began in Charlottesville after one of the largest white supremacist events in recent U.S. history—staged in defense of a monument to Confederate General Robert E. Lee—left one dead and dozens injured.
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Report: Charter Schools Pose $54M Fraud Risk
Utica Observer-Dispatch - December 13, 2014, by Alissa Scott - Charter schools have been accused of posing a $54 million fraud risk to taxpayers, according to a new report.
The Alliance for...
Utica Observer-Dispatch - December 13, 2014, by Alissa Scott - Charter schools have been accused of posing a $54 million fraud risk to taxpayers, according to a new report.
The Alliance for Quality Education said vulnerabilities in the state’s charter system potentially could cause millions of dollars in fraud this year alone.
“There’s two parts of operating a charter,” said Kyle Serrette, director of the Education Center for Popular Democracy. “You need good educators — you have to provide academics — and you also need to know how to run a business. … What we’re seeing is folks that don’t know how to do either.”
Jessica Mokhiber, communications director of the Northeast Charter Schools Network, doesn’t agree with the report.
“Charter schools in New York are the most accountable public schools there are,” she said. “If they don’t perform, they close. Each year they are subject to outside audits. If they mismanage their finances, they close.”
The Utica Academy of Science, the city’s sole charter school, declined to comment on the report. Kelly Gaggin, chief communications officer of Science Academies of New York Charter Schools, said the school wants to wait until the comptroller report — the first audit it’s had since its founding two years ago — is released.
She said this will allow the school to “provide current examples and direct correlations that illustrate the checks and balances that are implemented to eliminate opportunities for malfeasance and provide exceptional stewardship of funds.”
They expect the report to be released early next year.
The AQE report found that 24 percent of charter schools in New York have been audited. The Comptroller’s Office audits about 2 percent every year, it said.
Part of what the agency is recommending is to have schools audited regularly with an external system to catch any internal flaws.
“A school could have not committed fraud in 2010, but they did in 2014,” Serrette said. “We’re spending $1.5 billion on charter schools. We need a system in place that makes sure those dollars are reported in some correct way.”
The most alarming part, Serrette said, is that 95 percent of the time the comptroller checked into a charter school’s finances, he found issues — some really bad, some just sloppiness.
Mokhiber said to “consider the source of the report.”
“These are groups who are trying every trick in the book to deny school choice to parents who have no other option,” Mohkiber said.
“The Utica Academy of Science charter school was started by the founders of the Syracuse Academy of Science charter school, which is a highly successful school with a track record of academic achievement,” Mohkiber said. “The Utica school is providing families with another public school option. The school emphasizes a science and technology education in a college prep setting, which sets students up for success in college or career.”
Either way, Serrette said this is something taxpayers should be paying attention to. And while it would cost them more money to hire extra auditors to check on all of the state’s charter schools, it will save money in the long run.
“You could hire more auditors to look at charter schools for $5 million, but if you end up catching $10 million of mismanagement, you’re $5 million ahead,” Serrette said.
Source
“Llevaron a cabo vigilia contra Trump por el huracán María”
Los oradores incluyeron a Jaime Contreras , vicepresidente del sindicato 32BJ , Mary Cathryn Ricker , vicepresidenta ejecutiva de la Federación de Maestros de EE.UU. , Jordan Haedtler , director...
Los oradores incluyeron a Jaime Contreras , vicepresidente del sindicato 32BJ , Mary Cathryn Ricker , vicepresidenta ejecutiva de la Federación de Maestros de EE.UU. , Jordan Haedtler , director de campaña del Centro para la Democracia Popular, y Tatiana Matta , puertorriqueña que aspira al Congreso por el distrito 23 de California.
Lea el artículo completo aquí.
Newark Police first in N.J. to refuse to detain undocumented immigrants accused of minor crimes
The Star-Ledger – August 15, 2013, by James Queally -
The Newark Police Department has become the first law enforcement agency in New Jersey to refuse the federal government’s requests to...
The Star-Ledger – August 15, 2013, by James Queally -
The Newark Police Department has become the first law enforcement agency in New Jersey to refuse the federal government’s requests to detain people accused of minor crimes who are suspected of being in the U.S. illegally, according to immigration advocates.
