Farm Workers, Democrats Champion
Delores Huerta in Wichita September 30
Dolores Huerta, co-founder of the United Farm Workers, labor
leader, organizer, and social activist, will be visiting 
Wichita
for a series of events September 30. Huerta worked with Cesar
Chavez from the beginning of the long struggle to organize the
UFW. She has been a leading voice for women, Latinas, immigrants
and farmworkers in the labor movement for over three decades.
Dolores Huerta is one the century's most powerful and respected
labor movement leaders. Huerta left teaching and co-founded the
United Farm Workers with Cesar Chavez in 1962.
"I quit because I couldn't stand seeing kids come to class
hungry and needing shoes," Huerta said. "I thought I
could do more by organizing farm workers than by trying to teach
their hungry children." Huerta has raised her own 11 children
while organizing for the labor movement.
Delores Huerta is part of history and Kansans will have the chance
to meet her in person in Wichita on Friday, September 30.
Huerta will be speaking in a community presentation on "Daily
Bread: the Farm Worker's Struggle" at the Wichita State University
Hughes Metropolitan Complex at 29th and Oliver from 7-9:30 p.m.
The event is free and open to the public. For more information,
call (316) 978-3034 or email oma@wichita.edu.
Rep. Delia Garcia (District 103) and her family are proud to
host Delores Huerta's Benefit Breakfast on September 30 in Wichita.
The breakfast will celebrate Huerta's 75th birthday and 50th anniversary
of her tireless work for our community, worker and civil rights.
The breakfast will be intimate and limited to the first 50 persons
who RSVP and contribute $20. Please call Ms. Jacqueline Bujanda
at 316-253-8790 or Rep. Delia Garcia 316-371-2242 for more information
or to RSVP.
Immediately following the Delores Huerta Benefit Breakfast, there
will be an education and voting rights rally on September 30 from
10-10:30 a.m. at Connie's Mexico Cafe in Wichita, 2227 N. Broadway.
Delores Huerta directed the East Coast boycott of grapes, lettuce
and Gallo wines in 1965 which brought about the enactment of the
Agricultural Labor Relations Act, granting farm workers the right
to organize and bargain for better wages and working conditions.
Always politically active, Huerta co-chaired the 1972 California
delegation to the Democratic Convention. She led the fight to
permit thousands of migrant/immigrant children to receive services
and also led the struggle to achieve unemployment insurance, collective
bargaining rights, and immigration rights for farmworkers under
the 1985 Rodino amnesty legalization program. Huerta continues
as an outstanding labor and political activist.
For more information on Delores Huerta, visit: www.deloreshuerta.org.
The National
Democratic Agenda for Renewing Our Schools
All children deserve a quality education that fully develops
their abilities, prepares them to succeed in an increasingly competitive
global marketplace, and empowers them to contribute to their communities
and the nation. Democrats believe: 1) children need to enter school
ready to learn and receive the support they need to thrive in
the classroom; 2) teachers should enter classrooms ready to teach
and be supported and rewarded for excellence; and 3) students
should be ready to enroll and succeed in college. Democrats are
already working to fulfill this agenda. Democrats have introduced
legislation to improve Head Start, promote teacher excellence,
and make college more affordable and have supported amendments
to fund programs the Bush Administration has proposed to eliminate
and to fund important new education priorities.
READY TO LEARN:
Democrats are Working to Help More Students be Ready to Learn,
Encourage Parental Involvement and Prepare Students for College.
• Democrats are working to expand opportunities for more
eligible children to participate in Head Start and Early Start
and enhance the quality of Head Start teachers.
• Democrats want to make successful after-school programs
available to more students, which provide a safe and supervised
environment for students and can help improve academic performance
and lower drop-out rates.
• To enhance parental involvement, Democrats are strong
supporters of programs like Even Start, which is a family literacy
program that integrates early childhood education and adult education,
and Parental Information and Resource Centers, which provide parents,
educators and others the information and assistance they need
to understand how children develop and how they can succeed in
school.
Republicans are Limiting Opportunities for Children to Be Ready
to Learn.
• Today, about 50 percent of eligible children are shut
out of Head Start programs because of inadequate funds. (National
Head Start Association) Head Start has not received a substantial
funding increase under the current Administration. (Congressional
Research Service, June 7, 2005)
• Republicans have denied 1.5 million children from after-school
programs by requesting only $991 million for 21st Century Community
Learning Centers and failing to provide funding at the authorized
level. (Estimate by Democratic staff of the Labor-HHS Appropriations
Subcommittee)
• The Bush Administration is proposing to eliminate parental
involvement programs like Even Start and Parental Information
and Resource Centers. (Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal)
READY TO TEACH:
Democrats are Working to Improve Teacher Quality.
• Democrats will increase the number of high-quality math,
science, and special education teachers in high-need schools by
guaranteeing up to $23,000 in student loan forgiveness in exchange
for four years of teaching.
• Democrats want to identify the best teachers, including
establishing new professional roles such as mentor and master
teachers, implement programs to successfully transition new teachers
into the classroom, and to help states recruit and train new principals.
Republican Proposals for Teacher Readiness are Inadequate and
Marred by Cuts to Other Teacher Programs.
