Will Minority Business participate in the Great Economic Recovery Plan?
From: Faye Anderson
Sent: Tuesday, February 24, 2009 8:30 PM
Subject: Minority Business Participation in the Economic Recovery Plan
Dear Colleagues:
As you know, there is growing concern among African Americans about whether implementation of President Obama's economic recovery plan will be fair and equitable, particularly given infrastructure spending decisions will be made at the state and local levels.
The National Association of State Procurement Officials (NASPO), the National Association of State Auditors, Comptrollers and Treasurers, the National Association of State Budget Officers and the National Association of State Chief Information Officers have sent a joint letter to OMB Director Peter Orszag requesting Federal guidance on states’ reporting and accountability requirements under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act.
A NASPO member has suggested that state Chief Procurement Officers help coordinate affirmative action procurement provisions of federal stimulus sub-grants to states. NASPO is willing to assume that role if enough stakeholders ask it to get involved. Otherwise, it will be up to individual states to ensure minority businesses participate in the procurement/ contracting process for federal stimulus funds.
Given the time constraints, we have to pursue a multifaceted strategy. The clock is ticking. States are required to begin obligating the first 50 percent of its infrastructure money within 120 days from February 17 or those dollars will be redistributed.
NASPO’s involvement would add another voice in support of inclusion and transparency. The OMB letter can serve as a model for minority business reporting and accountability requirements.
I hope you will encourage your readers to contact NASPO and urge them to get involved in the issue of minority business participation in the economic recovery plan. To that end, they should send an email to:
Jack Gallt
NASPO Association Director
jgallt@ AMRms.com
Nicole Smith
NASPO Issues Coordinator
nsmith@ AMRms.com
Together, we can turn hope into policy. If there are any questions, I can be reached at trackingchange@ gmail.com
Best,
Faye
------------ -
Faye M. Anderson
Citizen Journalist
Anderson@Large
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Wednesday, February 25, 2009
Domestic Terrorism in Paris, Texas
ALERT to the U.S. Department of Justice
Paris, Texas is back in the news. Racial animosity in this small town is like the leopard that cannot change its spots. However, I will call it racism no more. Whenever black workers cannot feel safe on the job because of nooses hanging around the job site, racist graffiti sprayed on walls and etched in sidewalks, and continued threats against the black populous, it is time to call it what it truly is: Domestic Terrorism.
“Only a few weeks ago, race relations had reached such a low point in the troubled east Texas town of Paris that federal Justice Department mediators were called in to try to bring together black and white citizens, but the public meeting quickly dissolved into rancor,” reports Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune.
“Now fresh racial tensions are erupting inside one of the town's biggest employers, the Turner Industries pipe fabrication plant, where black employees charge that hangman's nooses, Confederate flags and racist graffiti have been appearing throughout the workplace for months… One worker, Karl Mitchell, took pictures of the offensive symbols in early February and filed a formal complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week. Other African-American employees assert that they've repeatedly complained about the racist symbols to their bosses, only to be ignored or told to keep quiet.”
Witt also reviewed his previous stories about Paris.
Paris first drew national scrutiny in 2007, after a 14-year-old African-American girl, Shaquanda Cotton, was sentenced by a local judge to up to seven years in a youth prison for shoving a hall monitor at Paris High School. Three months earlier, the same judge had sentenced a 14-year-old white girl to probation for the more serious crime of arson. Less than a month after a Tribune story contrasting the two cases triggered national civil rights protests and petition drives, Texas authorities ordered Shaquanda's early release from prison.
Then last year, a 24-year-old African-American man, Brandon McClelland, was murdered, allegedly at the hands of two white men who authorities charge dragged him beneath a pickup truck until his body was nearly dismembered. The accused killers are awaiting trial for murder, but McClelland's family and civil rights leaders have pressed prosecutors to add hate-crime charges as well.
Darwin Campbell of the LoneStarPowerPages reports the underlying concerns of one local African-American civic leader.
“One of my biggest concerns regarding the racist graffiti, noose, and other things found at the plant is the mentality of those who put it there,” said Brenda Cherry, community activist and leader of Concerned Citizens for Racial Equality. “Those same people serve on juries, and some go on to have supervisory positions or other positions of authority.”
Eddie Griffin Commentary
Brenda Cherry hit the nail on the head in her assessment of whites with these hateful attitudes occupying “positions of authority” and serving on juries. We believe this was the attitude behind sending Shaquanda Cotton to prison for up to seven years, charged with assault on a public servant for merely pushing a school aide.
We believe it is the same attitude that saw no hate crime charges file in the dragging death of Brandon McClelland.
But then, this town of 26,000 has always been in denial of its history of bigotry and racial hatred. It took over 100 years for the city to apologize for the lynching of Henry Smith in 1893.
No one can imagine what goes on inside the insidious mind of people buried in the piney backwoods of East Texas. The lynching of Henry Smith typifies to other similar stories of East Texas.
As the story goes, Henry Smith was falsely accused of a white child’s murder, simply because there were no other convenient suspects. A mob of about 10,000 whites dragged him off the train and put him on a carnival float and paraded him through town and out into the prairie. There, he was placed upon a scaffold and tortured for fifty minutes by hot iron brands to his flesh, starting with his feet and legs and working upward to his head.
