NBCSL calls for end to prison-based gerrymandering
The National Black Caucus of State Legislators just issued an important resolution calling for an end to prison-based gerrymandering. The resolution, LJE-11-03, passed at the 34th Annual Legislative Conference, calls on the Census Bureau to start counting incarcerated individuals at their addresses of residence, rather than the address of the prison, beginning with the 2020 Census. The National Black Caucus of State Legislators calls upon states to enact legislation modeled after the Delaware, Maryland, and New York laws that ended prison-based gerrymandering in those states. The resolution was sponsored by Maryland State Senator Catherine E. Pugh and Maryland Delegate Joseline Pena-Melnyk, who were also the lead sponsors of Maryland's No Representation Without Population law that ended prison-based gerrymandering in that state.
The National Black Caucus of State Legislators has published the full text of all 23 conference resolutions on their website, and I've included the text of the prison-based gerrymandering resolution below:
Reform of prison-based census counting
WHEREAS, obtaining an accurate count of the population is so vital to representative democracy that the framers of the United States Constitution addressed the issue of the census and apportionment in the opening paragraphs of this governing document;
WHEREAS, the United States Supreme Court requires state and local government to redraw legislative districts each decade on the basis of population, so as to ensure each resident the same access to government;
WHEREAS, the United States Census Bureau (Census Bureau) currently has a policy of counting incarcerated individuals at the address of the correctional institution, rather than their residential address;
WHEREAS, African Americans are incarcerated at a rate six times higher than whites; WHEREAS, the majority of state and federal prisons are built disproportionately in white, rural areas;
WHEREAS, counting incarcerated individuals as residents of the prison community has a particularly negative effect on the ability of African American communities to elect their candidates of choice and receive appropriate and adequate political representation;
WHEREAS, in 2003, the African American subcommittee of the Census Bureau's Race and Ethnic Advisory Committee recommended that the Census Bureau count prisoners as residents of their pre-incarceration addresses;
WHEREAS, in 2006, the Census Bureau's own advisors at the National Research Council called on the Bureau to begin collecting the home addresses of incarcerated individuals and to study the best way to use those addresses;
WHEREAS, the Census Bureau recognized the demand from states and counties for data that better reflect their actual populations, and has agreed to release data on prison populations to states in time for redistricting, enabling each state to individually adjust the population data used for redistricting; and
WHEREAS, Delaware, Maryland, and New York State recognized the need for equal representation based on the concept of "one person, one vote" and swiftly passed state laws requiring legislative districts to be drawn based on population data adjusted to reflect the actual residence of incarcerated individuals.
THEREFORE BE IT RESOLVED, that the National Black Caucus of State Legislators (NBCSL) believes that the Census Bureau should count incarcerated individuals at their addresses of residence, rather than the address of the prison during the 2020 and all future decennial Censuses;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that until the Census Bureau counts incarcerated individuals at their actual residential addresses, the NBCSL encourages states to enact legislation modeled after the Delaware, Maryland, and New York laws;
BE IT FURTHER RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be sent to the chair of each state legislative Black Caucus, the presidents of the National Conference of State Legislatures and the Council of State Governments, the director of the United States Census Bureau, and the presiding officers of all 50 state legislatures; and
BE IT FINALLY RESOLVED, that a copy of this resolution be transmitted to the President of the United States, the Vice President of the United States, members of the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate, and other federal and state government officials as appropriate.
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Friday, January 7, 2011
Prisoners of the Census News - January 7
Big business drives Illinois anti-teacher bill #P2 - newspoodle's posterous
FROM http://peoplesworld.org/big-business-drives-illinois-anti-teacher-bill/CHICAGO - Under the guise of "school reform," big corporate foundations, banking and speculative hedge fund investors are pulling out all stops to ram a measure through the Illinois state legislature that outlaws teachers' right to strike, and eliminates tenure and seniority rights.
The measure, deceptively called the Performance Counts Act, was actually written by these same interests and is expected to be voted on in the state House within days.
"The drafters of this legislation- Stand for Children and Advance Illinois - appear to have one goal in mind - turn teaching in Illinois into a low-wage, high-turnover job," declared Karen Lewis, president of the Chicago Teachers Union.
"The bill would gut teachers' unions statewide, maximize firing teachers at will, and dial up the already high level of distrust and stress administrators and teachers endure."
Stand for Children is a national organization based in Oregon, headed by Jonas Edelman, son of well known children's advocate Marian Wright Edelman. (She has no relationship to these efforts.) The foundation gets significant funding from billionaire Bill Gates and other wealthy interests.
Advance Illinois is a front group for investment capital based in Chicago, and co-chaired by former Republican Governor Jim Edgar and William M. Daley, a vice president of JPMorgan Chase, and brother of Mayor Richard M. Daley. Daley was recently named President Obama's Chief of Staff.
