The Colorado Half in Ten campaign held a community meeting in August to discuss real solutions to reducing poverty in our community. The event attracted about 50 people from across the state, plus State Senator Evie Hudak. The diverse crowd discussed realistic and meaningful solutions to reducing poverty in specific ways. The group divided into five committees to find solutions to problems faced in education, job expansion, invisibility, oppressive systems, and housing.

The Colorado Half in Ten campaign is leading community meetings throughout the state—from Grand Junction to Alamosa to Boulder—to compile personal stories and solutions from those directly affected by poverty. It plans to then share the compiled information with the Economic Opportunity and Poverty Reduction Task Force, a body of the state legislature charged with cutting poverty in Colorado in half over the next decade. You can read stories and solutions from Colorado Half in Ten’s meetings on the Economic Opportunity Poverty Reduction Task Force blog.

Colorado has also doubled its individual Half in Ten supporters and expanded organizational endorsers to include homeless advocates, faith leaders, job training sites, and others directly working with ending poverty.

August 31, 2010, 12:00pm – 1:15pm

About This Event: As Congress returns from recess, they are poised to commence the biggest tax debate since the Bush tax cuts were passed in 2001 and 2003. The debate thus far has centered on whether or not the tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans should be allowed to expire.

But what are the stakes for middle and low-income Americans in the tax debate? If conservatives hold the tax package hostage to budget-busting high-income tax breaks, what do the middle-class and low-wage workers stand to lose?

Join us for a conversation on the upcoming tax debate, and why Congress must act this year to make the tax code work for working families.

Introduction by:
Neera Tanden, Chief Operating Officer at Center for American Progress Action Fund

Keynote address:
Jason Furman, Deputy Assistant to the President for Economic Policy; Deputy Director of the National Economic Council

Featured Panelists:

Michael Linden, Associate Director for Tax and Budget Policy, Center for American Progress Action Fund
Barbara Izquierdo, EITC recipient and participant in the Witnesses to Hunger Program
Meg Newman, VITA site coordinator

Moderated by:
Melissa Boteach, Half in Ten Campaign Manager, Center for American Progress Action Fund

A light lunch will be served at 11:30 a.m.

Click here to RSVP for this event
For more information, call 202-682-1611
Location

Center for American Progress Action Fund
1333 H St. NW, 10th Floor
Washington, DC 20005

Map & Directions
Nearest Metro: Blue/Orange Line to McPherson Square or Red Line to Metro Center
Streaming Video

Click here to watch the event live.

Virginia’s Half in Ten campaign is building momentum. The Blank Street Project is filming roving documentaries of poverty featuring Virginians talking about jobs and homelessness. We started our legislative strategy this month by meeting with state Sen. John Watkins, chairman of the Unemployment Insurance Commission at the Virginia General Assembly, to talk about extending unemployment insurance. The Half in Ten coalition is forming and we have hosted conversations with major partners about collaboration and policy areas on which the Half in Ten coalition will focus.

Recently, Katie Couric spoke on CBS News about reauthorization of the Improving Child Nutrition Act and more specifically, the need to improve access to summer meals. Citing a column by Half in Ten Campaign Manager, Melissa Boteach, and Feeding America’s Senior Policy Counsel, Sophie Milam, Couric states that while nearly 20 million children get free or reduced price lunch at school, only 1 in 6 of these children will receive subsidized meals for the summer.

The main obstacles are the shortage of sites where these meals can be served, a lack of transportation to get to these sites, and a lack of funding to for these programs to be sustainable from year to year.

Congress has the opportunity to act this year on a child nutrition bill that would improve access to summer meals among other things. With 1 in 4 children in the US at risk for hunger, Couric urges “last day of school shouldn’t mean last call for lunch.” Half in Ten couldn’t agree more.

For the full column, click here

Watch CBS News Videos Online

The Colorado Half in Ten statewide coalition has partnered with the Economic Opportunity and Poverty Reduction Task Force to cut poverty in half throughout the state. The taskforce is comprised of 10 bipartisan state legislators who have made a commitment to taking a holistic approach to cutting poverty. The campaign and taskforce will hold four community meetings throughout the state this summer to hear the voices of those living in poverty, service providers, faith leaders, and others who are concerned about poverty in their communities. The Colorado Half in Ten campaign is committed to ensuring that all voices are conveyed to the legislative task force meetings and that the concerns of those living in poverty are incorporated as the commission considers new policies. The Colorado committee has set forth the following action items to make these commitments a possibility:

• Seek solutions for cutting poverty from those who have personally struggled or lived with poverty
• Hold meetings and trainings in spaces and times that are convenient for the community to get the largest turnout
• Build a stronger movement by educating the community about policies needed to reduce poverty

The Colorado campaign is assisting in preparing for the taskforce’s first upcoming meeting by advocating for time for public input, ensuring that the location is accessible, and advertising the meeting in diverse locations. To get involved in the Colorado campaign, contact bridget@9to5.org.

May 19th, 2010

What is the American Jobs, Closing Tax Loopholes and Preventing Outsourcing Act?

The title may sound a bit unwieldy, but this bill is a bundle of provisions in H.R. 4213 that the House is expected to vote on this Thursday.

Among other provisions, the bill includes the extension of unemployment and COBRA health insurance benefits for those Americans hardest hit by the Great Recession, and fiscal relief to states to preserve critical health services and indirectly help prevent job losses of teachers, social service providers, firefighters, and police officers. It also includes an extension of the current rate of Medicare payments to doctors through the end of the year.

The bill is furthermore expected to postpone for one year the expiration of the Temporary Assistance for Needy Families emergency fund, which has allowed states to expand work focused programs and create subsidized jobs for families struggling during this recession. And it should include funding for a youth summer jobs program.

You may have heard the bill referred to as “tax extenders” because it includes a number of tax cuts Congress regularly extends. But, in this case, the bill also includes items that save and create jobs and protect the unemployed.

Download this memo (pdf)

Read more »

Thank you for emailing your members of Congress about unemployment insurance, COBRA subsidies, and aid to state and local governments.  With your help, we can focus Congress on creating jobs and a recovery that work for all Americans.