The Criminalization of School Discipline in Massachusetts' Three Largest School Districts

 Read this article-- although for poor families and families of color, it's a scenario we know all too well. Want to get involved in changing the picture?  Contact the Springfield Student Advocacy Project, (413) 342-0080, Email: SpringfieldSAP@gmail.com

Arrested Futures: The Criminalization of School Discipline in Massachusetts' Three Largest School Districts

from the American Civil Liberties Union, ACLU of Massachusetts, Citizens for Juvenile Justice
Principal Author: Robin L. Dahlberg
From the Executive Summary:
On October 23, 2007, a 14-year-old boy at the Kennedy Middle School in Springfield, Massachusetts, was arrested after he refused to walk with a teacher to her office and instead returned to his classroom. According to the police report, he yelled at the teacher, bounced a basketball in a school hallway, failed to respond to a police officer’s request to go with the teacher and slammed his classroom door shut. He was subsequently taken into police custody, handcuffed, transported to the police station and charged with “disturbing a lawful assembly.”
This incident illustrates a matter of growing concern to educators, parents and advocates: the extent to which the permanent on-site presence of police officers in public schools results in the criminalization of disruptive behavior. While other research has focused on zero-tolerance policies and the overuse of out-of-school suspension and expulsion as significant factors in feeding the “School-to-Prison Pipeline,” this report focuses on the additional problem of arrest, in particular the use of arrest to address behavior that would likely be handled in the school by school staff if not for the presence of on-site officers.

Published on American Civil Liberties Union (http://www.aclu.org)

Source URL: http://www.aclu.org/racial-justice/arrested-futures-criminalization-school-discipline-massachusetts-three-largest-school

Don't want children and families out on the street? Then PROTEST!

PROTEST!!
THURSDAY, JULY 26, NOON
WMA OFFICE OF GOV. DEVAL PATRICK
436 DWIGHT ST., SPRINGFIELD

 
The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is about to make its biggest attack on homeless families to date, by making it almost impossible for homeless families to qualify for shelter.  My guess is that this move will be accompanied by a strong push to get families already in shelter out of there as fast as possible.

If defending these families-- some of whom are our own members-- isn't the central mission and responsibility of Arise, then I don't know what is.  In fact, I can't think of anyone who is poor or progressive who can afford to do nothing.  If you absolutely can't come to the demonstration, then please, please call Governor Patrick and your state legislators.  617.725.4005 or 413.784.1200.  You can find more information at Arise for Social Justice. 

Don't be fooled if the Gov's office says things aren't as bad as we're making them out to be.  Our reading of the regulations (and the reading of the Mass Coalition for the Homeless and Mass Law Reform Institute)  says that families will even be permitted to sleep in bus stations and still not be eligible for shelter.  The Dept. of Housing and Community Development, which oversees the regulations, says it's not as bad as all that.  Then they need to change the regulations!  And that will only happen if we are loud, clear and speak with one voice-- right now!

The Insane Cruelty of Gov. Patrick Toward Homeless Families

I am seething with rage.  For months we at Arise for Social Justice have been fighting to keep the proposed new rules about who's eligible for family shelter from becoming too draconian.  With our allies at Mass. Law Reform Institute and the Mass. Coalition for the Homeless taking the lead, we were able to make some small changes in the regs-- not enough to keep many new families from becoming homeless, but something, anyway, and our thoughts were turning toward this fall and winter and what we might be able to do to find shelter for the unsheltered.

Today we found out that the Dept. of Housing and Community Development (DHCD) will be applying the strictest possible interpretations of the new regs-- not that the families described are ones that must be sheltered, but that these are the only families who will be sheltered.  The rest?  Out on the street and out of luck.  The regs were encouraged and signed by Gov. Patrick.

We had a woman in the office today who has a 20 year old underemployed son and an 16 year old daughter with severe autism.  Her husband left them unexpectedly ("I woke up one morning and he was gone.") and she fell behind in her mortgage and every other bill ("He hid how much debt we were in".). Now her house has been foreclosed on, and she has 30 days to get out.  She won't be eligible for emergency shelter. Maybe she'll be eligible for one of the fewer than 500 MRVPs that are supposed to help end family homelessness, or maybe the RAFT Program, a benefit to help families come up with first month's rent and security or other bills....and then what?

