Other Recent News

BREAKING: March for America yields meeting with President Obama

Looks like our hard work is paying off. Faced with the prospect of tens of thousands of immigration activists descending on Washington, D.C. on March 21st to demand immigration reform, the President decided to hold a meeting with grassroots and advocacy immigration leaders to establish concrete steps to move comprehensive immigration reform forward.

Deepak Bhargava talks Immigration Reform with Chris Hayes

Deepak Bhargava appeard on MSNBC's The Rachel Maddow Show to talk about the importance of comprehensive immigration reform, the electoral implications of Democrats not delivering on comprehensive immigration reform, and the split among conservatives over the issue that is pushing them further toward total irrelevance.

Obama risks alienating Latinos with lack of immigration reform

Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights Executive Director Josh Hoyt let the Obama Administration know in no uncertain terms the electoral implications inaction on Comprehensive Immigration Reform.

Empathy is the best policy

The Atlantic Monthly chronicle of the long-term effects of unemployment demonstrates why empathy matters in policy.

Be Timeless, Not Timely

Movement building occurs when we prioritize timeless principles over timely responses.

Change Takes Courage

On March 21, 2010, tens of thousands of people across the country will participate in the March for America demanding immigration reform for new American families and economic justice for all American families. Why now? How can you get involved?

The Real State of our Union

The state of our union is fractured and perilous. We continue to face an economic crisis of truly historic proportions. There are more than six jobseekers for every unfilled job - a gap that is growing, not shrinking. The Congressional Budget Office projected yesterday that unemployment will remain above 9% for at least the next two years. And joblessness is worst for communities of color, youth, and women who head households. Almost one third of all Americans scrape out an existence at double the pathetically low federal poverty rate or lower.

Got Grants? Maximizing Impact in 2010

Funders are getting advice from all over the place these days… hold the line, be strategic, cut back on grants, make more grants, stick with what you know, try something new, give to programs, offer general support…. Aarrgghh! What’s a funder to do???? Here's my take for how funders can maximize impact in 2010 and beyond.

Where do we go from here?

Community organizers and progressives have a critical role in shaping the understanding and response to what actually happened in MA. We must avoid a disastrous turn toward caution and incrementalism.

Affordability is non-negotiable in health care reform!

Compromises in the Senate version of health care reform has split the left on how best to proceed. Yet there is one thing that unites all of us and that is the issue of affordability. The final health care bill that will be presented to President Obama MUST include stronger affordability and coverage provisions for low and middle income families, particularly if a mandate is implemented. That, in our eyes, is non-negotiable.

Sugar or Salt?: Understanding the Moment We’re In

As we approach the end of a remarkable 2009, in which we threw ourselves with passion and savvy into an intense effort to secure major policy changes at the federal level, many of us have been wrestling with how to make sense and meaning of the current political moment that we find ourselves in. I have alternated between believing fervently in two interpretations of this moment –which at least at face value contradict each other.

Time to Cross the Finish Line on Health Care Reform

We applaud the efforts of everyone who has worked so hard to bring America very close to significant health care reform. It has been a monumental undertaking in the face of an unproductive and many times disingenuous opposition. Community organizers across the nation remain deeply concerned about several aspects of the current Senate bill.

Double Dip: Good for Ice Cream, Bad for the Economy

What America needs is a federally funded public jobs program to put people to work immediately. Period. We need work and there is much work to be done. There are schools and libraries that need painting and parks and public spaces that need renovating. These jobs will not only give people a pay check, but an opportunity to help rebuild our communities, provide services to people in need, and improve our environment.

Health Care: Do the Right Thing

Passing health care reform with a public option is simply the right thing to do. We all know it. Those who stand in the way are motivated by either greed or fear - two things that our country could do without.

The GOP Health Care Plan: A Cruel Joke

The Republican alternative health care reform bill would be funny if it weren’t so cruel.

CCC Featured at Attorney.org

Attorney.org featured CCC as part of its series on nonprofit organizations working on social justice issues.