In enacting the policy, Newark becomes the latest city to opt out of the most controversial part of the “Secure Communities” program implemented by the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency in 2011, which allows the agency to ask local police to hold any suspect for up to 48 hours if their immigration status is called into question.
In the past two years, cities and states across the nation, including New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, Massachusetts and Connecticut, have adopted similar policies. Earlier this week, Orleans Parish sheriffs also said they will stop honoring the detainer requests.
“Secure Communities” was designed to enhance ICE’s ability to track dangerous criminals who are undocumented immigrants. Under the policy the Department of Homeland Security reviews fingerprints collected by local police during an arrest, which then allows ICE to issue the detainer requests. Immigration advocates, however, argue the policy has been misused, leading to the deportation of people accused of low-level offenses and inhibits collaboration between police and people who are undocumented.
Udi Ofer, the executive director of the state chapter of the ACLU, said Newark’s policy was a collaborative effort between the city, the ACLU and several immigrants rights groups.
“With this policy in place, Newark residents will not have to fear that something like a wrongful arrest for a minor offense will lead to deportation,” said Ofer. “It ensures that if you’re a victim of a crime, or have witnessed a crime, you can contact the police without having to fear deportation.
Newark Police Director Samuel DeMaio signed the directive on July 24. Newark will no longer comply with ICE requests to hold suspects accused of crimes like shoplifting or vandalism.
City police will continue to share fingerprint information with federal investigators, according to DeMaio, who said the department received only eight detainer requests in 2012.
“If we arrest somebody for a disorderly persons offense and we get a detainer request we’re not going to hold them in our cell block,” he said. “I don’t know if we’ve ever gotten a detainer request on a guy with a misdemeanor.”
An ICE spokesman declined to comment directly on the policy. But immigrants rights advocates hailed the move as an olive branch to undocumented immigrants, who often hesitate to cooperate with police who are investigating serious crimes in their community for fear of deportation.
That fear has been evident in a series of community meetings in the Newark’s immigrant-heavy Ironbound neighborhood, which began after “Secure Communities” was implemented in New Jersey last year, said East Ward Councilman Augusto Amador.Amador has been present for a number of those sessions, and said the culture of fear created by the program stopped many undocumented immigrants from reporting crimes committed against them in the area.
“I agree totally with the policy,” he said. “The Newark Police Department already has enough problems to worry about, rather than being involved with matters that don’t belong to them.”
A representative for Mayor Cory Booker’s administration said the policy is a smart move that strengthens ties with city residents and maintains a relationship with ICE.
“The Newark Police Department’s policy improves community relations, while saving taxpayer money and ensuring that city, state, and federal officials continue to share critical information needed to prosecute criminals and keep our streets safe,” said city spokesman James Allen.
Nisha Agarwal, deputy director of the Center for Popular Democracy, said ICE has misused the “Secure Communities” policy in other areas, and Newark’s directive will slowdown the agency if it attempts to start deportation proceedings against someone for a small-scale offense.
“They often will (issue) detainers in cases where it’s really minor, when the person is not a threat to society in any way,” she said.
New Jersey has one of the country’s largest immigrant populations and the state is home to more than 500,000 undocumented immigrants, according to Amy Gottlieb, director of the American Friends Service Committee. Gottlieb said she hopes to see other New Jersey law enforcement agencies echo Newark’s policy.
“Any detainer policy where people are aware that the police department is acting in support of the immigrant community is going to be helpful for police and immigrant relations,” she said.
Source
What should — and should not — be written into a new U.S. education law
Both the U.S. House and Senate are now — eight years late — debating this week how to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known in its current form as No Child Left Behind. Signed...
Both the U.S. House and Senate are now — eight years late — debating this week how to rewrite the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, known in its current form as No Child Left Behind. Signed into law in 2002, NCLB was supposed to have been rewritten by Congress in 2007, but sheer negligence and an inability among lawmakers to agree meant that America’s public schools were forced to live under a law that was fatally flawed.
