ACTION ALERT! Governor Wants $1.5 Billion from First 5 – We need your help!

First 5 Marin Children and Families Commission February 8, 2010 Dear Ericka, First 5 revenues are at risk– and we need your help! Governor Schwarzenegger has proposed taking $550 million from Prop. 10 funding for First 5 Children and Families Commissions this year + $242 million for each of the next four years– for a total of $1.5 billion! This proposal must be reviewed by the Senate and Assembly Budget Committees, and they need to hear from people like you– people who care about protecting funding for the youngest and most vulnerable members of our communities. HOW CAN YOU HELP? Please take a moment to write or call our legislative representatives and/or the chairs of the budget committees and ask them to protect the Prop. 10 funding for First 5. Our State Senator and our Assemblyman serve on the budget committees. They need to hear from Marin County residents that First 5 is important to children and families in their district and that First 5 provides vital support to the community. Please write, fax or call: State Senator Mark Leno State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 E-MAIL: senator.leno@senate.ca.gov Capitol Phone: (916) 651-4003 Capitol Fax: (916) 445-4722 Marin Phone: (415) 479-6612 Marin Fax: (415) 479-1146 Assemblyman Jared Huffman State Capitol Sacramento, CA 95814 E-MAIL (via the receptionist): tisha.simpson@asm.ca.gov Capitol Telephone: (916) 319-2006 Capitol Fax: (916) 319-2106 Marin Telephone: (415) 479-4920 Marin Fax: (415) 479-2123 You can remind our elected officials that: 1. Changes to Prop. 10 require voter approval– and the voters already said “NO” to a similar proposal from the Governor last May (Prop. 1D) 2. Transferring Prop. 10 funds to the General Fund will NOT help children because First 5 serves children who are often ineligible for services from state agencies. 3. The Governor’s proposal would destroy First 5 budgets which provide children’s healthcare, preschool and school readiness programs, support for at-risk families, and services for special needs children. Most of the First 5 program are NOT available anywhere else with any other public funds. 4. First 5 provides local support for the benefit of local children

Northbay Family Homes Wants To Share Some Important News…

Northbay Family Homes wants to share some important news…. Laura Levine, Broker and Vice President of NFH is making a career change to pursue a new career opportunity. After seven years and many accomplishments, Laura has decided to return to her lending roots in the lending and banking industry. NFH is grateful to Laura for dedicating her passion and many years of service to the organization and the community. In her new endeavor, Laura will continue to work to make the dream of homeownership possible for workforce families. These are difficult times for business, nonprofits and the working people of Marin who NFH serves and supports. NFH remains committed to its clients, customers and its programs and services. Despite these difficult times, NFH continues to uphold its commitments in pursuit of its core mission. NFH will continue to support the Employer’s Empowering Homeownership® initiative and the REO Homes for the Workforce Program in the North Bay. NFH has been a champion of affordable housing and an advocate to homebuyers for 32 years and plans to be a strategic contributor in the community for many more. NFH has many clients, partners and champions with whom it has built trusted relationships. NFH is committed to using the skills, experience and valuable insight developed over the past three decades to continue to improve the social and family welfare of the North Bay community. If you would like to contact Laura, please use the following email address: lauralevine17@yahoo.com If you have questions or wish to learn more about Northbay Family Homes programs, please contact Clark Blasdell @ clark@nfh.org Clark A. Blasdell, President and CEO *Northbay Family Homes (NFH), *Suburban Alternatives Land Trust (SALT), *Buck Campus Housing, Inc. (BCH) *Institute of Sustainable Ecological Enterprises (ISEE) 350 Ignacio Blvd., Suite 200, Novato, CA 94949 E-mail: clark@nfh.org Voice: 415/382-2530 Direct line: 415/382-2534 Fax: 415/382-2538 www.nfh.org www.hamiltonhousing.org www.SALTlandbanking.com

