VICTORIES!

CalWORKS Moms Win Funds for College

Wendy Camacho sued CalWORKS in Los Angeles Superior Court. She wanted CalWORKS to reimburse her for books and supplies.  When Camacho began receiving CalWORKS, she bought books and supplies for classes to become a registered nurse. CalWORKS refused to reimburse her because she bought them before the program’s approval.

Judge Chalfant noted that if Camacho had waited until after County approval, she might have flunked out of the nursing program. He ruled that DSS must pay for all supportive services necessary for CalWORKS recipients to participate in their self-initiated programs. They must pay even when the items were purchased prior to the signing of a welfare-to-work plan.

San Francisco Offers Sanctuary to Immigrants

 San Francisco recently invested  $83,000 to inform all immigrants that they are safe in their city. They are putting ads on TV, radio, billboards and bus shelters. They explain that San Francisco is a sanctuary for undocumented immigrants. The ads are in English, Spanish, Chinese, Russian and Vietnamese.

            They tell immigrants that they will have safe access to city services. The city has a “don’t ask, don’t tell” policy about residence. The ad campaign was prompted after a series of federal raids left immigrants fearful of reporting crime or seeking medical treatment. The city wants businesses and city workers to understand the policy too.

            San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom stated, “We are saying to all of our residents: We don’t care what your status is. We care that you, as a human being, are a resident of our city. And we want you to participate in the life of our city.”

            City police do not enforce immigration law.  They will only report an illegal immigrant under felony arrest. Since 1989 San Francisco has been a sanctuary for immigrants. They bar city employees from assisting INS in arrests or investigations (unless required to by federal law, state law or a warrant.)

            Other sanctuary cities are San Jose, Houston, Miami, Oakland, Seattle, Chicago. But they do not advertise their sanctuary policy—yet.

Cubans Win Quicker Title to Homes

Cubans who rent their homes from government employers become the owners after 20 years paying rent.  These workers include teachers, military members, construction workers, sugar workers and others. This law was passed 20 years ago.  So many Cubans are soon to become homeowners.

In April Cuba streamlined the process to allow the tenants to easily and quickly gain access to the title of their homes.  They will now be able to do the paper work in their own neighborhood. They can initiate the transfer without waiting on the employer. The title will allow them to bequeath the property to an heir or get a license to rent it.

Chicago Tenants Stop Racial Displacement

 Tenants at Grove Parc Apartments in Chicago have achieved a major housing victory. They stopped HUD from displacing their community of over 400 Black families. Grove Parc sits in the shadow of the University of Chicago. And it is the proposed site for the 2016 Olympic stadium.

HUD threatened in 2006 to send Grove Parc to foreclosure because of failed inspections. Since then, tenants have been organizing to keep all 504 units subsidized and in the community. Tenant leaders educated their neighbors about the dangers of vouchers. (They are hard to use and easy to lose.) They got over half the complex to sign up for the Tenants Association.

The tenants endorsed a vision to bring in new owners and management and to keep the project-based subsidies. They worked to give tenants access to the tools and support to turn around their community.

They found a non-profit developer called Preservation Of Affordable Housing (POAH). It was committed to their vision. They got the owners to agree to sell. They had the support of tenants, the community and elected officials. Nevertheless, HUD rejected POAH’s first plan. HUD pushed towards demolition, displacement and foreclosure.

            Tenants staged a sit-in at the HUD office. They demanded an extension and a second chance for a good plan. As a result, tenants received word that HUD accepted a revised POAH plan. On Jan. 15, 2008, POAH took over management. This is the first step towards preserving affordable housing. It is a means of stopping racial and economic community displacement.

STOP (Southside Together Organizing for Power)

StopGentrification@gmail.com

Chicago, IL;  773-753-9674

Families Win Paid Caregiving Leave

 New Jersey just passed a law requiring companies to provide 6 weeks paid caregiving leave to their employees. Workers caring for a new child or a sick relative will receive six weeks paid leave to provide care.

New Jersey has joined California and Washington as the only three US states with this law. New Jersey workers will pay just $33 a year in payroll taxes to cover the cost of this paid leave.