A February 2, 1893 article in The New York Sun stated that, “Every groan from the fiend, every contortion of his body was cheered by the thickly packed crowd.” Eventually, the hot irons were thrust into his eye sockets and down his throat. Afterwards, finding he was still breathing, the crowd poured oil on him and set him on fire. The crowd then fought over the hot ashes to collect his bones and teeth as souvenirs.
I assert that the mentality behind these recent incidents is the same as those who found pleasure in the torture and lynching of Henry Smith.
Can a leopard change its spots? Can a vampire loose his lust for blood? Can a racist reform his mind?
I don’t think so, not without some prodding from the Department of Justice prosecution office.
Paris, Texas is back in the news. Racial animosity in this small town is like the leopard that cannot change its spots. However, I will call it racism no more. Whenever black workers cannot feel safe on the job because of nooses hanging around the job site, racist graffiti sprayed on walls and etched in sidewalks, and continued threats against the black populous, it is time to call it what it truly is: Domestic Terrorism.
“Only a few weeks ago, race relations had reached such a low point in the troubled east Texas town of Paris that federal Justice Department mediators were called in to try to bring together black and white citizens, but the public meeting quickly dissolved into rancor,” reports Howard Witt of the Chicago Tribune.
“Now fresh racial tensions are erupting inside one of the town's biggest employers, the Turner Industries pipe fabrication plant, where black employees charge that hangman's nooses, Confederate flags and racist graffiti have been appearing throughout the workplace for months… One worker, Karl Mitchell, took pictures of the offensive symbols in early February and filed a formal complaint with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission last week. Other African-American employees assert that they've repeatedly complained about the racist symbols to their bosses, only to be ignored or told to keep quiet.”
Witt also reviewed his previous stories about Paris.
Paris first drew national scrutiny in 2007, after a 14-year-old African-American girl, Shaquanda Cotton, was sentenced by a local judge to up to seven years in a youth prison for shoving a hall monitor at Paris High School. Three months earlier, the same judge had sentenced a 14-year-old white girl to probation for the more serious crime of arson. Less than a month after a Tribune story contrasting the two cases triggered national civil rights protests and petition drives, Texas authorities ordered Shaquanda's early release from prison.
Then last year, a 24-year-old African-American man, Brandon McClelland, was murdered, allegedly at the hands of two white men who authorities charge dragged him beneath a pickup truck until his body was nearly dismembered. The accused killers are awaiting trial for murder, but McClelland's family and civil rights leaders have pressed prosecutors to add hate-crime charges as well.
Darwin Campbell of the LoneStarPowerPages reports the underlying concerns of one local African-American civic leader.
“One of my biggest concerns regarding the racist graffiti, noose, and other things found at the plant is the mentality of those who put it there,” said Brenda Cherry, community activist and leader of Concerned Citizens for Racial Equality. “Those same people serve on juries, and some go on to have supervisory positions or other positions of authority.”
Eddie Griffin Commentary
Brenda Cherry hit the nail on the head in her assessment of whites with these hateful attitudes occupying “positions of authority” and serving on juries. We believe this was the attitude behind sending Shaquanda Cotton to prison for up to seven years, charged with assault on a public servant for merely pushing a school aide.
We believe it is the same attitude that saw no hate crime charges file in the dragging death of Brandon McClelland.
But then, this town of 26,000 has always been in denial of its history of bigotry and racial hatred. It took over 100 years for the city to apologize for the lynching of Henry Smith in 1893.
No one can imagine what goes on inside the insidious mind of people buried in the piney backwoods of East Texas. The lynching of Henry Smith typifies to other similar stories of East Texas.
As the story goes, Henry Smith was falsely accused of a white child’s murder, simply because there were no other convenient suspects. A mob of about 10,000 whites dragged him off the train and put him on a carnival float and paraded him through town and out into the prairie. There, he was placed upon a scaffold and tortured for fifty minutes by hot iron brands to his flesh, starting with his feet and legs and working upward to his head.
A February 2, 1893 article in The New York Sun stated that, “Every groan from the fiend, every contortion of his body was cheered by the thickly packed crowd.” Eventually, the hot irons were thrust into his eye sockets and down his throat. Afterwards, finding he was still breathing, the crowd poured oil on him and set him on fire. The crowd then fought over the hot ashes to collect his bones and teeth as souvenirs.
I assert that the mentality behind these recent incidents is the same as those who found pleasure in the torture and lynching of Henry Smith.
Can a leopard change its spots? Can a vampire loose his lust for blood? Can a racist reform his mind?
I don’t think so, not without some prodding from the Department of Justice prosecution office.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Judges Sent Juveniles to Prison Receive $2.6 million in Head Count Kickbacks
I have known for some time that certain judges were getting kickbacks for every head they sent to prison. I just didn’t have the proof, until now.
The juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses... Wilkes-Barre judges accused of jailing kids for cash.
Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. Both pled guilty to corruption charges. Ironically, the company has been charged with no wrongdoing, but rather claims itself to be the victim of extortion.
The report says that Conahan shut down the county-run juvenile prison in 2002 and helped the two companies secure tens of millions of dollars in contracts with Luzerne County, most of which were dependent on how many juveniles were locked up in their facilities. PA Child Care landed a 20-year agreement worth an estimated $58 million. The contract was later canceled and described as being "too exorbitant", but not before the two judges became rich feeding the Prison Industrial machine with naive juvenile offenders, many of whom were first time offenders, and many more burdened with exaggerated charges for minor offenses.
