Community Leaders Assemble for Intensive Training Focused on Voter Protection
July 31, 2008
- Anticipating the largest voter turnout in history - and ensuing problems at the polls - the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP) hosted a three-day Operation Big Vote Training Academy in New Orleans last week to train field organizers on voter registration, education, mobilization, and voter protection.
“Our job is to make sure each voter has an opportunity to cast a ballot that counts on November 4,” executive director and CEO of the NCBCP, Melanie L. Campbell, told over 60 community organizers from 14 states. “This intensive training is designed to prepare us for any challenges that may arise in the coming months.”
Lawyers, seasoned organizers, and technology experts conducted training sessions that ranged from best practices in nonpartisan voter education, volunteer recruitment, and voter protection, to integrating new technology tools and minding your health during this rigorous campaign. Participants also learned the capabilities of the NCBCP’s voter information hotline, 1 866-MYVOTE -1.
“Bringing together an intergenerational mix of public servants created an opportunity for the seasoned veterans to teach the young people how to mobilize on the ground, while the youth taught veterans how to organize online,” Campbell added.
Sharon Hanshaw, executive director of Costal Women for Change in Biloxi, MS, adds, “We will continue to registering new voters, however, the larger focus of the Unity ‘08 Black Campaign is to make sure voters verify their names on the voter rolls, locate their polling place in advance, and know their rights at the polls before they go cast their ballot.”
Participants in the training represented a number of labor and nonprofit organizations, including several executives from A. Philip Randolph Institute, Coalition of Black Trade Unionists, and local affiliates of the National Urban League, all major Unity ‘08 Black Campaign partners. Other partners include American Urban Radio Networks and UniverSoul Circus.
The NCBCP’s Unity ‘08 Black Campaign is a non-partisan civic engagement initiative designed to inoculate, motivate, and mobilize Black voters to participate in the 2008 election.
DNC Spending Millions to Mobilize Latinos for Obama, But Is His Camp Ignoring Black Media?
July 31, 2008
Michael H. Cottman, BlackAmericaWeb.com
- Democrats are spending an unprecedented $20 million to mobilize Hispanic voters around the candidacy of Barack Obama, whose campaign has already spent more on Latino outreach than any presidential campaign in history.
The news comes as a new Pew Hispanic Center survey finds Obama holding a substantial lead over Republican John McCain among Hispanic voters. The campaign plans to spend money in all 50 states, but will focus on swing states such as Nevada and Florida.
Democratic Rep. Hilda Solis (D-CA) said the Hispanic vote has been described as a “sleeping giant.” “Well, the giant has woken up, and it’s being prodded now by the Obama campaign, and we’re very delighted that that’s happening,” Solis said at a news conference.
Will the House of Representatives’ Apology for Slavery Open the Door for Potential Reparations?
July 31, 2008
Sherrel Wheeler Stewart, BlackAmericaWeb.com
- Tuesday’s apology for slavery and Jim Crow segregation from the U.S. House of Representatives is a necessary step toward healing some of America’s racial ills and could open the door for serious dialogue on reparations, some observers say.
“When you admit to guilt, the next thing people say is, ‘what are you going to do to make it right?’” Syracuse University professor Boyce Watkins told BlackAmericaWeb.com. “If you admit something was stolen, you have to give something back. It opens the door for additional conversation about reparations.”
“The U.S. House deserves credit for taking this step, but the proof is in the potato salad,” he said. “If you don’t follow the apology with action, talk is cheap. Talk is less expensive than reparations.”
National Minority Donor Awareness Day – August 1st
July 31, 2008
- National Minority Donor Awareness Day (NMDAD), August 1, is an annual event designed to increase awareness about the need and importance of organ, tissue, marrow, and blood donation among all minority communities. Launched in 1996, National Minority Donor Awareness Day also focuses on how to prevent end organ failure through healthy living.
Every 14 minutes a new name is added to the national transplant waiting list. Many can avoid kidney failure as uncontrolled high blood pressure and uncontrolled diabetes are the leading causes of kidney failure. National MOTTEP’s mission is to reduce the rate and number of ethnic minority Americans needing organ and tissue transplants.
