In the News

Months after 750 COPS / Metro leaders challenged candidates for San Antonio City Council and the Bexar County Commissioners’ Court to support their living wage agenda in a nonpartisan accountability assembly — and then delivered 8,555 voters to the polls in support of their agenda — both Bexar County and the City of San Antonio increased entry wages to $14.25 per hour.

This is one of several steps leaders have initiated to raise public sector wages to $15 / hour by 2019....

The figures are pretty dismal. 75 percent of those who are released from prison, will be back behind bars within five years. And only half of those who remain free have jobs. That’s why what’s happening in the basement of Zion Baptist Church every Tuesday is so remarkable....

Almost ten years ago, Project QUEST agreed to participate in a randomized control trial in which half of a pool of 400+ qualified and equally motivated applicants were picked by a computer to participate in Project QUEST.  The other half were turned away and they pursued other options.

After three years, Project QUEST graduates were already earning more than those who were turned away.  By Year 6, that difference in earnings had not only persisted, it increased to over $5,000 per year.

BUILD has been at the forefront of the jobs movement in Baltimore and has leveraged its 4 decades of organizing experience to cultivate partnerships to promote jobs for returning citizens.   Aso f early December the movement has employed 240 individuals.

With Louisiana as the state with the third highest number of poor people, many of them working full-time, Northern & Central Louisiana Interfaith leaders are devising new ways to tackle poverty.  Says Pastor Clayton Moore, “If you work, how is it that you’re poor?”

NCLI leaders have launched Another Chance to Succeed (ACTS), modeling itself on Project QUEST in San Antonio and...

Thanks to the intervention of COPS / Metro Alliance leaders that stood with San Antonio Independent School District (SAISD)’s  lowest paid workers and the San Antonio Alliance of Teachers and Support Personnel, the SAISD Board unanimously approved a wage increase of 20% for the district’s lowest paid , from $10/hour to $12/hour....

Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development, or BUILD, asked the leading mayoral candidates to commit to creating more jobs and expanding after-school programs for children before about 700 people at Coppin State University. At BUILD's urging, the candidates agreed to create the jobs over four years and to spend an additional $8 million annually on afterschool programs by their final year in office.

"We look forward to holding them accountable," said Rob English, the lead organizer of BUILD.

Community Leaders Pushing Voter Registration, WYPR

Baltimore Mayoral Candidates Pledge to Create Jobs, Assist City Youth, WBALTV

BUILD fights for 1,000 healthcare jobs for unemployed, underemployed and people transitioning from prison.  Video link below: 

In Texas, one of the most conservative right-to-work states in the country, a church-based organization has begun to make headway in enacting a "living wage" for San Antonio city employees.

In addition to having no state-mandated minimum wage for the private sector, the Legislature has made it illegal for any Texas city or local jurisdiction to pass its own minimum wage.

But after a year of intense organizing and lobbying, the Communities Organized for Public Service and the Metro Alliance (known as COPS/Metro) in September celebrated San Antonio's City Council vote that mandated a $13-an-hour minimum wage for all city employees.

At a press conference held the day after the passage of the new City budget, Austin Interfaithleaders celebrated a historic living wage win and other ‘budget priorities’ that were included.  Austin Interfaith leaders thanked the Mayor and specific council members for acting as “budget champions.”

As a result, the City of Austin will now pay their workers an increased living wage of $13.03 per hour (up from $11.39) and for the first time will include temporary AND contracted workers in that wage standard.  Workers employed for at least 12 months will additionally qualify for healthcare benefits.  Employees of private corporations receiving public subsidies will also benefit from the wage increase...

According to business columnist Michael Taylor of San Antonio Express-News:

"public employers have a greater obligation to address the moral issue of 'a living wage' than do private employers. Unlike private companies, public entities (such as governments) explicitly purport to represent the “public good” in everything they do. The public good should reasonably include paying workers so they can live above the federal poverty level. Nobody really asked my opinion, but these wage hikes seem not only reasonable, but providing a “living wage” for public-sector employees seems like an essential step."

"In Austin, a minimum wage hike to $13.03 an hour for full-time employees will be up for consideration in September as part of the city’s proposed budget. San Antonio leaders will consider a minimum wage of $13 an hour next month. Bexar County is also poised to increase its minimum wage to $13 an hour, while El Paso County could vote next month to boost pay for its lowest-paid employees to $10 an hour. Minimum wages in those localities currently range from $9.45 to $11.66 an hour.

Local organizers affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation are hopeful all four proposals will be approved, saying they’ve received assurances from city and county officials. But for these advocates, the wins could mean sending a message to state lawmakers."