Jun

16

ISAAC Updates – June 2010

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It has been an exciting six months for the ISAAC Project.  In February, I attended a training seminar offered in Washington, D.C. by the Catholic Legal Immigration Network.  It centered on building capacity and positioning networks such as ISAAC so that they can reach out more efficiently to the immigrant community and to the agencies affiliated with them.

It was at this seminar that I learned about different grants offered by the Federal Government through U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services.  One in particular about integration services for legal permanent residents seemed within the reach of the ISAAC Project.  After a few months of hard work, the grant was written and submitted.  It would not have been possible without the help, expertise and the many talents of Suzii Paynter, Charlotte Bumbulis, Anne Olson and Julie Valentine.

The grant is in the amount of $100,000, and, if granted, will serve the population of south San Antonio and surrounding areas through ESL classes for eligible legal permanent residents.  It will also be used to start a federally recognized and accredited immigration service agency there, which is named Proyecto ELIM and is sponsored and hosted by Baptist University of the Américas.  This agency will submit its application for federal recognition and accreditation at the end of June.  It will be an affiliate of the ISAAC Project.

One of the goals of the ISAAC Project is to build relationships with interfaith coalitions and other groups outside Texas doing immigration ministry centers.  This goal has begun to unfold as Comunidade Evangelica de Miami, an Evangelical church that serves the Brazilian population, recently joined the ISAAC Network.  Diana Pinto, a passionate lady with experience as an immigration law clerk at a Miami law firm, will lead the Immigration Service and Christian Aid Center.  This is a milestone for the ISAAC Project and the first step in the process of creating a national network.

Another interfaith organization has recently joined the ISAAC Network:  the Christian Community Development Ministries for Korean Churches, based in Dallas, Texas, will be requesting federal recognition and accreditation for the Dallas Immigration Services Center.  This effort will be led by Pastor Samuel Song.

A recent development for the ISAAC Project has been the creation of an advisory board.  Seven people committed to Kingdom work from all over Texas will contribute their vision and passion for immigration ministry to ISAAC.  The first meeting of the board will take place during Convención in San Antonio, on June 28.

Developments in the area of immigration at the national level, such as the recent measures signed into law in Arizona, are cause for concern.  But there may be a silver lining:  as State governments and municipalities toughen their stance on undocumented immigrants, the issue comes back to the forefront of political dialogue.  It is there that it justly belongs.  These developments will hopefully make our political leaders get back to the table, dialogue and find the consensus needed to work toward a much needed comprehensive immigration reform.

Our prayers are with them as the ISAAC Project positions itself to better serve communities all across the nation when our broken immigration system is finally repaired, and hopefully, sooner than everyone expects.

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Jun

16

Public Policy Update – June 2010

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House Committees Meet on Human Trafficking

On June 3, the House Committee on Criminal Jurisprudence and the House Committee on Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence (pdf)  held a joint hearing to discuss their interim charge regarding human trafficking. The charge asks specifically for the committees to make recommendations on best practices in the areas of investigation, prosecution, and tracking of the victims of trafficking crimes, and study whether victims are allowed to effectively recover from their attackers in a civil cause of action.

At this hearing, legislators heard testimony regarding Texas’ response to domestic and international sex trafficking from local law enforcement officials, attorneys and child advocates from around the state. A few witnesses were also members of Attorney General Greg Abbott’s task force on human trafficking, a group assisting with recommendations for upcoming legislation, which is divided into four work groups: Law Enforcement, Training & Outreach, Victim’s Services, and Legal Review.

Witnesses asked for the committees to consider an extension on the statute of limitations for human trafficking cases, pass a statute to align Texas’ definition of “sex trafficking” with the federal definition, and help with safe harbor efforts in the future to help break the cycle of trafficking prostitution in the state. A major focus of the hearing was on domestic trafficking, or the trafficking of minors who are United States citizens and are forced into prostitution. A vast majority of these children are runaways.