• The Administration’s loan forgiveness proposal
for math, science and special education teachers is smaller than
what Democrats have proposed. (Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal)
• While the Administration has proposed a Teacher Incentive
Fund to attract teachers to high-poverty schools, it is proposing
no funding increase for the Improving Teacher Quality State Grants
program and is proposing the elimination of the Teacher Quality
Enhancement program, which improves recruitment, preparation and
support of teachers, the Ready to Teach program, which improves
teaching in core curriculum areas through innovative video programming,
and the School Leadership program, which supports recruiting and
training principals and assistant principals. (Fiscal Year 2006
Budget Proposal)
READY TO SUCCEED:
Democrats are Offering Solutions to Make College Affordable for
Working Families Struggling to Pay Escalating College Expenses.
• Democrats want to increase the maximum Pell Grant to
$5,100 and reverse a Bush Administration formula change that is
decreasing Pell Grant awards for many students and eliminating
eligibility for others.
• Democrats also want to make college more affordable by
expanding the deduction for college tuition, creating a tax credit
for student loan interest payments, increasing access to HOPE
and Lifetime Learning tax credits, and supporting state need-based
aid through the Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership
(LEAP) program.
• To make college more accessible to all, Democrats support
adequately funding GEAR UP and the TRIO programs, which provide
services to help disadvantaged students complete high school ready
to enter and succeed in college.
Republicans are Failing to Respond Adequately to the College
Affordability Problem.
• The Bush Administration has proposed only a $100 increase
in the maximum Pell Grant award for each of the next five years,
which is less than what President promised during his 2000 campaign.
(Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal) Moreover, the Administration
has revised the Pell Grant formula in a way that will deny eligibility
to some students and reduce Pell Grant awards for many others.
(Government Accountability Office, March 22, 2005)
• The Administration has proposed eliminating other programs
designed to ensure that students are ready to succeed, such as
GEAR UP and two major TRIO programs, the LEAP program, and Perkins
loans. (Fiscal Year 2006 Budget Proposal)
Topeka Lobbyist
Robin Jennison:
The Best Governor Corporate Special Interests Could Have
TOPEKA, Kan. – Since he’s been out of the limelight,
former House Speaker and declared gubernatorial candidate Robin
Jennison has made his living as a registered lobbyist for a variety
of corporate special interests. So, Kansans are right to ask:
Who would Robin Jennison represent in Topeka?
“Special interests already have enough politicians in Topeka
on their side,” Kansas Democratic Party Executive Director
Mike Gaughan said. “The people of Kansas don’t need
an ambassador for the special interests sitting in the Governor’s
office.”
“Kansans deserve a leader who stands up for our families
first,” Gaughan said. “Not someone like Robin Jennison
who has made a career out of catering to special interests.”
“Governor Sebelius wants to build on our traditions and
move Kansas forward. She believes in strong schools that use tax
dollars wisely, more affordable health care for Kansas families,
and an economy that continues to create good-paying jobs,”
Gaughan said. “These are the issues most important to Kansas
families and they should be the top priorities for any leader
of our state.”
Sebelius announces new
effort to improve community health care access for seniors
Federal grant to help families in need of long-term care
assistance
The Kansas Department on Aging (KDOA) is one of 19 recipients
of a federal grant to create a single source of information and
assistance for families needing long-term care assistance. Kansas
will receive $800,000 over the next three years to develop Aging
and Disability Resource Centers (ADRC) specifically tailored to
minimize barriers to community living for the elderly and adults
with mental health disabilities.
The grant is jointly funded by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid
Services and the Administration on Aging within the Department
of Health and Human Services.
“Kansas families deserve better access to health care,
and we’re working hard to create a healthy state for all
Kansans,” said Gov. Kathleen Sebelius. “Health care,
and particularly long-term care is best when it happens in the
community, near friends and family members. These new centers
will help Kansans receive care in their communities.”
KDOA Secretary Pamela Johnson-Betts said the Kansas project will
provide a variety of highly visible and easily accessible web-based
tools to increase access to information, streamline assessment
referrals, increase mental health services for Kansas adults and
simplify financial eligibility determinations for Medicaid and
other state-funded programs.
“Our focus for the future must be on offering consumers
choices close to their homes,” said Johnson-Betts. “This
consumer-driven, community-based philosophy, combined with an
expected 46 percent increase in the over-65 population during
the next 20 years requires us to creatively explore the use of
technology-based tools.”
KDOA will pilot the project in one rural and one urban area to
serve both persons over the age of 60 and adults defined as seriously
mentally ill by the Kansas Medikan program eligibility requirements.
The project will focus on changing the way adult mental health
and long term care services for elders are accessed.
The rural center will be developed among 17 counties in and around
the Hays area. Wichita and two surrounding counties were selected
as the urban pilot area. The centers will serve persons over age
60 by the end of the first year. Adults, age 18 to 64, with serious
mental illness will be added beginning the second quarter of the
second year of the grant.
“We plan to create ‘one-stop’ entry points
to long-term care support services,” said Johnson-Betts.
“These centers will be accessible and reliable sources for
information on mental health and long-term care options to help
seniors and adults with a mental health disability access care
resources and services in their communities with reduced confusion.
The other states and territories receiving the grants are: Alabama,
Arizona, Colorado, District of Columbia, Guam, Hawaii, Idaho,
Kentucky, Michigan, Mississippi, Nevada, Ohio, Tennessee, Texas,
Vermont, Virginia, Washington and Wyoming.
Past News
September 2005
August
2005
July 2005
June
2005
