Brothers Sons Selves Brief Legislators

By Karen Driscoll

On November 15, elected officials, community organizations, parents, and youth convened for the State Assembly Select Committee on the Status of Boys and Men of Color’s Briefing on school accountability measures. The panelists not only included Assemblymember Steven Bradford, chair of the Select Committee but also youth speakers from the Brothers, Sons, Selves Coalition managed by Liberty Hill, Superintendent Steinhauser, and Keric Ashley from California’s Department of Education.

The purpose of the briefing was to generate policy ideas for the Assembly to consider. From this briefing, community members urged Assembly members to support legislation that extends summer programs that combat the summer slump and keep students learning. Youth speaker, Walter Brown opened with remarks about his experience as a young man of color. Brown shared how he left home to serve his country at war only to return to war in his own neighborhood. Brown highlighted that children in Long Beach suffer from more Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder than those children in war-torn countries. Brown urged the elected and community to continue to make the revolutionary changes needed to improve how systems treat our boys and men of color (BMoC).

Throughout the afternoon, youth speaker after youth speaker shared similar stories of the circumstances they faced as boys and men of color as a result of living in unhealthy environments and making bad choices. This includes pressure to join gangs, succumbing to an abundance of liquor stores, and being pushed out of school due to harsh discipline policies. Yet each of these stories ended with youth expressing how they were able to change the course of their life and thrive with the help and support of mentors and community organizations.

With each of these stories, it is clear that boys and men of color can succeed when they are given the opportunity. Keric Ashley, Analysis Director of California’s Department of Education, highlighted how the Local Control Funding Formula (LCFF) has added subgroup data to school accountability measures that will help to track performance gaps and better track graduation rates, dropout rates, and suspension and expulsion rates by race. This data has and will continue to shine a light on ways to improve the outcomes for BMoC and other disenfranchised groups.

Superintendent of the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD), Chris Steinhauser, shared that LCFF will provide Long Beach schools with $13 million more which will help the district to continue to fund interventions like the Male Academy, targeted to help young men achieve more in school. Furthermore, the resolution on school discipline passed by LBUSD in October urges schools to develop alternatives to suspensions and keep students on the path towards academic success.

Ultimately, the briefing underscored the fact that boys and men of color face unique circumstances and we must continue to find ways to improve the outcomes of these young men because every student deserves an opportunity to thrive.

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We’re grateful! A Thanksgivukkah list of “justice won” in 2013.

What are we thankful for this Thanksgivukkah? Let us count the many things we fought hard for and won in 2013.

Better wages! AB241, a cornerstone of efforts to strengthen labor protections, was signed into law guaranteeing overtime pay for domestic workers! Tipped restaurant workers won an increase in the minimum wage.

Keep kids in school! The L.A. and Long Beach School boards passed resolutions to ban suspensions for non-serious offenses and to implement alternative discipline practices to help keep kids in school.

Licenses for all drivers! Many Liberty Hill funded leaders fought long and hard for the right to have a driver’s license for undocumented immigrants and the new “Trust Act” which prohibits a law enforcement official from detaining an individual on the basis of a US Immigration and Customs Enforcement hold after that person becomes eligible for release from custody.

Juvenile justice! Two big wins! SB 260 will allow young people who were tried as adults and sentenced to more than 10 years to petition to have their sentence reviewed for re-sentencing. SB458 closes a loophole that allowed children as young as 10 years old to be added to the CalGang database with no legal requirement that their parents or guardians be notified of their inclusion. Parents may also appeal the inclusion of their child in the database.

Mutual respect! The L.A.Times, after meeting with transgender advocates, agreed to revise its terminology guide to ensure better coverage of the transgender community.

Housing for low income families! Housing advocates completed financing for affordable housing in Koreatown, while on the Westside, a preservation agreement was reached for the Holiday Venice apartments that will allow current families the first right of ownership.

More green space! $5 million was secured to build a 4 acre park in one of L.A.’s most park-poor areas.

Transgender equality! AB1266 requires public schools to allow access to facilities and activities that match students’ gender activity.

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Liberty Hill’s Fund for Change Now Accepting Letters of Inquiry

We are pleased to announce that the Liberty Hill Foundation’s 2014 Fund for Change is now accepting Letters of Inquiry for the 2014 grant cycle. The Fund for Change is Liberty Hill’s primary competitive grantmaking program. Our goal is to make systemic change by funding community organizing to advance economic justice, environmental justice, and lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and queer (LGBTQ) justice in Los Angeles County.

