ACLU Freedom Tour: Reform Cannot Wait
Description: Ineffective. Fiscally irresponsible. Overcrowded.
Join the ACLU of Ohio and the Urban League of Greater Cincinnati for a call to change the criminal justice system.
Ohio’s criminal justice system employs policies that increase cost, reduce safety, and contribute to racial disparities. Prison officials, judges, and community advocates are calling for reform to lessen the number of people sentenced and to support those who leave prison. Come, learn, and take action!
This is the second stop of the ACLU 2010 Freedom Tour, bringing people together in three cities across the state, to highlight the disparities of the criminal justice system. This stop features Terry Collins, former director, Ohio Department of Correction and Rehabilitation; Donna Jones Baker, President/CEO, Urban League of Greater Cincinnati; Ed Little, Department of Justice Affairs, Office of Re-entry; and moderator Gary Daniels, associate director, ACLU of Ohio.
This event is free and open to the public. Free parking is available.
Date: 12.06.10 | Monday
Time: 6:30 pm
Type: ACLU event
Location: Urban League of Greater Cincinnati
Address: 3458 Reading Road, Cincinnati, OH 45229
RSVP: For more information or to RSVP, please call (216) 472-2200 or e-mail contact@acluohio.org.
Dec 1, 2010
Nov 17, 2010
Public School Financing - Broke, Busted and Disgusted
To Be Equal#45
November 17, 2010
Public School Financing – Broke, Busted and Disgusted
Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
“Simply put, many states do not provide sufficient funding or distribute that funding to address the needs of their most disadvantaged students and schools.” David Sciarra, Executive Director, the Education Law Center
With all the talk about firing poor teachers, closing the achievement gap and adopting “common core standards” for students, one essential element of American education reform is too often overlooked – the inherently unequal and unfair system of state funding for public schools. A new study, co-authored by David Sciarra and Danielle Farrie of the Education Law Center and Dr. Bruce Baker of Rutgers University sheds new light on this problem. Their report, “Is Education Fair? A National Report Card,” reveals that most states are failing the test of fairness when it comes to public school financing. The authors state, and we agree, that “a fair funding system would be progressive in that funding would increase relative to the level of concentrated student poverty.” This would ensure that more funding would be available to students with greater needs and that all students would have the support necessary to achieve rigorous academic standards.
The study identified four “fairness indicators” – funding level, funding distribution relative to poverty, state fiscal effort and public school coverage. Based on those measures, only Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, Wyoming and New Jersey qualify as doing “relatively well” on funding fairness. But even in those states, significant irregularities persist. According to David Sciarra, most states are failing. Instead of progressive funding, some states have a regressive system, meaning districts with higher poverty rates actually receive less funding than more affluent districts. And there are entire regions – the South and West – where public schools are chronically underfunded.
The National Urban League and many others in the civil rights community have long-noted the inequity in public school funding as a contributing factor to the achievement gap that finds half of African American and Latino students dropping out of high school. Because school funding relies so heavily on state and local taxes, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, speaking at the National Urban League centennial conference in August admitted that “America’s system of funding public education is inherently unequal.” He pointed out that “Over 40 states have faced legal challenges to their school funding system because they are so unfair.”
Secretary Duncan’s response was the establishment of an Equity and Excellence Commission, proposed by Congressmen Chakah Fattah and Mike Honda that is now working to “expose the inequities in funding, gather public input and issue policy recommendations on finance reform.” It is unconscionable that some public school students have access to computers and other state-of-the-art resources, while many of the most disadvantaged students barely have enough books and supplies in their classrooms.
This is an issue that will be decided largely outside of Washington at the local level. About 90 percent of public school funding comes from state coffers and funding decisions rest in the hands of local officials. If we believe that all our children deserve a quality education and that given the right support all of them can succeed, citizens must demand that their governors and state legislators end public school financing inequities now.
