From our colleagues at the National Task Force to End Sexual and Domestic Violence Against Women:

The Violence Against Women Act is due for reauthorization. Senators Patrick Leahy (D-VT) and Mike Crapo (R-ID) will introduce a bipartisan bill on Wednesday (11/30) to reauthorize and improve VAWA. The National Task Force has worked closely with them on the bill to ensure that it will not only continue proven effective programs, but that it will make key changes to streamline VAWA and make sure that even more people have access to safety, stability and justice. 

The Violence Against Women Act (VAWA), enacted in 1994, recognizes the insidious and pervasive nature of domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault, and stalking and supports comprehensive, effective and cost saving responses to these crimes. VAWA programs, administered by the Departments of Justice and Health and Human Services, give law enforcement, prosecutors and judges the tools they need to hold offenders accountable and keep communities safe while supporting victims.

Since the passage of VAWA, reporting of domestic violence has increased as much as 51% and the number of individuals killed by an intimate partner has decreased by 34% for women and 57% for men. A 2010 study demonstrated that an increase in the number of legal services available is associated with a decrease in intimate partner homicide. States have followed the lead of VAWA, each one passing laws making stalking a crime and strengthening rape laws. A Department of Justice report assessed that VAWA saved $12.6 billion in its first 6 years alone.
 
While VAWA programs have greatly enhanced systemic changes to meet the needs of victims and have saved countless lives, more work still needs to be done. VAWA's reauthorization will build upon its successes and continue progress towards breaking the cycle and culture of violence by supporting coordinated, community-based responses and direct services for victims, enhancing criminal justice responses to the crime of sexual assault, providing services and prevention programs for young people including those on college campuses, and improving the response to violence against Indian women and other underserved communities, among other initiatives.

If you live in any of the states listed below, please call your Senator(s) and ask for them to be original co-sponsors of VAWA. 

Read more about VAWA here. Please send any updates or questions to: ReauthorizeVAWA@gmail.com

Talking points:
* We know that Senator _________ cares about ending domestic violence, dating violence, sexual assault and stalking.
* The Violence Against Women Act is critical to our ability to address these crimes in our state.
* There is evidence showing that VAWA has saved millions of dollars and countless lives.
* We are asking for you to be an original co-sponsor of the Leahy/Crapo bill that will be introduced on Wednesday.
* Please contact Anya McMurray or Noah Bookbinder at (202)224-7703 to sign on to the bill.