A Letter of Inquiry (LOI) is required from organizations that are not a current Fund for Change grantee. LOIs are due Wednesday, January 15, 2014. Please follow this link for instructions.

Two informational Webinars are being offered to provide important information and updates regarding the 2014 Fund for Change guidelines and application process: Friday, December 6, 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. and Wednesday, December 11, 12 p.m. – 1 p.m. Please follow this link to RSVP.

Please help us get the word out by distributing this announcement widely to individuals and organizations so that interested parties may apply. Here is a simple text that you can drop into your Facebook to spread the word!

“Liberty Hill Foundation is pleased to announce that their 2014 Fund for Change is now accepting Letters of Intent (LOI) for their 2014 grant cycle. If you are interested in applying please go to http://www.libertyhill.org/2014fundforchange, where you can find more information on how to apply. The Fund for Change goal is to make systemic change by funding community organizing to advance economic, environmental, and LGBTQ justice in Los Angeles County.”

Best wishes,

Margarita Ramirez
Deputy Director of Grantmaking

Saying Goodbye to Kafi D. Blumenfield

These are bittersweet days as Kafi D. Blumenfield prepares her departure as President and CEO. Shane Murphy Goldsmith, just back from maternity leave, will be stepping into the role December 1, 2013.

This week Kafi was roasted and toasted by staff. Next week, the board will do the same. Kafi’s accomplishments are many including an increased focus on diversity in grantmaking, hiring and board recruitment; an intensive re-assessment of our grantmaking in which we implemented new procedures that insure greater impact and focus; the launch of the Wally Marks Leadership Institute; and the forging of a partnership with The California Endowment to improve the life outcomes of low income young men of color.

Kafi will continue to serve on the California Commission on the Status of Women and Girls, the board of Planned Parenthood Advocacy Project in Los Angeles, the Association of Black Foundation Executives, and Southern California Grantmakers. She is also on the advisory board Los Angeles River Revitalization Corporation.

 

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Frontlines to Headlines October 2013

  

“Every Student Matters” rally in Long Beach. Photo by Warren Hill.

Much of the news media coverage of Liberty Hill’s grantees this past month focused on “new generation” community organizers: young people protesting like zombies, youngish L.A. leaders being highlighted nationally, and young students winning a discipline reform resolution in Long Beach Unified School District.

Nov. 1

In a story on labor unions and L.A. County, the L.A. Times reported that union members participated in protests by ReFund LA Coalition, which accuses Brookfield Office Properties of using Prop 13 loopholes to avoid paying $10 million in property taxes per year. A Brookfield representative responded that the company planned to pay property taxes at full current assessed value, contradicting an earlier position. ReFund Coalition, which includes Liberty Hill partner groups Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE), CLEAN Carwash Campaign, Community Coalition, InnerCity Struggle, People Organized for Westside Renewal (POWER), and other labor and education groups, claim a victory. More details in a Times Business section story in late September.

Oct. 29

Advocate.com profiled “Q & A Space,” a new website created by API Equality-L.A.  The website, which stands for “queer and Asian,” is meant to support LGBT people in Asian and Pacific Islander communities.

Oct. 28

L.A. Voice PICO made the front page of the L.A. Times in a story about its faith-based coalition of congregations organizing surveys and outreach efforts to overcome “low-tech” problems facing low income people seeking healthcare in California where “high-tech” problems with insurance sign-ups are not an issue.

An article in Honolulu Magazine as lawmakers debated same-sex marriage legislation in Hawaii describes testimony from members of Life Foundation, a grantee of Liberty Hill’s Queer Youth Fund.

Oct. 25

Youth Justice Coalition  used the popular, seasonal mode of a “Thriller” flash mob to bring attention to their youth-led protest against the Echo Park gang injunction, described with a video in the national Colorlines blog.

Also seasonal: the nightmare of trying to get national political leaders to take action. Fox News describes reactions to efforts to restart immigration reform action, including a strongly worded comment from Angelica Salas of Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles (CHIRLA). 

Oct. 24-25

Among the nine “young activists to watch” from across the U.S. spotlighted by Peter Dreier on Bill Moyers’ TV show and on BillMoyers.com are  Amy Schur of Alliance of Californians for Community Empowerment (ACCE) and Angelica Salas of CHIRLA, profiled on the website. Moyer’s full interview with Dreier discusses the new generation of activists.

Oct. 22

An article and two videos on USC’s Annenberg TV News feature Youth Justice Coalition actions including the group’s participation in the 18^th National Day of Protest to Stop Police Brutality, Repression, and the Criminalization of a Generation, and their attendance at a Compton City Council meeting demanding official steps to lower violence.