Here is a letter that was sent to every senator about what the signatories believe should — and should not — be in any new education law. Addressed to Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell of Kentucky and Democratic Minority Leader Harry Reid of Nevada, the letter was sent by the Journey for Justice Alliance, a coalition of nearly 40 organizations of parents and students of color in 23 states, as well as from 175 other national and local civil rights, youth and community organizations.
Dear Senators McConnell and Reid,
The Journey for Justice Alliance, an alliance of 38 organizations of Black and Brown parents and students in 23 states, joins with the 175 other national and local grassroots community, youth and civil rights organizations signed on below, to call on the U.S. Congress to pass an ESEA reauthorization without requiring the regime of oppressive, high stakes, standardized testing and sanctions that have recently been promoted as civil rights provisions within ESEA.
We respectfully disagree that the proliferation of high stakes assessments and top-down interventions are needed in order to improve our schools. We live in the communities where these schools exist. What, from our vantage point, happens because of these tests is not improvement. It’s destruction.
Black and Latino families want world class public schools for our children, just as white and affluent families do. We want quality and stability. We want a varied and rich curriculum in our schools. We don’t want them closed or privatized. We want to spend our days learning, creating and debating, not preparing for test after test.
In the Chicago Public Schools, for example, children in kindergarten through 8th grade are administered anywhere between 8 and 25 standardized tests per year. By the time they graduate from 8th grade, they have taken an average of 180 standardized tests! We are not opposed to state mandated testing as a component of a well-rounded system of evaluating student needs. But enough is enough.
We want balanced assessments, such as oral exams, portfolios, daily check-ins and teacher created assessment tools—all of which are used at the University of Chicago Lab School, where President Barack Obama and Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel have sent their children to be educated. For us, civil rights are about access to schools all our children deserve. Are our children less worthy?
High stakes standardized tests have been proven to harm Black and Brown children, adults, schools and communities. Curriculum is narrowed. Their results purport to show that our children are failures. They also claim to show that our schools are failures, leading to closures or wholesale dismissal of staff. Children in low income communities lose important relationships with caring adults when this happens. Other good schools are destabilized as they receive hundreds of children from closed schools. Large proportions of Black teachers lose their jobs in this process, because it is Black teachers who are often drawn to commit their skills and energies to Black children. Standardized testing, whether intentionally or not, has negatively impacted the Black middle class, because they are the teachers, lunchroom workers, teacher aides, counselors, security staff and custodians who are fired when schools close.
Standardized tests are used as the reason why voting rights are removed from Black and Brown voters—a civil right every bit as important as education. Our schools and school districts are regularly judged to be failures—and then stripped of local control through the appointment of state takeover authorities that eliminate democratic process and our local voice—and have yet so far largely failed to actually improve the quality of education our children receive.
Throughout the course of the debate on the reauthorization of ESEA, way too much attention has focused on testing and sanctions, and not on the much more critical solutions to educational inequality.
In March, the Alliance to Reclaim Our Schools issued a letter to the House and Senate leadership, with four recommendations for ESEA Reauthorization.:
First, there are 5000 community schools in America today, providing an array of wrap around services and after school programs to children and their families. These community schools serve over 5 million children, and we want to double that number and intensify the effort. We are calling for a significant investment in creating thousands moresustainable community schools. They provide a curriculum that is engaging, relevant and challenging, supports for quality teaching and not standardized testing, wrap-around supports for every child, a student centered culture and finally, transformative parent and community engagement.We call on the federal government to provide $1 billion toward that goal, and we are asking our local governments to decrease the high stakes standardized testing with its expensive test prep programs and divert those funds into resourcing more sustainable community schools. Second, we want to include restorative justice and positive approaches to discipline in all of our sustainable community schools, so we are calling on the federal government to provide $500 million for restorative justice coordinators and training in all of our sustainable community schools. Third, to finally move toward fully resourcing Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, we call on the federal government to provide $20 billion this year for the schools that serve the most low income students, and more in future years until we finally reach the 40% increase in funding for poor schools that the Act originally envisioned. Finally, we ask for a moratorium on the federal Charter Schools Program, which has pumped over $3 billion into new charter schools, many of which have already closed, or have failed the students drawn to them by the illusive promise of quality. We want the resources that all our schools deserve – we don’t need more schools. We need better ones.So now we are prepared to say, clearly, that we will take nothing less than the schools our children deserve. It will cost some money to support them, but that’s okay, because we have billionaires and hedge funders in this country who have neverpaid the tax rates that the rest of us pay. We are a rich country, and we can afford some world class community schools.