Because human trafficking often climbs around large events such as the Super Bowl, a regional North Texas task force is preparing strategies to combat this type of illegal activity at the 2011 game in Arlington. Legislators and witnesses both agreed that human trafficking crimes are much harder to track and prosecute than drug crimes, though they are often connected, and they agreed that a major public awareness campaign is key to ending human trafficking. Texas law enforcement is, however, making progress. One witness gave an astounding statistic: the state of Florida and the city of Houston, Texas, prosecute the most human trafficking cases out of any one of the 42 known regional task forces in the country.

No legislator or witness denied the enormous problem human trafficking is, however the some legislators did express concern that the issue is much more complicated than first appears. By adding more felonies to the codes on criminal justice, a heavy cost and capacity strain is put on the criminal justice system. During session, as hundreds of crime bills are filed, it will be imperative to raise awareness in the Capitol of the horror of human trafficking to ensure attackers are punished to the fullest extent.

Literacy Coalition Honors Legislators with Literacy Champion Awards

The Literacy Coalition of Texas, a group with which the Christian Life Commission is a member, and the Mayor of San Marcos, Susan Narvaiz, honored state elected officials who have played a major role in support literacy efforts in Texas. The coalition honored Senator Florence Shapiro, Representative Rob Eissler, Representative Mark Strama, Representative Scott Hochberg, and former Speaker of the House Gib Lewis for their efforts in passing ground-breaking legislation during the last session. About one in five adults in Central Texas cannot read or write well enough to fill out a job application. Yet less than one in twenty of those adults has access to a program to address their needs. With this reception and awards luncheon, the Literacy Coalition helped raise awareness of the adult education needs in the Central Texas community.

Representative Hochberg is a Literacy Champion especially as Chair of Appropriations Subcommittee on Education to advocate for funding for adult learners and job development. He also serves as Co-Chair of the House Committee on Public Education.

Representative Strama is a Literacy Champion especially in the establishment of Interagency Literacy Council. He also serves as Chair of the House Committee on Technology, Economic Development, and Workforce. His committee is currently overseeing two Interim charges which are to review ways in which communities can meet increasing demand for child-care services while preparing children to succeed in school.

Representative Eissler is a Literacy Champion especially as an advocate for adult learners and job skills programs within TEA and as a promoter of cooperation between agencies for funding, accountability and impact for programs serving adult learners. He also served as Chair of the House Committee on Public Education and sponsored multiple bills to assist with job training and education.

Senator Shapiro is a Literacy Champion especially for promoting and advancing cooperation between agencies: Texas Education Agency (TEA) & The Higher Education Coordinating Board (THECB) & Texas Workforce Commission (TWC) on behalf of adult learners and as an advocate for adult learners and job skills programs within TEA. She also serves as Chair of the Senate Committee on Education.

Speaker Lewis, former Speaker of the Texas House of Representatives, is a Literacy Champion in his capacity as education lobbyist. He has a special interest in, and works persistently on behalf of, adult learners.

Gambling Update

With a looming state budget shortfall as high as $18 Billion by some estimates, the pressure on the 82nd Legislature to cut state services and find new sources of revenue will be immense. As expected, the various segments of the gambling industry are already out in force claiming to have just what the state needs – electronic casino style gambling. House Appropriations Chairman Rep. Jim Pitts (R-Waxahachie) recently told the press that the state should look to all potential revenue sources to help close the budget gap and specifically recommended considering casino gambling. As in the past, there are competing segments of the gambling industry all claiming to be the best option for Texas to the exclusion of others. The players include current horse tracks and license holders, Native American Tribes, poker players groups, those that favor building “destination resort casinos” and the current charitable bingo operators. It is the position of the CLC that any expansion which includes electronic, slot machine style gambling is a bad bet for the state and that the introduction of such “class III” games will have dire consequences our of the control of the state as it relates to tribal casinos.

The CLC believes that the state should certainly be looking to raise revenues, not just cut an already thin state budget. However, there are many other options for generating revenue that don’t come with such an extreme costs to individuals, families and local economies. Casino slot machine style gambling is an inefficient, unreliable and regressive form of revenue generation that preys upon the poor, relies upon addiction for profit and cannibalizes the local economy. The state of Texas has no business partnering with and profiting from a business model that plays its citizens for suckers.