The director of the group is Robin Steans, whose father Harrison Steans is chair of Financial Investments Corporation and the Steans Family Foundation, a big backer of charter schools.
Some of these same interests are heavily involved with Mayor Daley's school privatization initiative known as Renaissance 2010.
Many see the legislative effort as opening wide the floodgates for school privatization and corporate investment in charter schools by eliminating or severely weakening the most powerful obstacle to the dismantling of public education - unions that represent over 200,000 teachers statewide.
Teachers and their unions are being demonized non-stop by the corporate mass media as the main enemy of "school reform." It is being said the only difference between good schools and bad schools are bad teachers that must be gotten rid of, without due process and at the discretion of the school principal.
The effort appears to be driven by Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan, although it has widespread support among Republican lawmakers. It comes weeks after the same financial forces brazenly poured over $650,000 into nine key legislative races in the November elections.
Among those candidates backed were Democratic state Reps. Keith Farnham, and Jehan Gordon who received $100,000 each. Both were subsequently named to a hastily constituted "school reform" committee set up Madigan that has held hearings on the issue. The four-person bipartisan committee is co-chaired by Rep. Linda Chapa La Via, a charter school proponent.
While it is being rushed through the House, members of a similar Senate committee have stated they will take their time in considering any reform proposals, according to committee chair Sen. Kimberly Lightford.
The Illinois Education Association, Illinois Federation of Teachers and CTU recognize that not every teacher is cut out for the classroom. They have issued their own proposals for what they consider to be real school reform.
The "Accountability for All" Education Reform Legislation while protecting teachers' rights to due process (the heart of tenure), would streamline the process for removing underperforming teachers and resolve dismissals in a shorter time. At the same time it would give teachers all the assistance that they need in order to improve.
"Every student has the right to be taught by a top-quality teacher. Teachers will also continue to have the right to advocate for their students without fear of reprisal," said Dan Montgomery, president of the IFT.
Teachers and many educators believe the key to improving schools lies with adequate and equitable funding that would lower class sizes, limit instructional time spent on standardized testing and ensure a well rounded curriculum including art, music, physical education, foreign languages and vocational training.
"The message of this proposed law is that the state of Illinois does not respect teachers and that it intends to hold them solely responsible for students' test scores," said Diane Ravitch, who also testified before the House committee.
Ravitch was an assistant secretary of Education under Pres. George H.W. Bush, once touted school privatization and has since become an outspoken critic.
"This mean-spirited legislation will demoralize, demean, and dishearten the men and women who teach the children in the public schools of Illinois. Its other implicit goal is to delegitimize public education and prepare the ground for more privatization," she said.
Teachers and their allies are urging constituents to call their state legislators and express their opposition to the bill. For more information go to www.ctunet.org or call 312-329-9100 or the IFT at 800-752-2175.
Thanks newspoodle
Thursday, January 6, 2011
No Backlash for Daley From Liberal Senators : Roll Call
No Backlash for Daley From Liberal Senators
- By Jennifer Bendery
- Roll Call Staff
- 5:50 p.m.
Win McNamee/Getty ImagesRelated Content
Senate Democrats have nothing but praise for President Barack Obama’s choice of William Daley as his new chief of staff, despite liberal groups blasting the president’s pick as beholden to corporate interests.
“I’m very satisfied,” said Sen. Sherrod Brown, a leading Senate liberal. As for the outrage from progressive groups, the Ohio Democrat shrugged and said, “It’s the president’s call.”
Sen. Frank Lautenberg, also a prominent liberal, said Daley is a good choice because the business community is looking “to see that we are pro-business.” In addition, the New Jersey Democrat said, Daley will be a boon to White House-Senate relations.
“He has a demonstrated ability to build consensus,” Lautenberg said. “He has a persuasive manner, to put it mildly. That can help the president as well as the House and the Senate ... despite the change in ratios” with the increase in GOP seats.
Sen. Carl Levin (D-Mich.) added that he is pleased with Obama’s choice because Daley “brings competence and understanding of the role of Congress.”
Leading liberal groups including MoveOn.org and the Progressive Change Campaign Committee are fuming over the naming of Daley because of his deep ties to the business community. Among other things, Daley opposed the creation of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a major priority of liberals.
MoveOn.org Executive Director Justin Ruben said having Daley in the White House “is troubling and sends the wrong message” as average Americans struggle to find jobs.
But Democratic Senators say Daley is just what Obama needs in the aftermath of the November elections that dealt a blow to Democrats.
“He’s the perfect chief of staff-type person,” Sen. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) said. “He’s no-nonsense, he’s well-organized, he’s smart. He’s great.”