Minorities make up 50% of the overall transplant waiting list and more than 50% of the kidney transplant waiting list. The average wait for a kidney transplant is 5-10 years. Washington, DC currently ranks #1 in the nation with the highest incidence of kidney disease.
National Minority Organ Tissue Transplant Education Program
Many African-American and Latino Families in Danger of Falling Out of Middle Class, According To New Report
July 31, 2008
- As CNN explores many of the aspects of the African-American experience in its “Black in America” series, a new report shows that the vast majority of African-American and Latino families who have entered the middle class are either borderline or at high risk of falling out of the middle class altogether. The 2008 study by the policy center Demos and the Institute for Assets and Social Policy (IASP) at Brandeis University shows that one in four African-American and fewer than one in five Latino middle-class families in America are financially secure.
“Economic (In)Security: The Experience of the African American and Latino Middle Classes” is the first comprehensive report to measure the economic stability of households of color in the United States. Based on national government data, “Economic (In)Security” is the second in a series of reports and briefing papers that utilize the new Middle Class Security Index developed by the non-partisan policy center Demos and IASP/Brandeis. The first report, “By a Thread: The New Experience of America’s Middle Class,” was published in late November 2007 and presents findings on the middle class as a whole.
This Index measures the financial security of the middle class by rating household stability across five core economic factors: assets, educational achievement, housing costs, budget and healthcare. Based on how a family ranked in each of these factors, they were defined as financially “secure,” “borderline” or “at risk.”
“Financial health eludes the majority of African-American and Latino middle class,” said Thomas M. Shapiro, Director of the Institute on Assets and Social Policy at Brandies and one of the co-authors of the report. “Tremendous middle-class gains earned in schools, achieved on the job, and seen in paychecks are eroded by lack of assets, which seriously undermines the financial security of African-American and Latino middle class families.”
The Middle Class Security Index shows worrying trends in African-American and Latino households:
* African-American and Latino families have more difficulty moving into the middle class, and families that do enter the middle class are less secure and at higher risk than the middle class as a whole.
* Only 26 percent of African-American middle-class families have the combination of assets, education, sufficient income, and health insurance to ensure middle-class financial security. One in three (33 percent) are at high risk of falling out of the middle class.
* Fewer than one in five Latino families (18 percent) are securely in the middle class. More than twice as many Latino (41 percent) families are in danger of slipping out of the middle class.
* African-American middle-class families are less secure and at greater risk than the middle class as a whole on four of the five indicators of security and vulnerability. Latino middle-class families are less secure and at greater risk on all five indicators.
The report also shows that assets and housing costs are among the key destabilizing factors Latino and African-American families face:
* Only 2 percent of African-American and 8 percent of middle-class Latino families have enough net financial assets to meet three-quarters of their essential living expenses for nine months if their source of income disappeared.
* About 95 percent of African-American and 87 percent of Latino middle-class families do not have enough net assets to meet three-quarters of their essential living expenses for even three months if their source of income were to disappear.
* Only 26 percent of African-American and 37 percent of Latino middle-class families spend less than 20 percent of their after-tax income on housing — both are below the national average of 40 percent.
The “Economic (In)Security” report recommends a set of policies that will help open access to, and strengthen, America’s middle class. These policies cover a range of important issues affecting American households, including asset building and debt reduction, making higher education more accessible and affordable, and addressing the healthcare crisis.
“African-American and Latino families, even those who have made it into the middle class, still face very serious barriers to financial security,” said Jennifer Wheary, Senior Fellow at Demos and report co-author. “Strengthening the middle class was a theme early in the election cycle. While both candidates seem to have forgotten about the topic, building a strong and inclusive middle class is more important than ever. Given the forecasts for population growth, candidates who say they are trying to build a better future for America cannot continue to ignore the great disparities, especially in key areas such as assets and housing costs that make the African-American and Latino middle classes financially weaker and less stable than their white counterparts.”
Recent Comments