This is the classic school-to-prison pipeline for the sake of profit and kickbacks.
Although I scream to the high heavens, some people still do not believe the juvenile justice system can operate like this. It must be an abortion, they think. But we have seen instance upon instances, cases like Kurt Kruger, a teenager charged as a lookout for a friend who stole $200 worth of DVD. And, a 14-year old Paris, Texas juvenile charged with assault on a public servant for barging into the school before permitted, and sentenced up to 7 years of her life. And, a schoolyard fight in Jena, Louisiana, that could netted six black youth up to 80 years. And, in the state of Georgia, a 17-year old has consensual sex with a 15-year old and wound up sentenced to 10 years.
Harsh punishment is not the word. It is a rash motive for locking up some many juveniles for such minor offenses. It is a cash motive that banked the corrupt judges $2.6 million. Justice is bought and sold on the streets like merchandise.
When a man has been on the crooked side of the law, he knows which judges are on the take. He knows which cops will contaminate the crime scene and which will fabricate the evidence. He knows which crooked lawyer will put his feet on the ground and get the case dismissed.
Half the story above has never been told.
Last year, Conahan felt compelled to hold a news conference to answer allegations raised against him in a federal drug trial. A witness had claimed that Conahan introduced him to a drug dealer. And, an attorney referred to Conahan as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the case. But Conahan denied the allegations, which he said were made by people seeking favor of prosecutors. Therefore, he was never charged by police nor reprimanded by the state’s judicial conduct board.
These things come as no surprise to me. Juveniles get in trouble and find themselves in front of a judge who sees nothing but dollar signs hanging over their heads. And, no matter how many warnings I give them, juveniles will get involved in drugs, not knowing that there is a crooked judge somewhere who knows their deed and identity, and will probably be sitting on the bench when the court serves them up as a turkeys.
In the above case, kids were hailed before the judges, without lawyers, contrary to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel. The constitution is worthless to a judge on the take.
The Ciavarella and Conahan court was a railroad system. And, people want to ask: Why are so many young people in prison?
It looks like due process of law and smells like justice. But it does not pass the acid test. By the same code and practice, the innocent is convicted and wrongfully sent to prison. Dallas County has exonerated 19 inmates false accused, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned. A Texas Tech college student named Timothy Cole was exonerated posthumously. And, yet the beat goes on like business as usual in the courthouse, and nobody knows the better.
Private prison contractors and their corporate investors look for ever-increasing expansion of the detention system, as if there is no absolute maximum. Take for example the story of privateers going to a Texas town later nicknamed Prisonville because it “host to what’s probably the largest concentration of privatized jail facilities in the world.”
The town of is home to a privately run, 1,000-bed state prison; a county-run, 96-bed jail with space for federal inmates; and a private, 500-bed federal jail. Not content with just $129 million in prison-related debt, the Willacy County Commissioners Court voted in 2007 to finance a $50.1 million, 1000-bed addition to the privately-run 2000-bed “Tent City” for immigrants.
The 3,600 prisoners, one-third of Raymondville’s population, who reside in this penal colony represent the heart of the area’s economy.
According to an article written about "Prisonville": Private prison corporations are a good place to put money – if you are interested in making good money from companies that imprison people for profit. As the two leading private prison firms like to tell investors, it’s a booming business these days not because crime rates are rising but because of the new opportunities in immigrant detention.
So it’s not surprising that Vanguard Group, one of the country’s largest mutual funds companies, puts its investors money into private prison firms, including the country’s two largest: Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group (originally incorporated as Wackenhut). Vanguard Group is also a major investor in Correctional Services Corporation.
Willacy County, Texas is the epicenter of the private prison phenomenon that is sweeping the country, fueled in recent years by the immigrant crackdown. Over the past three years, over 3,000 new “prison beds” have come on line in Raymondville, the county seat, as politicians and Texas developers have attempted to cash in on the federal government’s demand for prison space for detained immigrants. The largest operator is the Utah-based Management and Training Corporation, although GEO Group also has prison operations in Raymondville.
The juvenile court system in Wilkes-Barre operated like a conveyor belt: Youngsters were brought before judges without a lawyer, given hearings that lasted only a minute or two, and then sent off to juvenile prison for months for minor offenses... Wilkes-Barre judges accused of jailing kids for cash.
Luzerne County Judges Mark Ciavarella and Michael Conahan took $2.6 million in payoffs to put juvenile offenders in lockups run by PA Child Care LLC and a sister company, Western PA Child Care LLC. Both pled guilty to corruption charges. Ironically, the company has been charged with no wrongdoing, but rather claims itself to be the victim of extortion.
The report says that Conahan shut down the county-run juvenile prison in 2002 and helped the two companies secure tens of millions of dollars in contracts with Luzerne County, most of which were dependent on how many juveniles were locked up in their facilities. PA Child Care landed a 20-year agreement worth an estimated $58 million. The contract was later canceled and described as being "too exorbitant", but not before the two judges became rich feeding the Prison Industrial machine with naive juvenile offenders, many of whom were first time offenders, and many more burdened with exaggerated charges for minor offenses.
This is the classic school-to-prison pipeline for the sake of profit and kickbacks.