To read the full report, visit www.schoolfundingfairness.org
###
11/17/10 ▪ 120 Wall Street ▪ New York, NY 10005 ▪ (212) 558-5300 ▪ WWW.NUL.ORG
November 17, 2010
Public School Financing – Broke, Busted and Disgusted
Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
“Simply put, many states do not provide sufficient funding or distribute that funding to address the needs of their most disadvantaged students and schools.” David Sciarra, Executive Director, the Education Law Center
With all the talk about firing poor teachers, closing the achievement gap and adopting “common core standards” for students, one essential element of American education reform is too often overlooked – the inherently unequal and unfair system of state funding for public schools. A new study, co-authored by David Sciarra and Danielle Farrie of the Education Law Center and Dr. Bruce Baker of Rutgers University sheds new light on this problem. Their report, “Is Education Fair? A National Report Card,” reveals that most states are failing the test of fairness when it comes to public school financing. The authors state, and we agree, that “a fair funding system would be progressive in that funding would increase relative to the level of concentrated student poverty.” This would ensure that more funding would be available to students with greater needs and that all students would have the support necessary to achieve rigorous academic standards.
The study identified four “fairness indicators” – funding level, funding distribution relative to poverty, state fiscal effort and public school coverage. Based on those measures, only Massachusetts, Connecticut, Vermont, Iowa, Wyoming and New Jersey qualify as doing “relatively well” on funding fairness. But even in those states, significant irregularities persist. According to David Sciarra, most states are failing. Instead of progressive funding, some states have a regressive system, meaning districts with higher poverty rates actually receive less funding than more affluent districts. And there are entire regions – the South and West – where public schools are chronically underfunded.
The National Urban League and many others in the civil rights community have long-noted the inequity in public school funding as a contributing factor to the achievement gap that finds half of African American and Latino students dropping out of high school. Because school funding relies so heavily on state and local taxes, Education Secretary Arne Duncan, speaking at the National Urban League centennial conference in August admitted that “America’s system of funding public education is inherently unequal.” He pointed out that “Over 40 states have faced legal challenges to their school funding system because they are so unfair.”
Secretary Duncan’s response was the establishment of an Equity and Excellence Commission, proposed by Congressmen Chakah Fattah and Mike Honda that is now working to “expose the inequities in funding, gather public input and issue policy recommendations on finance reform.” It is unconscionable that some public school students have access to computers and other state-of-the-art resources, while many of the most disadvantaged students barely have enough books and supplies in their classrooms.
This is an issue that will be decided largely outside of Washington at the local level. About 90 percent of public school funding comes from state coffers and funding decisions rest in the hands of local officials. If we believe that all our children deserve a quality education and that given the right support all of them can succeed, citizens must demand that their governors and state legislators end public school financing inequities now.
To read the full report, visit www.schoolfundingfairness.org
###
11/17/10 ▪ 120 Wall Street ▪ New York, NY 10005 ▪ (212) 558-5300 ▪ WWW.NUL.ORG
Nov 4, 2010
Black America to Construction Unions: Open Your Doors
To Be Equal#43
November 3, 2010
Black America to Construction Unions: Open Your Doors
Marc H. Morial
President and CEO
National Urban League
“If you live in America, you should be able to have bacon and eggs on Sunday morning. It means you can work. That you got a job.” Nate Smith, labor and civil rights leader who broke the color barrier in Pittsburgh’s construction industry
Harry Alford, President and CEO of the Black Chamber of Commerce recently reminded us that African Americans face an added barrier to finding good jobs in this struggling economy -- discrimination by construction unions. In a National Newspaper Publisher’s Association (NNPA) column, Alford said that construction unions “have fought affirmative action and have excluded Black hiring in a criminal fashion. Today it is still close to Jim Crow.”
The National Urban League was founded 100 years ago to open the doors of opportunity to African Americans workers who migrated north from the Jim Crow south in search of good jobs and a better life for their families. It has been a cruel irony that labor unions, created to protect and empower the dispossessed, have historically fought to keep Blacks out - none more egregiously than construction unions. Despite this opposition, today one in every five Black workers belongs to a union. These workers earn about 40 percent more than non-union workers. They are also more likely to have health insurance, defined pension benefits and greater protections against discrimination on the job.
