Document Actions
Grassroots Clamoring for Change on Health Care and Immigration
Week in Community Values for June 18, 2009
Born out of a mass rejection of the failed policies of
individualism and divisiveness, the Campaign for Community Values
is a return to the beliefs our country was founded on: shared responsibility,
shared sacrifice and shared success.
Take a look at the great work our partners across the
country have done since we last updated you:
Grassroots Groups Converge on Washington to Demand
Health Care Reform
Thousands to descend on Capitol, push for public option and equality in
health care
Washington – Just last week, the US Dept of Health and Human
Services released an alarming report that revealed what grassroots groups
working on health care reform know all to well, severe disparities exist in
health care within low income and communities of color that have persisted for
decades. For two days next week,
thousands of people from all over the country are coming to DC to deliver a
message to Congress: “We want a public option in health care, and reform must
address the inequalities that plague rural and minority communities.”
Despite the politics, most Americans want a choice of a
public plan. On June 23, grassroots activists representing the faith, civil
rights, small business and rural communities will arrive in DC for a series of
events and lobby visits to give Americans a voice and remind Congress they work
for them, not the insurance companies.
June
24-25
·
Main Street
Alliance small business summit. Small
business owners from 20 states across the country are gathering for a summit
that will focus on advancing health reform that meets four core principles:
affordable costs, quality coverage, real choices and shared commitment.
June 24
·
12:15 p.m.: Gamaliel’s Faith Assembly, Lutheran
Church of the Reformation, 212 E Capitol St. SE, Washington, DC
·
4:00 p.m.:
Interfaith Service of Witness and Prayer, Freedom
Plaza, 1300
Pennsylvania Ave. NW, Washington, DC
·
7:30-9:30:
Light the Night, Candlelight Vigil, Freedom
Plaza
June 25
·
11:30 a.m. Health Care for America Now (HCAN) Rally, Upper Senate Park, Constitution Ave. and Delaware Ave. NE
·
1:30p.m.: HCAN Health Equity Town Hall at Capitol Visitor’s Center. The Town Hall
will focus on the inequities in communities of color that have persisted for
decades. Because all of our communities suffer when individuals have poor
health, it is essential for racial and ethnic disparities to be addressed as
part of comprehensive health care reform in 2009. Town Hall will feature
grassroots leaders and members of Congress.
·
2 p.m. – 3:15 p.m.: North Carolina HCAN Coalition “Rural and
Minority Health Care Access” Town Hall meeting, Mott House, 122 Maryland Ave. NE, Washington,
DC. More than 150 grassroots leaders are
traveling to DC from North Carolina by bus to attend this town hall on the poor state of health care
access in rural and minority communities. Hilary Shelton, of the NAACP, will be
the featured speaker.
For more information on the health care reform events, please contact
Germonique Ulmer at gulmer@communitychange.org,
(202) 339-9331.
Immigration Radar
What every immigration reporter should know
Calling on the White House to Deliver on
Comprehensive Immigration Reform
WASHINGTON – This
week, thousands of voters called the White House to urge President Obama to deliver
on his promise of reforming our broken immigration system.
In the first official activation of the Reform Immigration
FOR America text messaging network, more than 14,500 Americans responded to the
text message by calling the White House. The Reform Immigration FOR America
launched earlier this month, and is still in the early phase of building the
network.
“The response rate to this initial request was amazing,”
said Deepak Bhargava, executive director of the Campaign for Community Change,
a partner of the Reform Immigration FOR America campaign. “This shows the
public is fully behind immigration reform, and want to see Congress and
President Obama move on this sooner than later.”
The texts alerting people to call are being sent out through
the rest of the week.
For more information on the text messaging network, please
contact Mary Moreno at mmoreno@communitychange.org or 202-339-9316.
Other immigration news:
v
New York
Immigration Coalition is pushing for passage of the Farm Workers Fair Labor
Practices Act in the New York State Senate, which would provide these workers,
who are frequently immigrants, with basic employee rights.
v
Voces de
la Frontera joined other organizations in protesting the removal of provisions
in Wisconsin’s state budget that
would have allowed some undocumented students to pay in-state college tuition
and undocumented immigrants obtain certificates to drive legally.
Report Finds Texas’
Construction Industry Deadliest in the Country
“In Texas, 142
construction workers got killed last year, said Jet Sahpiro, an Austin
construction worker. “That’s is a lot of people dying for ten dollars an hour.”
To see the full report, please visit http://www.buildaustin.org.
See highlights from
the Campaign for Community Values:
Ø
BLOG:
Addressing America's Health Apartheid (By Deepak
Bhargava)
Ø
BLOG:
The Bloody Truth Behind Anti-Immigrant Rhetoric (By Sally Kohn)