Alabama
Sessions, Jeff - (202) 224-4124
Shelby, Richard - (202) 224-5744       
 
Arkansas
Boozman, John - (202) 224-4843
 
Alaska
Murkowski, Lisa - (202) 224-6665       
 
Arizona
McCain, John - (202) 224-2235  
Kyl, Jon - (202) 224-4521
 
Florida
Rubio, Marco - (202) 224-3041  
 
Georgia
Chambliss, Saxby - (202) 224-3521
Isakson, Johnny - (202) 224-3643
 
Idaho
Crapo, Mike - (202) 224-6142 - (thank him!)
Risch, James - (202) 224-2752  
 
Illinois
Kirk, Mark - (202) 224-2854
 
Indiana
Lugar, Richard - (202) 224-4814
Coats, Daniel - (202) 224-5623
 
Iowa
Grassley, Chuck - (202) 224-3744
 
Louisiana
Vitter, David - (202) 224-4623 
 
Kansas
Moran, Jerry - (202) 224-6521
Roberts, Pat - (202) 224-4774  
 
Kentucky
McConnell, Mitch - (202) 224-2541
Paul, Rand - (202) 224-4343    
 
Maine
Collins, Susan - (202) 224-2523
Snowe, Olympia - (202) 224-5344
 
Massachusetts
Brown, Scott - (202) 224-4543
 
Mississippi
Cochran, Thad - (202) 224-5054
Wicker, Roger - (202) 224-6253 
 
Missouri
Blunt, Roy - (202) 224-5721
 
Nebraska
Johanns, Mike - (202) 224-4224
 
Nevada
Heller, Dean - (202) 224-6244
 
New Hampshire
Ayotte, Kelly - (202) 224-3324
 
North Carolina
Burr, Richard - (202) 224-3154
 
North Dakota
Hoeven, John - (202) 224-2551
 
Ohio
Portman, Rob - (202) 224-3353
 
Oklahoma
Coburn, Tom - (202) 224-5754
Inhofe, James - (202) 224-4721
 
Pennsylvania
Toomey, Patrick - (202) 224-4254       
 
South Carolina
DeMint, Jim - (202) 224-6121
Graham, Lindsey - (202) 224-5972
 
South Dakota
Thune, John - (202) 224-2321   
 
Tennessee
Alexander, Lamar - (202) 224-4944
Corker, Bob - (202) 224-3344
 
Texas
Cornyn, John - (202) 224-2934
Hutchison, Kay Bailey - (202) 224-5922
 
Utah
Hatch, Orrin - (202) 224-5251
Lee, Mike - (202) 224-5444     
 
Wisconsin
Johnson, Ron - (202) 224-5323
 
Wyoming
Enzi, Michael - (202) 224-3424
Barrasso, John - (202) 224-6441

 

As unemployment and joblessness soar, low-wage workers across the country are embracing and successfully developing co-operative business structures. Here are some stories of workers who are taking control and reducing their risk of exploitation, while lifting wages and gaining managerial experience.



In Richmond, California, Mayor Mayor Gayle McLaughlin, inspired by co-operatives in Mondragon, Spain is encouraging new worker-owned ventures. Richmond's co-operative businesses include the up and coming Liberty Ship Cafe that will cater to city employees, and Richmond Solar, which will be a solar energy cooperative. In Cleveland, Ohio Evergreen Cooperatives boasts a solar energy and weatherization business, a cooperative laundry, and in the next few months, an urban farming co-op.

In New York, the South Bronx's Greenworker Cooperatives counters environmental racism and joblessness by recruiting local residents for a skills training academy for green jobs. Brooklyn is home to the Park Slope Food Co-op, one of New York's best known worker-owned businesses and the country's largest co-operative of its kind. More recently, Sunset Park's Center for Family Life, a Brooklyn community development organization has incubated a number of low-wage worker-led initiatives including Sí Se Puede, a co-operative cleaning business. The women worker-owners of Sí Se Puede's have raised their hourly wages, now earning as much as $25 per hour or as much as three times what they would be making otherwise, while gaining more independence in their schedules and working hours.

As the Women of Color Policy Network discussed in our First to Fall, Last to Climb Policy Brief, African-Americans and Latinos are more likely to currently be represented in low-wage and service jobs. The face of worker-owned co-operatives in America is shifting to reflect more women, communities of color and multilingual populations. These innovative business structures provide an innovative path to wealth accumulation. They also often recognize the need for childcare and health benefits of their workers-- essential components of occupational support for families and many women workers. Greater emergence of co-operatives also creates a need for banking arrangements that can accommodate and support businesses with many owners. Many co-operatives turn to credit unions for their banking needs. As American cities strive to overcome the residual impacts of the recession, worker-owned co-operatives present an attractive alternative to conventional top-down models of job growth and business development. 

Yesterday the committee charged with constructing a $1.2 trillion deficit reduction plan announced they could not reach an agreement, leaving the door open for automatic cuts to defense and discretionary spending scheduled to go into effect in 2013. The sticking points included the Bush-era tax cuts set to expire next year and proposed reductions in entitlement spending, such as Medicare and Medicaid. Republicans held firm on their refusal to accept tax increases, while viewing Democrats' proposed cuts to entitlement programs as inadequate. In the end, this is not an unexpected result--the New York Times cast this latest deadlock as "seal[ing] the image of Congress, and all of Washington, as a place where nothing can be accomplished, even when the consequences of failure are clearly visible to the American people and abhorrent to both political parties."

As noted in the Network's blog last week, cuts to safety net programs will further compromise the economic security and livelihoods of low-income women of color and their families, already made vulnerable due to tightened TANF eligibility requirements and record unemployment. Combined with stark increases in poverty, the economic impact of spending cuts to education, safety net programs, and health care will inevitably hit low-income Americans especially hard.

The debate over the deficit will now play a crucial factor in the 2012 presidential election, with the bipartisan divide bound to deepen given past rhetoric and the political stakes in question. Compromise in such circumstances will be difficult, yet it is compromise that may prevent cuts to important safety net programs that protect women of color and their communities. Over the next year it will be up to Congress to break the stalemate and prioritize the economic security of all Americans through balanced budget proposals, tax increases for the wealthy, and job creation. The November 23 deadline has passed, and now a new one arises: Democrat and Republican legislators have the opportunity to address the economic and social hardships faced by Americans through a reasoned approach that sets aside political expediency, before the automatic cuts in 2013, and before the next administration ascends on a partisan platform that could lead to further inaction in Congress.