The National Urban League has been in the forefront of the fight to expand union access to more African Americans for decades. The great Lester Granger, who served as National Urban League President from 1941-1961, worked tirelessly to integrate racist trade unions. He teamed up with A. Philip Randolph in a successful campaign to persuade President Franklin Roosevelt to sign the 1941 Fair Employment Act, barring discrimination in defense industries.
Other African American leaders, including Coalition of Black Trade Unionist president, William “Bill” Lucy, have repeatedly called for the construction industry and other unions to open their doors to blacks. In the 1960’s Nate Smith an aspiring professional boxer and construction worker in Pittsburgh laid down in front of bulldozers, challenged established union authority and developed a training program called Operation Dig that helped raise minority union rates from 2 to 15 percent in that city.
Since the start of the recession in 2007, our economy has lost almost 2 million construction jobs. Another 21,000 disappeared in September. The Obama Administration’s stimulus plan recognized that the key to getting those jobs back and to fueling our economic recovery is a robust investment in rebuilding the nation’s roads, bridges and public works infrastructure. Construction unions, which stand to benefit greatly from that opportunity, have an obligation to open their doors to workers of color so that no one is left behind.
###
43TBE 11/3/10 ▪ 120 Wall Street ▪ New York, NY 10005 ▪ (212) 558-5300 ▪ WWW.NUL.ORG
Oct 4, 2010
News Release
PRESS OFFICE
Release Date: October 4, 2010 Contact: Hayley Matz (202) 205-6948
Release Number: 10-55 Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news
SBA Releases Final Women-Owned Small Business Rule to Expand Access to Federal Contracting Opportunities
---
New program will be available in early 2011 for small, women-owned firms
WASHINGTON – With the publication today of a final rule in the Federal Register, the U.S. Small Business Administration will begin implementation of its women-owned small business (WOSB) contracting program. The agency expects the program to be available for WOSBs in early 2011.
The rule is part of the Obama Administration’s overall commitment to expanding opportunities for small businesses to compete for federal contracts, in particular those owned by women, socially and economically disadvantaged persons and veterans. This rule identifies 83 industries in which WOSBs are under-represented or substantially under-represented in the federal contract marketplace. In addition to opening up more opportunities for WOSBs, the rule is also another tool to help achieve the statutory goal that 5 percent of federal contracting dollars go to women-owned small businesses.
“Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing sectors of our nation’s economy, and even during the economic downturn of the last few years, have been one of the key job creation engines in communities across the country,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said.
“Federal contracts provide critical opportunities for owners of small firms to take their business to the next level and create good-paying jobs,” Mills added. “Despite their growth and the fact that women lead some of the strongest and most innovative companies, women-owned firms continue to be under-represented in the federal contracting marketplace. This rule will be a platform for changing that by providing greater opportunities for women-owned small businesses to compete for and win federal contracts.”
With the publication today of the final rule, SBA, in conjunction with the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, will begin a 120-day implementation of the WOSB contracting program, including building the technology and program infrastructure to support the certification process and ongoing oversight. With implementation expected to take several months, the agency expects that federal agencies’ contracting officers will be able to start making contracts available to WOSBs under the program in early 2011.
The creation of a rule to increase federal contracting opportunities for WOSBs was authorized by Congress in 2000. Since that time, SBA took a number of steps to study and analyze the market, including looking at participation by women-owned small businesses across all industries.
Various draft rules were made available for public comment in prior years, but shortly after taking office the Obama Administration drafted a new, comprehensive rule, based on the analysis of the prior studies and on all the questions and comments previously received. The proposed rule was published for public comment on March 2, 2010 for 60 days. SBA received over 1,000 comments during that time.
