SUBMIT YOUR QUESTION BY ADDING A COMMENT TO THIS POST
On December 4, 2008, thousands of community organizers and grassroots leaders from across the country will descend on Washington, DC, to press the people's demands with President-Elect Obama and the new Congress. Community organizing played a more important role than ever in this election --- not only in the biography of our next President but in the streets, as organizing skills were applied inside the Obama campaign and out to mobilize voters for change. Now it's time for we, the people, to define the change we want. On December 4, 2008, at Realizing The Promise: A Forum on Community, Faith and Democracy, we will do just that!
But we need your help!
As we get to work planning the agenda for Realizing The Promise, where key leaders from Congress and the Presidential transition team will be participating in the discussion, we want to know what questions you think should be asked? Whether it's on healthcare reform or immigration or the economy, what pointed questions do you want to put to the new leadership in Washington?
Your questions will help shape the agenda for Realizing The Promise and we might even quote your question from the stage. So tell us what issues you think Washington should focus on and what questions you have about the agenda ahead.
Community organizing will continue to play a prominent role in the next Administration and Congress, as we take up our rightful place building democracy and the power for everyday people to have a voice in our nation. That means a voice for you, too! Tell us what questions are at the top of your agenda so we can put them on our agenda for Realizing The Promise on December 4th!
Just submit your question as a comment to this post!
And be sure to tell your family, friends, and colleagues about this exciting event!
Submit Your Question
Tell us what questions are at the top of your agenda so we can put them on our agenda for Realizing The Promise on December 4th!
Click here to submit a question.
Click here to submit a question.
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Being well-versed in Constitutional law, what direct action will you take to ensure that no state in the Union ever again passes unconstitutional legislation, especially that deliberately designed to so overtly rob from the poor and deny their Constitutional right to access the Courts, without sale, denial, or delay, such as Florida did in 2004.
Are you in favor of and will you support a Constitutional Amendment to prevent any state in the union from charging court fees to the indigent, forcing them to sign Promissory Notes and enter into payment plans, giving Clerks of Courts the green light to file Judgments and harass the poor via collection agencies, essentially holding our Constitutional Rights hostage?
The Legislative Clamor
(Sung to the tune of The Star-Spangled Banner)
Pro se can you plea
If you pay the court fees
Oh so sadly we wail
At our rights quickly waning
And our access to courts
Without sale or delay
Were denied to the poor
Back in 2004
Oh hey Florida lawmakers
What the hell were you thinking
Does your greed know no bounds?
You ignorant clowns!
--Carol Tucker, MA
Pensacola, FL
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/equaljusticeforall
Populus iamdudum defutatus est"
"The people have been getting screwed long enough."
What about US citizens that are married to immigrants and have had their families torn apart. How will they ever be reunited? What policies will they implement to make it so that families of US citizens will get reunited. So many families have been broken because of the callous ways USCIS deported so many hard working immigrants waiting for legal status.
In addition to numerous new "presidential powers" awarded to Mr. Bush by the Congress, he has made 1,100 "signing statement" declarations of intent to break the law. What extraconstitutional powers and declarations of criminal intent will the new president incorporate and pass along to the next president? Will he renounce any of these pretensions?
Where is the diversity in Obama's cabinet. 1. Will he assign Bill Richardson to a key cabinet position? If not why not?
2. Will Latinos be placed in key cabinet roles or simply be appointed to minor roles such as Sec. of the Interior?
Obama cannot take Latinos for granted! I and others like me will not be there next time if we are taken for granted as past democracts have done. Ya Basta!!!!!
Are we going to get meaningful health care reform, or will it be whittled down so much making it have little effect on our daily lives?
District of Columbia Housing Authority, Family Commissioner
Aquarius Vann-Ghasri,
Since 1930's the federal government exerted a major influence on the nations's housing and development activity.
Government expanded housing opportunities for low-and moderate income home buyers and retners, over the past sixty years, with variety of programs and policies to support the housing production, revitalizing cities, encouraging development of the mortagage market.
On behalf, of my constituency, we request:
(1)A review of the many prlgrams, Congress has attempted to use federal resources to achieve a variety of goals. For exampl, housing assistance can be combined with neighborhood improvement, economic development, racial deconcentraion, and supportive social services.
(2)Status report to Residents of the US impact by the Federal housing programs which fouc on teh production of additional housing units, and the management o fexisting units, or both. Some type of subsidy mechanism is almost always involved in the case of low-income families.
(3) Review, Examine and Analyze the many housing programs aimed at increasing the housing production, both as a way to meet the basic demand for shelter and as a way to stimulate the economy and create jobs for construction workers.The public housing program, was established during the Great Depression to address both of those goals. The Federal Housing Adminstration's multifamily mortgage programs have also been aimed primarily at new construction and substantial rehabiliation.
(4)President Obama, Transitional Team to review All Hope 6 Communties, in the United States, to Montior and Track,Federal Dollars, spending. Locate partners of the Hope 6, to review whether or not the partners did not violate the rights of residents of the Hope 6.
President Obama, Transitional Team, we further request;
(5) We futher request, a review and analysis of All existing Public Housing, in the Untied States, to determine Whether or not Residents of Public Housing,residing in a Safe, Sanitary, and Healthy environment.
(6)Ears and Eyes, meeting of the Housing Urban Development, we request the return, of this program.
(7) Review and Examine, the Housing Choice Voucher Program.
Conclusion: with thoughts of Model Cities. Why create the wheel, when we can examine and review the impact and affect/effect of programs in the past. In 1966, in the Demonstration Cities and Metropolitan Development Act.(Demonstration Cities and Metro. Actr of 1966,Pub. L. No.89-754,80 Stat.1255) Different year, same issues, concerns and problems. Congress,is still saying"improving the quality of urban life is the most critical domestic problem facing the United States" and that additional federal assistance is needed to address the problem. US still search for financial and technical assistance to enable cities to plan and implement demonstration programs to improve the quality of urban life. The programs involved activities in a number of areas, including housing, jobs, education, health and crime prevention.