In the interim, the CLC has been educating folks around the state about the negative consequences of gambling expansion. Our staff and consultants have been meeting with candidates, elected officials and their staffs, like-minded advocacy organizations, the staff of the Texas Lottery Commission, our CLC Commissioners, our Board of Consultants, and making presentations on the subject (mp4).

Watch Videos:

In the coming months we will be intensifying our efforts to educate the public.  We will be producing new educational resources and making them more widely available. We encourage you to educate yourself and talk to your neighbors about this issue. The pressure on legislators will be huge and we will be up against industry funded multi-million dollar lobbyists. If we are to push back the forces that seek to prey upon our fellow citizens we will need your help.

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Jun

16

Central Dallas Ministries Needs Your Help This Summer

Filed Under TBOWH Updates | 1 Comment

Currently, only about 9% of eligible children in Dallas are being fed through the summer – 91% of eligible kids will be hungry?!

Community Care in Advocacy Care is working with the Texas Hunger Initiative, Dallas Baptist Association and the Dallas Food Planning Association to assist in Summer Feeding of the children in Dallas.

Here is some information of an opportunity in a local missions project to work with their mobile distribution endeavors through Central Dallas Ministries.  They need groups that will commit to a week at a time – a schedule is at the bottom – they will do trainings on Monday mornings for the groups.

The Nurture, Knowledge, & Nutrition Department at Central Dallas Ministries seeks to improve the quality and quantity of meals consumed by children under the age of 18 throughout various urban areas in the city of Dallas. Our goal is to strengthen our connection to the community, which positions us to make a significant change in the lives of thousands of children each day. Through three distinctive program aspects, NKN works directly with both Texas and United States Departments of Agriculture to implement meal service programming that is suitable according to the guidelines and regulation implemented by these entities. Volunteer positions are designed for assisting staff members with the NKN Mobile Summer Food Service program operations and services through many supporting roles.

The Nurture, Knowledge, & Nutrition department is seeking out qualified individuals partake in a 9 week mobile summer food program beginning June 14, 2010.  The program will allow students to interact with various community outreach programs for children while incorporating the fundamental values and beliefs of true mission work. Mileage reimbursement of $0.50 per mile in mileage obtained through travel occurred as related to the program (one mileage reimbursement per group 4 individuals) in addition to a daily lunch reimbursement will be provided for each participating individual. The following areas list the primary responsibilities and required standards for each candidate who participates in the program:

  1. Assist site supervisors in controlling and maintaining lines for participating children.
  2. Assist with passing out meals to participating children.
  3. Assistance with controlling and eliminating any leftover trash and/or meals from each location.
  4. Assisting site supervisors with crowd control.

In addition to these responsibilities, the following requirements are necessary for each group of candidates who are seeking to participate:

  1. A minimum of one full week (Mon.- Fri 8:30am-5:00pm) of participation
  2. Reliable transportation and ability to travel frequently throughout the city of Dallas and surrounding areas. (1 car and driver per each route)
  3. Ability to work in a fast paced environment that requires a lot of one on one interaction
  4. Basic communication skills including interaction with children, crowd control, etc.

As noted in the requirements, is group is asked to dedicate a MINIMUM of 1 FULL week (Monday-Friday 8:30am-5pm). Please choose from the following weeks:

  • June 14- June 18
  • June 21- June 25
  • June 28- July 2
  • July 5- July 9
  • July 12- July 16
  • July 19- July 23
  • July 26- July 30
  • August 2- August 6
  • August 9- August 13

FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
Ashley Douglas, Program Manager
Nurture, Knowledge, & Nutrition
Central Dallas Ministries
409 N. Haskell Ave.
Dallas, TX 75246
P: 214-828-1085 Ext. 140
F: 214-828-6392
www.centraldallasministries.org

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Jun

16

And Justice For All: Enforcing Human Rights for the World’s Poor

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By Gary Haugen and Victor Boutros

Reprinted by permission of FOREIGN AFFAIRS, (May/June 2010, Volume 3, Number 89). Copyright 2010 by the Council on Foreign Relations, Inc.