Shows More than 1/4 of Poor Work Full-Time; Hispanics Have Highest Poverty Rate

Yesterday's New York Times, reported that 98 million Americans are now in the low income category, and that 16.1% are living below the poverty line, when counted using the new Supplemental Poverty Measure. At the same time, more than a quarter of the working-age poor, 28% are working full-time, year-round.

The Census Bureau's new Supplemental Poverty Measure numbers were released last week, revealing stark increases in the numbers of Americans living in poverty. There were also rises in numbers of low-income individuals, in part because those who were in poverty before, were lifted into the low-income group, in part due to government programs and benefits. But many of the Americans who today find themselves in the low-income category are also part of families and individuals who have now fallen out of the middle class.

In October, the Women of Color Policy Network released a policy brief about the 2010 Census poverty numbers and the disproportionate impact of poverty on people of color. Now, using the Supplemental Poverty Measure, the Pew Research Center has found that Hispanics are worst off, in terms of the poverty rate.  However, using the Supplemental Poverty Measure (as compared to the official measure) also showed an increase in rates of poverty in Asian and white communities. 

The supplemental poverty measure demonstrates a more holistic way of thinking about the indicators of poverty in America. It supplements the official measure, but does not replace it, since the official measure will continue to be used to allocate government benefits and program funding. However, the Census Bureau says that they are looking for a way to incorporate a supplemental poverty measure question into their American Community Survey, which would pave the way to greater analysis of inequality and its causes. 

To view the the Special Tabulations of the Research Findings of the Supplemental Poverty Measure (provided to the New York Times by the Census Bureau), click here.

The Human Rights Project (HRP) at the Urban Justice Center is now accepting applications for the 2012 Human Rights Institute! The 2012 Institute will take place March 28-30th in New York City. Hosted by the Human Rights Project at the Urban Justice Center in partnership with the US Human Rights Network, the Human Rights Institute (HRI) is an annual three-day long fellowship program that equips participants with information on the human rights framework and provides specific tools for applying the framework to strengthen their local advocacy efforts around economic and social justice, such as the human right to housing, health, education, and decent work.

An application form is available at http://www.hrpujc.org. The priority deadline for applications with scholarship requests is January 9, 2012. The deadline for general applications (without a scholarship request) is January 16, 2012. Registration Fee: $100.00 (not covered by scholarship). Groups comprised of or working primarily with women of color will be given priority.

Next Wednesday, November 23rd, marks the deadline for the congressional super committee charged with identifying spending cuts totaling $1.5 trillion over a decade. Formed this past summer as part of a bipartisan deal to raise the debt ceiling and avert national default, the committee must now present a plan that could affect entitlement and safety net programs, including SNAP, TANF, Medicare, and CCDBG. As noted in a Network blog in August, failure to reach or pass an agreement will trigger automatic across-the-board cuts from military and discretionary programs, with some exemptions for low-income programs. Cuts to safety net programs will further compromise the economic security and livelihoods of low-income women of color and their families, already made vulnerable due to tightened TANF eligibility requirements and record unemployment.
 
Visit the Results web site here to express your support for a balanced approach to deficit reduction that includes investments in job creation and protects low-income Americans from potentially devastating cuts to safety net programs. The clock is ticking; your support can help ensure that the super committee delivers a plan ahead of next week's holiday that will give all Americans a reason to be thankful.

A special thanks to Results for the action alert.

In anticipation of many families preparing to share Thanksgiving meals next week, today's blog post looks at the various ways in which parents, children and extended relatives gather to raise their voices-- both in gratitude and in support of a more just, equitable society.

DREAMers Stand With Parents
In Alabama, this past Tuesday, parents joined DREAMers in protesting the most punitive anti-immigrant state law in the country, HB 56. Young people marching expressed gratitude for their parents' willingness to protect them and making decisions to give their children a better future. While parents have not traditionally been a part of the DREAM Act demonstrations, participants spoke about the importance of standing together to prevent similar laws from passing elsewhere.

