Monthly Archives: May 2014

This Week in Immigration Reform – Week Ending May 30

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Week Ending May 30, 2014

This week in immigration reform: Latino leaders unveil score cards evaluating all 435 Representatives, President Obama asks Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to delay announcement of findings from review of immigration enforcement policies until the end of the summer; the House adopts an anti-immigrant amendment to the CJS appropriations bill; Rep. Gutierrez along with other members supportive of immigration reform hold a press conference calling on the House Republican leadership to address reform now.

–Latino Organizations issue National Immigration Score Cards to House members. Last WednesdayNCLR, Mi Familia Vota, LCLAA, LULAC, Voto Latino, and the Hispanic Federationreleased preliminary score card ratings for all 435 House members. A final National Immigration Score Card will be issued in the summer and the results will be delivered to Latino communities and other interested parties across the U.S. House members also received a letter notifying them that they can improve their scores before the final score card is released by passing immigration reform with an earned path to citizenship. The score card ratings to date are based on immigration related House votes that have been taken during the 113th Congress. The failure of House leaders to call for a floor vote on comprehensive immigration reform has brought down the scores of many members. You can help us hold your representatives accountable by tweeting at them using the hashtag #CIRScores or you can use the following suggested tweets: Time is running out! @HouseGOP Leadership have until Summer to act on #immigrationreform to improve their #CIRScores; Join us in demanding House members to act on #immigrationreform; Too many families are torn apart each day #CIRScores. You can also call your Representative to say that you want a vote on immigration reform.

–President Obama asks Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson to delay review of immigration enforcement policies until the end of summer. On Tuesday, senior White House officials said President Obama was looking to give Representatives space to pass immigration reform by delaying the release of Jeh Johnson’s review of current enforcement policies. While the Department of Homeland security will continue working on the review, the results will be delayed in order to encourage House Republicans to implement a permanent solution to the immigration crisis in the next coming months.  

–The House adopts Rep. King’s (R-Iowa) anti-immigrant amendment to the Commerce-Justice-Science (CJS) appropriations bill. On Thursday, Rep. King’s amendment to dedicate $5 million of the Department of Justice funds to investigate the use of discretion by the Department of Homeland Security passed the House by a 218-193 vote. While the House has blocked votes for a comprehensive immigration reform, the ENLIST amendment, and other smaller immigration measures, they have chosen to allow votes on two of Rep. Steve King’s anti-immigrant amendments.

–Rep Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.) calls press conference to pressure House Republicans to act on immigration. This Friday, Rep. Gutierrez along with other House Democrats, held a press conference outside the House triangle calling on his Republican colleagues to act on immigration reform. As the days before the August recess dwindle away, the days left to allow a vote on comprehensive immigration reform are counting down. Imm_ReformUpdate_5_30_2014

NCLR and affiliates in action.

  • California: NCLR Affiliate TODEC hosted a rally with Reps. Gutierrez and Takano (D-Calif.) to end deportations and pass comprehensive immigration reform.ImmReform_Update_5_30_2014_PIC2

 

Congressional Immigration Scorecard

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NCLR and five other national Latino organizations just issued preliminary scores to all 435 members of the House for their actions on immigration reform. They have through June to improve their performance before final scores are delivered to Latino voters in July. Pictured below are the scores for the House Republican leadership. Click here or see below to see how your member of Congress scored.

(Click to enlarge)

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Scoring House Republicans’ Performance on Immigration

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By Janet Murguía, President and CEO, NCLR

There’s still time to receive a passing score

As our nation’s schoolchildren prepare for summer and parents anxiously await that final report card, many of our elected leaders in Congress will begin their summer break with less-than-stellar scores of their own, particularly on the issue of immigration reform. I would go so far as to say that if some of them performed this way in school, there would be no choice but to fail them.

Today I was joined by esteemed colleagues from some of the nation’s largest Latino civil rights and voter engagement groups to issue a score card (also below) measures how individual members in the House of Representatives have performed on immigration reform. These scores clearly demonstrate a pattern: House Republicans are failing miserably on delivering immigration reform. What’s most frustrating is that all the data, numbers, and studies point to just how beneficial reform would be for their districts and the nation. They’ve chosen to ignore the fact that reform would reduce the deficit and restore law and order to our broken immigration system. Further, estimates show that it would create an average of 14,000 jobs per each congressional district across the nation.

Congressional Immigration Scorecard

Immigration reform also makes sense politically. The vast majority of the American public across the political and geographic spectrum, from farmlands to Silicon Valley, are united on this issue. By passing immigration reform, Republicans could begin to build a new relationship with Latinos, an important and burgeoning political constituency that could play a decisive role in elections across the country. The Latino community is looking closely at how they will respond to a real humanitarian crisis that a lack of reform has heaped upon hundreds of thousands, if not millions, of families. That crisis needs attention from House Republicans; they need to be part of the solution, or end up owning the problem.

Today, it is important for us to make clear that their political choices have consequences, but there is still time to reverse the damage they are inflicting with their inaction; there is still time to improve their score. Not doing so will ultimately relegate them to the bottom of the class with Latino voters, a position that will almost guarantee they will never graduate to the White House.

