Updates – Page 23 – Alliance for a Just Society

ACA Enrollment Figures Show More Focus Needed On Latino Communities

HHS must do more to close the Latino coverage gap; state officials who’ve resisted ACA implementation bear responsibility for making it worse.

For Immediate Release: Friday, May 2, 2014

Contact: Kathy Mulady, Communications Director, kathy@allianceforajustsociety.org, (206) 992-8787

Seattle, WA – The Alliance for a Just Society released the following statement from executive director LeeAnn Hall in response to the Department of Health & Human Services’ first release of race and ethnicity data yesterday for enrollees in the Affordable Care Act’s federally-facilitated marketplace:

“While we commend HHS for releasing data on the racial and ethnic breakdown of enrollments, we are gravely concerned about the deficit in Latino enrollment. Only 10.7 percent of enrollees in the federal marketplace who reported/race ethnicity were Latino, compared to an estimated 14.5 percent in the marketplace-eligible population. We can and must do better.Continue reading “ACA Enrollment Figures Show More Focus Needed On Latino Communities”

Seattle’s $15 Wage Plan to Boost Families and Businesses

Alliance for a Just Society Photo by Jason Collette

The day after Republicans in the U.S. Senate blocked a modest minimum wage increase to $10.10, Seattle small business owners with the Main Street Alliance proclaimed their support for a city level $15 minimum wage.

“It is smart and responsible to raise the minimum wage, boost our local economy, and support small business success at the same time,” said Joe Fugere, owner of Tutta Bella Neapolitan Pizzeria, who served on the Mayor’s Income Inequality Advisory Committee.

“Main Street Alliance brought a strong small business voice to the process that sought common ground because we know our economy is built from the bottom up, not the top down,” said Fugere. “We recognize that our local economy is stronger when low- and middle-class families have greater economic security and more money to spend.Continue reading “Seattle’s $15 Wage Plan to Boost Families and Businesses”

‘Homeowners Bill of Rights’ Helps Fight Foreclosure in Colorado

After three years of persistent and tireless work by Colorado Progressive Coalition members, the Colorado legislature this month finally passed meaningful protections for homeowners at risk of losing their homes.

For years horror stories have abounded in the press of banks that lost paperwork, homeowners never speaking to the same person twice, promises of a loan modification while simultaneously foreclosing on the borrower. Abuses by the banks added to the immense stress homeowners – and added to the growing number of foreclosures that could have been prevented.

The package of protections passed by the Colorado legislature is known as the “Homeowners Bill of Rights,” and is similar to those passed previously in California, Nevada, and Minnesota.Continue reading “‘Homeowners Bill of Rights’ Helps Fight Foreclosure in Colorado”

Oregon Activists at the Heart of Fight to End ICE Holds

By Nicole Brown

Center for Intercultural Organizing

Last week when I received a call from Multnomah County Chair Marissa Madrigal and then from Sheriff Daniel Staton, I wondered if the sheriff might finally be reconsidering his policy on holding immigrants in jail at the request of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

But I never could have anticipated this conversation – or what followed.Continue reading “Oregon Activists at the Heart of Fight to End ICE Holds”

Will Health Coverage Translate into Receiving Health Care?

LeeAnn Hall, executive director of Alliance for a Just Society, published this article originally in Huffington Post.

More than 7.5 million people have signed up for new health coverage through the Affordable Care Act’s state and federal health insurance marketplaces at the close of the first enrollment period.

The Department of Health and Human Services reports that another 3 million people have gained health coverage through Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) as of the end of February, compared to figures five months earlier.

Now we’re about to find out something critically important: whether having health coverage translates into receiving health care.

Let’s be blunt: one of the biggest problems with America’s health care system is that it neglects the poorest among us. People of color suffer more and die earlier than others. The U.S. continues to have one of the highest infant mortality rates among the 14 wealthiest countries, and it’s higher in communities of color.Continue reading “Will Health Coverage Translate into Receiving Health Care?”

