NWFCO Celebrates New Health Care Law!

I’m signing [this health reform bill] for 11-year-old Marcelas Owens, who’s also here. Marcelas lost his mom to an illness. And she didn’t have insurance and couldn’t afford the care that she needed. So in her memory he has told her story across America so that no other children have to go through what hisContinue reading “NWFCO Celebrates New Health Care Law!”

Washington CAN!: Medical Interpretation Victory Empowers Patients and Workers

For eight years, I was the interpreter for my father while he was sick. At the age of 14, I was more his interpreter than his daughter. I worried about how I would tell my father that another part of his leg would be amputated or whether he was going to survive another surgery. SometimesContinue reading “Washington CAN!: Medical Interpretation Victory Empowers Patients and Workers”

Tax Justice in Oregon

Just weeks after conservative Scott Brown was elected to replace Senator Ted Kennedy in a Massachusetts special election, and the Supreme Court squashed restrictions on corporate campaign contributions, the health care bill appeared dead. Pundits across the country warned of the end of the progressive agenda. Meanwhile in Oregon, hundreds of volunteers poured into unionContinue reading “Tax Justice in Oregon”

Norm Pflanz: Marching Toward Immigration Reform

While Congress was finishing debate on the historical health care reform bill, hundreds of thousands of immigrants and immigrant allies marched on the nation’s Capitol to demand another piece of critical progressive reform: Comprehensive Immigration Reform. Many of NWFCO’s partners participated in this incredible show of optimism and solidarity, including Nebraska Appleseed.

Grassroots Leaders Take On the Insurance Lobby!

A showdown happened in the streets of Washington D.C. on March 8 between the millions of people across the country tired of money ruling their health and those who would try to bring down health reform. On that day, 25 survivors of health insurance abuse led hundreds of activists from NWFCO affiliates and grassroots groupsContinue reading “Grassroots Leaders Take On the Insurance Lobby!”

Make the Road New York Wins Pharmaceutical Language Access Fight in NYC

Thanks to compelling stories ((“Bad Medicine: How New York area pharmacies’ failure to provide translation and interpretation service prevents immigrant New Yorkers from receiving quality medical care and stands in clear violation of local, state and federal law,” Make the Road New York and New York Lawyers for the Public Interest, October, 2007, http://www.maketheroad.org/report.php?ID=437)) fromContinue reading “Make the Road New York Wins Pharmaceutical Language Access Fight in NYC”

Immigration Reform in Montana

In 2007 millions of people took to the streets to demand comprehensive immigration reform. Despite these strong numbers, we were unsuccessful in getting legislation passed that year. But we did learn one key lesson from this fight: in order to win immigration reform, we need to reach out to non-immigrant communities and educate them aboutContinue reading “Immigration Reform in Montana”

Marcelas Grows Up in Community Organizing, Finishes What His Mother Started

History loves a hero. The historic health reform legislation signed this year by President Obama received its hero in the form of Marcelas Owens, eleven-year-old Seattleite who, in the weeks leading to the bill’s passage, became the country’s most visible spokesman for reform.