Oct. 16-18

Liberty Hill grantees had legislative victories on the State level this season, but setbacks as well. The vetoed AB 1263 would have increased the number of state medical translators.  Poulinna Po of Khmer Girls in Action (KGA) talks in this Huffington Post story about the difficulties of translating in medical situations for her diabetic father at 15 years old with an imperfect grasp of Khmer.

KGA supporters were also called upon for context as Voice of America News wrote about the new report issued by Asian Americans Advancing Justice L.A. about our growing Asian American community and the unemployment and poverty facing a growing number of its members.

Oct. 10-14

Cornerstone Theater Co. is presenting a play called “Love on San Pedro” set in Skid Row and featuring homeless individuals in its cast. As described in this story,  Los Angeles Community Action Network (L.A. CAN) is one of the groups whose members contributed to story circles and community readings that helped develop the play.  And in an L.A. Times piece about plans to create more pedestrian-friendly areas downtown, L.A. CAN’s  Becky Dennison voices concern about potential gentrification.

Oct. 10

An article inLatinos Post describes a court-ordered settlement requiring owners of Club 907, a now-closed downtown taxi-dance venue, to compensate immigrant workers with $1.1 million for work performed between 2006 and 2010.

The backstory is on Liberty Hill’s website in a profile of one of our 2011 Leaders to Watch, Xiomara Corpeño of CHILRA who described how “when she and other CHIRLA staffers spoke with hostess dancers arrested in… [Nov. 2010] LAPD raid on Club 907” it became clear that “the women were turned over to ICE officials for deportation, even though the working conditions could be compared to indentured servitude.” CHIRLA then began a multiyear successful effort to treat the women as victims, not perpetrators, of crime, as described in an L.A. Times editorial.

Oct. 9

CBS Los Angeles reported on a rally and quoted Kat Madrigal of East Yard Communities for Environmental Justice in support of SB811 which would require Caltrans to read an alternative proposal to the 710 Corridor Project.

Oct. 8

The “Every Student Matters” rally at the Long Beach Unified School District Board meeting was called to support a resolution before that board to reform discredited punitive discipline practices such as expulsion that increase dropout rates. Members of several of Liberty Hill’s Brothers, Sons, Selves coalition groups including Khmer Girls (and Guys) in Action and Californians for Justice participated in the rally, can be seen in the photos accompanying stories about the passage of the resolution in the Long Beach Press Telegram story, the Long Beach Post, and the Orange County Register. Notice of participation by Liberty Hill CEO Kafi D. Blumenfield is made in the preview announcement in the Press Telegram.

Oct. 5-7

Using as its lead the story of Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights Los Angeles (CHIRLA) member Jorge Garavito, who talked about his father’s deportation, the L.A. Times described and ran photo of the big immigration reform rally in Hollywood.   Meanwhile, ABC-CBN described the protest by talking with Lolit Andrada Lledo, Dondi Monzon, and Aqui Soriano Versoza of Pilipino Workers Center (PWC).

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Liberty Hill Grantee Spotlight on Khmer Girls in Action

By Blanch Ross

On October 8, 2013, the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD) passed a resolution to end the practice of using suspensions and expulsions as disciplinary actions.

This resolution, which promotes positive options to traditional discipline practices, was made possible through the work of grassroots community youth groups including Khmer Girls (and Guys) in Action (KGA).  KGA is a member of Liberty Hill’s  Brothers, Sons, Selves coalition and of the Every Student Matters campaign.

This Long Beach Post article describing the youth rally at the board meeting and the issues behind the resolution quotes KGA Executive Director Lian Cheun.

KGA’s work with these alliances of youth-led groups also led to the passage of the School Climate Bill of Rights in the Los Angeles Unified School District on May 14, 2013. The resolution will (1) halt the practice of suspending students under the much-abused catch-all reason “defiance” and (2) implement positive behavior supports that have been shown to dramatically improve academic performance. The passage of the two resolutions represents a major milestone in educational justice for young men of color.  KGA has devoted a great deal of time and commitment to developing leadership within the Southeast Asian youth by encouraging social change in and outside of their community.

Another current youth-led campaign by KGA is dedicated to bringing school-based wellness centers to LBUSD high schools where poverty and suspension rates are highest. Eighty percent of teen pregnancies in Long Beach occur in zip codes surrounding Long Beach Polytechnic (Poly), Cabrillo, and Jordan high schools. KGA’s goal is to link low income and refugee students and students of color to health resources including health education, preventative care and support services aiding in the improvement of student well being. Plans for an initial pilot wellness center at Poly High School are underway and if it’s successful, KGA plans to open pilot programs at Cabrillo and Jordan.