Although I scream to the high heavens, some people still do not believe the juvenile justice system can operate like this. It must be an abortion, they think. But we have seen instance upon instances, cases like Kurt Kruger, a teenager charged as a lookout for a friend who stole $200 worth of DVD. And, a 14-year old Paris, Texas juvenile charged with assault on a public servant for barging into the school before permitted, and sentenced up to 7 years of her life. And, a schoolyard fight in Jena, Louisiana, that could netted six black youth up to 80 years. And, in the state of Georgia, a 17-year old has consensual sex with a 15-year old and wound up sentenced to 10 years.
Harsh punishment is not the word. It is a rash motive for locking up some many juveniles for such minor offenses. It is a cash motive that banked the corrupt judges $2.6 million. Justice is bought and sold on the streets like merchandise.
When a man has been on the crooked side of the law, he knows which judges are on the take. He knows which cops will contaminate the crime scene and which will fabricate the evidence. He knows which crooked lawyer will put his feet on the ground and get the case dismissed.
Half the story above has never been told.
Last year, Conahan felt compelled to hold a news conference to answer allegations raised against him in a federal drug trial. A witness had claimed that Conahan introduced him to a drug dealer. And, an attorney referred to Conahan as an "unindicted co-conspirator" in the case. But Conahan denied the allegations, which he said were made by people seeking favor of prosecutors. Therefore, he was never charged by police nor reprimanded by the state’s judicial conduct board.
These things come as no surprise to me. Juveniles get in trouble and find themselves in front of a judge who sees nothing but dollar signs hanging over their heads. And, no matter how many warnings I give them, juveniles will get involved in drugs, not knowing that there is a crooked judge somewhere who knows their deed and identity, and will probably be sitting on the bench when the court serves them up as a turkeys.
In the above case, kids were hailed before the judges, without lawyers, contrary to the U.S. Supreme Court's landmark 1967 ruling that children have a constitutional right to counsel. The constitution is worthless to a judge on the take.
The Ciavarella and Conahan court was a railroad system. And, people want to ask: Why are so many young people in prison?
It looks like due process of law and smells like justice. But it does not pass the acid test. By the same code and practice, the innocent is convicted and wrongfully sent to prison. Dallas County has exonerated 19 inmates false accused, prosecuted, convicted, and imprisoned. A Texas Tech college student named Timothy Cole was exonerated posthumously. And, yet the beat goes on like business as usual in the courthouse, and nobody knows the better.
Private prison contractors and their corporate investors look for ever-increasing expansion of the detention system, as if there is no absolute maximum. Take for example the story of privateers going to a Texas town later nicknamed Prisonville because it “host to what’s probably the largest concentration of privatized jail facilities in the world.”
The town of is home to a privately run, 1,000-bed state prison; a county-run, 96-bed jail with space for federal inmates; and a private, 500-bed federal jail. Not content with just $129 million in prison-related debt, the Willacy County Commissioners Court voted in 2007 to finance a $50.1 million, 1000-bed addition to the privately-run 2000-bed “Tent City” for immigrants.
The 3,600 prisoners, one-third of Raymondville’s population, who reside in this penal colony represent the heart of the area’s economy.
According to an article written about "Prisonville": Private prison corporations are a good place to put money – if you are interested in making good money from companies that imprison people for profit. As the two leading private prison firms like to tell investors, it’s a booming business these days not because crime rates are rising but because of the new opportunities in immigrant detention.
So it’s not surprising that Vanguard Group, one of the country’s largest mutual funds companies, puts its investors money into private prison firms, including the country’s two largest: Corrections Corporation of America and GEO Group (originally incorporated as Wackenhut). Vanguard Group is also a major investor in Correctional Services Corporation.
Willacy County, Texas is the epicenter of the private prison phenomenon that is sweeping the country, fueled in recent years by the immigrant crackdown. Over the past three years, over 3,000 new “prison beds” have come on line in Raymondville, the county seat, as politicians and Texas developers have attempted to cash in on the federal government’s demand for prison space for detained immigrants. The largest operator is the Utah-based Management and Training Corporation, although GEO Group also has prison operations in Raymondville.
Monday, February 9, 2009
The Prison Industrial Complex by GEO
(Before)
(After)PECOS, Texas -- As officials in a remote West Texas county have sought to keep their local prison full and financially viable, it has become the scene of mounting inmate unrest, including two riots in the last six weeks.
Reeves County faced a major boondoggle _ a prison without prisoners _ when it turned to a private company, The GEO Group Inc., about five years ago to manage its sprawling detention center and fill it with federal inmates.
The influx of prisoners has allowed the facility, the county's largest employer, to stay in operation, but not without a series of disturbances and protests, some of them incendiary.
The prison and its management have come under increasing scrutiny as authorities dealt with the latest incident, a riot that started Jan. 31 and left buildings heavily damaged.
The riot followed a similar disturbance in another portion of the prison in December. Two employees were taken hostage and an exercise room was burned. That incident caused at least $320,000 worth of damage, according to county records.
These and other matters detailed in news accounts and court documents indicate widespread tension among inmates over a variety of issues, most notably medical treatment. And, for some observers, they give more voice to the oft-stated criticism of private prisons.
"Generally, these (disturbances) are not random," said Bert Useem, a Purdue University sociology and anthropology professor who has written extensively on prison issues. "They occur in prisons that are facing serious difficulties."
The GEO Group did not respond to an e-mail from The Associated Press seeking comment.