Banking in Color: How Can Financial Institutions Better Serve Communities of Color?

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bankingincolor_sharegraphic_blog (3)As America edges closer to majority-minority status, new research indicates that communities of color face considerable challenges in meeting their needs in today’s financial services marketplace. Despite most reporting that they own a bank account, use smartphones, and put away monthly savings, large barriers to financial access still exist in the Black, Asian American and Pacific Islander (AAPI), and Latino communities.

Banking in Color: New Findings on Financial Access for Low- to Moderate-Income Communities, a new report by NCLR, the National Urban League, and the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, offers a unique look at the financial lives of our nation’s low- to moderate-income population. It takes a deep dive into financial access data in places with large communities of color: Chicago, Houston, and southern Florida.

The organizations behind this report are a part of a coalition known as the Alliance for Stabilizing Our Communities. The coalition tapped its large network of community-based organizations in the target locations to learn how underserved communities interact with banks and save money, as well as whether the financial services industry is working for communities of color.  Continue reading →

President Obama Officially Taps Julian Castro to Join Cabinet

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San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro. Photo: Wikipedia

Earlier today, the president formally announced the nomination of San Antonio Mayor Julian Castro to lead the Department of Housing and Urban Development. The popular mayor of the country’s seventh largest city will replace outgoing Secretary Shaun Donovan, who has held the post since President Obama took office.

We’re thrilled the president has nominated yet another highly qualified Latino candidate whose experience serving as a three term mayor has undoubtedly prepared him to lead the nation’s top housing agency.

“As we have said, the president hit a home run with this nomination,” said NCLR President and CEO, Janet Murguía in a statement. “Julian Castro has become a respected and nationally acclaimed leader on urban revitalization and economic development, the issues at the heart of the Department of Housing and Urban Development’s work”

The Senate should move quickly to confirm Mayor Castro. He would join the Small Business Administration’s Maria Contreras-Sweet and Labor Secretary Tom Perez as the third Latino in the president’s cabinet.

We look forward to working with Mayor Castro in the coming years.

Why Teachers Will Love the Common Core State Standards

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40x504_commoncore_72aYou’ve no doubt heard about the Common Core State Standards. The voluntary, state-led effort to establish academic standards in 44 states includes high benchmarks and a commitment to honing students’ critical and analytical skills. If implemented well, they hold great potential for making sure all our students are college- and career-ready once they graduate from high school.

Much of what has been written about Common Core has focused on the students, which is understandable, as they are the recipients of the instruction. There are also, however, great benefits for the teachers responsible for implementing these new standards in the classroom. In fact, we think that if you love teaching, you’ll love Common Core. What follows is a list of the top five reasons teachers like these new academic standards.

1. If you think the best approach to teaching is in a collaborative setting, then you’ll love Common Core because…

The standards are best  implemented through collaboration across grade levels and subjects. Under the new standards, teachers are encouraged to use innovative instructional strategies and methods designed to meet the needs of diverse learners.

2. If you love experiential learning, you’ll love Common Core because…

Their implementation doesn’t really allow for a “skill and drill” approach to learning. We all know how ineffectual rote memorization is when it comes to developing superior critical thinking skills and being college- and career-ready. The Common Core places a premium on these skills, which can best be taught using an experiential approach to learning.

3. If you teach English Language Learner (ELL) students, you’ll love Common Core because…

The Common Core State Standards stress development of language skills across all subjects and all domains (reading, writing, speaking, and listening). This is a significant element of Common Core, especially given the ever-increasing number of ELL students in need of adequate and equitable education.

4. If you like seeing students engaged, you’ll love Common Core because…

They  demand that children be active participants in their own education. Gone are the days of talking at kids in the hopes they are absorbing the information. Common Core State Standards have engagement at their roots because study after study has shown that active  engagement of students during the learning process is a key indicator for success.

5. If you want your kids prepared for college and career, then you’ll love Common Core State Standards because…

They are aligned to higher education standards that demand the skills students need to be successful in college and in their careers.

The Common Core State Standards are our best hope for ensuring our kids are well-served and college-ready, but we’ll need all our teachers on board for this effort to be truly successful.

How the Finance Industry Can Help Minority Communities Achieve Financial Security

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Jar of MoneyNext week, we’ll be releasing a new report on how communities of color are navigating the financial services industry. The report, “Banking in Color: New Findings on Financial Access for Low- and Moderate-Income Communities,” examines how low-and moderate-income households across various communities and states are meeting their financial needs, and the levels to which they are financially engaged

The report was was written by the Alliance for Stabilizing our Communities (ASOC)—which inludes the National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development, National Urban League, and NCLR—noted a number potential opportunities for financial institutions to improve banking for low-income consumers. For example, although the majority of participants surveyed had a checking or savings account with a traditional bank, they tended to eschew the rapidly expanding online and mobile banking platforms in favor of face to face transactions, due to security concerns.

There’s much more about the future of banking in the report, so don’t miss it. Register here to join the free event next week, May 28, .