Let's Be on the Right Side of History

After Joe Wilson's famous "You lie" interruption of the president's address to Congress on health care, there was a rush by some to include costly and onerous verification procedures to exclude immigrants from the health care system. Some were advocating spending millions of dollars to catch just a handful of potentially ineligible immigrants. The furor had nothing to do with policy; undocumented immigrants had long been ineligible for the health care reforms being advocated in Congress. This was pure politics. But just as the extremists misread the policy, they misread the politics.

The Struggle For Immigration Reform Begins With Youth!

The energy and creativity of young people in our movement will change our communities for the better. Check out how young immigrant organizers are building a movement to win just and humane immigration reform for our country today.

Rural Communities Need Health Care Reform More Than Anyone

The lie that health care reform would hurt rural communities has been one to which progressives and moderates have been slow to respond, perhaps because there have been so many myths and distortions to keep us busy.

Sick of it

Two hundred people led by Take Action Minnesota marched to the front doors of the UnitedHealth Group headquarters on Tuesday, one of the largest private insurance companies in the country. The marchers, who like health care reform advocates at 150 similar events across the country that day, came with one message as they gathered in a circle around the front door: "Sick of it."

Got Grants? Maximizing Impact?

Funders are getting advice from all over the place these days… hold the line, be strategic, cut back on grants, make more grants, stick with what you know, try something new, give to programs, offer general support…. Aarrgghh! What’s a funder to do????

Top 10 Reasons Why YOU LOSE When Insurance Companies Win

In light of President Obama’s appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman”, here are the Top 10 reasons why YOU LOSE when insurance companies win.

Did you know you can be arrested for asking why your insurance rates increased?

A few weeks ago, Joe Szakos, Executive Director of the Virginia Organizing Project, was wondering why his organization's health insurance provider increased its rates to 14.1%. So, he along with three of the organization's Board Members visited his provider, Anthem, to ask why it was increasing its rate while at the same time using its resources to lobby against health care reform with a public health insurance option? The answer he received? None. Instead, he was hauled away in handcuffs.

If insurance companies win, we lose

The release of the Senate Finance Committee’s framework for health care reform has created yet another significant turning point in the health reform debate.

Silent Majority of Americans Want Reform

Portraying the debate over health care reform as a fight between poor, inner-city liberals without health insurance on one side versus middle class, rural conservatives shouting about taxes and government on the other side misses the true story entirely. In the middle of the country, and in the middle of states from Maine to Montana, there are literally people in the middle --- who don’t think of themselves in ideological terms but understand that it’s dangerous when big business rules our health care system and understand that government has a vital role to play in regulating and correcting what’s broken.

In Memory of Senator Kennedy

Today is a difficult day for the Center for Community Change and for all of us who work on behalf of social justice. One of our great champions has fallen.

Center for Community Change Mourns Sen. Ted Kennedy

Sen. Kennedy believed in the best values of America: our notions of shared responsibility, shared sacrifice and the idea that every person has value and deserves respect. The Center has had no greater ally or inspiration in the work we do to organize America’s communities to bring people together to make a better a life for everyone.

Adoption of Alinsky’s Rules by Right Shows They’ve Run out of Ideas

Right turns left: adopts lessons of radical organizers to hold onto to fading power and relevance

Deflating the Fight for Real Health Care Reform

It’s crucial that we get people to realize co-ops are a boon to insurance companies and old school Washington politics at its worst: appearing to do something without actually fixing the problem.

Don’t Compromise Mr. President

Administration officials mused this weekend about surrendering the public option and giving into the insurance industry. Gabe Gonzalez muses on what a sad move this would be.

Dose of Truth: Five Facts About Health Care Reform

As myths and lies about health care reform spread, here are facts you can use to spread the truth about reform.

Join CCC at Netroots Nation

CCC will be participating at Netroots Nation Pittsburgh 2009 - August 13-16– the place for online progressive community organizing. We will also be represented on panels and in strategy session about the future of the progressive movement.

