If you ask people what they think about organized labor these days, many - if not most - might respond based on the version of labor depicted in the recent Martin Scorsese film, The Irishman. The filmmaker points his camera at the link between the Teamsters and organized crime in the era of Jimmy Hoffa. So the image portrayed is of profoundly corrupt union officials in cahoots with habitually violent mafia thugs.
While that might make for a dramatic movie - endless as it is - it crowds out any other part of the rich and complex history of organized labor. I grew up in the Midwest and never ran across anyone who resembled the characters in the Scorsese movie. In my community of Fort Wayne, Indiana, organized labor was closely and publicly connected to organized religion. Your pew neighbor during Sunday worship service was often the factory worker next to you on the assembly line during the week. My father was a shop steward in his union and an usher at church. My mother worked in a parochial school and taught in Sunday School. Work and worship, labor and faith, were as married as my parents were. In fact, to my young eyes, the labor movement was another expression of religious activity, somewhat similar to singing in the choir, serving on the usher board, or teaching in Sunday School. We even had ministers in my city who worked in the factory during the week, and ministered to their congregational flock on weekends.
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... Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s decision to start an impeachment inquiry is the first step toward a possible congressional indictment of the president. It can also be seen as an attempt to diagnose whether or not the country needs constitutional chemotherapy.
Braving the threat of rain and a thunderstorm, 120 Fox River Valley Initiative leaders, allies and neighbors gathered under a tent at 1212 Larkin in Elgin, Illinois on the afternoon of Friday, September 27, to celebrate groundbreaking for an affordable housing development.
The development will have 10 dedicated units for people with mental or physical disabilities with onsite case management. The other 38 units will be 2-3 bedroom apartments for people living between 30 and 60 percent of the area’s medium income. Elgin’s Mayor Dave Kaptain expressed his appreciation to the Fox River Valley Initiative for organizing and bringing the vision of 1212 Larkin to Elgin. He observed, “My vision is to bring quality housing for every citizen of Elgin.” Under his leadership, the city council had voted 8-0 in support of the project. 
Twenty years after the first living-wage law was passed in Baltimore, the campaign’s lead organizer warns that the model has been watered down. This prescient piece written by Jonathan Lange in 2014 for the Nation is an even more urgent read NOW.
Hundreds of people gathered on Chicago's West Side to talk with Mayor Lori Lightfoot about the city's most pressing problems, from gun violence to housing concerns. Community members and leaders representing a coalition of nearly 100 religious and civic groups gathered at DRW College Prep in Homan Square Sunday afternoon.
United Power for Action and Justice is the coalition behind Sunday's meeting. The group emphasizes offering pragmatic solutions rather than "pie in the sky" ideals. While the coalition said they appreciated Lightfoot's words Sunday, the group said it's time to translate those remarks into results. MORE 
On Friday 9/13/19, SBC, Manhattan Together IAF and METRO IAF NYleaders were joined at a Press Conference by CM Ritchie Torres. We supported the appointment of an Ombudsperson who can make New York City Housing Authority (NYCHA) properly remediate mold and leaks when they fail to do so. We also demanded that they start fixing or replacing roof fans and cleaning vents now. At the 3 PM hearing, the Judge said he would not make a decision that day (and it's out clear how quickly it will go into effect throughout NYCHA) , but that the "parties should get ready." Nothing is guaranteed, but it looks positive!
“She has a chance to help reduce gun-related suicides, accidental shootings and the violence caused by stolen guns.”
OpEd in Chicago Sun Times by Alec Harris, Renee Reilly and Rose Mabwa, leaders of United Power for Action and Justice, Metro IAF 
To our thinking, the lesson of Walmart is that substantial gun reform may eventually succeed in Congress, if enough puppets of the gun lobby are run out of office. Ordinary citizens can further the cause by putting pressure on corporate America.
"The shareholders’ resolution was drafted by a group of religious leaders — the Interfaith Center for Corporate Responsibility — and a grassroots advocacy group — the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation." More from CST Editorial. 
New York’s Public Housing Isn’t Getting Better
Reports from a federal monitor and residents suggest the city needs a new approach to fixing a crisis for hundreds of thousands of residents. NY Times Editorial with key quote by Metro IAF leader Bernard Smith here. ------------------------------------------------- More from metro iaf:
Mon Jul 29, 2019 -DICO
Keisha Krumm speaks at a news conference at City Hall in 2015 at which Nationstar Mortgage announced it would contribute $30.5 million to help Sherman Park homeowners recover from the foreclosure crisis. Photo courtesy of Common Ground. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Milwaukee is a city that does not strengthen the hand of the poor. It seems, instead, to be satisfied with kind gestures of charity toward the symptoms of unfairness. Pope Pius XI said, “Charity will never be true charity unless it takes justice into account…. Let no one attempt with small gifts of charity to exempt themselves from the great duties imposed by justice.” My over eight years in Milwaukee as Common Ground’s Executive Director and Lead Organizer has been dedicated to building justice with and for those left behind in this city. Common Ground has created controversy and tension, including pushing big banks and billionaires to recalculate their civic interest in broader terms. I am proud that we have had the moral courage to demand more than just charity for neighborhoods, education, health care, and housing. Keisha Krumm's Full Op Ed in Urban Milwaukee here. ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Keisha Krumm has been organizing over 17 years with the IAF, including 8.5 years as the Lead Organizer for Common Ground, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She can be reached kmkrumm@gmail.com 
From the Washington Post:
One person who recognizes this disparity is Mike Gecan, senior organizer at Metro Industrial Areas Foundation based in Chicago. In something of a unique social experiment, Gecan is attempting to address obstacles faced by populations who are disadvantaged by residing in far-off areas of the map. Opinion piece here. 