Some of the components of the Women-Owned Small Business rule include:
PRESS OFFICE
Release Date: October 4, 2010 Contact: Hayley Matz (202) 205-6948
Release Number: 10-55 Internet Address: http://www.sba.gov/news
SBA Releases Final Women-Owned Small Business Rule to Expand Access to Federal Contracting Opportunities
---
New program will be available in early 2011 for small, women-owned firms
WASHINGTON – With the publication today of a final rule in the Federal Register, the U.S. Small Business Administration will begin implementation of its women-owned small business (WOSB) contracting program. The agency expects the program to be available for WOSBs in early 2011.
The rule is part of the Obama Administration’s overall commitment to expanding opportunities for small businesses to compete for federal contracts, in particular those owned by women, socially and economically disadvantaged persons and veterans. This rule identifies 83 industries in which WOSBs are under-represented or substantially under-represented in the federal contract marketplace. In addition to opening up more opportunities for WOSBs, the rule is also another tool to help achieve the statutory goal that 5 percent of federal contracting dollars go to women-owned small businesses.
“Women-owned businesses are one of the fastest growing sectors of our nation’s economy, and even during the economic downturn of the last few years, have been one of the key job creation engines in communities across the country,” SBA Administrator Karen Mills said.
“Federal contracts provide critical opportunities for owners of small firms to take their business to the next level and create good-paying jobs,” Mills added. “Despite their growth and the fact that women lead some of the strongest and most innovative companies, women-owned firms continue to be under-represented in the federal contracting marketplace. This rule will be a platform for changing that by providing greater opportunities for women-owned small businesses to compete for and win federal contracts.”
With the publication today of the final rule, SBA, in conjunction with the Federal Acquisition Regulatory Council, will begin a 120-day implementation of the WOSB contracting program, including building the technology and program infrastructure to support the certification process and ongoing oversight. With implementation expected to take several months, the agency expects that federal agencies’ contracting officers will be able to start making contracts available to WOSBs under the program in early 2011.
The creation of a rule to increase federal contracting opportunities for WOSBs was authorized by Congress in 2000. Since that time, SBA took a number of steps to study and analyze the market, including looking at participation by women-owned small businesses across all industries.
Various draft rules were made available for public comment in prior years, but shortly after taking office the Obama Administration drafted a new, comprehensive rule, based on the analysis of the prior studies and on all the questions and comments previously received. The proposed rule was published for public comment on March 2, 2010 for 60 days. SBA received over 1,000 comments during that time.
Some of the components of the Women-Owned Small Business rule include:
- To be eligible, a firm must be 51 percent owned and controlled by one or more women, and primarily managed by one or more women. The women must be U.S. citizens. The firm must be “small” in its primary industry in accordance with SBA’s size standards for that industry. In order for a WOSB to be deemed “economically disadvantaged,” its owners must demonstrate economic disadvantage in accordance with the requirements set forth in the final rule.
- Based upon the analysis in a study commissioned by the SBA from the Kauffman-RAND Foundation, the final rule identifies 83 industries (identified by “NAICS” codes) in which women-owned small businesses are under-represented or substantially under-represented in federal procurements.
- The SBA has identified eligible industries based upon the combination of both the “share of contracting dollars” analysis, as well as the “share of number of contracts awarded” analysis used in the RAND study. This differs from an earlier proposed version of the rule which identified only four industries in which women-owned small businesses were under-represented. This earlier version proposed to identify eligible industries based solely on the “share of contracting dollars” analysis used in the RAND study.
- In accordance with the statute, the final rule authorizes a set-aside of federal contracts for WOSBs where the anticipated contract price does not exceed $5 million in the case of manufacturing contracts and $3 million in the case of other contracts. Contracts with values in excess of these limits are not subject to set-aside under this program.
- The final rule removes the requirement, set forth in a prior proposed version, that each federal agency certify that it had engaged in discrimination against women-owned small businesses in order for the program to apply to contracting by that agency.
- The proposed rule allows women-owned small businesses to self-certify as “WOSBs” or to be certified by third-party certifiers, including government entities and private certification groups.
