Entries tagged with 'Economic Justice'
Gulf Update: 5 years post-Katrina, 5 months of oil
Last Sunday marked the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina's devastating landfall on the Gulf Coast. Nearly five months ago, the Deepwater Horizon exploded, killing eleven men, beginning the release of millions of barrels of oil, and adding endless complication to...
Remembering Katrina: A Reflection
Leslie G. Woods serves as the Representative for Domestic Poverty & Environmental Issues in the Presbyterian Church (U.S.A.) Office of Public Witness in Washington, D.C. [Editor's Note: for more on the Reform Movement's Gulf response efforts in the five years...
Serving up Justice
Kristin Jaffe is a participant in the Machon Kaplan Summer Social Action Internship Program, interning at Jews United for Justice. Before I began my work with Jews United for Justice, I was clueless about the injustices that were occurring...
Stuck on $7.25
This Saturday, July 24th, has a dubious distinction among those of us fighting for economic justice: it will be the first time in three years that July 24th did not signify an increase in the federal minimum wage. In June...
Fighting Poverty with Faith - Get Involved!
This October, the Religious Action Center is co-sponsoring the third annual Fighting Poverty with Faith Week, an inter-religious week of mobilization towards a goal of fighting poverty in our communities. While the last two years have had specific policy focuses,...
Feeding Students' Success
Stephanie Matour is a participant in the Machon Kaplan Summer Social Action Internship program, interning at the Food Research and Action Center. Recently, I was sent to an Elementary School in DC to conduct interviews regarding the DC Hunger...
Congress Fails the Unemployed Once Again
Extremely disappointing news out of the Senate last week, as a third vote to end debate on HR 4213, the American Jobs and Closing Tax Loopholes Act, which contained an extension of unemployment and COBRA benefits, as well as $1...
An Explosive Issue
Kerry O'Rourke is a participant in the Machon Kaplan Summer Social Action Internship program, interning at the Religious Action Center. Last week the Department of Labor's Bureau of International Labor Affairs (ILAB) published a list of goods reported to...
Help for the Unemployed Once Again At Risk
It's that time again! Yup, you guessed it. Congress is working on another Jobs Bill, and this time the environment is more contentious than ever. Unfortunately,this is bad news for low-income and unemployed Americans, whose interests have once again been...
The State of Human Trafficking
How have efforts to combat human trafficking paid off in the last year? The State Department seeks to answer that question, as it does ever year with the release of its annual "Trafficking in Persons Report" for consideration by the...
Protect Unemployment Benefits & Housing Funding!
As the Jewish community heads into the holiday of Shavuot, the House and Senate are expected to vote this week on the American Jobs, Closing Tax Loopholes, and Preventing Outsourcing Act, a job creation bill that will likely include $1...
Jobs, Jobs ... Jobs?
Back in January, in his first State of the Union address, President Obama declared, "Jobs must be our number one focus in 2010." He followed up by saying, "I want a jobs bill on my desk without delay." It...
Happy 62nd, Israel!
Today is Yom Ha'atzmaut, Israeli Independence Day, which marks the establishment of the modern state of Israel in 1948. Around the world, we celebrate this holiday on the 5th of the Hebrew month of Iyar. Below, I have compiled 62...
Food for Thought on Equal Pay Day
Today is Equal Pay Day, marking the 110 extra days the average woman must work into 2010 to catch up to what the average man made in 2009. It is a unique holiday, one we observe by working to eliminate...
Food Politics
Why has obesity in the U.S. doubled in the last 25 years, and how will solving this epidemic build democracy? Those are the questions that Dr. Marion Nestle grappled with at Georgetown University this week and, contrary to popular belief,...
Measure Twice, Help Once (For the Better)
At our L'taken seminars, I do an activity with participants in which they take on the identity of a new person and attempt to find enough food to feed them and those for whom they are responsible for one...
Call Your Senators NOW: Oppose the Lieberman Voucher Amendment!
Last night, Senator Lieberman filed an amendment to a job creation bill in the Senate that has little if nothing to do with jobs, but instead would extend the DC school voucher program that has not served students well, and...