Excerpt:

……Efforts by the modern human rights movement over the last 60 years have contributed to the criminalization of such abuses in nearly every country. The problem for the poor, however, is that those laws are rarely enforced. Without functioning public justice systems to deliver the protections of the law to the poor, the legal reforms of the modern human rights movement rarely improve the lives of those who need them most. At the same time, this state of functional lawlessness allows corrupt officials and local criminals to block or steal many of the crucial goods and services provided by the international development community. These abuses are both a moral tragedy and wholly counter-productive to the foreign aid programs of countries in the developed world. Helping construct effective public justice systems in the developing world, therefore, must become the new mandate of the human rights movement in the twenty-first century.

……This problem is made worse by the simple scarcity of lawyers in the developing world. The average person in the developing world has never met a lawyer in his or her life. In the United States, there is approximately one lawyer for every 749 people. In Zambia, by contrast, there is only one lawyer for every 25,667 people; in Cambodia, there is one for every 22,402 people. There are more lawyers in the New York offices of some major law firms than there are in all of Zambia or Cambodia. Of this small class of lawyers, prosecutors represent an even tinier subset—and some of these are not even trained lawyers, and others, much like the police, extract bribes to drop cases. When cases are reported and referred for trial, there are frequently too few public prosecutors to handle the volume. This creates an enormous backlog, allowing cases to languish indefinitely on overloaded dockets.

……Some experts, for example, have estimated that at the current rate, it would take 350 years for the courts in Mumbai, India, to hear all the cases on their books. According to the U.N. Development Program, India has 11 judges for every one million people. There are currently more than 30 million cases pending in Indian courts, and cases remain unresolved for an average of 15 years.

……The modern human rights movement must enter into a new era, shifting its focus from legal reform to law enforcement. In other words, the time has come to move human rights from wholesale to retail— to take the human rights promises stored in the warehouses of national law and deliver them to the poor standing in line for justice. Admittedly, creating functioning public justice systems in the developing world will be difficult. It will require political will, steadfastness, and local knowledge and creativity. On the local level, approaches must focus on directly cultivating the political will and capacity of the police, prosecutors, and judges who are supposed to enforce the law on behalf of the poor. This could include providing financial assistance to build police and judicial units with salaries high enough to make petty corruption less likely; material resources that give police, prosecutors, social workers, and judges the basic tools of their trade; practical on-the-ground casework training; and legal aid and social services to the poor. These would be expensive investments, but they would represent a small fraction of the trillions of dollars that governments have spent on development aid—much of which has been of questionable long-term value given the absence of effective law enforcement systems for the poor. Indeed, rule-of-law aid and development aid are mutually reinforcing: as functioning public justice systems in the developing world mature, the poor will begin to fully reap the benefits of the enormous investments in development being made on their behalf.

……At the state level, aid must focus on developing both the political will and the capacity of government elites to enforce existing laws. This aid should target the diplomats, politicians, and policymakers who set the agendas for the large cadres of enforcement personnel under their authority. To push this along, developed-country governments should link their international development assistance to the willingness of developing-country governments to improve their public justice systems. One example of such a strategy is already working its way through the U.S. Congress: the Child Protection Compact Act would authorize U.S. government grants to developing countries that have demonstrated a commitment to combating child trafficking with effective tools, measured by concrete benchmarks. Likewise, the United States and other governments in the developed world should cut off or limit foreign aid to countries that are unwilling to improve their capacity to protect the poor from abuse and violence—especially since rampant lawlessness is likely to make any such assistance unproductive in the first place.

……To accomplish this goal, the human rights and development communities will have to restructure themselves to include those with the backgrounds and technical skills to diagnose and repair the ailments of broken public justice systems. Of course, these experts will not come with ready answers or quick solutions—but they will know where to start looking and will recognize what matters and what does not. And given even a small fraction of the time and money that have been devoted to fixing roads, improving health systems, providing clean water, and building schools in developing countries, they will begin to enable the poor to retain the benefits of such development assistance. On behalf of the billions of poor people in this world who are made small under the vast shadow of lawlessness, the time has come to construct a shelter of justice.