As we continue to organize for educational justice, it is that tradition of struggle that will guide J4J, AROS and the scores of organizations who have signed on to this letter. We are the people directly impacted and will continue to organize in the memory of the great institution builder Ella Baker who said, “Oppressed people, whatever their level of formal education, have the ability to understand and interpret the world around them, to see the world for what it is, and move to transform it.” Our voices matter.
In Anticipation,Jitu BrownJourney for Justice Alliance
Along with…
ACTION of Greater Lansing, Lansing, MIAction NCWashington, DCAction UnitedAdvocates Building Lasting Equality (ABLE), NHAdvocating, Mobilizing, and Organizing in Solidarity (AMOS), La Crosse, WIAFT Local 2115, Birmingham, ALAlliance AFT DallasAlliance for Congregational Transformation Influencing Our Neighborhoods (ACTION), Youngstown, OHAlliance for Educational Justice (AEJ)The Alliance for Newark Public SchoolsAlliance for Public Schools, FLAlliance for Quality Education (AQE), New YorkAlliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse (ACTS),Syracuse, NYAlliance to Reclaim Our Schools (AROS)American Federation of Teachers (AFT)Arkansas Community OrganizationAROS HoustonAsamblea de Derechos Civiles, Twin Cities/St. Cloud, MNAtlantans Building Leadership for Empowerment (ABLE), Atlanta, GAAustin Voices for Education and Youth, TXBadAss Teachers Association (BATs)Baltimore Algebra ProjectBaltimore Teachers UnionBoston Area Youth Organizing ProjectBYOP/Community Labor United, Boston, MABrighton Park Neighborhood Council, Chicago, ILBoston Education Justice AllianceCalifornians for JusticeCamden Parent Union, NJCamden Student Union, NJCapital Region Organizing Project (CROP), Sacramento, CACenter for Popular Democracy (CPD)Change the Stakes, NYCChicago Teachers UnionChicago PEACECincinnati Federation of TeachersCitizen Action of New YorkCitizens for Better Schools & Sustainable Communities, Birmingham, ALCitizens for Education AwarenessCoalition of Black Trade UnionistsCoalition for Community Schools, New Orleans, LACoalition for Effective Newark Public Schools, NJColeman Advocates for Children & Youth, San Francisco, CACommunity Coalition, CACommunity Voices for Public Education, Houston, TXCommunities UnitedConcerned Citizen’s CoalitionConcerned Citizens of New Orleans, LACongregations United to Serve Humanity (CUSH), Kenosha, WIDetroit LIFE Coalition, MIDRUM, NYCEducation AustinEmpower DCEmpower DC Youth Organizing ProjectEmpower Hampton Roads, Norfolk, VAEquality, Solidarity, Truth, Hope, Empowerment, Reform (ESTHER), Neenah, WIThe Ezekiel Project, Saginaw, MIFairTest (National Center for Fair & Open Testing)Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE), Oahu/Maui, HIFaith Coalition for the Common Good, Springfield, ILFannie Lou Hamer Center for Change, MIFlorida Institute for Reform and Empowerment (FIRE)482Forward, Detroit, MIFuture of Tomorrow, Cypress Hills Local Development Corp, Brooklyn, NYGamalielGamaliel of Metro Chicago, Chicago, ILGenesis, Alameda County, CAThe Grassroots Collaborative, Chicago, ILGrassroots Education Movement, Chicago, ILGreat Public Schools (GPS) Pittsburgh, PAHouston Federation of Teachers, Local 2415, TXIndiana Organizing Project, South Bend, INInnerCity Struggle, LAInterfaith Strategy for Advocacy and Action in the Community (ISAAC), Kalamazoo, MIJoining Our Neighbors, Advancing Hope (JONAH), Eau Claire, WIJoint-Religious Organizing Network for Action and Hope (JONAH), Battle Creek, MIJustice Organization Sharing Hope and United for Action (JOSHUA), Green Bay, WIJustice Overcoming Boundaries (JOB), San