Moderate Democrats touted their strong relationships to Daley.
“I consider him a personal friend,” Budget Chairman Kent Conrad (D-N.D.) said. “He’s well-known here. Highly regarded. He has lots of relationships with Members.”
Having Daley in the White House will “absolutely” lead to better White House-Senate relations, Finance Chairman Max Baucus added.
“He is an excellent choice,” the Montana Democrat said.
Emily Pierce contributed to this report.
More News
- Fitzpatrick: Swearing-In Celebration Was Not a Fundraiser 50 minutes ago
- McConnell Expects GOP Senators to Take the Offensive 7:20 p.m.
- McConnell Supports Obama’s Chief of Staff Choice 6:34 p.m.
- Congressional Leaders Face Off on Debt Limit 6:09 p.m.
- Coons Taps Daschle Veteran for Chief of Staff 3:07 p.m.
- House Cuts Budgets for Offices and Appropriations 2:36 p.m.
- Barbour Gives Lunchtime Pep Talk to Senate Republicans
Philanthropy’s Buzzwords of the Decade (January 5, 2011) | Opinion Blog | Stanford Social Innovation Review
Philanthropy’s Buzzwords of the Decade
Other articles on: Social Innovations • Microfinance • Socially Responsible Investing • Cause Marketing • Philanthropy • Online Giving • Nonprofits • Nonprofit Organizations • Business • B Corporation • Global Issues • Poverty Posted: January 5, 2011 01:58 PM Author: Lucy Bernholz Comment Alert
opinion Article Alert -->Email Blog Printer Version Buzzwords are fleeting things. They come in and go out, are first hot and then not. However, looked at over time, buzzwords also provide a useful rearview roadmap of how we got here.
Taken together, the 10 phrases I have chosen to show the long steady rise in market-based solutions for social problem solving, technology’s infiltration of all things fund raising, and a shift in attention from local to global.
Following are the 10 philanthropy buzzwords that define the decade gone by. This story originally appeared in The Chronicle of Philanthropy.
Number 10: Donate-now buttonsRemember writing checks, stamping envelopes, and mailing off your donations? Way back in the 1990s that’s how we gave money. Filling in credit card numbers on a direct-mail appeal reply card was high-tech, just a notch above throwing your coins into the swinging red kettle.
Donate-now buttons on Web sites got their start in 1999 and really took off in 2001 when AOL, Cisco, and Yahoo started Network for Good.
Number 9: Prize philanthropyIt used to be the biggest philanthropic honors were those you couldn’t apply for—like the Nobel Prize or the MacArthur “genius” award. That all changed in 2004 when SpaceShipOne, a privately built and piloted craft, completed its second orbit of the earth and won the $10-million X Prize. Since then foundations and corporations have fallen over themselves offering cash prizes for social change. There are challenges for wireless news tools, clean-water carriers, digital learning games, and much more. Philanthropists love prizes because they don’t pay out until you solve the problem.
Number 8: CelebvocatesNonprofits have always loved celebrity backers. Nowadays, star status requires that every movie actor, utility infielder, and aspiring politician find a charitable cause to love. Ceaseless, blatant self—promotion in the name of hungry children, sad diseases, and cute animals is ceaseless, blatant self-promotion we can all stand behind.
In fact, here: Let me wear your T-shirt, carry your tote bag, and tweet a gift to your organization so you can take credit for my generosity.
Number 7: MicrovolunteeringMom used to bake cookies for the PTA and serve on committees for the church. Now she edits marketing copy for the local animal shelter, while waiting for the bus and helps NASA identify craters on the moon during boring department meetings. Microvolunteering, the art of donating time in 20-minute increments, comes to us via our smart phones—which we also rely on to organize protests and tweet our bikeathon fund-raising totals.
Number 6: PhilanthrocapitalismNonprofits should be more like businesses. Giving should be more like investing. And capitalism should be more creative, just so long as it continues to let some people get crazy wealthy so they can give some of it back to others.
Philanthrocapitalism, a term coined by Mathew Bishop and Michael Green and used as the name of their 2008 book, celebrates the coming together of business skills and structures with a focus on solving the world’s shared social problems.
Number 5: B CorporationFor entrepreneurs trying to run businesses with a social purpose, corporate structure has been one of the persistent challenges.
Organize as a nonprofit and you’ll be forever capital constrained, organize as a commercial enterprise and you risk losing your mission to investors. Since 2006, a group called B Lab has enabled B corporations (the B stands for benefit) to gain traction around the country and lead a revolution in corporate operations. Corporate code may not be sexy, but these new efforts stand to attract billions of dollars in new investments in social businesses.