Khmer Girls & Guys in Action is one of the important and impactful community based organizations selected by Liberty Hill’s Community Funding Board after a rigorous application process for a Fund for Change grant in 2013. To recommend a grant  please contact Blanch Ross at bross@LibertyHill.org or Carol Lee at clee@LibertyHill.org.

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It Takes a Cadre

She’s a 2013 White House Champion for Change, but Catherine
Eusebio stretches her nonprofit salary by living with her parents. An undaunted
Dreamer, she’s building a career with the help of the immigrant rights
community and a community service stipend from the Bertha Wolf-Rosenthal
Foundation Fund.

Catherine Eusebio still can’t confidently make plans for her future beyond February 2015.

Catherine is  a graduate of UC Berkeley with a BA in Political Science, and she is an employee at  Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy (AAPIP), where, as Social Justice Fellow, she leads the Dream Summer internship program. Like any entry-level worker at a nonprofit, she is grateful for a little extra cash to supplement her earnings, but the Bertha Wolf-Rosenthal stipend is especially meaningful to Catherine because as an undocumented immigrant brought to the U.S. from the Philipinnes at age four, life doesn’t offer her much slack. Every step of her path to educate herself and thrive has meant learning about and fighting for opportunities that other young people can take for granted. She cherishes the chance to help other Dream students move forward in their lives, so the financial support that allows her to work as an organizer seems doubly valuable.

Catherine qualified in February of this year for “deferred action for childhood arrivals” (DACA) status from U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services. DACA shields her from deportation for two years, with the possibility of renewal. It doesn’t change her status, but it’s a step forward. And at this stage of her life, with her degree, a California ID and a job—not to mention White House honors—Catherine draws hope from the chance to stay on at AAPIP and work withing the community of young activists and supporters who’ve made the Dream movement a reality. 

“It’s not enough,” says Catherine of DACA, “There are other people who don’t qualify and it’s a temporary stopgap measure. However this designation allows me to feel normal in so many ways. Being allowed to work, I have a steady release for my energy and effort. Even though I know it’s temporary, I feel like I can have a purpose in life and not just stay at home not doing anything.”

In her young life, Catherine experienced times when she didn’t see a way forward and she did stay at home, wondering what was next. After learning when in high school that she was undocumented, she became afraid to go out with friends at night in case someone complained about teenagers hanging out and police showed up to ask for IDs. She qualified for a four-year college, but “for undocumented people it’s hard to finance education without access to financial aid and working legally,” she notes, and so she went to community college.

Then, transferring to UC Berkeley, she applied for and received a Cal Dream Scholarship, a donor advised program at Liberty Hill which was designed to assist students like her at Berkeley.  “I became connected to the immigrant rights movement in the Bay Area,” she says, “and began to participate with student and other groups who were passionate about immigrant rights and who were good people to be around.

“I chose my major when immigration reform became an impossibility in 2007. I wanted to take an active role in seeing that legislation pass. I chose political science to learn as much as possible about that process; my focus was on American politics. But after I graduated I was confronted with another roadblock. It was prior to deferred action. I hit the wall and couldn’t explore the options I wanted to. I didn’t have a Social Security number. I couldn’t work. I felt like I wasn’t making progress. I just stopped. I took a break.”

But she’d already planted the seeds of change. During her last semester at Berkeley, she was asked to speak at the Asian Americans/Pacific Islanders in Philanthropy national convening. The presentation by undocumented Asian American and Pacific Islander students including Catherine  “was tremendously influential with the audience” and AAPIP decided to host an internship through UCLA Labor Center’s “Dream Summer,” the first national internship program for immigrant rights leaders. Catherine applied, and was accepted.

As an AAPIP intern, she worked to build leadership and increase opportunities for immigrant youth. Today, at the Dream Summer program at AAPIP,  she writes on the White House blog, “Not only are we raising the visibility and uplifting the voices of Asian American and Pacific Islanders within this movement; we are also intentional about the inclusion and visibility of LGBTQ and women leaders.”

The Bertha Wolf-Rosenthal Foundation Fund for Community Service Stipend, a program of the Liberty Hill Foundation, provides up to five young people (ages 18-25) with a stipend of $5,000 each, to help cover basic living costs (e.g., rent, food, utilities, transportation and childcare), while they work or volunteer 30+ hours/week at a nonprofit organization anywhere in California for the year.

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