Truth and Fiction in Health Care

Americans overwhelmingly voted for change in the November election. Seems a few of us didn't get the memo, but it's not too late to get on board the train in the debate for realizing true health care reform that puts people before profits and checks special interests at the on ramp to the beltway in Washington.

Hope and Change Won't Be Easy

The "No We Can't Coalition" Wants President Obama to Fail. During its first six months, the Obama administration has worked hard to enact progressive measures that both respond to our immediate economic crisis and provide a foundation for moving the economy forward for all Americans. However, the administration can't make change on its own.

Organize communities to battle inequality

Community organizing is suddenly in fashion. It's all the rage, in part because the president himself began his political career as an organizer in Chicago. We community organizers are also being thrust into the spotlight by an economic crisis and a strong thirst by Americans for fundamental change on the political scene.

Don't Enshrine Discrimination in Health Care Reform

Finally, the country seems serious about reforming health care. But with discussions about a public option, cost control and competition raging, one aspect of achieving true universal coverage is being left out: what to do about immigrants who lack coverage?

Time For A New Game Plan

The private insurance industry's latest talking point against the only way of ensuring affordable health care coverage for everyone, a robust public health insurance choice, is to accuse the government of trying to be a "player and a referee in the same game." It's telling that the private insurance lobbyists see the health care crisis as a 'game.' It's not a game.

Addressing America's Health Apartheid

We have a storied history in this country of not talking about issues of race and ethnicity. The health care reform debate is proceeding no differently. In the midst of the broadest and weightiest debate that the nation has had on health care in many years, there is little attention being paid to racial inequality.

Our Economic Woes May Be Bad - But They Aren't New

A central tenet driving environmentalism is that we should leave the world better than we found it. As we think about reviving our stumbling economy, the same principle should apply — if we simply restore the economy to its pre-crisis footing, we have not only missed the opportunity for more sweeping reforms but paved the way for future crises by neglecting to address the fundamental failings that caused this one.

Health Care: Lobbyists, Blue Dogs and the 'No, We Can't Coalition'

It's mind boggling. Mere months after a historic election in which Americans demanded real change - the forces for business as usual have returned with a vengeance. We knew Republicans would try to scuttle health care reform by protecting private health insurance companies from having to compete with a public health insurance option. After all, they are the party of "no" and the party that represents powerful corporate interests. It's their job to side with greedy insurance lobbyists.

The Campaign to Reform Immigration FOR America Launches!

Torrential rain, booming thunder, shocking lightning and the launch of the Campaign to Reform Immigration FOR America! What a week! To local and national acclaim, during the week of June 1, 2009 our Campaign launched with press events, phone calls, faxes and a Summit of nearly 800 organizers and leaders from across the nation. We could not have done it without your support. Thank you!

Public Health Insurance is Not a Bargaining Chip

Private insurers are once again fighting against the will and interests of most Americans, and Washington insiders seem intent on treating public health insurance as a mere bargaining chip.

Deepak Bhargava and CCC selected as one of The Power 100 Non-Profits

 

Deepak Bhargava and others keep the pressure on the Obama administration for healthcare reform

 

The Center for Community Change Honored as a Progressive Champion

 

Health Insurance You Can Trust

Americans Deserve a Public Health Insurance Option. Most Americans fear private health insurance companies won't be there for them when they get sick. As the debate heats up, it's really clear that a strong public health insurance plan must be a no-compromise element of any health care reform package.

Who Really Killed Luis Ramirez?

A few days ago two teens, accused in the fatal beating of Mexican immigrant Luis Ramirez in Shenandoah, Pennsylvania were acquitted of all serious charges by an all white jury. But who really killed Luis Ramirez?

Small businesses want a real choice for health care

Small businesses are a key voice in the debate over health care reform, and Members of Congress are looking to them to see what they have to say about fixing health care. But DC lobby groups claiming to represent small businesses are trying to defeat any attempts at real reform.