From Cow Pies to Clear Skies

 A dairy farmer family has created a greener way to run their Crave Brothers Dairy Farm. They generate electricity from their 750 cows’ caca—enough to run their rural Wisconsin farm and cheesemaking plant. The system also generates enough power for up to 120 homes.

How do they do this? They have an anaerobic digestion system that generates electricity. Anaerobic (oxygen-free) digestion is a biological process in which microorganisms break down organic waste. This process ultimately produces gas, mainly methane with some carbon dioxide.  This gas can be burned just like natural gas. Thus it generates energy.

The anaerobic digester is owned and installed by Clear Horizons. The digester is computer-controlled from the company's office in Milwaukee. In this way the Crave Brothers are running an environmentally responsible and sustainable business.

The digester helps manage the farm's manure. It provides clean, renewable energy for the farm.  It reduces odor from the manure. And it provides some saleable byproducts such as liquid fertilizer, animal bedding, and organic potting mixes. Clear Horizons sells the excess electricity on the electrical grid.

Visit the Crave Brothers at CraveCheese.com.

Orthodox Jewish Women to Become Rabbis 

Orthodox Jewish women will now be allowed to become Rabbis. The Shalom Hartman Institute in Jerusalem will begin training women of all denominations – Reform, Conservative, Reconstructionist and Orthodox—to be ordained. (The Reform Jews ordained women since 1972, the Reconstructionists began in 1977, and the Conservatives in 1983.)

They say they are fulfilling a real need for “master educators” to take on leadership roles in Jewish high schools.

“For too long now, we have been robbing ourselves of 50 percent of our potential leaders; people who can shape and inspire others,” said Donniel Hartman, a rabbi and co-director of the Institute.

Rabbi Dr. Haviva Ner-david was the first woman to receive Orthodox ordination in 2006 (from a private rabbi). She stated that the Hartman Institute is “stopping short of calling the women rabbis. This is annoying, but perhaps it is a political decision to start off with a half-title so a not to be too controversial.”

The Jersulem Post

Mom Wins $9 Million for Insurance Cancellation

 Patsy Bates, a California mother of two, had a tumor removed from her breast. She received two chemotherapy treatments in 2004. Then doctors stopped treating her. Her insurance, Health Net Inc, had cancelled her insurance. She was left with $129,000 in unpaid medical bills. She completed her cancer treatment through a state-funded program.

            On Feb. 22, 2008, Judge Sam Cianchetti ordered Health Net to repay her bills plus $8.4 million in punitive damages. He also gave her $750,000 for emotional distress. 

The Los Angeles City attorney has now sued Health Net for illegally canceling the coverage of 1,600 patients. The company also illegally paid bonuses to an administrator for meeting targets of policy cancellations.

Victory Over Pepsi Aquafina Scam

 Pepsi sells Aquafina bottled water. It is tap water. So a group called Corporate Accountability International exposed and pressured Pepsi. In April, Pepsi finally agreed to spell out “Public Water Source” on each Aquafina water label.

Now the group has set their sights on Coca-Cola. Coca Cola makes Dasani bottled water, also from tap water.

            Corporate Accountability International’s Think Outside the Bottle Campaign is educating millions of people about the dangers of corporate control of water. They also show that nearly half of bottled water is just tap water. Yet corporations resell it for huge profits.

These corporations use advertising to undermine people’s confidence in public tap water. Yet they use this very same tap water in their products.

Victory for Striking Vietnamese Nike Workers 

In April 20,000 Vietnamese workers, mostly women, settled a 48 hour strike. They were striking at a Taiwanese-owned Nike factory. They won a 10% pay increase. That averaged $59 per month—half their original demand. US-owned Nike produces 75 million pairs of shoes annually in 50 factories in Vietnam.

            There has been a 19% hike in consumer prices in Vietnam in one year. The Vietnamese government upped the minimum wage paid by foreign companies by 13% in January.

One Year of Vocational College Will Meet TANF Work Requirements

 Beginning in October 2008, welfare moms can use up to a year of vocational college classes to meet TANF work requirements. They will now be able to count one hour of homework for every hour of class time. (They no longer have to have the homework supervised.) Other oppressive rules introduced by Bush in 2006 still exist. Two or four year college degrees are still impossible to pursue unless the state decides to fund those cases.