Angry seniors today raise hell against a mayor who a year ago made them a promise to build $500 million in new affordable senior housing, then turned his back and flew to Iowa to sell his brand of progressivism on the national market.
We echo the frustration of the men and women of East Brooklyn Congregations and Metro Industrial Areas Foundation as today, at the end of their ropes, they call for Mayor de Blasio to “step up or step down." NY Daily News Editorial 
In a spirited community forum on Sunday, May 19, 2019, Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE) obtained commitments from the Democratic Party contenders for Chairman of the Board of Supervisors on a range of important local issues, to include millions more dollars in County funding for affordable housing projects, and an expansion of the legal defense fund for local immigrants who are in the country illegally.
“VOICE can be the difference in this election,” VOICE leaders told people at the packed-out Bethlehem Baptist Church of Gum Springs, which hosted the event. “We can get more done together than we can apart, and we will apply pressure.” Hunt Herald story by Lori Ostrow here. 
EBC leader Tita Concepcion Confronts de Blasio
Two women flew to Iowa, courtesy of the organization East Brooklyn Congregations, to confront him on deteriorating conditions in the New York City Housing Authority. They also pressed him on his stalled promise to build more housing for senior citizens on underused NYCHA lots.
“We have been in New York; we have been trying to speak with him,” said resident Tita Concepcion. “All we get are stories from him. He doesn’t listen. He dodges us whenever possible.” Politico story. Great background in CrainsNewYork.com here. Metro IAF Continues to call out NYC mayor Bill De Blasio; Now backed by the NY Times editorial Board5/9/2019 
Tawana Myers, a community activist from Brooklyn who lobbied the mayor for senior housing for years with the Metro Industrial Areas Foundation, said the city should simply honor its promise.
“We fought for this money,” she told The Times, recalling years of rallies. “We came out in the rain, in wheelchairs.” It’s distressing that Mr. de Blasio and Mr. Johnson misled older, low-income New Yorkers, 200,000 of whom are on a waiting list for affordable housing. Story here. 
NYCHA tenants and other leaders with South Bronx Churches marched, Saturday from 389 E 150th St. t a vacant lot owned by NYCHA at East 152nd St. between Courtland and Melrose. As they marched, they called for Mayor de Blasio to keep his promise to spend $500 million to build affordable senior housing on vacant or under-used NYCHA land. April 27, 2019. (Gregg Vigliotti/for New York Daily News)
Angrily denouncing Mayor de Blasio over what they call a broken $500 million promise, tenants and church leaders marched in the South Bronx on Saturday to demand more public housing for seniors. Story.
Speaking at CONECT’s press conference was Rev Anthony Bennett and Rick DelValle, a former drug addict who now operates five recovery houses for addicts in New Haven.
------------------------------------ “This important legislation will help level the playing field for Connecticut’s racial minorities,” said Rev. Anthony Bennett of Mt. Aery Baptist Church in Bridgeport and Co-Chair of CONECT. “Despite important gains in criminal justice reform here in Connecticut, racial minorities are still far more likely to have a criminal record, even surpassing national averages. That’s just unacceptable here in Connecticut.” Story. 
But even the most optimistic commitment from the city doesn’t come close to meeting the current or future needs, says Grant Lindsay, Lead Organizer with East Brooklyn Congregations (EBC), an affiliate of the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF) an affordable housing advocacy group.
Lindsay says the mayor’s target of 30,000 senior units by 2026 “isn’t a real number, but a combination of loans to existing housing to maintain the current level of relative affordability, retrofitting some housing, and a few new units.” He says the question to ask is “how many seniors on the current waiting lists will get that housing?” City Limits story. 
Featuring VOICE leaders Rev. Dr. Keith Savage, Rev. Kenneth Nixon, and Mr. John Chapman. Link to TV News HERE.
Let's end it so others don't feel like 'caged animals', former inmate says.
Story by IAF Organizer Nafeesah Goldsmith
In 2006, when I was 26 years old, I was placed in solitary confinement at New Jersey State Prison for 60 days. I was locked in my cell for 23 hours a day, sometimes 24 hours, depending on the mood of the officers or if there was a lockdown at the prison. Our showers -- which we were supposed to receive every day -- were subject to the officers’ whims as well. Sometimes, I didn’t get a shower for days. More here. 
Last night, VOICE helped move Virginia to become a more fair and just Commonwealth for all people.
With overwhelming bipartisan support, the Virginia legislature voted to end Virginia's horrific system of suspending driver's licenses for unpaid court fees and fines, one of VOICE’s top issue priorities this year. Currently, 627,000 Virginians—nearly 1 in 10 adults in the state—have their driver's licenses suspended solely for unpaid court debt. Not DUI's, not reckless driving offenses, only court debt.
Mayor de Blasio committed $500 million to Metro-IAF’s plan for building new apartments for seniors, starting with six already identified NYCHA and Housing Preservation and Development sites where money could be spent and units put up quickly. ----------------------------------- Speaking of clear statements, “there was no ambiguity from the mayor when we shook hands about this being $500 million from the city,” Brawley told me Friday. “If in fact we have been deceived and lied to, this would be a great disrespect to the black and Latino community — certainly the greatest lie that I have ever seen, and maybe in the history of our organization.” NY Daily News Story by Harry Siegel
650+ CAN leaders secured commitments for the payment of $15 wages & local hiring during public negotiation with City, DHA, GoTriangle & Duke University.
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