Rene's Story: An Immigrant In His Own Words

Meet Rene from Atlanta, GA. After years serving in the Marine Corps, he still does not have his citizenship. What does his story say about the state of our immigration system? Watch this powerful new video today!

Implications of Obama's National Service Act

Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director of the Center for Community Change, makes a guest appearance on NPR to explain the potential impact of President Obama's recently signed National Service Act.

Recipe for Recovery: As Easy As Blueberry Pie

Recovery for our communities is a lot easier than we think. Maine People's Alliance says it's as easy as making blueberry pie. The simple recipe includes supporting 2 crucial pieces of legislation.

Fire Bank of America CEO Ken Lewis

The US government is the largest stakeholder in Bank of America, with nearly $200 billion in taxpayer funds. While Bank of America's CEO, Ken Lewis, is calling for business as usual (i.e. flying corporate jets, receiving millions in bonuses, and using government funds to coordinate anti-union strategies), taxpayers are calling for change. Sign the taxpayer proxy card to fire Ken Lewis and help restore integrity to our nation's banking systems.

Children of Undocumented Immigrants Deserve a Public Education

Marissa Graciosa, Director of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) appears on Fox News to defend the right to a public school education for children of undocumented immigrants. Watch the clip here.

Community Organizing: The New Fad?

On April 10, the New York Times featured community organizing in its Fashion & Style section. Sally Kohn, Director of the Movement Vision Lab and Senior Strategist with the Center sits with Marshall Ganz, a lecturer at Harvard's Kennedy School of Government to talk about the Obama "movement" and the future of community organizing. Watch the GritTV segment here.

Nonprofits and the Financial Crisis

Marjorie Fine, Director of the Linchpin Campaign here at the Center, participates in this roundtable about the impact of the financial crisis on the nonprofit sector. Watch the roundtable at GritTV here.

Immigrants Help Keep Washington's Economy Strong

Because of the too-often polarizing debate about immigration reform, the real economic contributions that immigrants make are often overlooked. In this post, an immigration advocate and a business advocate discuss a new Washington state-specific report that suggests helping immigrants better integrate into society helps everyone.

Immigration Reform Is An Urgent Priority

Our immigration system is broken. We all know it. And it’s time to do something about it. Why now?

Obama Declares Support for Immigration Reform This Year

The New York Times reports that President Obama is committed to comprehensive immigration reform. Now is the time to let President Obama that we are ready for reform too. How do you get involved? What can you do right now?

No More Heroes

My heroes are less well known. They are working to keep their families together and silently fighting for their communities. We should have a country that has no need for these heroes. One in which you can get health care, save your home, work in peace. And we have the ability to do this.

FIRM generates 1000 calls to the Senate for DREAM Act

The DREAM Act was officially introduced in Congress yesterday. Those connected to CCC's Fair Immigration Reform Movement (FIRM) network were among the first to know and among the first to act by generating over 1000 calls to the Senate in support of this crucial piece of immigration legislation.

President Obama Trumpets Community Values at National Press Conference

In his latest press conference, President Obama used community values to chart a new course for the American people.

Deepak Bhargava Interviewed for Documentary

Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director of the Center for Community Change, was interviewed for the upcoming documentary named Heist. Check out what he had to say.

AIG Makes Me Laugh

With children going hungry and working families without health coverage, what's a few extra billion dollars to prop up the AIG executives who caused this mess in the first place? The AIG scandal is no laughing matter. But sometimes, laughter is the best medicine.

How Does Race Factor In The National Discourse On Immigration?

Dial in to ARC's Compact for Racial Justice Forum tomorrow as organizers and leaders in the struggle for just immigration reform discuss the intersections of race and immigration. Marissa Graciosa, Director of the Fair Immigration Reform Movement of CCC, will be featured as one of the panelists.

Grassroots Groups Mobilize, Napolitano Orders Review of First Workplace Raid Under Obama Administration

The Center for Community Change today met with representatives of the Department of Homeland Security to continue discussing the first workplace raid under President Obama.