Foster Children Separated from Parents
As undocumented students all over the country are still struggling for progressive laws, children of undocumented parents are facing forced separations. A recent study by the Applied Research Center found that at least 5100 children who are currently in foster care have parents who have been detained and deported. The children of deported parents then face many obstacles and barriers to being reunited with their families, often being kept thousands of miles apart.

Stroller Moms and Toddlers Bring Message of "Sharing" to Wells Fargo

On November 4, the Oakland Tribune reported that about 60 Bay Area parents and toddlers staged a teach-in to educate banks about sharing. The group, Colorful Mamas of the 99 Percent entered a Wells Fargo branch, some closing their accounts and speaking about the need for more funding for education and other family needs.

Table Talk And The 99 Percent
With heightened media coverage of the Occupy movements across the country, some parents are wondering how to discuss the images, movement, and questions with their children. This Oakland blogger, offers some examples of stories to illustrate the idea of the "99 Percent". And, in time for Thanksgiving, cookbook author, Laurie David provides this guide with discussion questions for the dinner table.

To healthy discussion, eating, gratitude and warmth during next week's holiday break!

Wednesday, November 16, 4:00 p.m. EST. Register here to join by phone or by computer*

Congress' Joint Select Committee on Deficit Reduction is charged with making recommendations by November 23. It is possible to design a plan that protects low- and moderate-income people and helps to create jobs, while seeking fair revenues and savings from waste in the military and elsewhere. Powerful interests don't want increased revenues from individuals and corporations at the top. But if they do not pay their share, the burden will be borne by those already struggling.

Senator Al Franken (D-MN), will join the call to discuss why these decisions are so important and why advocates should speak out.

CHN's Executive Director Deborah Weinstein will describe current Republican and Democratic deficit reduction plans and will share information about weighing in with Congress.

This update call/webinar is off the record; it is not intended for the press.

* When you register, you will receive instructions for connecting by phone and/or computer. There will be some slides accompanying this update online, and if you want to ask questions and download materials, you will need to do it by computer. But you will be able to follow everything on this 20-minute call by phone, if that's more convenient for you.

Thank you to the Coalition on Human Needs for providing the content for this post. Please check the Inclusion blog tomorrow for an update on the call.

On Sunday, CNN aired the latest installment of their Black in America series, focusing on African-American entrepreneurs looking for their big break in Silicon Valley. According to the documentary, only 1 percent of entrepreneurs who received venture capital in the first half of 2010 were Black. The documentary has sparked debate about a number of issues:

- Are there structural issues contributing to the lack of funding and visibility of African-American tech entrepreneurs?
- Why do some non-white entrepreneurs feel the need to secure white spokespeople so that potential investors have a more favorable view of their business ideas and pitches? 
- What will it take to create greater diversity in the tech sector along various lines, including race, gender and economic background?

Much has been made of comments by TechCrunch founder and investor, Michael Arrington in the documentary. However, that conversation is merely a starting point into the bigger picture reality of technology and access to non-traditional communities.

In a follow-up webcast panel after the airing of Black in America, participants noted that there aren't centralized resource listings of supports for minority tech entrepreneurs. Aspiring entrepreneurs need to know how to plug into the right networks, regardless of their background.

But before they even get connected to the supportive networks and investor boardrooms, future entrepreneurs need to be able to connect to the right tools and technologies to develop their ideas. Put simply, a child growing up in a home or a community without broadband Internet is less able to hone her technological prowess. In 1971, a 16-year old Steve Jobs had access to a workbench and technological tools that enabled him to create the blue boxes that eventually led to him founding Apple. For young people playing around with technology in 2011, it is likely that broadband access in the home is a significant contributing factor to incubating innovative ideas. Research by the Center for Social Inclusion shows that communities of color (and older, less educated and low-income populations) are digitally red-lined:

- High-concentration low-income neighborhoods are often less likely or slower to receive technological upgrades needed for cable and broadband Internet connections.

- Lower-income families are less likely to be able to afford the high cost of high speed Internet.

While the gap between African-American and white home broadband adoption has been reduced in recent years, African-Americans continue to trail whites in broadband usage.  Whether this stems from a lack of infrastructure or affordability, the result is greater obstacles to not only fostering tech innovation in new creative communities, but also expanding tech-oriented jobs and ultimately growing new ideas that will lead us into the America's digital future. 