Latino Leaders Call for Full Participation in Census

Latino Leaders Call for Full Participation in Census Call on Obama to Temporarily Suspend Enforcement Measures For Immediate Release More Information Contact: Tom Saenz, MALDEF, 213-629-2512 Lillian Rodriguez Lopez, Hispanic Federation, 212-233-8955w Lizette Jenness Olmos, LULAC, 202-365-4553 (Los Angeles, Feb 4) The 2010 National Latino Congreso (NLC) added its voice to the growing chorus promoting full participation in the upcoming US Census. “MALDEF urges everyone living in the United States to complete the Census form. The information you provide is strictly confidential and cannot be used by any government agency or private party against you. It is critically important that every Latino be counted.”,” said Thomas Saenz, new President and General Counsel of the Mexican American Legal Defense and Educational Fund. Approximately 1,000 leaders and activists comprising the 4th National Latino Congreso (NLC) unanimously approved a Census resolution that called for full participation, urged more federal funds for outreach to “hard to count” communities, called for a halt to anti-immigrant enforcement measures during the Census and warned of the need for a statistical adjustment in the case of an undercount. For full text of the resolution, see http://www.latinocongreso.org/resolutionsapproved.php?id=218 “The Latino Congreso advocates a fully inclusive Census. Every Administration since 1970 has halted raids, firings, and deportations during the Census. We urge President Obama to do the same quickly to dispel any fears that the immigrant community have in participating in the census,” said Lillian Rodriguez-Lopez, President of the Hispanic Federation (HF). “The Census is the number one civil rights issue,” said LULAC National President Rosa Rosales. “It is a responsibility of everyone in the country if you are a citizen or not. You do not obtain political empowerment by not being counted. The Census will help communities receive more than 400 billion in federal funds for hospitals, schools, senior centers and more. It is estimated that every person not counted by the Census will lose 10,000 in federal funding over ten years.” The NLC hosted delegations from over 100 organizations and elected officials for the three day convention on politics and policy. The delegates, observers, speakers, and guests came from eleven states (Texas, California, New Mexico, Arizona, Washington, Mississippi, Virginia, Illinois, Virginia, New York, New Jersey, Washington, DC), as well as Mexico and Venezuela. Over 250 organizations, elected officials and prominent individuals endorsed the Latino Congreso, representing millions of Latino leaders and activists. U.S. Representatives Luis Gutierrez and Silvestre Reyes, candidates for Texas Governor and Lt. Governor, and numerous state and local elected officials addressed the Latino gathering. Issue experts and resource people as well as national Latino organization presidents also addressed the various plenary and break-out sessions. Review the agenda here: http://www.latinocongreso.org/agenda This message was sent to alianzalatinoamericana@gmail.com by: William C. Velasquez Institute National Office 206 Lombard, 1st Floor San Antonio, TX 78226 (210) 922-3118 California Office 2914 N. Main St., 1st Floor Los Angeles, CA 90031 (323) 222-2217 Florida Office 2646-A NW 21st Terrace Miami, FL 33142 (305) 635-6965

Signing Initiative Petitions using iPhones?