The publicly traded company based in Boca Raton, Fla., has attracted scrutiny before over conditions in its prisons.
In 2007, the Texas Youth Commission fired the company after nearly 200 teenage offenders were removed from a juvenile justice center it operated in Bronte, citing health and safety violations.
The company has also come under fire for its operation of a facility that houses illegal immigrant detainees in Pearsall, Texas. A federal lawsuit charges that two Mexican immigrants were not treated for their mental illnesses. Meantime, correctional officers at the facility are threatening to strike over pay and working conditions.
"They operate as a bare-bones, profit-making machine," said Howard Johannssen, an official with the union representing the Pearsall officers.
In Reeves County and Pecos, its largest town, The GEO Group is largely viewed as the savior of a sinking ship.
At the time the company was hired to manage the prison, the county was unable to find enough inmates to fill a newly built third unit. The lack of prisoners put the county at risk of defaulting on the bonds used to finance the unit's construction.
Since joining forces with The GEO Group, the county has filled the center with more than 3,300 federal inmates, including more than 1,207 in unit III, turning the situation around. Many of the prisoners are non-U.S. citizens.
The facility employs more than 500 people, most of whom work for the county, and has become increasingly important to the economy as the area has lost several other employers in recent years.
"Any small community with a prison that employs that number of people would see (the value of having such a facility)," said Robert Tobias, executive director of the Pecos Economic Development Corporation.
The significance of The GEO Group's work on the county's behalf was underscored in January 2006 when the Pecos Area Chamber of Commerce gave the company its "Citizen of the Year" award. At the presentation, chamber president Jim Dutchover cited the company for injecting an "infusion of ideas and money" into the community.
But recent events have cast the situation in a different light, leaving the impression that the prison, while full, has been poorly run.
"Prisoner riots are a relatively rare occurrence," wrote the American Civil Liberties Union in a letter to the Department of Justice requesting that it investigate the center. "For this reason, two serious disturbances within a two-month period at a single facility is sufficient cause for great concern."
According to information posted on the Web site of another advocacy group, the National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights, the latest riot began when authorities refused to respond to prisoners' request that a gravely ill inmate be released from solitary confinement and transferred to a hospital.
A federal lawsuit filed by an inmate in 2007 claims prisoners were sprayed with mace after staging a hunger strike to protest the quality of medical care and meals. As part of the suit, filed without an attorney, the prisoner included an undated memo purportedly from a prison official saying he was working toward improving meals, medical care and recreational equipment.
The prison was accredited last month by the American Correctional Association, the nation's only such program for adult and juvenile detention facilities.
The accreditation, required by the federal Bureau of Prisons, was based largely on the results of an on-site audit in October in which representatives of the organization would have reviewed paperwork and interviewed inmates outside the presence of prison authorities, said James Gondles, the group's executive director.
"To my knowledge, our auditing didn't raise any red flags," he said.
However, because of the riots, it is likely that another auditing team will be sent to the prison, Gondles said.
"Are we concerned when an incident happens at an accredited facility?" he said. "The answer is yes."
source: Prison has meant jobs, unrest for Texas community
Friday, February 6, 2009
By Executive Order: Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
By Executive Order 13199: Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to strengthen the ability of faith-based and other neighborhood organizations to deliver services effectively in partnership with Federal, State, and local governments and with other private organizations, while preserving our fundamental constitutional commitments, it is hereby ordered.
[excerpt]
...The Federal Government can preserve these fundamental commitments while empowering faith-based and neighborhood organizations to deliver vital services in our communities, from providing mentors and tutors to school children to giving ex-offenders a second chance at work and a responsible life to ensuring that families are fed. The Federal Government must also ensure that any organization receiving taxpayers' dollars must be held accountable for its performance. Through rigorous evaluation, and by offering technical assistance, the Federal Government must ensure that organizations receiving Federal funds achieve measurable results in furtherance of valid public purposes."
(e) to promote the better use of program evaluation and research, in order to ensure that organizations deliver services as specified in grant agreements, contracts, memoranda of understanding, and other arrangements;"
"The Office shall have a staff to be headed by the Special Assistant to the President and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
: identify best practices and successful modes of delivering social services; evaluate the need for improvements in the implementation and coordination of public policies relating to faith-based and other neighborhood organizations; and make recommendations to the President, through the Executive Director, for changes in policies, programs, and practices that affect the delivery of services by such organizations and the needs of low-income and other underserved persons in communities at home and around the world.
[edited by Eddie G. Griffin]
February 5, 2009
For Immediate Release:
Obama Announces White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Washington (February 5, 2009) – President Barack Obama today signed an executive order establishing the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will work on behalf of Americans committed to improving their communities, no matter their religious or political beliefs.
"Over the past few days and weeks, there has been much talk about what our government’s role should be during this period of economic emergency. That is as it should be – because there is much that government can and must do to help people in need," said President Obama. "But no matter how much money we invest or how sensibly we design our policies, the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone. There is a force for good greater than government. It is an expression of faith, this yearning to give back, this hungering for a purpose larger than our own, that reveals itself not simply in places of worship, but in senior centers and shelters, schools and hospitals, and any place an American decides."
The White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be a resource for nonprofits and community organizations, both secular and faith based, looking for ways to make a bigger impact in their communities, learn their obligations under the law, cut through red tape, and make the most of what the federal government has to offer.