A Desert of Joblessness
Scroll down a little bit on the Bureau of Labor Statistics' January unemployment report, and you'll see two statistics that, while less discussed than the overall unemployment rate, may give a better idea of the far-reaching effects of the recession:...
Congress Procrastinates, the Unemployed Suffer
It seems we've been here before: unemployment hovering around 10%, restlessness about the economy, gridlock in Congress on issues that affect a broad range of people agree on, and, most tragically, millions of Americans wondering if their federal unemployment benefits...
A Deficit of Perspective
Imagine my surprise when, comfy on my couch and enjoying the Super Bowl, I saw a commercial - aired not once, but twice - featuring a classroom full of children reciting the following mock pledge of allegiance: "I pledge allegiance...
A New Movement for Child Nutrition and Healthy Eating
In the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, it's been common practice for the First Lady to champion a cause: Lady Bird Johnson was a staunch environmentalist. Barbara Bush was a strong advocate for family literacy. Current Secretary of State Hillary...
Human Trafficking in Post-Earthquake Haiti
As aid flows to the victims of Tuesday's earthquake in Haiti, we cannot forget that those suffering the effects of this disaster will not be affected equally. Some will be shaken from lives of prosperity into poverty; others, those already...
Creating a Better World, Together
"I am involved with the work that I do because I'm a Muslim and because I'm an American." These words stuck in my mind as I watched the excellent short video (after the jump) produced by Young Muslim American Voices,...
A One-to-One Ratio
Harri Plotnick is an intern at the Religious Action Center. She belongs to Congregration Keneseth Israel, where she also teaches religious school.The product of 40 years of feminist work since the main push for the Equal Rights Amendment in the '70s...
Achieving Diversity in the Workplace
Diversity is a potent agent of growth and change in nearly any field. Achieving diversity, however, is no simple undertaking; we must, as Secretary Clinton articulated in a commencement speech at the University of Pennsylvania, "find a way to celebrate...
RACblog Goes Meta: Our List of the Top 10 Top 10 Lists
It's the end of another (secular) year, and the end of decade as well, so of course, our inboxes and Google Readers are overflowing with "Ten 10 lists." Because we at the RAC are nothing if not "meta," we thought...
The Untimely Demise of the Estate Tax
William Gates, Sr, father of Bill Gates, the world's richest man, calls it the "fairest of all" taxes. This year, the New York Times estimates, it will bring in approximately $25 billion to the federal government, while only being levied...
Health Care: An Economic Justice Issue
It seems an obvious point, but at this late juncture in the health care debate, it's worth repeating: The number one reason that families lack health care coverage is that they cannot afford it. I'm an Economic Justice legislative assistant...
Action and Inaction on Unemployment and Job Creation
I've written a lot on this blog about the record-high unemployment and poverty numbers of the past few months, but of course a number is just a number; the stories of the people who this number represents need to be...
Give the Gift of Social Justice!
This Chanukah, give your favorite do-gooder the gift of tikkun olam. We've put together a Social Justice Chanukah Gift Guide, a collection of nine great suggestions for everyone on your holiday gift-giving list - with a social justice twist, of...
Announcing the Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign!
Today we are proud to announce the launch of the Jewish Energy Covenant Campaign, a new project coordinated by the Coalition on the Environment and Jewish Life (COEJL) to encourage the Jewish community to lead the way to a more...
The City that Health Care Forgot
Jill Zimmerman is a former Legislative Assistant at the Religious Action Center currently working on education policy in New Orleans. When I moved to New Orleans after completing a year as a RAC Legislative Assistant, I did so not just...
The "End of Recession" Mirage
Amid news that the U.S. unemployment rate reached a record high of 10.2% in October, the Senate finally voted to extend unemployment benefits after weeks of delay, during which 7,000 people a day saw their unemployment benefits run out. The...
Raising our Voices, One Blog Post at a Time
Today, more than 8,000 individuals and organizations in 120 countries will raise their voices together for the 2009 Blog Action Day on climate change. In what is becoming an annual tribute to the power of online media and social networking,...