Let us know if you know of any great resources for tech entrepreneurs. Below are some places to start:

• NY Meetup Black Techies Group - For coders and developers
• NY Meetup Blacks In Technology Group - For anyone interested in technology, strategy, public relations, social networking, digital entertainment and more
• Girl Develop It - Classes and connections for women who want to learn to code
• Pipeline Fellowship - Training for women philanthropists on angel investing
• "Women of Color in Tech: How Can We Encourage Them?" Blog post by Vivek Wadhwa profiling women of color startups and resources
  

This week, C. Nicole Mason, Executive Director of the Women of Color Policy Network, will travel to Washington, D.C. to the White House to attend a briefing with U.S. Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis to discuss women and the economy. In the discussion, she hopes to highlight the economic conditions and realities of low-income women and single women mothers and propose strategies to help set women and families on a path toward long-term economic security.
 
Ahead of the briefing, she will be joining Women's Bureau Chief, Sara Manzano Diaz, Restaurant Opportunities Centers United, along with the heads of 25 national women's organizations in D.C. to discuss gender equity and discrimination in the restaurant industry.
 
The Friday before last, C. Nicole Mason was also a guest on CNN American Morning and discussed the persistent wage gap, its impact on low-income women and possible strategies to help build the long-term economic security women. To view the clip, click here.
 
Needless to say, the Network has been hard at work amplifying the voices and experiences of women of color, low-income women and single mothers in the media and throughout the halls of power.

Voters know where their governors, senators, and legislators stand on critical issues, but they may not realize how the agendas of certain individuals affect and even create those positions. The Koch brothers are two billionaire businessman who stand out for wielding enormous influence in advancing legislation that seeks to diminish the rights of certain U.S. citizens by enacting stringent voter identification requirements. The BraveNew Foundation has created a video that investigates the issue, indicating that over 21 million people may potentially be denied the right to vote because they lack a current government photo ID. The piece also exposes the Koch Brothers campaign contributions to governor's advocating for such laws, including Governor Scott Walker (R-WI), Governor Sam Brownback (R-KS), and Governor Rick Perry (R-TX), and claims that the Koch brothers pay over $245,550 to politicians who support voter ID laws.

Over the past year, 34 states have introduced laws that require and delineate stringent guidelines for identification documentation that citizens must possess to cast their vote. Passage of such laws will undoubtedly influence the number and types of people who are able to vote in the upcoming 2012 presidential election, disproportionately limiting the rights of minorities, students, and the elderly. Voter ID laws have passed in Texas, South Carolina, and most recently, Mississippi. The U.S. Justice Department will decide in December whether the new laws in Texas and South Carolina violate a section of the 1965 Voting Rights Act.

NAACP President and CEO Ben Jealous forecasted the import of the recent spate of voter identification laws, noting that "the reason that you target somebody's voting rights is that it makes it easier to take away the rest of their rates." To sign a petition to urge U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder to enforce the Voting Rights Act, click here. A Stand For Freedom rally to protect voting rights will be held in New York City on Saturday, December 10, starting from the Koch brothers' office. For more information, visit www.stand4freedom.org. To learn more about the Koch brothers, click here for a New York Times blog on the topic.

This week, in communities from Ohio to Arizona to Mississippi, voters rejected a policy agenda designed to diminish the rights of immigrants, women, and public sector workers. These defeats highlight that the anti-union, anti-choice, anti-racial equity platforms advanced across the country following 2010 Republican electoral gains are out of touch with voter sentiment (see the Network's mid-year State Legislative Roundup for a review of the unprecedented number of state-level attacks on workers' economic security, immigrants' rights, and women's reproductive health in the first half of 2011). The tide is now turning against these policies, with voters across the nation rejecting regressive policy initiatives that negatively impact women of color, their families, and communities.

Take a look at this week's major victories at the ballot box:

Ohio Anti-Union Bill Repealed: Ohio State Senate Bill 5 was passed by Republican lawmakers in the state earlier this year. The nullified anti-union  measure included prohibiting public employees from going on strike and eliminating binding arbitration. On Tuesday, voters chose to repeal the bill and restore the collective bargaining rights of public sector workers by a 63 to 37 percent margin. The collective negotiation of fair benefits, a living wage, and workplace protections are essential components of a quality job that workers, particularly low-income workers, have been historically denied. Women and workers of color disproportionately lack access to such benefits and have particularly high stakes in the ongoing debates over workers' collective bargaining rights.