President Obama appointed Joshua DuBois, a former associate pastor and advisor to the President in his U.S. Senate office and campaign Director of Religious Affairs, to lead this office. "Joshua understands the issues at stake, knows the people involved, and will be able to bring everyone together – from both the secular and faith-based communities, from academia and politics – around our common goals," said President Obama.
The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will focus on four key priorities, to be carried out by working closely with the President’s Cabinet Secretaries and each of the eleven agency offices for faith-based and neighborhood partnerships:
• The Office’s top priority will be making community groups an integral part of our economic recovery and poverty a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete.
• It will be one voice among several in the administration that will look at how we support women and children, address teenage pregnancy, and reduce the need for abortion.
• The Office will strive to support fathers who stand by their families, which involves working to get young men off the streets and into well-paying jobs, and encouraging responsible fatherhood.
• Finally, beyond American shores this Office will work with the National Security Council to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world.
As the priorities of this Office are carried out, it will be done in a way that upholds the Constitution – by ensuring that both existing programs and new proposals are consistent with American laws and values. The separation of church and state is a principle President Obama supports firmly – not only because it protects our democracy, but also because it protects the plurality of America’s religious and civic life. The Executive Order President Obama will sign today strengthens this by adding a new mechanism for the Executive Director of the Office to work through the White House Counsel to seek the advice of the Attorney General on difficult legal and constitutional issues.
The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will include a new President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, composed of religious and secular leaders and scholars from different backgrounds. There will be 25 members of the Council, appointed to 1-year terms.
Members of the Council include:
Judith N. Vredenburgh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Big Brothers / Big Sisters of America
Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi David N. Saperstein, Director & Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and noted church/state expert
Washington, DC
Dr. Frank S. Page, President emeritus, Southern Baptist Convention
Taylors, SC
Father Larry J. Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA
Alexandria, VA
Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., Pastor emeritus, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church
Cleveland, OH
Eboo S. Patel, Founder & Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Corps
Chicago, IL
Fred Davie, President, Public / Private Ventures, a secular non-profit intermediary
New York, NY
Dr. William J. Shaw, President, National Baptist Convention, USA
Philadelphia, PA
Melissa Rogers, Director, Wake Forest School of Divinity Center for Religion and Public Affairs and expert on church/state issues
Winston-Salem, NC
Pastor Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor, Northland, a Church Distributed
Lakeland, FL
Dr. Arturo Chavez, Ph.D., President & CEO, Mexican American Cultural Center
San Antonio, TX
Rev. Jim Wallis, President & Executive Director, Sojourners
Washington, DC
Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie, Presiding Bishop, 13th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Knoxville, TN
Diane Baillargeon, President & CEO, Seedco, a secular national operating intermediary
New York, NY
Richard Stearns, President, World Vision
Bellevue, WA
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, and in order to strengthen the ability of faith-based and other neighborhood organizations to deliver services effectively in partnership with Federal, State, and local governments and with other private organizations, while preserving our fundamental constitutional commitments, it is hereby ordered.
[excerpt]
...The Federal Government can preserve these fundamental commitments while empowering faith-based and neighborhood organizations to deliver vital services in our communities, from providing mentors and tutors to school children to giving ex-offenders a second chance at work and a responsible life to ensuring that families are fed. The Federal Government must also ensure that any organization receiving taxpayers' dollars must be held accountable for its performance. Through rigorous evaluation, and by offering technical assistance, the Federal Government must ensure that organizations receiving Federal funds achieve measurable results in furtherance of valid public purposes."
(e) to promote the better use of program evaluation and research, in order to ensure that organizations deliver services as specified in grant agreements, contracts, memoranda of understanding, and other arrangements;"
"The Office shall have a staff to be headed by the Special Assistant to the President and Executive Director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships.
: identify best practices and successful modes of delivering social services; evaluate the need for improvements in the implementation and coordination of public policies relating to faith-based and other neighborhood organizations; and make recommendations to the President, through the Executive Director, for changes in policies, programs, and practices that affect the delivery of services by such organizations and the needs of low-income and other underserved persons in communities at home and around the world.
[edited by Eddie G. Griffin]
February 5, 2009
For Immediate Release:
Obama Announces White House Office of Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships
Washington (February 5, 2009) – President Barack Obama today signed an executive order establishing the new White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships. The White House Office of Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will work on behalf of Americans committed to improving their communities, no matter their religious or political beliefs.
"Over the past few days and weeks, there has been much talk about what our government’s role should be during this period of economic emergency. That is as it should be – because there is much that government can and must do to help people in need," said President Obama. "But no matter how much money we invest or how sensibly we design our policies, the change that Americans are looking for will not come from government alone. There is a force for good greater than government. It is an expression of faith, this yearning to give back, this hungering for a purpose larger than our own, that reveals itself not simply in places of worship, but in senior centers and shelters, schools and hospitals, and any place an American decides."
The White House Office for Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will be a resource for nonprofits and community organizations, both secular and faith based, looking for ways to make a bigger impact in their communities, learn their obligations under the law, cut through red tape, and make the most of what the federal government has to offer.
President Obama appointed Joshua DuBois, a former associate pastor and advisor to the President in his U.S. Senate office and campaign Director of Religious Affairs, to lead this office. "Joshua understands the issues at stake, knows the people involved, and will be able to bring everyone together – from both the secular and faith-based communities, from academia and politics – around our common goals," said President Obama.