FIRM Denounces Bellingham Raid, Asks President to Stop Raids and Recommit to Immigration Reform

FIRM, a national grassroots coalition, strongly condemns the first workplace raid under the Obama Administration.

Obama Beyond the Beltway

The New York Times asks me what President Obama's return to campaign-style rallies says about his style of leadership and his approach to presidential power.

Stimulus Compromise a Big Victory for Poor Communities and President Obama

The Center for Community Change and community organizations across the country today heralded the package as a “down payment” on change and called for both houses of Congress to pass the recovery plan to start getting America working again.

Campaign for Community Values Applauds Passage of SCHIP in the Senate

 

Diverse Nashville Coalition Defeats English-Only Initiative

During a special election last Thursday, the people of Nashville voted against an English-only initiative. The coalition to oppose the amendment was incredibly diverse and included key allies of the Center.

Grassroots Community Values Leaders Arrive in Washington

Today I had the honor of being in the room as a dozen community leaders from across the country convened in Washington with the Campaign for Community Values. Leaders just like them will be lobbying Congress every week during the first 100 days of the new Administration.

Children Lobby For Health Care With Artwork

Student artists and their families joined Members of Congress and community organizations to call for swift action to be taken so that no child is waiting for health care.

I Am Here to Give a Better Life . . . to Immigrant Children

People from across the country are arriving for the inauguration of America's first black president. Who are these people? In their stories is a portrait of a nation. One in a series.

A New Day for America, But Not for Immigrants?

President Obama urged our nation to choose hope over fear. But for those who are undocumented immigrants, this is impossible. For them, every day is wrought with fear.

Community Organizers Seek Unity, Leverage

NPR story by Pam Fessler on the Center's "Realizing the Promise" Forum and strategy of bringing 10 grassroots leaders to DC every week for the first 100 days.

Beyond His Email List

National Journal article on the new role of grassroots community organizers under Obama. The article focuses the Realizing the Promise Forum hosted by the Center for Community Change and Gamaliel Foundation, and extensively quotes CCC's Executive Director Deepak Bhargava and CCC's Campaign for Community Values Director Gabe Gonzalez.

Hope for the Holidays

This holiday season, as we celebrate change, we want to know what's your one big wish for change for the new year? Watch our video and tell us what your one big gift of change would be!

Community Organizing Arrives in Washington

Watch clips from Realizing The Promise: A Forum on Community, Faith & Democracy. Clips include the inspiring opening video and speeches by Ms. Valerie Jarrett and Rep. Chris Van Hollen. Check back here for more clips later this week!

How Do We Keep Obama's Youth Mobilized?

Barack Obama's campaign politicized and organized more youth than any campaign has in recent history. The American Prospect asked Sally Kohn, director of the Movement Vision Lab, and Kevin Simowitz, a Generation Change Fellow, to suggest one way of incorporating these youth into the progressive movement.

Center for Community Change Receives Award For its Investment in Leadership

The Center for Community Change is honored for its development of leaders for social and economic justice with the American Express Building Leadership Award. Presented by the Independent Sector during their annual conference in Philadelphia, executive director Deepak Bhargava accepted the plaque and $10,000 gift on behalf of the Center.

Realizing the Promise: The Meaning of This Moment

Deepak Bhargava, Executive Director of the Center for Community Change, reflects on the meaning of this historic election.

Announcing CCC's Official Election Day Blog

CCC launches its official Election Day Blog called Community Values Vote. On November 4th, tune in for up-to-the-minute stories on new voters, voter suppression, and Election Day trends from grassroots organizations across the country. Community Values Vote is THE alternative to the talking heads.

Are You Prepared For Election Day?

November 4th is right around the corner. Make sure you are prepared for Election Day with these tools. And fight voter suppression using the latest mobile technology!

Canaries, Coalmines, And Our Shared Fate

As the country’s attention is transfixed on the machinations of Congress and the Bush Administration to secure agreement on a bailout deal, I’ve been thinking about what this crisis teaches us and how we should respond. Here are my top four takeaways.