The House voted yesterday to lessen - although not eliminate -- the disparities between crack and cocaine drug sentence. The bill, a bipartisan proposal from Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL) and Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-AL), narrows "the gap between criminal penalties for crack and powder cocaine to 18 to 1 from the old 100 to 1 ratio that Hoyer cited." The legislation, which passed the Senate in March, is now making its way to the president's desk for signing.
For civil rights activists who have fought to end the disparities in sentencing guidelines, this is a half-hearted victory, given the severity of crack sentences,18 to 1 is a step in the right direction but a long way from the finishing line.
Durbin says he's been troubled that the system unfairly punishes blacks who are convicted far more often of crack cocaine crimes. "Today, I think we've added some justice to a system that had been unjust for too long," Durbin said.
Yesterday's New York Times included a story about a new study that showed that the effects of quality kindergarten classrooms led to $320,000 worth of value by the time the kids turned 30. The benefits are not test scores, but actual life outcomes, such as higher earnings. Why is that? "Good early education can impart skills that last a lifetime — patience, discipline, manners, perseverance."
How unfortunate that many states are cutting budgets for early childhood education programs. As usual, we are penny wise and pound foolish.
Hey, New Yorkers! New York Jobs with Justice, our partner and grantee, is campaigning to hold a major corporation and the New York City Industrial Development Agency accountable to New Yorkers.
Thomson Reuters Corp., the global media company, wants to amend a 1998 agreement that gave it up to $26 million in tax benefits to construct its building in Times Square. As part of the deal, the company committed to create new jobs for New Yorkers. But the most recent information available shows that it has fallen far short of its job creation benchmarks. Now, Thomson Reuters wants to be able to use what’s left of its $26 million in Times Square-based tax benefits to renovate and redecorate leased offices elsewhere in Manhattan. The New York City Industrial Development Agency will consider the request at a July 29 public hearing.
Amidst a crippling fiscal crisis, media behemoth Thomson Reuters is asking New York City for millions of dollars in tax giveaways to finance renovation of its corporate offices. The company is slashing pay and benefits for union workers and outsourcing hundreds of local jobs to Bangalore. Now it wants to divert millions of dollars intended to spur local job creation to pay for new furniture for its top executives
Sign their petition to let Mayor Bloomberg and City Council know that companies that don't make good on their commitments to New Yorkers should not benefit from taxpayer dollars.
In a post that just went up on the blog of Sojourners, JFSJ President Simon Greer writes about the need for social justice proponents of all stripes to join forces in offering meaningful alternatives to the Tea Party. "We need a broad coalition," he writes, "that can forge innovative solutions to the most pressing problems facing our nation, one predicated on economic opportunity and dedicated to social justice." Amen. Here's the full post:
God's Politics Supporting Churches and Synagogues for Social Justice by Simon Greer 07-27-2010
This spring, we saw an opportunity to join the efforts of Rev. Jim Wallis and Sojourners to stand up to the Tea Party leaders’ denigration of people of faith who put social justice and the common good at the center of their vocation. When Glenn Beck urged his millions of viewers to “turn in their pastors” if their congregations promoted social justice, we at Jewish Funds for Justice decided enough was enough.
For 25 years, we have supported churches and synagogues as they work across lines of race and faith to promote the common good and bring social justice to their communities. This work brought universal health care to Massachusetts and more than 300 new green jobs to residents in Oakland, California — and that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
Glenn Beck, on the other hand, doesn’t offer any solutions. He disdains social justice and the common good; in fact, he claims they’re steps toward fascism. Earlier this summer, Mr. Beck addressed a column I wrote that asserted that “to put God first is to put humankind first, and to put humankind first is to put the common good first.” Beck’s response? ”This leads to death camps. A Jew, of all people, should know that. This is exactly the kind of talk that led to the death camps in Germany.”
In the wake of this direct attack, I was humbled by the outpouring of support we received. As a way to thank people for their support, and to lift up all the voices who stood with us, we took out a full two-page ad spread in last week’s Forward.
It was signed by supporters of social justice and the common good: hundreds of rabbis, reverends, and people of good will who share our belief that we do not have the luxury of Beck’s ignorance. At nearly 250 names, our ad could fit only a small portion of those who spoke out to reject the rhetoric of Glenn Beck. Rev. Wallis shared this sentiment with us:
Glenn Beck should join America’s community of faith in a conversation about the common good and social justice instead of his destructive path of unfounded accusations and attacks. I applaud Simon Greer as CEO and President of Jewish Funds for Justice for providing a strong voice of honesty and reason against such divisiveness.
Beck said that a commitment to the common good led to the death camps of Nazi Germany. This language is not only irresponsible but dangerous. It’s offensive to the memories of the 6 million people who were murdered in those camps. Beck clearly needs an education in what the Jewish and Christian traditions teach not to mention, specifically, the tenets of his own Mormon Church.
