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-----Original Message-----
From: ACORN News <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Sent: Tue, 22 Nov 2005 01:14:58 -0600
Subject: Katrina Survivors Fight Eviction, RFK Human Rights Award, Action Against Budget, more
[Original message attached...]
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--- Begin Message --- Title: ACORN: 11.21.04 National Newsletter
ACORN NEWS Association of Community Organizations for Reform Now
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Katrina Survivors Face December 1st Evictions
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RFK Human Rights Award Presented to ACORN's Stephen Bradberry
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Take Action Against Budget that Takes from the Poor, Gives to the Rich
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California ACORN Helps Stop Ballot Measures That Threatened Schools, Unions
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Katrina Survivors Fight December 1st Eviction
Members of ACORN Katrina Survivors Association.FEMA has announced that on December 1st it will stop paying bills for the roughly 150,000 victims of Hurricane Katrina who remain in motel and hotel rooms across the country. ACORN members are mobilizing to stop FEMA and the Bush administration from throwing families into the streets, and demand that the government instead help people return home by providing temporary shelter near their houses.
We would rather see the federal funds being used to rebuild our neighborhoods back in New Orleans instead of paying for motels, says ACORN Katrina Survivors Association member Kimberly Samuels. But no one in Washington seems to have the same priorities that we do.
On Tuesday, November 22nd, members of ACORN Katrina Survivors Association will be joined by AFL-CIO Secretary-Treasurer Linda Chavez-Thompson, Congressman Al Green, and others at a Houston rally demanding that FEMA and the Bush administration rescind the December 1st deadline. Other events are planned for San Antonio and Dallas, and Survivors Association Members in New York City have already secured a promise of city help in the face of the impending deadline.
Take Action: Click here or call the ACORN Legislative Action Hotline at 1-800-643-9557 to tell FEMA and the Bush Administration: Cancel the December 1st evictions of Katrina survivor families! Help families return and rebuild; dont throw them into the streets!
RFK Human Rights Award presented to ACORNs Stephen Bradberry
Stephen Bradberry speaks at the ACORN Community Forum on Rebuilding New Orleans.On November 16th, Senator Edward M. Kennedy presented Stephen Bradberry, the Head Organizer of New Orleans ACORN, with the Robert F. Kennedy Human Rights Award. The RFK Memorial ceremony was held in Washington D.C. on what would have been Robert F. Kennedys 80th birthday. Bradberry was honored for his work with New Orleans working poor and their struggle to seek full political participation in the government decisions that affect them, and financial and environmental justice campaigns. Senator Kennedy called him a relentless crusader for social and economic justice, and said, He battles every day, and with great humility, to empower the poor of New Orleans and mobilize them to fight more effectively for themselves.
Click here to read Senator Kennedys remarks.
Take Action Against Budget that Takes from the Poor, Gives to the RIch
Congress has continued work on its Robin Hood in reverse budget which takes money from vital family supports like health care, nutrition, SSI for disabled people, foster care, and student loans, while handing out 60 billion dollars in tax breaks for the rich. The Senate has passed both the tax cuts and the budget cuts, and the House has passed the budget cuts and plans to move on tax cuts when they return after Thanksgiving.
But there are still important opportunities to hold off this terrible budget.
Members in both houses must still vote on final bills, which bring House and Senate versions in line with each other. Because of pressure from ACORN and a long list of allies, the House and Senate have passed very different bills, and the Republican leadership has had to make a long list of contradictory promises to different elements of their party. We need to urge all members of Congress who voted against the bills to do so again, and demand that those who voted for them nowvote against the backwards priorities of these budgets.
Take action: Click here to send an email, or call the ACORN Legislative Action Hotline at 1-800-643-9557 to tell your members of Congress: Oppose the conference reports on budget and taxes. Dont cut healthcare and other help for struggling families to pay for tax cuts for millionaires!
California ACORN Helps Stop Ballot Measures That Threatened Schools, Unions
State Treasurer Phil Angelides speaks next to San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom at a Get Out the Vote rally.On November 8th, the hard work of California ACORN members and union members around the state paid off when four harmful propositions were defeated in the state's special election. The propositions would have placed crippling restrictions on school funding and teacher tenure, taken authority to redistrict from legislators, and curtailed the political voice of union members.
Two days before the election, Los Angeles ACORN helped lead a rally of over 350 people in attendance. ACORN leader Sara Araiza spoke to the crowd, assembled labor leaders, and elected officials about the devastating effect the propositions would have on our schools and urged the crowd to work hard to get out the vote.
In the campaign to defeat these propositions, 300-400 California ACORN organizers visited potential voters each day in the week before election day, and 670 ACORN election workers hit the streets on November 8th. California ACORN knocked on 191,689 doors to contact 84,208 voters in over 600 precincts. This Get Out The Vote (GOTV) effort represented California ACORN's largest voter mobilization in its 20-year history, and was ACORN's contribution to the largest labor/community, grassroots GOTV field program ever conducted in the Golden State.
Over 1000 NY Home Child Care Workers Rally for Rights
Over 1000 home childcare providers rally for rights in New York.On October 26th, an overflow crowd of 1,000 New York home childcare providers who have been organizing since this summer in an effort led by New York ACORN, the United Federation of Teachers (UFT), and New York State United Teachers (NYSUT) came together to rally for their rights. They are working to see legislation on their right to union representation introduced in Albany as soon as possible. At the rally, the head of the New York State Senate Republicans, Joseph L. Bruno announced he would personally shepherd through the legislation. New York City Council member Bill de Blasio announced oversight hearings and the formation of a fund for teacher supplies.
Last summer, New York ACORN joined with the UFT and the NYSUT in an effort to unionize the 52,000 workers who provide childcare in their homes. A recent ACORN study showed that the average annual wage for family and group family providers in New York state is $16,942, less than the federal poverty line for a family of four. Similar drives to organize home childcare workers are pushing forward in Iowa, New Jersey, and Massachusetts. This summer, Illinois became the first state in the U.S. to grant collective bargaining rights to home childcare providers recognizing SEIU Local 880.
Taking Action for Our Communities
In their first action, ACORN West Madison members and their children gathered to raise awareness about a dangerous neighborhood intersection. As a result, the police department gave ACORN members 20 free slow for kids yard signs, which normally cost five dollars apiece.
On November 2nd, Katrina survivors and San Antonio ACORN confronted FEMA for their lack of reponse to survivors' needs for medicine, clothes, and bus passes; the next day FEMA worked with ACORN members at their office to provide for these needs.
At the beginning of November, South Apopka, Florida ACORN members marched into the Department of Environmental Protection with five demands and won five more! In a neighborhood surrounded by seven different polluting facilities, the victories included testing twice a year on groundwater, soil, and air and a DEP meeting with ACORN members to explain laws and compliance issues.
Madison ACORN rallies for safety in their first action.
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