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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>PLEASE FORWARD</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><BR>From: Daniel HoSang <<A
href="mailto:dhosang@ctwo.org">dhosang@ctwo.org</A>><BR><BR><BR>Please
forward<BR><BR>Dear friends:<BR><BR>Please take five minutes to help win fair
treatment for low-income <BR>families and end racial discrimination in
anti-poverty
programs.<BR><BR>VISIT<BR><BR>http://www.progressiveportal.org/letters/justice
<BR><BR>to automatically send a fax or an email to 30 leading Senators and their
<BR>aides urging them to protect the civil rights of families on
welfare.<BR><BR>The letter-writing campaign is sponsored by Grassroots
Organizing for <BR>Welfare Leadership (GROWL), a project of the Center for Third
World <BR>Organizing (CTWO).<BR><BR>The site is run by Progressiveportal.org
<BR><BR>Background: The civil rights crisis within the welfare
system.<BR><BR>The 1996 welfare laws, that Congress is ready to
reauthorize in the <BR>next few months, gave individual states, counties and
even caseworkers <BR>tremendous discretion over the types of opportunities and
restrictions <BR>afforded to parents on welfare. As a result, racial
discrimination and <BR>civil rights violations exist at the federal, state and
local level.<BR><BR><BR>FEDERAL DISCRIMINATION<BR><BR>In 1996, Congress barred
lawful immigrant families 90 percent of whom <BR>are Black, Asian, or
Latino - from receiving public assistance for at <BR>least five years
after their date of entry.<BR><BR>The 1996 law also imposes a lifetime ban on
welfare benefits for parents <BR>who have been convicted of felony drug
convictions - a majority of whom <BR>are Black and Latino.<BR><BR>The law
did not allow English as a Second Language classes to meet the <BR>work activity
requirement or provide funding to states to ensure <BR>non-English speakers had
equal access to benefit programs.<BR><BR>STATE DISCRIMINATION<BR><BR>Dr.
Stanford Schram of Bryn Mawr College reports that states with higher
<BR>percentages of African Americans on welfare are more likely to adopt
<BR>full-family sanctions (eliminating benefits for the entire family
<BR>because of a violation of welfare program rules), time limits, and
<BR>family cap policies (restricting benefits to any children born to
<BR>parents already receiving welfare).<BR><BR>LOCAL DISCRIMINATION<BR><BR>A
Virginia Tech study by Dr. Susan Gooden documented that caseworkers <BR>were far
less likely to inform black women on welfare about transitional <BR>services
such as childcare and transportation assistance than white <BR>women.<BR><BR>A
national study of 1,5000 welfare recipients by the Applied Research <BR>Center
documented a pattern and practice of discriminatory and insulting <BR>treatment
on the basis of race, gender, language, and national origin.<BR><BR>OPPORTUNITY
FOR ACTION<BR><BR>The US Senate has a historic opportunity to ensure that
welfare policy <BR>for the 21st Century includes fair treatment standards and
civil-rights <BR>protections for low-income families. <BR><BR>These civil rights
and anti-discrimination protections include:<BR><BR>1. A restoration of benefits
for immigrant families<BR>2. Expanding civil rights protections for parents on
welfare<BR>3. Reducing language discrimination against parents on welfare<BR>4.
Providing financial incentives for states that ensure fair treatment <BR>and
equitable outcomes for all families receiving welfare benefits.<BR>5. Ending the
lifetime welfare ban for parents convicted of felony drug <BR>offenses<BR>6.
Collecting and publishing data about welfare outcomes that are <BR>reported by
race<BR><BR><BR>-- <BR>Grassroots Organizing for Welfare Leadership
(GROWL)<BR>www.ctwo.org/growl<BR><BR>c/o Center for Third World Organizing
(CTWO)<BR>1218 East 21st Street Oakland, CA 94606<BR>510 533-7583 x12
dwhosang@ctwo.org<BR><BR><BR><BR></DIV></BODY></HTML>