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Monday, November 6, 2006
HEALTHY FAMILIES
 PICO federations get out the vote for
tobacco tax initiatives in California and Missouri
By the time California voters go to the polls on
Tuesday, tobacco companies will have spent more than $65 million
dollars to stop an initiative that would save the lives of an
estimated 300,000 people and raise enough money to provide health
coverage for the state’s 800,000 uninsured children. Read
more>>
Kansas City and Denver rallies
call for full funding of SCHIP
With
1.5 million children nationally at risk of losing their health
coverage, PICO federations in Missouri and Colorado held rallies to
urge local and state officials to press Congress to fully fund the
State Children’s Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) next year. Read more>>
Legislation provides coverage
to 94,000 more children in California
PICO California and the 100% Campaign won significant
improvements to the State’s Medi-Cal and the Healthy Families
Program (HFP) that will enable more eligible children in
California to enroll in and retain health insurance. Read more>>
GOOD SCHOOLS
New study documents value of parent
organizing
The Annie E. Casey
Foundation released a new report that analyzes how PICO affiliate Metro Organizations for
People is transforming the culture of public education in
Denver. Unleashing the
Power of Parents to Fix their Kids' Schools documents the
method and value of parent organizing for school reform. The report
was produced by Making Connections Denver.
More school districts adopt
Parent-Teacher Home Visit Project
School districts in Denver, Camden, New Jersey and
Gilroy, California were the latest to embrace the Parent-Teacher
Home Visit Project as a tool to build instructional relationships
between home and school. Sacramento Area Congregations
Together created this model program in 1998. In August the
California legislature approved a new round of $15 million to
support the project. For more information visit http://www.pthvp.org.
HOUSING OPPORTUNITIES
New Jersey set to launch Camden Home
Improvement Program
As a result of
work by Camden Churches
Organized for People, the State of New Jersey is about to launch
a home repair program that will make $7.5 million in grants
available to Camden homeowners to repair and renovate their homes.
Read more>>
Fight continues for affordable
housing in Oakland
After Mayor Jerry
Brown cast a tie-breaking vote against a city inclusionary zoning
ordinance, Oakland
Community Organizations (OCO) vowed to continue its campaign to
require private developers to set aside affordable housing units so
that working families can continue to afford to live in the city. Read more >>
REVITALIZING COMMUNITIES
Philadelphia Archdiocese and Beneficial Bank
team up to revitalize housing
The Eastern Pennsylvania
Organizing Project (EPOP) is working with the Archdiocese of
Philadelphia Office of Community Development, Beneficial Savings
Bank, and community development organizations to rehabilitate vacant
homes and businesses in Eastern Philadelphia. Read more >>
MOP moves ambitious agenda for
Denver
On November 2 Metro Organizations for
People (MOP) held a rousing action with 600 people in attendance
around the theme of "Our Hope for Tomorrow". The action covered an
ambitious agenda of public safety, educatoin, immigration and health
care issues currently being addressed by MOP members. Click here to view TV
coverage of the event. Read more>>
ECONOMIC SECURITY
Gainesville churches organize to reduce
utility costs
More than 600 residents
of Gainesville, Florida participated in an ACTION Network meeting to
press city and state officials and utility executives to address
rising energy costs, by making more grants available to low-income
families to make their homes more energy efficient and by
strengthening state laws regulating rental properties. Read more>>
REBUILDING
LOUISIANA
1,500 affordable
homes planned for the Tremé neighborhood in New
Orleans
Low-income families,
including residents of the Lafitte Housing project, will be able to
return to new homes as part of a $350 million development project to
revitalize the predominantly African-American Tremé neighborhood.
The construction of 1,500 new homes on the site of the Lafitte
Housing Project and scattered throughout Tremé will preserve all 900
subsidized housing units that existed pre-Katrina, while renovating
and building an additional 600 vacant properties as affordable
homes. Read
more>>
Community Benefits in New
Orleans
Leading experts in Community
Benefit Agreements (CBA) met with community leaders in New Orleans
to share this new strategy that organizations across the country are
using to revitalize communities. Read
more>>
ACT asks for volunteers to help gut
homes over the holidays
All
Congregations Together (ACT) launched its “Home for the Holidays”
Campaign to encourage volunteers to travel to New Orleans to help
gut homes. With help from volunteers over the holidays, ACT is
hoping to see more than 200 homes cleaned out at no costs for
low-income families that want to rebuild. Contact ACT at (504)
304-2281 for more information. SAFE NEIGHBORHOOODS
Rochester wins new Foot Patrol
initiative
Interfaith Action won an
agreement from the Rochester Police Department to establish a new
foot patrol initiative in four high-crime neighborhoods. The pilot
program will operate for a year, at which time the initiative will
be evaluated to determine its effectiveness in lowering the crime
rate. Read
more>>
YOUTH
OPPORTUNITIES
Families press
for clean and safe parks in Coachella
Coachella City, California recently agreed to make $4
million available for capital improvements to parks and to do a
feasibility study on a parcel tax for recreation services as a
result of organizing by families from Inland Congregations United
for Change. Read
more>>
New partnership provides after school
and summer care to Anchorage Children
Anchorage Faith & Action – Congregations Together
leaders, Mayor Mark Begich, and Campfire held a joint press
conference on October 11 to announce a unique partnership between
the Municipality, Central Lutheran Church, and Campfire to serve the
needs of the elementary age children living in West Fairview. Read
more>>
JOBS
Visit www.piconetwork.org/ab_careers.html
to see current jobs and learn more about working in the PICO
network.
PICO needs
your financial support
PICO's success
in empowering families and improving communities depends on
financial contributions from our donors. To help support our work on
the issues you've read about in this issue of e-news and others,
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