An interesting article from California Voter Foundation. Can you use your iPhone to sign an initiative petition? A northern California-based company, Verafirma, has developed an application that makes it possible. But is it legal? Is it secure? These are the questions that remain unanswered. Election officials will need to start figuring it out soon, though, because the proponents of an initiative seeking to legalize marijuana use in California have submitted their petitions for verification, and the batch includes a smattering of signatures submitted not on piece of paper, but on thumb drives that display the initiative petition along with an image of a voter’s signature captured when the voter wrote that signature on his or her iPhone screen using the Verafirma app. And it’s not just an image of a signature – it’s something called “signature dynamic” that captures the pressure, speed and other special characteristics of the signature-in-the-making. This data can also be used for verification purposes – however, I do not believe the 58 county registrar offices have that technology in-house at this time. The counties that received these thumb drives have to either accept or reject the signatures on them. If they are rejected then there will likely be a legal battle and/or a legislative effort to change the law. The advantages of collecting initiative signatures using iPhones or other kinds of personal digital assistants (PDAs) are substantial, especially if you have an initiative that is likely to attract grassroots support. Using PDAs to sign initiatives will allow for more successful viral marketing campaigns and can lower the cost for qualifying an initiative, which experts estimate is a minimum of $1 million, even for the most grass-rootsy of measures. The technology may also lend itself to voter registration, which is currently an all-paper affair in California. Although the Secretary of State is aiming to create an online voter registration process, it is not likely to be up and running for several more years. From an election officials’ point of view, it will likely be far easier to verify petitions or registration forms that come in a digital format because the information on them is more accurate and easier to read, and it will also greatly reduce the number of paper petitions that get submitted, thus saving paper. The downside? From a voter’s perspective, it may make initiatives easier to qualify so we may end up with even more measures on the ballot, which can overwhelm voters. There are also potential security and privacy risks that must be addressed. How does the voter know that the company collecting their information and signature image isn’t storing it somewhere to use later for commercial or fraud purposes? How do you know the initiative you are signing is the actual one you want to sign and not an imposter petition? These kinds of questions typically get worked out during legislative and regulatory proceedings. But in this case, as in so many other instances in the past 16 years*, public policy has not kept pace with technology. And we know from experience where that can lead. Remember electronic voting? It was so appealing to the registrars — no more paper ballots, a fast, accurate count. The problem was there was no transparency or accountability either. California spent hundreds of millions of dollars on 40,000 paperless, electronic voting machines that ended up later being replaced with paper-voting systems or retrofitted with printers to produce a paper trail. We learned an expensive lesson — paper is low-tech and perhaps not what’s best for the environment, but in an election process marked by a tangle of procedures and varying degrees of technical sophistication in county election offices and at polling places, paper is the safest, most transparent method for transacting ballots. Of course, voter registration forms and initiative petitions are not the same as ballots. While they are in the same “class” of transactions, they are fundamentally different; a ballot is secret, and your name is not allowed to be on your ballot. Once you cast a ballot it must be anonymized, mixed with other ballots and never tied back to you. These rules are what keep the ballot secret. But initiative petitions and voter registration records are public records, and election officials must know the names and addresses of people who sign and submit them. Signatures must be visible and verifiable. Consequently, I am cautiously optimistic about the prospects for the iPhone initiative petition application. But first, election officials will need to figure out how to protect the security of these transactions and the privacy of the information contained in them. For additional details, take a look at this article by Ken McLaughlin from earlier this month in the San Jose Mercury News

News from State Budget Organizing Activities Feb 4, 2010

Hello everyone! Special Session Hearings There was a great showing at Tuesday’s Senate hearings with really compelling stories from lots of parents and people affected by the Governor’s proposals. There is an Assembly hearing this Wednesday, Feb. 10th in Sacramento. Because it is a budget subcommittee only those members will be present. The only chapters/BOLT groups whose members are on this committee would be San Jose (Beall) and Los Angeles (Brownley, DeLaTorre, Hernandez). Parent Voices is planning to bring folks from the Bay Area. Does anyone else want to attend? It’s in Room 444 at 1:30 pm. There is a possibility that the Senate Budget Committee will vote on cuts early next week. It’s thought that they won’t be anything big, but you never know, so we’ll be on alert for any information on what we may need to do. If you have a member, Republican or Democrat, on the committee, please write them a quick letter and urge them to oppose the Governor’s cuts. San Bernardino, San Diego, Los Angeles, San Francisco – that’s you! Tax Hearing This took place yesterday and it went well into the evening. CBP has produced an update piece (attached) called Options for Closing the Budget Gap. This could be useful to give our leaders talking points and to take on legislative visits. The National Scene The Senate Finance Committee appears to have agreed on a jobs bill that does not include an extension of TANF or FMAP or any state fiscal stabilization funds. This is a big setback. On Tuesday, Rep. Jim McDermott (D-WA) introduced legislation to extend and expand an existing program to incentivize job creation and aid struggling families with children. As part of the Recovery Act, Congress created an Emergency Contingency Fund (ECF) to help States with increasing expenditures on cash assistance for families in the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF) program; short-term, one-time aid for needy families; and subsidized employment programs that temporarily pay for the wages of a worker in a public or private job. This emergency fund is now scheduled to expire on September 30, 2010 and without an extension. Rep. McDermott’s legislation would extend the current Emergency Contingency Fund through August of 2011 and improve incentives for States to use these dollars to create or expand subsidized employment programs. It is very important that we get to our 2 US Senators and our members of Congress next week and urge them to include the extension of the TANF Emergency Contingency Fund and FMAP and State Fiscal Stabilization funds. In particular, it would be very useful to talk to Waxman ,Becerra, Stark and Miller. We are working to get brief talking points out by the end of tomorrow. The Bay Area is doing an action at Feinstein’s office tomorrow. Here’s their graphic, in case you haven’t seen it. Can anyone else do drop in visits next week? Nancy Berlin California Partnership 2533 W. 3rd Street, Suite 101 Los Angeles, CA 90057 nberlin@communitychange.org Office: (213) 385-8010 FAX: (213) 353-1344 Cell: (415) 314-8013 www.california-partnership.org Check out our new website at www.california-partnership.org!