Diego, CAKansas Justice AdvocatesKeep the Vote/No Takeover Coalition, DetroitKenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO), Chicago, ILLabor Council for Latin American Advancement, AFL-CIO (LCLAA)Long Island Organizing Network (LION), Riverhead, NYMake the Road, New York, NYMaryland Communities UnitedMassachusetts Jobs with JusticeMedia Mobilizing Project, Philadelphia, PAMetro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity (MORE2), Kansas City, MO/KSMetropolitan Congregations United (MCU), St. Louis, MOMetropolitan Organizing Strategy for Enabling Strength (MOSES), Detroit, MIMilwaukee Inner-city Congregations Allied for Hope (MICAH), Milwaukee, WIMinnesota Neighborhoods Organizing for Change (MN NOC)Missourians Organizing for Reform and Empowerment (MORE)More than A Score, Chicago, ILMOSES, Chicago, ILMOSES, Madison, WINAACP, ArkansasNAACP OregonNAACP Washington StateNAOMI, Wausau, WINC Heat/ Youth Organizing Institute, Durham/RaleighNehemiah, Petersburg, VANeighborhood Networks, Philadelphia, PANetwork for Public EducationNewark Student Union, NJNew Jersey Communities United (NJCU)The New York A. Phillip Randolph InstituteNew York City Coalition for Educational Justice (CEJ)New York City Opt OutNew York Communities for Change (NYCC)New York State United Teachers (NYSUT)Niagara Organizing Alliance for Hope (NOAH), Niagara Falls, NYNOLA Village, LANorth Bay Organizing Project (NBOP), Sonoma County, CANorthside Action For Justice, Chicago, ILOrganizers in the Land of Enchantment (OLE), NMOrganize Now, FLOur Community, Our Schools, Dallas, TXPadres Y Jovenes Unidos, Denver, COParents Across AmericaParents Across America, Roanoke Valley, VAParents for Public Schools of Greater Cincinnati, OHParents 4 Teachers,Chicago, ILParents on the MoveParents Unified for Local School Education (PULSE),Newark, NJPartnership for Renewal in Southern and Central Maryland (PRISCM),Prince George’s County, MDPaterson Education Fund, NJPatterson Education Organizing Committee, NJPennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN), Pittsburgh, PAPIIN-Northwest, Erie, PAPilsen Alliance, Chicago, ILPhiladelphia Coalition Advocating for Public Schools (PCAPS), PAThe Philadelphia Council AFL-CIOPhiladelphia Federation of Teachers, PAPhiladelphia MoveOn.org, PAPhiladelphia Student Union, PAPittsburgh Federation of Teachers, PAPower U, Miami, FLPride at WorkProject SouthQuad Cities Interfaith (QCI), Davenport, IARacine Interfaith Coalition (RIC), Racine, WIRaise Your Voice, Chicago, ILRise Up GeorgiaRochester ACTS, Rochester, NYSave Our SchoolsSave Our Schools NJSchools and Communities UnitedSchott Foundation for Public EducationSEEK, COSistas & Brothas United, New York, NYStay Together Appalachian YouthSunflower Action, Wichita, KSSupport Our Students, Birmingham, ALStewards of Prophetic, Hopeful, Intentional, Action (SOPHIA), Waukesha, WITeachers for Social Justice, Chicago, ILTeaching for ChangeTexas Organizing Project (TOP), TXUnited Congregations Metro East (UCM), E. St. Louis, ILUnited Opt Out of NJUnited Federation of Teachers, NYCUnited Teachers of Los Angeles, CAUrban Youth Collaborative, NYVAYLA, New Orleans, LAVOICE, Buffalo, NYVoices for Education, AZWisconsin Jobs NowWISDOM (Gamaliel statewide), WIYinzercation, Pittsburgh, PAYouth Empowered in the StruggleYouth Justice Coalition, LAYouth On The Move, Bronx, NYYouth Together, Oakland, CAYouth United for Change, Philadelphia, PA
Source: Washington Post
New initiative Opioid Network lobbies legislators
Standing in the marble-floored hallway of a U.S. Senate building, Don LoGiudice of Boardman recalled the morning he found his son, Donny, dead from a drug overdose.