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Jun

16

Living the Christian Life – A little hope goes a long way

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By Charlotte Bumbulis

“To Christians in America, buying something like a bag doesn’t feel like mission work, but to countless families, your purchase is their lifeline to a better future—a future filled with hope, healing, new possibilities, and the tangible love of Christ.”

On May 11, I returned home to Austin after spending two weeks in Phnom Penh and Battambang, Cambodia.  This was my first international trip, and one with a very specific purpose in mind.

Let me rewind and share the story of how this opportunity came to be.  Back in September 2009, when I was traveling around Texas networking with churches to market Good News Goods, I met Bryans Fitzhugh, Missions Minister of University Baptist Church in Fort Worth. There was an immediate connection between us because of Good News Goods’ partnership with our Fair Trade apparel producer, StopStart (Stop Human Trafficking.  Start a new life), in Phnom Penh, Cambodia and the church’s on-going relief and development work, and pastoral training in Battambang, Cambodia.   As we were meeting, we realized the overlap of our ministries and our common areas of interest, so Bryans invited me to accompany UBC on their 8th annual mission trip to Cambodia.   In the moment, I hesitantly said yes, but never thought that I would really be able to go, mostly due to financial reasons.  However, the church was very gracious and offered me a scholarship that made this dream trip a reality.   In addition to their typical trip itinerary, Bryans added a visit to the StopStart factory in Phnom Penh, so we could meet and interview some of the women workers whose stories I tell and bags I sell at churches throughout Texas.  So on April 28, I joined a group of people whom I barely knew or had never met, and began the 24 hour trip to Cambodia.  (You can read more about my trip from the Good News Goods blog, Good News Done.

When I stepped foot in Cambodia, the reality of the devastating poverty that engulfs that country was not an immediate shock to my senses, due to previous knowledge-based exposure.  However, the difference between reading about global poverty and actually encountering someone living in poverty is comparable to prescription glasses.   Without the proper prescription, one may be able to see the world around them, but not clearly, thus quickly becoming disoriented and overwhlemed.  However, as soon as you place the properly prescripted glasses in front of your eyes, the picture comes into sharp focus and you are suddenly aware of your surrounding reality.

Likewise, the vision I now have of Cambodia is no longer that of a distant statistic or a sad anecdote. Rather,it is a distinct smell from the busy marketplace, a feeling of intense compassion and love towards a gracious and needy people, a charming yet filthy little girl begging for her family, or a woman’s hands hard at work.  Specifically the hands of a woman I interviewed at StopStart—a woman who suffered abuse at the hands of her husband, who experienced healing through Hagar International’s Women’s shelter, who has been given a second chance through dignified, fair employment, and who’s hope for the future is to open her own small grocery store and earn enough money to provide for her children and have her mother come live with her .

Sadly, her story of abuse is not rare in Cambodia, or anywhere else around the world where women are not held in high regard, or viewed as children of God.   Currently, she is one of about 40 other workers at the StopStart factory, mostly women, who are vulnerable to or victims of physical abuse, exploitation of labor, homelessness, and/or human trafficking (mostly in the form of commercial sexual exploitation).   Because they are now employed by a Fair Trade business, the workers are provided a livable fair wage according to the economic context (about $20 US dollars more per month than other garment factory workers in the city), overtime pay, dignified treatment in the workplace, a safe and healthy working environment, free childcare, machine training, and language classes for the workers who cannot read and write in their native tongue.  Because StopStart is not only a fair trade business, but a Christ-minded business as well, the women and men workers may also participate in a weekly Bible Study.  It is the future goal of StopStart to maintain a sustainable, fair trade business in order to employ more workers and fill all ninety sewing machines.  In addition, StopStart plans to offer free English classes and computer classes to workers outside of their scheduled work hours, so that their skills can be expanded, and better future opportunities can be attained.

One of the interview questions I asked this particular woman was “What would you like to say to the people in the United States who buy your bags?”   She shyly responded by saying, “Thank you, and please continue to buy bags from StopStart so that I can keep working here.”    To Christians in America, buying something like a bag doesn’t feel like mission work, but to this woman and countless others, your purchase is her lifeline to a better future—a future filled with hope, healing, new possibilities, and the tangible love of Christ.

