Since the recession has started there has been a surge in the number of people enrolling in food stamps. With more unemployed, many are applying for the first time. In some states, you can apply online, which makes the process go much smoother. In others, lines at offices can be long. Wait times are excessive. Getting to the point where you can actually buy groceries can more than the expected 30 days. This raises the question, whats happening here? In the following 6 minutes we attempt to answer that question. We’ll also take a look at an organization working to make the process easier in every state.
Veteran community organizer Wade Rathke’s new book “Citizen Wealth: Winning the Campaign to Save Working Families” explains how unemployment insurance, food stamps, and tax relief are only temporary solutions to poverty and do not address more systematic problems that prevent working families from becoming financially secure. In this interview, Rathke explains this problematic reality, discusses his ideas for a winnable campaign, and addresses the importance of “wealth building.” CitizenWealth 1
May Day or International Worker’s Day is celebrated on May 1st in most countries around the world. The holiday is less popular in the United States but no less important to immigrant activist groups nationwide who’ve begun using this day to demand equal rights for immigrant workers. May Day was first organized in 1886 by German immigrants, anarchists and labor federations to demand the work day be shortened to eight hours. Unfortunately for the movement, a few days after May 1st, a march inspired by that first successful one ended in a riot. That riot is known in history as the Haymarket Massacre of 1886. The labor movement dissolved as a result and May Day was never officially recognized in the United States. Tulane University professor Todd Michney tells the story of what happened on those eventful first days of May.
Kathie McClure is on a mission and she’s carrying it out in style. Two years ago, Kathie founded VoteHealthcare.org, to encourage thousands of people upset with our health care system to become politically active. Since this April, she’s been traveling across the country doing just that in a remodeled purple school bus. On each stop, Kathie collects the stories of these Americans and meets with organizations fighting to change the system. We met up with Kathie at the start of her spring tour in New Orleans.
Immigrant rights advocacy groups are putting pressure on President Obama to reform immigration policy just three days after his presidential inauguration. The National Network for Immigrant and Refugee Rights is drafting an open letter to President Obama asking him to adopt comprehensive immigration reform. Arnoldo Garcia of NNIRR and immigrant rights groups in Arizona, Maryland and D.C. explain their motives behind the letter. immigreformImmigReform
The Employee Free Choice Act is a controversial labor bill being discussed right now in Congress. If it passes it would protect workers’ rights by making it illegal for employers to fire workers whom they suspect support or are organizing a union. The bill has been a hot topic of debate between union advocacy groups and private sector big businesses since it was first introduced on Capitol Hill. In the last two weeks student organizations, civil rights groups, religious leaders and even small business have joined together to hold rallies, educate the public and petition senators in support of the bill. We talk to Helene O’Brien of the Service Employee International Union Local 21 in Louisiana and Carol Rosenblatt of the Coalition for Labor Union Women as they explain why they have taken up the fight to pass The Employee Free Choice Act.
Community organizations are doing everything in their power to help families stay in their homes. We look at one successful organizing methodimplemented by the grassroots community group ACORN and how other community groups are learning from them.
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Since the recession has started there has been a surge in the number of people enrolling in food stamps. With more unemployed, many are applying for the first time. In some states, you can apply online, which makes the process go much smoother. In others, lines at offices can be long. Wait times are excessive. Getting to the point where you can actually buy groceries can more than the expected 30 days. This raises the question, whats happening here? In the following 6 minutes we attempt to answer that question. We’ll also take a look at an organization working to make the process easier in every state. 