Actually we had two former homeowners today.  The second was a 74 year old grandmother with custody of her 10 year old granddaughter.  She hasn't made a full mortgage payment in over a year, and is having trouble getting onto the food stamp program, because she can't provide proof of shelter costs, because she doesn't have any.  They won't be eligible for emergency shelter, either, when they are finally evicted.

Last but hardly least, we met with a young woman with two children and two black eyes.  She's been staying with her sister and her sister's two children in a two bedroom, subsidized apartment.  Her sister was just notified that she faces eviction unless her "company" leaves.  The woman's two black eyes came about because she started hitting herself in the face when she completely lost it, realizing she and her kids were about to become homeless and had no place to go..But she doesn't fall into an eligible category, either.

Every day is like this.

One MLRI lawyer commented, "So we've come to a point where the state's housing agency issues a reg that would define a bus station as a 'housing situation' that is 'meant for human habitation' (because it has lights, heat, running water and toilets).  Thus a family with children living in a bus station is not sufficiently homeless to be eligible for shelter.  This is beyond Kafka."

I feel particularly angry at the service providers and their networks.  In spite of warnings by Arise and others, they put on their rose-colored glasses and gave the new head of DHCD, Aaron Gornstein, a stamp of approval before the evidence was even in. ("He's a compassionate person who really understands homelessness.")  Gornstein and Governor Patrick don't even have the guts to say, "We're done sheltering homeless families,"  but do it all under the banner of doing good for families!



Just as I have said that all poor people in Springfield were victims of last June's tornado, not just those who lost their housing, so all poor people, and the neighborhoods in which they live, are victims of  Patrick's new policies.  The dismantling of the communities of poor people continues.

I'm going to paste some information from the Mass Law Reform Institute about what actions you can take that might help-- we have to try-- try hard and right now.

But first I have to say something about Arise.  We are the only grassroots, poor people's organization from here to Boston and one of only three left in the state that will absolutely go to the mat for poor people, especially homeless people.  I can guarantee you that there's not one organization in a 90 mile radius that, tonight, is anguishing over how poor families will survive and which is also plotting, planning and organizing.  I suppose that's partly because our core members and our staff are all too familiar ourselves with foreclosure, eviction and homelessness.

If you think the work we do simply has to be done, then you've got to support us-- with your commitment, your actions and your cash.  We need donations very much.  Please send us some help at Arise, 467 State St., P.O. Box 5423, Springfield MA 01101.  And call us if you want to take action-- 413 734-4948

=====================================================================

Please call today!  Ask the Governor and the Legislature to PUT A STOP to emergency assistance (EA) regulations that would leave homeless children and their families in dangerous situations. (Copy of proposed regulations is attached).

Under the new rules that will go into effect in 60 days unless we stop them, children and their families will be ineligible for shelter even if they

·        have nowhere to sleep except a bus station or a hospital emergency room

·        are in a double up situation where the child is being abused by a neighbor

·        are in a housing situation where the mother is being regularly raped by the primary tenant

·        are in a housing situation that is unfit for human habitation (such as not having running water) and the landlord could fix it but won’t

·        are in a housing situation with lead paint, exposed wires, overcrowding that violates the sanitary code, or infested with rats (as long as the infestation isn’t caused by accumulated garbage)

·        were evicted through no fault of their own (for example, because the landlord wants to put the building on the market) and have no place to go

And many of the families who might meet the new standards won’t be eligible due to new unreasonable third-party verification requirements.

Please call the Governor, 617.725.4005 or 888.870.7770. 

Ask him to PUT A STOP to these inhumane rules.

Please call your state Senator and Representative via the State House switchboard at  617.222.2000 (or get their direct numbers at www.wheredoivotema.com). 

Ask your Senator and Representative to ask Senate President Murray and House Speaker DeLeo to PUT A STOP to these inhumane rules.

Breast cancer:

Today's Cape Cod Times has a disturbing article about funding cuts for breast cancer studies and prevention-- I can think of a dozen items I'd cut in the state budget before this.  Then, of course, we could restructure the state income tax so that higher income people pay a fair share!