Number 4: Impact investingImpact investing is the active form of socially responsible investing—seeking out commercial investments that return social good and profits. First named in 2008, this marketplace is estimated to grow to $1 trillion in opportunities by 2020. In the midst of global financial collapse the impact-investing realm did more than keep its head above water; it grew in both name recognition and assets.
Number 3: Embedded givingA pejorative term for cause-related marketing, a term of art coined in 1983 to promote a campaign to repair the Statue of Liberty, embedded giving describes this decade’s approach to adding charitable donations to sales transactions. Choose one iPod over another to give to AIDS?
That’s embedded giving. During the holiday season that just wrapped up, there was no escaping the pressure to add a dollar to your checkout total or buy Aunt Martha the sweater that will help save the seals. Embedded giving is great for retailers, even if the jury’s still out on how well it serves good causes. And the seals? Well, they don’t care what sweater you wear as long as you stop eating all their fish.
Number 2: MicrofinanceThirty years ago, Muhammad Yunus, a Bangladeshi banker, started lending money to groups of women with no collateral. In 2006 he won the Nobel Peace Prize for his work, helping to make microfinance a household world.
Today’s field of microfinance is marked by hundreds of millions of dollars in investment, several IPOS by microfinance companies, and some scandal. Once the realm of nonprofits with large philanthropic supporters, microfinance is now a mix of commercial bankers and small donors. Sites like Kiva make it possible for anyone with a credit card to be a global lender.
Despite its enormous growth and cachet, we still don’t know how well microfinance helps the poor.
Number 1: Social entrepreneursIn 2000, few people had ever heard of social entrepreneurs. Many would have defined a social entrepreneur as a very friendly business leader.
A decade later, Kiva’s founders are on Oprah, PBS, and NPR, universities offer degrees in social entrepreneurship, and U.S. presidents both present and past laud social entrepreneurs.
The universal reach of the term results from the legitimate accomplishments of leaders like Jacqueline Novogratz (founder of the Acumen Fund) and Muhammad Yunus and massive investments from philanthropists like Jeff Skoll and Pierre Omidyar. And it all builds from the work of Bill Drayton, founder of Ashoka, who introduced the term to the world back in 1980.
Forget the fact that no one can agree on a common definition, social entrepreneurs are still the hottest game in town and the buzzword of the decade.
What does the decade ahead hold? Look for the nonprofit world to become the “impact economy,” for the Securities and Exchange Commission to get involved in regulating investments in social enterprises, and for interactive data visualization to become the standout feature of effective nonprofit fund-raising pitches. More of my predictions for the decade ahead are here.
Lucy Bernholz is the founder and president of Blueprint Research & Design, Inc, a strategy consulting firm that helps philanthropic individuals and institutions achieve their missions. She is the publisher of Philanthropy2173, an award-winning blog about the business of giving and serves as executive producer of The Giving Channel on Fora.tv.
Thanks to my friend Dan Bassill, Tutor Mentor Connection for this gem
Obama’s Ex-Nemesis Becomes Chief of Staff - Beltway Beast - The Daily Beast
President Obama announced Thursday that he’s picked William Daley as his new chief of staff. Daley "possesses a deep understanding of how jobs are created," Obama said. Daniel Stone reports on what Obama gains with Daley.
Obama’s new right hand man has backers on all sides, which could be why he was chosen to run the West Wing.
In the past two years, President Obama has had several nemeses. William Daley was one of them. Daley, the son of the late Chicago Mayor Richard Daley, thought health-care reform was a mistake. He thought the Consumer Protection Bureau was a bad idea. And, if you needed any other proof, he’s been a senior-level banker for JP Morgan Chase.
Chris O'Meara / AP Photo
So why is Daley becoming Obama’s new right hand? Because there’s more to him than that. He was also a senior aide and then secretary of Commerce in the Clinton administration, and sat on the board of the Gore campaign. Heck, even the liberals’ liberal Howard Dean loves him.
It’s a paradox that had White House reporters scratching their heads much of this week. Daley has lamented before about his party sticking too far to the left. Could his appointment be a sign of Obama shifting toward the right over the next two years?
• Robert Gibbs Talks William DaleyThere’s no doubt a deep level of trust between Obama and Daley. Both have ties in Chicago politics and have scores of mutual friends, including former chief of staff Rahm Emanuel, who’s vying to replace Daley’s brother, Richard Jr., to be Chicago’s next mayor.
But rebranding the White House as friendly to bankers can’t be all bad for the president. The banking industry, which complained last year of being the president’s “piñata,” has been asking to kiss and make up with the White House. And as 2010 showed, corporate money can influence elections in unprecedented ways.
Not to mention that Daley has relationships with all wings of the party. Not a bad quality to have when beginning to build a campaign.
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