OptionsforClosingtheBudgetGap.pdf

Please Take a Minute to Help Stop an Immigration Witch-Hunt in Novato!

Marin Interfaith Worker Justice Raising Prophetic Voices for Economic Justice Dear Friends and Colleagues, This ballot measure would be disastrous for Novato’s immigrant community. Today’s Marin IJ carries a short article and asks readers to vote on whether city contractors should have to use Homeland Security’s e-Verify system to verify immigration status of all employees. Will you please follow the link below and weigh in? Currently nearly 90% of those casting “votes” on the IJ site are in favor of the ballot measure. Group collecting signatures in Novato to bring immigration issue to voters – Brent Ainsworth A Novato-based group advocating the employment of documented American workers in Novato has collected more than half the required signatures to place an initiative on the Nov. View Full Story If you have trouble with the link, you can get to the story at www.marinij.com. Thanks so much! Pamela The Reverend Pamela Griffith Pond Executive Director Marin Interfaith Worker Justice Raising Prophetic Voices for Economic Justice P. O. Box 784 Novato, CA 94948-0784 415.847.8030 pamela@mariniwj.org www.mariniwj.org

Equal Voice: Where are the Green Jobs?

Wednesday February 3, 2009 Promises Broken? Tough Going on Road to Green Jobs Despite presidential promises to lift those in greatest need through the federal stimulus act, no one in government is tracking who has received those jobs. Meanwhile, researchers and community activists are collecting data of their own. And it doesn’t look good. Read More ›› back to top Growing Greener: Seeds for L.A. Jobs Program Planted Years Ago Long before “green jobs” became part of the national vocabulary, Los Angeles social activists were on the case, joining labor, environmental and community groups to lobby their city for a jobs creation program. In this case, the early bird has indeed won the day. Read More ›› back to top The Missing Class They work low-wage jobs, live paycheck to paycheck, but don’t qualify for welfare or food stamps. Neither middle class nor destitute, dozens of Equal Voice families find themselves ignored in coverage of Recession 2009. Read More ›› back to top Teens Decry Violence; Officials Stay Home Do youth voices really matter to elected officials? Politicians may say so but In Chicago, actions suggest otherwise. Though a half-dozen officials had promised to attend a Youth Town Hall, convened in the wake of 500 youth shootings in the city, almost none of them appeared. Undeterred, young people are continuing to organize. Read More ›› back to top Answering the Call It is a long, sometimes lonely road, but for 10 years Joyce Parker has been fighting to lift the voices of those who don’t come from “the right families” and to improve educational equity for hundreds of low-income children in one of the poorest areas of the country. Read More ›› back to top Stimulus Alerts: Check our Stimulus Alert page for updates on the distribution of nearly $800 billion through the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Equal Voice: America’s Family Story is an online newspaper created by Marguerite Casey Foundation to address issues of concern to working families. In this edition, we look at access to green jobs within low-income communities. Have a comment or story idea for future editions? Contact Equal Voice Editor Claudia Rowe at crowe@caseygrants.org. Communities in Action Advocacy in Challenging Times Stimulus Relief for Minorities? Hard to Say Miami Workers Center Troubling data unearthed by researchers and community advocates in Miami shows poor progress in tracking jobs created for low-income workers. Read More ›› ‘Invisible’ Immigrants Watching Congress La Union del Pueblo Entero (LUPE) Mothers, laborers and other ‘regular people’ met via video with Congressman Luis Gutierrez, anxiously awaiting action on immigration. Read More ›› Poor, Minority Students Focus of School Report Southern Education Foundation The South has become the first region in the nation where a majority of public school students are poor and a more than half are also students of color. Read More ›› Youth Activism Surging With Digital Tools New America Media Young activists today may not be household names – you won’t hear about the new Martins or Malcoms – but they are out there, all around you and bringing about significant social change. Read More ›› Workers Scrambling For Green Jobs Ella Baker Center for Human Rights Low-skilled and low-income, workers hardest hit in the recession are often last in line for stimulus-created green jobs – which are few and far between to begin with. Read More ›› Latest from the Blog: Unemployment For Blacks: A New Great Depression Marguerite Casey Foundation – Communities in Action