(The graphic shows the distribution of breast cancer in the state from 1982 - 1994.  Hate to think what it is now.)

Silent Spring looks to end dry spell

By Cynthia Mccormick

cmccormick@capecodonline.com

June 04, 2012 2:00 AM

State funding for environmental research on possible contaminants in the Cape's drinking water is getting harder to come by.

It's a situation that advocates for breast cancer research say could delay the development of protective regulations, costing lives as well as treatment dollars.

After receiving no state funding for the past two years, the Silent Spring Institute in Newton asked legislators on Beacon Hill for $150,000 this spring to continue a study on carcinogens and endocrine disrupters in the Cape's drinking water. Lawmakers in both houses, however, turned down funding for the nonprofit organization, founded in 1994 to study the Cape's high rates of breast cancer.

But some fancy footwork by state Sen. President Therese Murray, D-Plymouth, and Sen. Dan Wolf, D-Harwich, could salvage one-third of Silent Spring's request.

At the last minute, the legislators got a "technical amendment" to include $50,000 for Silent Spring in the Senate budget. "It's really important work," Wolf said.

Now Silent Spring leaders hope the proposed funding survives a joint conference committee review.

The reduced amount "is a good start," said Cheryl Osimo, co-founder of Silent Spring Institute and communications director of its sister organization, the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition.

"But we need to fill the gap to have an active research project on the Cape again," she said.

Hurt by budget crisis

The money is a far cry from the $1 million in funding Silent Spring got from the state a little more than a decade ago.

The institute used the funds for studies on breast cancer incidence rates and such factors as pesticide and land use in an attempt to look for possible environment links to breast cancer on the Cape.

It also conducted a household exposure case-control study showing that contaminants from building materials and consumer products end up in the air and dust of people's homes.

Many of these contaminants are classified as endocrine-disrupting compounds, which because of their ability to interfere with the body's hormone system makes them suspect in cases of breast cancer.

But Silent Spring lost its state funding when falling tax revenues contributed to the state budget crisis in 2003.

Since then, the organization, which has an annual budget of $1.6 million in private and federal funds, has focused its Cape work on studies into possible contaminants in drinking water.

Several of its studies, including one on private wells released in November, show that pharmaceutical products and artificial sweeteners as well as flame retardants, hormones, plasticizers and insect repellent are making their way into the Cape's private wells.

This is a concern to researchers, since many of these substances mimic estrogen, which causes breast cancer cells to grow in the lab.

Across the country, about 40,000 women die of breast cancer each year. Barnstable County has the state's highest breast cancer mortality rate, according to a report by the Massachusetts affiliate of Susan G. Komen for the Cure. The Cape's annual death rate from breast cancer is 29.4 out of 100,000 here, compared with the state average of 21.4. Barnstable County's breast cancer incident rate also is higher than the state average, according to the Komen foundation.

"Breast cancer incidence has been elevated on Cape Cod ever since the Massachusetts cancer registry began in 1982," Silent Spring Institute Executive Director Julia Brody said.

In December, the Institute of Medicine, a nonprofit organization that acts as the health arm of the National Academy of Sciences, "issued a clear statement saying that science now documents plausible biological links between environmental chemicals and breast cancer risk," Brody said.

She said it was the first time a major medical organization had made such a claim.

But with the economic crisis affecting public research dollars available at both the federal and state levels, Silent Spring has been facing budgetary woes.

The federal government filled some of the state funding gap with four congressional appropriations, the last of which was $350,000 in September 2010.

But those appropriations ended with the federal ban on earmarks, although the organization continues to receive other federal grants.

The Massachusetts Environmental Trust helped out with the Cape drinking water studies until it dropped its funding in fiscal 2011, Osimo said.

Nearly a quarter of the organization's funding comes from private donations, Osimo said. She said it gets more than a third of its funding from nonprofit foundations and 42 percent from various federal grants. It just received $200,000 from the Avon Walk for Breast Cancer, which Osimo said will help update the organization's epidemiology database and develop new biomarkers for exposure to contaminants.