Review the Role of Housing Urban Development. Was it better off, prior to breaking the Agency, into Region.
Housing Urban Development(STAYS), with Reviewing, and Addressing Issues and Concerns of Housing Auhtorities.
Round Table Discussions with Housing Authorities. Listen to what Housing Auhtorities are saying.
Round Table Discussions with Housing Auhtorities Commissioners, by all means, I am requesting to play a vital role with the planning.
Round Table Discussion, with Resident Leaders. (Resident Council of Communities, elect by residents).
Radom Select Residents, who are not Leaders, who live in the HUD housing market. Listen, Listen, to this target group.
I would like to know how the new administration will address the issue of funding for more ACCESSIBLE, SAFE and affordable, low income housing for our seniors and people with disabilites?
The auto industries are in trouble,
would repealing the Real ID Act
help get these auto makers out of
the red???? If we cannot get a
license, we cannot get insurance,
if we cannot get insurance, we can-
not buy new cars, if we cannot buy cars, we will not buy gasoline,, use service stations, auto parts
and assessories, and we cannot use
the roads, tourist spots, etc, etc,
etc. Maria M.
Most American Indian people live in cities, so how will their treaty rights be defended,represented and manifested in those settings. Where Native people live is just a change of address.
WE NEED HEALTH CARE and people are dying!! Health care reform is an important economic stimulus that will boost the economy and help families, workers and businesses on main street. We have to make health care more affordable, get everyone into the system and make sure we address delivery system issues and rural, ethnic and racial disparities. Comprehensive federal health care reform should be a HIGH PRIORITY and will have long term economic benefit.
Being a former homeless community resident...and now having a permanent place for 6 yrs running, I am a big advocate and grassroots activist for the 10 YEAR PLAN TO END HOMELESSNESS. I would like to know what our new administration will do to help us end homelessness, and also, make sure there is funding available so everyone who resides in the United States has a roof over their head and a warm bed to sleep in. Having a place to call home is very important to the morale of each HUMAN BEING.
America is supposed to be the Land of Opportunity, but recent ICE raids have terrorized, abused, and separated immigrant families. Our immigration system is not working and is criminalizing hard working people.
What will you do to help provide a path to citizenship to the many undocumented workers in this country who are seeking the American Dream?
How an immigrant could be helpful to this great country. Can we go to college and pay an affordable fee (not free) after we have been working in this country more than ten years of our lives with clean records and contributing with our best effort to the future of this nation?
Mr. Elected President Obama, How can you help a group of people from my country (Venezuela) who are living in this beautiful country of opportunities and not think and not support the politics, ideas and practices of the actual goverment (Communist regime) leading by Hugo Chavez. Help us on have the chance to build a future for our children. Thanks you.
Bright undocumented students that have lived most of their lives in the United States,and have stayed out of trouble are faced with a harsh reality.That reality is that they cannot work legally in the professions they pursue,due to their immigration status. Our congress and senate should favor Citizenship that will let them pursue their dreams as professionals and citizens of this great country which they call home.
This year we desperately need a path to citizenship for our young, bright, bilingual undocumented students.
There can be no health without mental health. People with serious mental health problems have a life expectancy of 25 years less than the average person due to related medical conditions. The cost to society is enormous with lost revenue in the billions and untold emotional suffering to individuals and their families. Communities of color and individuals with limited English proficiency are particularly vulnerable due to the lack of access to quality care that addresses issues of culture and language. In spite of these facts, mental health continues to be ignored in discussions on healthcare. What will the Obama Administration do to address these critical mental health issues and provide resources for ongoing training to improve the quality of services?
DJ Ida - National Asian American Pacific Islander Mental Health Association and Mental Health America
We need the DREAM Act for undocumented students in 2009. No excuses. Barack Obama said in one of the debates with Hillary Clinton that "something that we can do immediately that I think is very important is to pass the Dream Act, which allows children who through no fault of their own are here but have essentially grown up as Americans, allow them the opportunity for higher education. I do not want two classes of citizens in this country. (APPLAUSE) I want everybody to prosper. That’s going to be a top priority..."
Let those words not be empty rhetoric and false promises. Pass the DREAM Act in 2009 and let it not get bogged down with partisan battles over CIR.
How can faith-based progressive activists best seize this historic moment in time to achieve justice for the poor and for our planet's besieged ecological systems?
We need programs for the young student that develope late and hasn't made up thier mind what to do in life,but meanwhile can earn a living.
Can Obama's new administration please do something about the countless immigrants who have been in the United States for most of their lives (since childhood) but do not have legal paperwork demonstrating their legal status in the United States. It is not someone's fault, nor should it be their burden, that their parents brought them as children to the Untied States without filling the official paperwork to enter the country legally. I know people who have lives built here, who grew up here, who went to school here, who still go to school here and hope to work and contribute in positive ways to our country but have been told that the only legal way to stay here is to not stay here - to return to their country of origin and wait countless years to re-enter 'legally'. They are told by the current government to enter a now 'foreign' country and start their entire lives over, and then wait for the official paperwork to be sifted through for some years - to get on waiting lists and to wait - leaving their current lives, schools, families, friends, and work behind. There must be a way to grant some kind of clemency to people who can provide paper work and proof of their childhood lives here in the United Sates so that they do not have to give up on their current lives here in the United Sates. I hope that this message reaches the right ears and the right eyes, I hope this message reaches the right hearts and hands to make a positive change in these regards. Thank you!
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