The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will focus on four key priorities, to be carried out by working closely with the President’s Cabinet Secretaries and each of the eleven agency offices for faith-based and neighborhood partnerships:
• The Office’s top priority will be making community groups an integral part of our economic recovery and poverty a burden fewer have to bear when recovery is complete.
• It will be one voice among several in the administration that will look at how we support women and children, address teenage pregnancy, and reduce the need for abortion.
• The Office will strive to support fathers who stand by their families, which involves working to get young men off the streets and into well-paying jobs, and encouraging responsible fatherhood.
• Finally, beyond American shores this Office will work with the National Security Council to foster interfaith dialogue with leaders and scholars around the world.
As the priorities of this Office are carried out, it will be done in a way that upholds the Constitution – by ensuring that both existing programs and new proposals are consistent with American laws and values. The separation of church and state is a principle President Obama supports firmly – not only because it protects our democracy, but also because it protects the plurality of America’s religious and civic life. The Executive Order President Obama will sign today strengthens this by adding a new mechanism for the Executive Director of the Office to work through the White House Counsel to seek the advice of the Attorney General on difficult legal and constitutional issues.
The Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships will include a new President’s Advisory Council on Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships, composed of religious and secular leaders and scholars from different backgrounds. There will be 25 members of the Council, appointed to 1-year terms.
Members of the Council include:
Judith N. Vredenburgh, President and Chief Executive Officer, Big Brothers / Big Sisters of America
Philadelphia, PA
Rabbi David N. Saperstein, Director & Counsel, Religious Action Center of Reform Judaism, and noted church/state expert
Washington, DC
Dr. Frank S. Page, President emeritus, Southern Baptist Convention
Taylors, SC
Father Larry J. Snyder, President, Catholic Charities USA
Alexandria, VA
Rev. Otis Moss, Jr., Pastor emeritus, Olivet Institutional Baptist Church
Cleveland, OH
Eboo S. Patel, Founder & Executive Director, Interfaith Youth Corps
Chicago, IL
Fred Davie, President, Public / Private Ventures, a secular non-profit intermediary
New York, NY
Dr. William J. Shaw, President, National Baptist Convention, USA
Philadelphia, PA
Melissa Rogers, Director, Wake Forest School of Divinity Center for Religion and Public Affairs and expert on church/state issues
Winston-Salem, NC
Pastor Joel C. Hunter, Senior Pastor, Northland, a Church Distributed
Lakeland, FL
Dr. Arturo Chavez, Ph.D., President & CEO, Mexican American Cultural Center
San Antonio, TX
Rev. Jim Wallis, President & Executive Director, Sojourners
Washington, DC
Bishop Vashti M. McKenzie, Presiding Bishop, 13th Episcopal District, African Methodist Episcopal Church
Knoxville, TN
Diane Baillargeon, President & CEO, Seedco, a secular national operating intermediary
New York, NY
Richard Stearns, President, World Vision
Bellevue, WA
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Rush Limbaugh and John Cornyn: Bedfellows by Proxy
By Eddie Griffin
Thursday, February 05, 2009
With a fresh six-year term under his wing, Texas Senator John Cornyn is doing everything within his power to oppose newly elected President Barack Obama at every turn possible. Rush Limbaugh said it straight: He hopes the new president fails.
Why didn’t he just say, “God damn America”, since so many people are banking their hope of economic recuperation on this new administration.
But Limbaugh hopes Obama fail, and John Cornyn leads the way in block relief from Congress… bedfellows by proxy.
A Message from MoveOn:
Can you call and ask Senators John Cornyn and Kay Hutchison to support President Obama's economic stimulus plan?
Senator John Cornyn
Phone: 202-224-2934
Senator Kay Hutchison
Phone: 202-224-5922
Then, please report your call by clicking here:
http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSTX_2.FSTX_1&cp_id=844&id=15482-9013782-KhPIBux&t=3
Sincerely,
Eddie Griffin
P.S. The office of John Cornyn is on robo-circle. You can listen forever and never get close to the senator. I latter called Texas Governor Rick Perry and got nice, friendly reception. I conveyed to the governor how badly we Texans needed this economic stimulus package. I asked if he would convey our message to John.
Thursday, February 05, 2009
With a fresh six-year term under his wing, Texas Senator John Cornyn is doing everything within his power to oppose newly elected President Barack Obama at every turn possible. Rush Limbaugh said it straight: He hopes the new president fails.
Why didn’t he just say, “God damn America”, since so many people are banking their hope of economic recuperation on this new administration.
But Limbaugh hopes Obama fail, and John Cornyn leads the way in block relief from Congress… bedfellows by proxy.
A Message from MoveOn:
Can you call and ask Senators John Cornyn and Kay Hutchison to support President Obama's economic stimulus plan?
Senator John Cornyn
Phone: 202-224-2934
Senator Kay Hutchison
Phone: 202-224-5922
Then, please report your call by clicking here:
http://pol.moveon.org/call?tg=FSTX_2.FSTX_1&cp_id=844&id=15482-9013782-KhPIBux&t=3
Sincerely,
Eddie Griffin
P.S. The office of John Cornyn is on robo-circle. You can listen forever and never get close to the senator. I latter called Texas Governor Rick Perry and got nice, friendly reception. I conveyed to the governor how badly we Texans needed this economic stimulus package. I asked if he would convey our message to John.
Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Master of None
By Eddie Griffin
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
I always tell my students: To whom much is given, much is required.
But what have I been given, my student might ask?
I think I have been blessed with much, almost more than I can handle. Sometimes it is a burden of the conscious, for which I would gladly be relieved, to retire in my old age and relish in memories of the past. But I cannot.
I look at my role as a classroom teacher. What do I see in every classroom, whether bible class or a prison class. I see eager, hungry, students, yearning to learn, and become masters of their fate. To reach their goal of mastery, they must go through me. They must pass my examinations and my test by fire.
Who is in control here, kids?
You are.
Are there any exceptions? Of course, there is always the odd ball.
I was once taken to task about calling my students, “dingbats and knuckleheads”. It was a namely I fondly gave them. There is one favorite alumni presidents of the original “dingbats and knuckleheads”. He likes to come home and rub it in my face.
“Remember when you made me president of the dingbats and knucklehead club?” he would ask.
The kid straightened out, stop drinking, went on to the University of Houston on scholarship, graduated, and now works for one of the Big Six accounting firms. He jokes about now hiring me.
All of my students are dingbats and knuckleheads, no exceptions.
Once I taught a computer skills development class to a group of ex-juvenile offenders.
Now, everybody is smarter than the teacher, right?
Wrong.
The little juvenile buggers were always trying to outsmart the teacher. They would go to lunch and sneak off. They would get on the Internet and deviate from the lesson plan.
Okay, we got ourselves a discipline problem.
One day I found them all snickering in class. Whatsup?
“We are a bunch of dingbats and knuckleheads,” the former juvenile offender replied.
So is the admission of my student and my stated mission, as a teacher, is to make my student look utterly stupid in their own eyes. Maybe they would see the need for change.
Tuesday, February 03, 2009
I always tell my students: To whom much is given, much is required.
But what have I been given, my student might ask?
I think I have been blessed with much, almost more than I can handle. Sometimes it is a burden of the conscious, for which I would gladly be relieved, to retire in my old age and relish in memories of the past. But I cannot.
I look at my role as a classroom teacher. What do I see in every classroom, whether bible class or a prison class. I see eager, hungry, students, yearning to learn, and become masters of their fate. To reach their goal of mastery, they must go through me. They must pass my examinations and my test by fire.
Who is in control here, kids?
You are.
Are there any exceptions? Of course, there is always the odd ball.
I was once taken to task about calling my students, “dingbats and knuckleheads”. It was a namely I fondly gave them. There is one favorite alumni presidents of the original “dingbats and knuckleheads”. He likes to come home and rub it in my face.
“Remember when you made me president of the dingbats and knucklehead club?” he would ask.
The kid straightened out, stop drinking, went on to the University of Houston on scholarship, graduated, and now works for one of the Big Six accounting firms. He jokes about now hiring me.
All of my students are dingbats and knuckleheads, no exceptions.
Once I taught a computer skills development class to a group of ex-juvenile offenders.
Now, everybody is smarter than the teacher, right?
Wrong.
The little juvenile buggers were always trying to outsmart the teacher. They would go to lunch and sneak off. They would get on the Internet and deviate from the lesson plan.
Okay, we got ourselves a discipline problem.
One day I found them all snickering in class. Whatsup?
“We are a bunch of dingbats and knuckleheads,” the former juvenile offender replied.
So is the admission of my student and my stated mission, as a teacher, is to make my student look utterly stupid in their own eyes. Maybe they would see the need for change.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Letter from Lilly Ledbetter
Obama Signs Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act in to Law
Dear Eddie,
For almost twenty years I was paid less than my male co-workers. My case went all the way to the Supreme Court — I was shot down.
But today, President Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and told the Supreme Court that they got it wrong. I always hoped this day would come and this is the best news I have heard in a long time.
I was there with the President when he signed the bill.
I can't say thank you enough to the thousands of you who've worked with us in this fight. Your e-mails to Congress, your phone calls, and your letters of support have meant so much to me and to the movement for pay equity for all women. We knew we could count on you — and we couldn't have done it without you.
In the months and years to come, the fight for fair pay will go on. We're still fighting to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, and there will be other fronts in battle to close the wage gap once and for all. But we've taken an enormous step forward today. Thanks for taking that step with me.
Sincerely,
Lilly Ledbetter
P.S. To find out more about the bill and about pay equity, visit the National Women's Law Center's website at www.nwlc.org/fairpay.
Dear Eddie,
For almost twenty years I was paid less than my male co-workers. My case went all the way to the Supreme Court — I was shot down.
But today, President Obama signed into law the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Act, and told the Supreme Court that they got it wrong. I always hoped this day would come and this is the best news I have heard in a long time.
I was there with the President when he signed the bill.
I can't say thank you enough to the thousands of you who've worked with us in this fight. Your e-mails to Congress, your phone calls, and your letters of support have meant so much to me and to the movement for pay equity for all women. We knew we could count on you — and we couldn't have done it without you.
In the months and years to come, the fight for fair pay will go on. We're still fighting to pass the Paycheck Fairness Act, and there will be other fronts in battle to close the wage gap once and for all. But we've taken an enormous step forward today. Thanks for taking that step with me.
Sincerely,
Lilly Ledbetter
P.S. To find out more about the bill and about pay equity, visit the National Women's Law Center's website at www.nwlc.org/fairpay.
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