“We Say They Can Stay,” Native American Leaders Protest Immigrant Detension

By Simmi Bagri
Alliance for a Just Society

The annual Alliance for A Just Society’s Advanced Native Organizers Training, was sponsored by the Praxis Project and hosted at the Alliance’s office in Seattle this month, drew leaders from tribes and organizations from around the country. They came from as far as Virginia, Alaska, South Dakota, and New Mexico, and as near as Oregon and the Yakima Valley.

They brought with them their history, their culture, and stories of the injustices being faced in their communities. They brought an array of unique perspectives on issues ranging from fighting for food sovereignty to challenging the destruction of native lands through construction of oil pipelines.Continue reading ““We Say They Can Stay,” Native American Leaders Protest Immigrant Detension”

Tax Day Means Tax Refunds for the Country’s Powerful Corporations

You pay your taxes today – April 15 – and every day, when you shop and buy products for your home or business.

The nation’s most profitable corporations, on the other had, aren’t just avoiding taxes – but actually getting refunds.

General Electric is especially imaginative it seems, when finding ways to short-circuit their tax-paying responsibilities. When billion-dollar corporations don’t pay their fair share, all of us sacrifice valuable services, healthy schools, good transportation and jobs.

If corporations, like General Electric, paid their fair share, our cities, states and entire country would actually look and feel like the most prosperous nation in the world. Instead, too many of our cities and states look more like third world countries, entrenched in deep poverty.

It’s embarrassing. School are struggling, roads crumble, bridges collapse, college graduates struggle under the burden of repaying their student loan debt.Continue reading “Tax Day Means Tax Refunds for the Country’s Powerful Corporations”

New Jersey Small Businesses Still Adrift Two Years After Sandy

Since Superstorm Sandy hit the east coast in November 2012, small business owners who were promised financial assistance to help their businesses excited abut rebuilding and recovering, are still waiting for the funding to appear. Corinne Horowitz, the business representative for the New Jersey Main Street Alliance, describes their frustration as they search for solutions.

By Corinne Horowitz

Small business owners who were devastated by Sandy in November 2012 are outraged over the mishandling of Sandy business grants by the New Jersey Economic Development Authority and Gov. Chris Christie’s Administration.

Working with the New Jersey Main Street Alliance, business owners attended the economic development public hearing, townhall meetings, and finally organized a press conference to call for investigation and oversight of the program.

The federal Sandy Relief Bill passed in January 2013 allocated $260 million for the Stronger New Jersey Business Grant Program to provide grants of up to $50,000 to affected businesses “for working capital or construction needs.” Businesses that were at first relieved by the anticipation of rebuilding and recovering from the storm, soon became dismayed what has turned out to be a daunting process.

Continue reading “New Jersey Small Businesses Still Adrift Two Years After Sandy”

After Obamacare Enrollment, Three Critical Steps

This article by LeeAnn Hall, first appeared in Colorlines.com

More than 7.1 million people have obtained health coverage under the Affordable Care Act, despite the early confusion and glitches with the computer system. In addition, 6.3 million are approved for Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program, and an estimated 3 million more young people gained health insurance by staying on their parent’s plans.

We have a once-in-a-generation opportunity to eliminate health disparities so people of color are no longer living sicker and dying younger. If we do our job, no mother will ever have to choose between paying the rent or taking her sick child to the doctor.
Continue reading “After Obamacare Enrollment, Three Critical Steps”

No More Delays, Two Million is Too Many

Delaying defense is one of the oldest tactics of war. It’s as much a psychological one as it is strategic. The goal is to wear down the opposition until they become weak, hungry or distracted. Our immigrant rights movement hasn’t been immune to it.

Now there is no longer time for delay: two million deportations is a clear message and a rallying cry that we cannot and will not be ignored.

The immigrant reform movement built great power during the electoral battle of 2012, vast armies of strong, fearless leaders were created as we went door-to-door registering people to vote. Continue reading “No More Delays, Two Million is Too Many”