...
Standing in the marble-floored hallway of a U.S. Senate building, Don LoGiudice of Boardman recalled the morning he found his son, Donny, dead from a drug overdose.
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Dallas Fed president will meet with Fed Up Coalition members to hear their concerns
Dallas Fed president will meet with Fed Up Coalition members to hear their concerns
After nearly two months on the job, the new head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas is reaching out to the community — to bunch of community, labor and consumer organizations that have...
After nearly two months on the job, the new head of the Federal Reserve Bank of Dallas is reaching out to the community — to bunch of community, labor and consumer organizations that have repeatedly asked to be heard.
Dallas Fed president Rob Kaplan tomorrow will met with a variety of representatives of the national Fed Up Coalition for about 90 minutes, according to the regional bank.
The group was unhappy with the Dallas Fed’s “cryptic” search process to replace replaced former chief Richard Fisher, who retired in March, and with its lack of transparency. I wrote about it. Fed Up members in Texas and nationwide also have called for Federal Reserve to focus on full employment and higher wages for blacks and others in poor neighborhoods who have been left out of the economic recovery.
In August, the Dallas Fed named Kaplan, a former Harvard business professor and investment banker, as president and CEO starting Sept. 8. As one of 12 Fed regional bank presidents around the country, Kaplan helps set the nation’s economic and monetary policy, such as interest rates, that affects people everywhere.
The day after Kaplan’s announcement, the Texas Organizing Project’s Dallas County director Brianna Brown suggested that one of the first things he should do when he got to Dallas was to meet with her group and working families in the area. I wrote about that.
Earlier this year, the Texas Organizing Project and Fed Up asked to meet with Dallas Fed board members to seek more openness and participation in the search process. The Dallas Fed also has faced criticism from other corners for a lack of transparency and the lengthiness (nine months) of its search.
The coalition’s request was denied back then, and instead a meeting was arranged with the bank’s general counsel and senior vice president.
Now, there’s another chance.
“We want to represent the coalition in the same way that the coalition has met with other Fed presidents around the country to encourage them to keep interest rates low to help people in the communities,” Brown said today. “We’re trying to figure out a way that the coalition can be part of the process around Fed policy. How we can collaborate and work together.”
Brown said it’s not a “pie-in-the-sky” idea. She noted that a Fed Up meeting with Chicago Fed president Charles Evans led to him touring a low-income neighborhood in September.
Nearly a dozen people representing Fed Up will attend tomorrow’s meeting at the Dallas Fed. They include: Brown; representatives of the Dallas AFL-CIO, Texas AFL-CIO, Center for Popular Democracy and Economic Policy Institute; Dallas Faith leader Wes Helm; and a Walmart worker. Dallas County Judge Clay Jenkins also will attend as a guest of Fed Up, said Daniel Barrera, a Dallas organizer for the Texas Organizing Project.
Jenkins and John Patrick, president of the Texas AFL-CIO, did not end up attending the meeting. I wrote a follow-up story on Nov. 5 about the results of the meeting.
The Dallas Fed will have four people present: Kaplan, senior vice president Alfreda Norman, community development officer Roy Lopez and spokesman James Hoard .
“We want to obviously listen to what they have to say, provide any information and answer any questions they have,” Hoard said today about the meeting.
Source: The Dallas Morning News
Hundreds expect to be arrested during D.C. health care protest
After Senate Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act this week, hundreds of demonstrators gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday to urge their representatives to scrap...
After Senate Republicans’ failure to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act this week, hundreds of demonstrators gathered on Capitol Hill Wednesday to urge their representatives to scrap future attempts to scuttle the health care laws and back universal coverage instead.
Of those who attended the protest, “about 600 or so people” had signed up expressing they were willing to be arrested, according to Jennifer Epps-Addison, president and co-executive director at the Center for Popular Democracy, one of the groups that planned the protest. “A few hundred more” came as supporters and legal observers, she said.
Read the full article here.
2 months ago
2 months ago