National Wear Red Day — February 5, 2010

Friday, February 5, 2010 is “National Wear Red Day” – a day when Americans nationwide will show their continued support for women’s heart disease awareness by wearing red. Employees can participate in the national movement by wearing their favorite red dress, shirt, tie, or Red Dress Pin on Friday, February 5, 2010, to help spread the critical message that “Heart Disease Doesn’t Care What You Wear – It’s the #1 Killer of Women.” The Heart Truth campaign, sponsored by the National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute of the National Institutes of Health, first introduced the Red Dress as the national symbol for women and heart disease awareness in February 2003. For employees in the Frances Perkins Building , the health unit will provide health-related information about heart disease in women at a booth located on the north side of the cafeteria from 11:30 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. Also, those employees who wear red are encouraged to go to the Great Hall at 11 a.m. for a group photograph. Please visit the following Web site for additional information: http://www.nhlbi.nih.gov/health/hearttruth/index.htm.

Marin County Housing Element Update – Workshop #4 on February 22

Marin County Housing Element- Planning Commission Workshop #4 will be held on Monday February 22, 2010, at 1:00pm Marin County Civic Center, Planning Commission Chambers, Room 328 (Administration Building), 3501 Civic Center Drive, San Rafael, California, 94903 The Marin The Marin County Planning Commission will receive a report and provide feedback on the status of the Marin County Draft Housing Element. The report is intended to inform the Commission and the public of comments received from the California Department of Housing and Community Development (HCD) regarding the November 2009 Draft Housing Element. HCD found that the sites designated to accommodate lower income housing in the Available Land Inventory (Section IV Figure IV-6, and Appendix F) were inadequate. In order to address HCD’s comments, significant modifications and additions to the sites presented in the Draft Housing Element will be necessary. A summary of potential modifications to more effectively encourage lower income housing will be presented. Staff will seek general input from the Commission on these various options. Public input is welcome. This is the fourth in a series of public workshops with the Planning Commission regarding the Draft Housing Element. Previous workshops were held in the Summer and Fall of 2009. The Housing Element is part of the County’s General Plan. It provides an overview of the community’s existing housing conditions, future needs and outlines specific policies for meeting housing goals in the unincorporated area of the County. The Housing Element is updated approximately every 5 years. Planning Commission Workshops are conducted as public forums where planners will seek direction and receive feedback from the Commission regarding specific Housing Element topics. A staff report for this workshop will be available approximately 1 week prior to the workshop. Staff reports and related information are available for download at http://www.co.marin.ca.us/HousingElement or the Planning Commission section of www.co.marin.ca.us Written material for the Planning Commission should be submitted to the Community Development Agency at least 10 days prior to the meeting date so that it can be distributed and considered by the Planning Commission with the staff report. Any written material submitted after this date will be distributed to the Planning Commission prior to or at the meeting. The Planning Commission Chambers is accessible to persons with disabilities. If you require American Sign Language interpreters, assistive listening devices, or other accommodations to participate in this meeting, you may request them by calling (415) 473-4381 (voice/TTY) or 711 for the California Relay Service or e-mailing disabilityaccess@co.marin.ca.us at least four working days in advance of the event. Copies of documents are available in accessible formats upon written request. You can view or update your subscriptions, password or e-mail address at any time on your User Profile Page. All you will need are your e-mail address and your password. You can always use the “Reset your Password” link on the Log-In page for help. This service is provided to you at no charge by Marin County. Visit us on the web at http://www.co.marin.ca.us. P.S. If you have any questions or problems e-mail support@govdelivery.com for assistance. GovDelivery, Inc. sending on behalf of Marin County · 371 Bel Marin Keys Blvd. · Ste. 120 · Novato CA 94949 · 1-800-439-1420

Recent Polling Results From NPH

Interesting survey about affordable housing and related policy issues: http://www.nonprofithousing.org/pdf_pubs/Poll_Report.pdf Carolyn Placente Public Policy Advocate Grassroots Leadership Network of Marin 415-451-4350 x310 carolyn@maringrassroots.org www.maringrassroots.org STRONG VOICES = STRONG COMMUNITIES EQUAL VOICE LEADERSHIP ACADEMY March – June 2010 Click Here to Apply Now!!