Alliance Cross Training is Vital to Growing the Grassroots

(Post written by Alain Nahimana, posted online by David Fleishman) Sharing resources between organizations includes putting people on the ground, side-by-side. It gave me a sense that whether the work we do is statewide or on a federal level, the challenges we face are the same. My name is Alain Nahimana and I am anContinue reading “Alliance Cross Training is Vital to Growing the Grassroots”

Alliance Cross Training is Vital to Growing the Grassroots

(Post written by Alain Nahimana, posted online by David Fleishman) Sharing resources between organizations includes putting people on the ground, side-by-side. It gave me a sense that whether the work we do is statewide or on a federal level, the challenges we face are the same. My name is Alain Nahimana and I am anContinue reading “Alliance Cross Training is Vital to Growing the Grassroots”

Pushing Back Against the Criminalization of Everyday Life.

In the past four decades, mass incarceration and immigration control in the United States has skyrocketed. Today, the U.S. incarcerates more of its population than any other country in the world – at rates unmatched in modern history. More than seven million people are under control of the criminal justice system. The U.S. has lessContinue reading “Pushing Back Against the Criminalization of Everyday Life.”

When Living Your Life is Called a Crime

  Millions of people have become casualties of the prevailing system of criminalization. Entire communities of people must be deemed “throw-away” or “castaways” in order to gain maximum profits and drive a robust free- market that exists beyond the realm of ethics and humanity. These communities are almost always low-income and disproportionately, communities of color.Continue reading “When Living Your Life is Called a Crime”

Caldwell, ID City Council Asked to Move Payday Lenders Out of Sight, Out of Mind

Community and ICAN Push Council to Limit Industry From Preying on the Poor   “With the average payday loan in Idaho carrying an interest rate of 350% and with the average borrower taking out 7 payday loans to pay off the initial loan”, predatory loan businesses continue to swarm into our state.  Last year alone,Continue reading “Caldwell, ID City Council Asked to Move Payday Lenders Out of Sight, Out of Mind”

CellBlocks and Border Stops

The Institute for Pragmatic Practice, Union Theological Seminary and the Alliance for a Just Society are hosting our fifth symposium, Cell Blocks & Border Stops. Hundreds of organizers, academics, policy leaders, journalists, theologians and grassroots activists will convene and examine the intersection of immigration control and mass incarceration, and to consider the future of activismContinue reading “CellBlocks and Border Stops”

The Affordable Care Act and Women: A Nation Cycling Between Celebration and Obstruction

What Women Won with the ACA: What the Nation Should Celebrate What the nation has now, under Obamacare, is coverage for the many costs of being a woman—medically speaking: Insurance companies must now charge the same price to cover men and women. No pre-existing conditions clauses will be allowed. Maternity care is covered; upending anContinue reading “The Affordable Care Act and Women: A Nation Cycling Between Celebration and Obstruction”

The Great Big PhRMA Medicare Heist

Part 1: Rigging the System is Profitable   While millions of Americans struggle to pay for their prescription medication, big pharmaceutical companies reap $600 billion in annual profits.  $116 million is spent on direct lobbying, and with a 77,500% return, the investment certainly pays off.  Profits have been bolstered by pharmaceutical companies’ myriad of policyContinue reading “The Great Big PhRMA Medicare Heist”

DOMA: The Supreme Court Gets it Right, After Getting it So Wrong

A Breakdown of the Benefits for Same-Sex Couples In a total about-face just one day after the United States Supreme Court essentially gutted the Voting Rights Act of 1965, the country’s highest court struck down the discriminatory Defense of Marriage Act. In an opinion that condemned the social consequences of ostracizing same-sex couples, Justice Kennedy,Continue reading “DOMA: The Supreme Court Gets it Right, After Getting it So Wrong”