It was gratifying to receive support from such a broad spectrum of faith and social change leaders. We believe it sends an important message when we all stand together for our common beliefs, and we never let our friends face these kinds of attacks alone.
It’s up to those of us who care about real solutions to build a powerful alternative to the Tea Party. We need a broad coalition that can forge innovative solutions to the most pressing problems facing our nation, one predicated on economic opportunity and dedicated to social justice. We at Jewish Funds for Justice are proud to do this work with a broad coalition of faith and social justice partners.
The article -- written by Alfredo Garcia and picked up by the Huffington Post, Washington Post, and Beliefnet, among others – credits JFSJ as an organization that has “helped fuel the progressive backlash against [Glenn] Beck.”
And the Bible, and particularly the Hebrew prophets, are also firm on need to protect the vulnerable, which sometimes requires government action, said Simon Greer, president and CEO of the Jewish Funds for Justice, which helped fuel the progressive backlash against Beck.
Greer said his New York-based group is founded on "the fundamental religious call to care for others," which in turn is based "on the belief that we're all made in the image of the divine."
When Newsweek magazine ran its annual list of “The 50 Most Influential Rabbis in America” last month, many in the Jewish community were flummoxed by just how few Jewish women were on the list, given the sharp rise in the rabbinate of women and the impact that they’re having. (And that’s without the kerfuffle that arose around “The Rabbi and the Rabba.”) There were just six. And while JFSJ was proud to see our then-rabbi-in-residence, Rabbi Jill Jacobs, take her rightful place on the list, there were many names that came to many minds that were not. They deserved to be.
The Forward was one of the publications that called out Newsweek for the paucity. And this week, Gabrielle Birkner, editor of the Sisterhood blog -- issued a list of her own, “The Sisterhood 50: America’s Influential Women Rabbis,” which includes those “whose influence cannot necessarily be measured by their national/international profile, their media presence or the size of their constituencies — some of the criteria on which Newsweek bases its rankings — but who, nonetheless, are playing important roles in shaping the Jewish story.”
We are proud (absolutely) to report that Jewish Funds for Justice appears on the list not once but three times, which isn’t surprising, given JFSJ’s work in congregation-based community organizing and our Rabbinic and Cantorial Fellowship for Leadership in Public Life.
Three of every four oil and gas lobbyists worked for federal government. With 600 lobbists who have very close relationships to DC, proposals to enact new restrictions or curb oil use have stalled amid concerted Republican opposition and strong objections from Democrats in oil-producing states.
The Social Innovation Fund, a White House initiative launched last year to invest $50 million dollars in innovative solutions to social challenges, announced its first round of grants this week. Not surprisingly, given the state of unemployment in the US, the biggest grant recipients were organizations that tackled joblessness through job training and workforce development. Good news for New Yorkers: the Mayors Fund to Advance New York City got $5.7 million dollars.
Unfortunately for the SIF (and for the country), a fascinating and lengthy article in the NYTimes on Monday explored the impact that training programs have on joblessness and the results were pretty grim. Federally funded “workforce development” programs are mostly short term classes that teach the basics of spreadsheets, word processors, and resume development. The federal government invests over $4 billion dollars from different sources, including the stimulus package in workforce development. But, even before the Great Recession, a study conducted by the Labor Department concluded that this type of training had “small or nonexistent” impact. Kal v’homer (as they say in yeshiva) in our current economy.
Some folks thrive in the face of the unknown. Some don't. Especially when it comes to whether there will be another unemployment check -- or none at all. Especially people with overdue bills and those hoping not to become another foreclosure or eviction statistic.
After an historic battle in Congress, yesterday President Obama signed financial reform legislation into law.
Hailed as "most sweeping finance rules since the Great Depression," the legislation has taken almost a year to move through Congress, though many advocates would say it was decades in the making. The legislation achievd many breakthroughs, while also offering the necessary compromises to usher it through a divded Senate.
The legislation enacts a vast range of regulatory shifts, including putting new controls on the derivatives market, setting controls on payday loans and other predatory lending systems, and perhaps most importantly, creating of a new office of Consumer Financial Protection. Here's a great overview of what financial reform legislation will actually do.
The victory can be attributed in part to an unprecedented coalition effort of Americans for Financial Reform which brought together business, advocacy groups, and faith organizations into one of the largest and most powerful advocacy coalitions in years. At the helm was Heather Booth, a co-founder of Jewish Funds for Justice and graduate of our Selah Leadership Progream.
[shameless plug, Selah is forming a new executive cohort. Want to the next Heather Booth?" Apply today.
What will be next on the President's agenda? Energy legislation? Immigration reform? A new supreme court justice? Keep'm coming!
After an historic battle in Congress, yesterday President Obama signed financial reform legislation into law. 