Through Hagar International’s social services and StopStart’s social business, the whole person is cared for and their hope is renewed, enabling them to care for themselves , their families, and their surrounding community.   A little hope goes a long way.  Good News Goods is proud to partner to missional, life-giving businesses like StopStart.

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Jun

16

A Word From Suzii – Confronting Human Trafficking in Texas

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San Antonio District Attorney Susan Reed was among the important witnesses who recently painted a picture of human trafficking in Texas. Surprisingly, many of the victims she described had not crossed the Mexico border, but were local girls – mostly troubled teens – that had run away from home and had become victimized into prostitution.  If they are fortunate, the cases made on their behalf can resolve their tormented life, but the path to resolution is not easy. If they are under age (and many are) they may “age out of services” before their case is completed. This can put a premature end to the arrest, prosecution and conviction of vicious perpetrator and the victims loses continuity in their case.

Early in June, testimony was heard in the Judiciary and Civil Jurisprudence committee (pdf) of the Texas House outlining the immediate steps needed in Texas to stem the flow of human trafficking in our state. Susan Reed, District Attorney in San Antonio played a major role with her testimony.  There was a report from the Human Trafficking Task Force (pdf) of the Office of Greg Abbott, Attorney General of Texas; The Task Force is set up in workgroups to focus on four main areas: role for law enforcement personnel, training and outreach, legal review to enact ordinances and laws, victim services.

I am serving on the legal review workgroup and Tomi Grover (BGCT Consultant) is serving on the training and outreach workgroup. David Boatwright, Office of the Attorney General, said that human trafficking crimes by their nature have to be uncovered and are often uncovered in several ways: when force, fraud or coercion is used, when child abuse is found, when prostitution is found and also whenever drug cartel activity is found. In order to get a case to court, the officers must get to the “why” of a Human Trafficking case, looking into the initial drug, prostitution or fraud arrest.

Lt. Overstreet from Dallas Police Department reported on the developing trafficking patterns in three international organizations and believes they are all tied to drug cartel and/or gangs. Recent arrests were made, the organization was aware of police watch and in the process of changing locations to Houston. It is very labor intensive to go after these organizations and law enforcement partnerships and Human Trafficking taskforce cooperation is crucial for taking them down. Fusion support from technology centers that are capable of connecting dots for law enforcement is also crucial. He estimates that law enforcement is 15-20 years behind on Human Trafficking in terms of technology.

Mandy Kimble, Children at Risk, Director of Public Policy and Government Affairs presented two proposals to the committee: pass a statute that aligns the Texas definition with the Federal definition of Human Trafficking and separate sex trafficking from general labor trafficking.  Mandy called for a Safe Harbor effort in Texas. She articulated some of the unintended consequences of a criminal justice system when handling victims of Human Trafficking. Her request is to replace prosecution of child victims w/ social services via grant funding. She cited the paradox that we want to help children but treat them as criminals in order to keep them locked up and safe. Our state laws states that a child is unable to consent to sex but then criminalizes them to keep them safe instead of treating them as involuntary victims because we are greatly lacking a safe house infrastructure. Our law doesn’t have an age requirement for prostitution currently. If a juvenile states that they are 18+ and don’t have identification to prove otherwise, they are tried as an adult.

It is reassuring to see the progress that the Texas legislature, the Attorney General office and many local law enforcement offices are making on these issues. The need for victim services, safe houses, care for runaway teens, and attention to vulnerable populations is growing. The organization of these measures is crucial to prevent, detect or support prosecution of Human Trafficking.  The largest Human Trafficking case prosecuted in the US was in Houston. The attorney managing the case said that it was the role of victim services from the domestic violence shelters, YWCA, churches and other compassionate communities that supported the successful prosecution of the case. Contact Traffick Stop, Tomi Grover (traffickstopinfo@gmail.com) or the CLC to connect to others who are building strength to meet these needs.

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Jun

16

In The News – June 2010

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BUDGET

CHILDREN

CHURCH/STATE

CRIMINAL JUSTICE

EDUCATION

ENVIRONMENT

GAMBLING

HUNGER & POVERTY

IMMIGRATION

PAYDAY LENDING

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