April 1st, 2013 at 8:36 am » Comments (0)

THANK YOU for your quick action last week urging your senator to vote NO on two harmful immigrant-related budget amendments. With your help, the Senate rejected these attemptsby Senator Sessions (R-AL) to harm hardworking immigrant families.

During the Senate’s marathon “vote-a-rama” last week on the budget (S. Con. Res. 8), the Senate defeated, by a vote of 43 – 56, an amendment (#614, previously submitted as amendment #208) by Senator Sessions to deny access to affordable health care for those on the road to U.S. citizenship. The amendment was opposed by all of the Democratic senators voting, along with Senators Collins (R-ME), Murkowski (R-AK), King (I-ME), and Sanders (I-VT).

Senator Sessions’ amendment to deny all tax credits to immigrant working families, even after they earn legal status did not receive floor consideration and was not voted on.

Please have your organization join with us and sign this Thank You Letter - by COBWednesday April 3 - to all senators who voted NO on Sessions’ amendment #614.

If your senators voted NO, please also take a moment to call and thank them. Finally,please thank the following senators whose votes were critical to defeating this amendment: Senators Baucus (D-MT), Begich (D-AK), Collins (R-ME), Donnelly (D-IN),Hagan (D-NC), Heitkamp (D-ND), Johnson (D-SD), King (I-ME), Landrieu (D-LA),Manchin (D-WV), McCaskill (D-MO), Murkowski (R-AK), Pryor (D-AR), and Tester (D-MT).

Capitol switchboard:  1-866-220-0044

Sample script: I’m calling to thank Senator ____ for voting against Senator Sessions’ budget resolution amendment #614 that attempted to deny affordable health care to aspiring citizens. We ask for your leadership and support to ensure that Congress creates a road to U.S. citizenship for aspiring citizens, with all the rights, as well as responsibilities, citizenship entails.

February 8th, 2013 at 8:40 am » Comments (0)

Hosts: Erik Valera and Lina Cherfas
Date & Time: Tue, Feb 19, 2013, 1:00 PM Eastern Standard Time
Registration Link: https://cc.readytalk.com/r/d4ey6nlx9g9z

Anti-Retroviral Treatment and Access to Services (ARTAS) Intervention engages and provides linkages for people living with HIV to essential medical care and support services in the community.  Please listen in as Lina Cherfas and Erik Valera discuss implementing ARTAS with Latino communities in the south.  We’ll discuss ways organizations can prepare and structural factors to consider for facilitating and monitoring the success of your intervention.

Those attending will learn:

• The core elements of ARTAS
• Strengths based case management with Latinos in the South
• Preparation for coordinating linkages
• Key factors to monitor and evaluate your intervention

December 18th, 2012 at 5:32 pm » Comments (0)

International Migrants Day is officially celebrated on December 18th every year around the world since 2000. It is an opportunity:
- to recognize the contributions made by millions of migrants to the development and well-being of so many countries in the world;
- to demand an end to all forms of abuse and violence against migrants and their families and promote respect for their basic human rights;
- to call on governments around the world to ratify the UN Convention on Migrant Workers;
- to hold governments accountable with regards to the rights of migrants.

International Migrants Day aims to put the issues that are of key interest to migrants and their communities (those they live in and those they leave behind) on the agenda, highlight the challenges they encounter and celebrate their achievements.

Learn more about the experiences, contributions and efforts of migrants worldwide through these resources:

Read our factsheet about farmworkers and immigration to learn more about the push and pull factors of why workers migrate to the U.S. for work.

Watch Retorno 360, a video made by SAF Petrow Freeman documentary awardee Tony Macias.

From Tony’s writing about the project:
Migration has affected the lives of million of Mexicans, both those who leave home and those they leave behind. Its causes include global factors like violence and poverty, whose causes in turn are social inequality and the state’s failure to respond to the needs of its citizens. Policies like the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) mean that small farmers are competing with subsidized products from the US, and have driven millions from the Mexican countryside in search of economic survival. According to the brutal logic of free trade, if these people (and their families, communities, and traditions) are unwilling to change, then they have become expendable.

But reality is always richer than our models can demonstrate, more complicated than our policymakers wish it to be. There are as many reasons to migrate as there are people migrating. And for those of us not forced from home, cultivating curiosity about why people uproot themselves could cure us of an unpardonable ignorance. When we ask why people act in a particular way, we make them visible and welcome their complexity. The more we do this, the less expendable they become. For those among us who have been forced into migration, the simple act of telling our stories makes our humanity impossible to ignore. Retorno 360 tells the story of a Oaxacan migrant, Inocencio Melchor Hernandez, and the family he left behind.

December 18th, 2012 at 5:22 pm » Comments (0)

As we come to the end of 2012, we celebrate each success of the immigrant community and their supporters in the struggle for a fair and just Comprehensive Immigration Reform policy. In 2013, all changes that will be accomplished will be the result of the work that each of us does to assure that human rights are extended to all in the U.S.

November 29th, 2012 at 12:16 pm » Comments (0)

World AIDS Day Kick-Off with “Bridging Voices” Forum

Friday, November 30th @ 12:30pm
Matheson Museum
513 East University Avenue

Historically, much of the attention surrounding HIV and AIDS in Florida has centered on the southern part of the state, however, the social demographics of HIV/AIDS have changed over the past decade and reflecting this shift, northern Florida is now experiencing a significant upswing in HIV/AIDS cases.  Confronted with the growing epidemic, northern Florida continues to struggle to capture the resources and attention necessary to effectively counter the spread of the disease, as well as to provide adequate services for people living with HIV/AIDS.  Additionally, as it relates to HIV, stigma remains a major barrier in northern Florida with negative implications for accessing prevention, testing, healthcare, and supportive services.

The Rural Women’s Health Project along with the Center for Health Law and Policy Innovation of Harvard Law School is hosting a World AIDS Day kick-off with their forum entitled “Bridging Voices.”  The forum will include the Gainesville release of the Northern Florida State Healthcare Access Research Project (SHARP) Report, which offers an analysis of the current successes, challenges and opportunities for improving healthcare access for people living with HIV/AIDS in northern Florida. The SHARP Report was developed in collaboration with 25 North Florida agencies serving the prevention and treatment needs of our communities.

Presentations will include a World AIDS Day proclamation by Mayor Pro Tem, Lauren Poe, Robert Davis, area 3/13 HIV/AIDS Program Coordinator, newly elected officials will be in attendance as well a this year’s “Agent of Change” recipients Ginny Bruzzesse, RN, BA and Jorge Herrera of the Mobile Outreach Clinic.

The forum “Bridging Voices” aims to do just that— bridge the voices of researchers, state officials, social service agencies and people with HIV/AIDS to come together and develop tangible action steps for the future.  With the recent announcement of a National HIV/AIDS Strategy and post-election healthcare changes, this is an opportune time for all parties to work cohesively to effectively combat the spread of HIV/AIDS and provide comprehensive services to those living with and affected by the disease.