- The final rule requires WOSBs which self-certify to submit a robust certification verification, to complete the certifications at the federal Online Representation and Certification Application (“ORCA”) Web site, and also to submit a core set of eligibility-related documents to an online “document repository” to be maintained by the SBA. Each agency’s contracting officers will have full access to this repository.
- The SBA intends to engage in a significant number of program examinations to confirm eligibility of individual WOSBs.
- In the event of a contract protest or program review, the SBA has the authority to request substantial additional documentation from the WOSB to establish eligibility.
- SBA intends to pursue vigorously punitive action against ineligible firms which seek to take advantage of this program and in so doing to deny its benefits to the intended legitimate WOSBs.
Oct 1, 2010
Important information from Hamilton County Board of Elections
Voting early by mail really is easy as 1-2-3!
And now, to make the voting process even easier, Vote by Mail application request forms will be available at Kroger stores throughout Hamilton County.
You can also obtain a Vote by Mail application by calling the Hamilton County Board of Elections at 632-7039 before Saturday, October 30, 2010 or you can download an application at www.votehamiltoncounty.org and follow the easy step-by-step instructions for completing the application.
Voters can also pick up a voter registration form at local Kroger stores. “Voter registration forms can be used to register to vote or to update your address and/or name with us” said Sally Krisel, Director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections.
The deadline to register or to update your registration is Monday, October 4, 2010.
Beginning Tuesday, September 28, 2010 to Vote by Mail all you need to do is:
1. Request your ballot be mailed to you by completing a Vote by Mail application
2. VOTE your ballot
3. Drop your ballot in the mail! - and
Remember, to check the instructions for returning
your ballot through the mail.
Vote by Mail early and avoid long lines at the polls! “We are making voting easier,” said Amy Searcy, Deputy Director, of the Board of Elections. “Voters can simply Vote by Mail and they no longer need to provide a “reason” for not voting at the polls on Election Day.”
Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked no later than November 1, 2010, the day before Election Day, and received no later than 10 days after Election Day. Joe Mallory, Administrator of Absentee Voting at Board of Elections says, “If voters have any questions about voting they should contact us at the Board of Elections Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. until noon at 632-7039. We want to make the voting experience convenient and as easy as 1-2-3”!
-End-
For
Immediate
Release
Contact:
Sally Krisel
Director
513-632-7011
And now, to make the voting process even easier, Vote by Mail application request forms will be available at Kroger stores throughout Hamilton County.
You can also obtain a Vote by Mail application by calling the Hamilton County Board of Elections at 632-7039 before Saturday, October 30, 2010 or you can download an application at www.votehamiltoncounty.org and follow the easy step-by-step instructions for completing the application.
Voters can also pick up a voter registration form at local Kroger stores. “Voter registration forms can be used to register to vote or to update your address and/or name with us” said Sally Krisel, Director of the Hamilton County Board of Elections.
The deadline to register or to update your registration is Monday, October 4, 2010.
Beginning Tuesday, September 28, 2010 to Vote by Mail all you need to do is:
1. Request your ballot be mailed to you by completing a Vote by Mail application
2. VOTE your ballot
3. Drop your ballot in the mail! - and
Remember, to check the instructions for returning
your ballot through the mail.
Vote by Mail early and avoid long lines at the polls! “We are making voting easier,” said Amy Searcy, Deputy Director, of the Board of Elections. “Voters can simply Vote by Mail and they no longer need to provide a “reason” for not voting at the polls on Election Day.”
Ballots returned by mail must be postmarked no later than November 1, 2010, the day before Election Day, and received no later than 10 days after Election Day. Joe Mallory, Administrator of Absentee Voting at Board of Elections says, “If voters have any questions about voting they should contact us at the Board of Elections Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m. and on Saturdays from 8:00 a.m. until noon at 632-7039. We want to make the voting experience convenient and as easy as 1-2-3”!
-End-
For
Immediate
Release
Contact:
Sally Krisel
Director
513-632-7011
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