Fighting Poverty with Faith This Week
"Green jobs" is one of the hottest political catchphrases of our day, but what does it really refer to? Green for All defines green jobs as "well-paid, career track jobs that contribute directly to preserving or enhancing environmental quality," while...
Green Jobs & Fighting Poverty with Faith
The Reform Movement has joined together with more than 30 faith-based groups to support Fighting Poverty with Faith: Good Jobs, Green Jobs, a campaign focused on ensuring that, as we transition to a clean energy economy, we use green jobs...
Easing Anxieties in the Health Care Debate
David Goldman is a member of the Commission on Social Action of Reform Judaism and a partner at Littler Mendelson. He serves on the Board of Directors of Congregation Emanu-el in San Francisco, where he is also a member and...
Fight Poverty with Faith this October!
"Green jobs" - it's one of the hottest political catchphrases of the year, but what does it really mean? Who is getting these so-called green jobs, and what will they do for our economy and our environment? To find out,...
What Does Today's Minimum Wage Increase Mean?
Today the federal minimum wage increases from $6.55 to $7.25 an hour. What does this mean? First of all, as explained by the Economic Policy Institute, it means that up to 2.8 million workers earning less that $7.25 an hour...
Faith Leader Summit on Health Care
Summer is heating up, and so is the debate over health care reform. Yesterday, a group of nearly 30 religious leaders rolled up their sleeves, put on their sunscreen (figuratively, of course), and jumped right in.At the Faith Leader Summit...
Racing Ahead: Health Care Reform '09
Last week was a busy week for health care reform. But this week will be busier.While President Obama steps up his campaign in support of comprehensive health care reform, the three relevant committees in the House of Representatives will be...
Just another Wednesday ... with Michelle Obama
Last week, I had the honor of attending a meeting hosted by First Lady Michelle Obama and the Corporation for National & Community Service to launch a nationwide "Summer of Service" Initiative taking place June 22-September 11, 2009. Sitting...
Stamp Out Hunger
Well here is an easy way to be part of a big movement to address hunger! This Saturday, the National Association of Letter Carriers hosts Stamp Out Hunger, their annual food drive. All you have to do is leave a...
Folks of Faith Agree: Climate Change Hurts the Poor
A new blog post from Faith in Public Life's Dan Nejfelt addresses what many faith groups - including the Reform Movement - have been saying (loudly!) for quite awhile now. In "People of faith: US should help poor adapt to...
Equal Pay for Equal Work
This year, I am one of six legislative assistants working at the RAC; of the six, four--including myself--are female, two are male. All of us have bachelor's degrees, and are, generally speaking, equally qualified and equally skilled. (I am, of...
Blog for Fair Pay!
Calling all bloggers and tweeters! April 28th will mark Equal Pay Day - the point in 2009 when the average woman's wages finally catch up with what the average man earned in 2008. And in an effort to raise our...
Housing Beyond Homelessness
Rabbi Asher Knight is the assistant rabbi at Temple Emanuel Dallas. All views expressed are his own. Our Jewish texts and sources say little about the Jewish responsibility to build affordable housing. We have no biblical command that mandates, "Thou...
Budget Bites
This week the House and Senate have pulled together their own budget proposals, with the hopes of passing a budget resolution before I leave DC for Passover (or perhaps they didn't plan it around my family's celebrations...). President Obama's budget...
Social Action Briefing - Recapping the Dialogue
Yesterday's Social Action Briefing was attended by people from all over the country! Thanks for joining in - but we know that many of you were unable to listen in, so we've got the audio available here! Check it out...
Poverty as a Bipartisan Priority
President Obama signed the economic recovery package this week and has already started on his next effort - housing. Curious about how the money will be spent and how many jobs the package will create in your state? The website...
"Help the Needy" Economics
As our elected officials debate how best to address the economic downturn, religious groups have been raising up our own recommendation: to focus on our most poor and vulnerable populations. The US Conference on Catholic Bishops sent a letter to...
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