Keyword tag search: immigrants

Washington CAN! Leads Takeover of State Capitol to Protest Budget Cuts

By admin on April 15, 2011

At 8 p.m. on Wednesday, April 6, Lieutenant Mark Arras of the Washington State Patrol addressed a crowd of 100 people who had filled the Capitol Building rotunda with sleeping bags and pillows. They had taken up camp in the Capitol to protest state budget cuts slashing social services like health care and education. “We are asking you to leave,” Arras said. “If you are waiting for us to arrest you, we are not going to do that. We respect your right to be here. Please work with us, and we will work with you.”

Arras was greeted with cheers, thanks, and applause, which quickly gave way to a chant that had been heard many times that day, “Whose house? Our house!” Continue reading »

Unfair to Immigrants, Costly to Taxpayers

By admin on April 11, 2011

This op-ed, originally published in the New York Times, is co-authored by Andrew Friedman, co-executive director of Make the Road New York, an Alliance affiliate.

Every year thousands of immigrants being held on Rikers Island are transferred to federal custody and deported. Only about half of them have a criminal record, many of them are here legally, most of them have their due process rights violated and all of them are subjected to substandard conditions before being returned to their countries of origin. Continue reading »

What Health Care Repeal Would Mean for People of Color

By Jill Reese on January 19, 2011

If you woke up tomorrow and discovered that you were a Member of Congress, what would be your first order of business? The economy is in the tank, so maybe you would endeavor to create a jobs program to curb unemployment. Poverty is on the rise, so you could consider options for strengthening the country’s safety net programs such as food stamps and cash assistance. States all find themselves in dire budget straits, so perhaps you would push to alleviate some of the crises by infusing more federal money into state coffers. And of course, because we need money to pay for these critical items, you could revisit the whole rich-not-paying-their-fair-share-of-taxes issue.

Or, like the actual new Members of Congress, you could promote a bill that would repeal health care reform, and prioritize the profits of corporations over the well-being of people. Continue reading »

Opening the Door

By admin on September 1, 2010

The Importance of Language and Literacy Access under Health Reform

The primary goal of health care reform is to reduce uninsured rates and thereby ensure access to quality health care for the approximately 46.3 million currently uninsured. This population consists disproportionately of people of color, immigrants and low-income people. Continue reading »

Celebrating Community-Based Health Centers

By Jill Reese on August 13, 2010

“Generally I am in good health, but when I do need to go to the doctor, I’m glad that Bailey’s clinic is available. I work as a stocker at a big box store, and they don’t provide health care. I only make $9.25 dollars an hour, so I certainly wouldn’t be able to afford private health insurance. Continue reading »

Federal Judge Rules Against Arizona Immigration Law

By Betsy Dillner on July 28, 2010

Today, Wednesday, July 28, 2010 Judge Susan Bolton ruled that Arizona’s controversial law SB1070 does indeed overstep the state’s boundary to enforce federal immigration law. The ruling will put an injunction on the most egregious provisions of the law, while other provisions remain intact. The ruling is a major victory for the immigrant rights movement, and for civil rights in America. Continue reading »

NWFCO Celebrates New Health Care Law!

By Gerald Smith on May 18, 2010

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 his family has experienced. — President Barack Obama, March 23, 2010 Continue reading »

Washington CAN!: Medical Interpretation Victory Empowers Patients and Workers

By Angela Garbes on May 17, 2010

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. Sometimes I would spare my father bad news despite the doctor’s orders. I would decide whether or not to tell the nurse if my father had eaten that day based on the pain the IV would cause him. Continue reading »

Norm Pflanz: Marching Toward Immigration Reform

By admin on May 17, 2010

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. Continue reading »

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

By Gerald Smith on May 14, 2010

Thanks to compelling stories¹ from members of Make the Road New York (MRNY), strong relationships with decision makers and key community partners, and good old fashioned direct action, chain pharmacies in New York City will now translate the purpose, dosage, and side-effect information for all medications prescribed to limited and non-English speakers. This means that the major pharmacy chains like CVS, Duane Reade, Wal-Mart, Walgreens, CVS, Pathmark, Target and Costco will now provide translation of medicine into Spanish, Chinese, Italian, Russian, French, and, in some places, Polish. Continue reading »

“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 [↩]

Search

Subscribe