Mississippi Personhood Amendment Defeated: Voters in Mississippi rejected Initiative 26, an amendment that would have defined a fertilized egg as a "person." By a 58 to 42 percent major, voters blocked the personhood amendment on Tuesday, thereby protecting women's access to reproductive health services within the state of Mississippi. The measure included language that would have made birth control methods, such as the morning after-pill or intrauterine devices, illegal. These measures would have increased the likelihood of unintended pregnancies throughout Mississippi by criminalizing specific methods of birth control and abortion procedures. The creation of additional barriers to reproductive health services would have been particularly devastating for women of color, who already "fare worse than white women in every aspect of reproductive health."

Architect of Arizona Anti-Immigrant Bill Defeated in Recall: Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce, sponsor of the draconian anti-immigrant bill SB 1070, was defeated on Tuesday in a recall election. Pearce had gained national notoriety for his vocal anti-immigrant stance and support of legislation that targeted immigrant communities with harsh enforcement measures. Fellow Republican, Jerry Lewis, defeated Pearce with the backing of immigrant rights groups that crossed party lines to help oust the sitting State Senator. As noted in the Network's policy brief on the issue, SB 1070 and similar anti-immigrant measures have a detrimental impact on immigrant women and communities of color by promoting racial profiling, separating families, and eroding worker protections.

These are only a few of the victories that demonstrate that voters are pushing back against an extreme agenda that compromises the economic security, health, and well-being of women of color, their families, and their communities. Others include the restoration of same-day voter registration in Maine, the protection of a non-discrimination ordinance in Michigan, and the election of multiple openly gay and lesbian candidates.
 
While these victories are a critical bell weather of the nation's mood as we approach the 2012 elections, the progressive community must remained focused towards our goal of enhanced social equity. Reengagement of youth, women, first-time voters, people of color and Independents will be critical to adding to the victories of Tuesday night.

he Network remains engaged in promoting policy solutions that work for our communities and, next month, will convene a national summit to build a progressive, unified agenda for change with an eye toward the 2012 election cycle. The summit, Engage2012, will take place December 8-9, 2011 at New York University. All are welcome to attend the opening event, which is free and open to the public, on December 8 from 6:00-8:00 pm. For more information and to register, please visit our website: http://wagner.nyu.edu/wocpn/

Even though women are more likely than men to graduate from high school, they continue to receive lower wages and are more likely than men to have "dead-end" jobs. Women of Color Policy Network Executive Director Nicole Mason, spoke to Christine Romans on CNN's America Morning on November 4 to discuss the findings of a new report from the General Accountability Office (GAO). 

 

http://am.blogs.cnn.com/2011/11/04/report-says-women-have-more-education-but-why-are-they-still-being-paid-less-than-men/

A recent report released by the Applied Research Center (ARC) investigates the effects of immigrant enforcement on the children of detained and deported individuals, pinpointing threats to reunification for these families and the very real possibility for permanent separation. "Shattered Families: The Perilous Intersection of Immigration Enforcement and the Child Welfare System," finds that more than 5,000 such children currently reside in foster care and projects that at least 15,000 more children will fall into this devastating loophole in the next five years.

As the national debate regarding immigration remains heated and with the recent spate of state-level legislation that seeks to curb the rights of undocumented immigrants, the consequences of these policies in practice demand closer examination of policies that, according to the ARC report, violate the "assumption that families will, and should, be united, whether or not parents are deported." A recent network blog and brief outlined the detrimental effects of deportation on women and children, noting the resultant separation of individuals from their families and describing how the practice discourages victims of violence from reporting abuse.  As corroborated by the ARC report, children separated from their mothers or primary caregiver are either forced into the care of the state or deported along with their mothers or primary caregivers, even if the children are U.S. citizens.

"Shattered Families," the first report to provide evidence on the national scope and scale of this problem, also describes how children of noncitizens are more likely to be separated from their parents in areas where local police aggressively participate in immigration enforcement. Along with identifying key barriers to family unity, including systematic bias and the use of local police and jails to enforce federal immigration laws and detain noncitizens, the report also offers recommendations that support the formation of explicit policies at both the federal and state levels to protect families from separation.

To learn more about this issue, join the ARC's public informational webinar on Wednesday, 11/10, at 3pmET/12noonPT.