Lack of funding 'appalling'

Karen Joy Miller of the Huntington Breast Cancer Action Coalition on Long Island, N.Y., the fundraising arm for one of the country's largest studies on environmental links to breast cancer, said the funding situation is "appalling."

She said her organization no longer receives funds from the county, state or federal governments.

Miller said Huntington and Silent Spring have been role models for involving the community in discussion about breast cancer and partnering with private donors to offset lost public funding.

Environmental research organizations can't expect the deep-pocket corporate support that floats pharmaceutical and other research, said Dr. John Erban of Tufts Medical Center Cancer Center, who is on Silent Spring's board.

"There is very little revenue to be gained in prevention. The financial incentive is lacking," Erban said.

But there is great cost savings to be had in preventing cancer, especially as the population ages, he said. Unfortunately, organizations "are not doing nearly as many studies as could be done, because of limitations on resources," Erban said.

Copyright © Cape Cod Media Group, a division of Ottaway Newspapers, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Another front in war on women

berkshireeagle.com,Posted:   04/19/2012 12:06:12 AM EDT, North Adams

The bumper sticker on our car reads "Stop the War Against Women." Maureen Dowd's April 11 column ("Many fronts in war on women") identified several "fronts" in this war, but not this one. 

I'm talking about the front where the government of Massachusetts takes aim, yet again, at poor women (and their children). The economic recovery has been sluggish and around the country, state governments are slashing budgets. And what a surprise! Programs that primarily serve poor women and their children are at the top of the hit list.

In Massachusetts, the House Committee on Ways and Means has released its budget proposal for the fiscal year that begins July 1. While there are a few modest increases in programs that benefit low income families, several other proposals are likely to cause thousands of families to sink deeper into poverty, to become homeless, and/or to become entrapped in (or forced back into) violent relationships they might otherwise leave.

One of the most dangerous proposals is that House Ways and Means (like the governor) proposes an eight month time limit on stays in emergency shelters for homeless families with children. The state verifies that these families have no other safe place to live and the families already have to comply with strict rules in order to remain in the program, but that will be irrelevant -- they will be evicted after eight months even though they have nowhere else to go. Funding for Emergency Assistance that covers these shelter costs will be cut by $14 million.

Transitional Aid to Families with Dependent Children (TAFDC, what most people think of as "welfare") is also cut in several ways. A long-standing rent allowance for people who do not live in subsidized housing ($40 per month) is eliminated. Another component of the House attack on poor women and children is their cutting of the clothing allowance for those on TAFDC.

This allowance, created in 1981, has stood at $150 per year since 1987! It has stayed the same for a quarter-century, while prices more than doubled (that $150 is now worth $72 in 1987 dollars). While the full allowance was clearly not enough to buy shoes and other necessities for growing children, the House has slashed it in half to $75. We challenge any legislator's family to try getting by on that!

Outside language of the budget (Section 35) would impose outrageous limitations on benefits paid through the electronic benefits transfer system (EBT). These limitations include that TAFDC recipients would not be able to use their benefits to help pay their rent, buy toothpaste or shampoo, or even pay for a child's haircut.
These are just a few examples from the House budget proposal illustrating how we continue to balance the budget on the backs of poor women and children. They reflect several disturbing, but persistent misperceptions. 1) We can't trust poor women with our hard-earned tax dollars. 2) People are poor because of their personal character defects and need to be punished and shamed more than they need to be helped.

Research shows that two out of three adult welfare recipients are currently or formerly battered women. Do we really mean to make it financially impossible for them to leave their abusers or to stay out once they have managed to leave?

If you are as outraged as we are by this particular "front" in the political and economic war on women, contact your state representatives today and ask him or her to support budget amendments #603, #664, and #842. And while you're talking to them, explain that we are tired of sticking it to the poor because we refuse to tax the rich!

The commonwealth needs to increase revenue and the most equitable strategy is to increase taxes on those best able to pay, our high-income residents and large corporations. Neither the governor nor the House has incorporated this tactic into their budget proposals.

Our two neighbors with the largest populations, New York and Connecticut, have graduated income taxes (which tax higher levels of income at higher rates). So do 33 other states and the District of Columbia. For a state that claims to care for equity -- to be a "commonwealth" -- it is long past time for Massachusetts to demand more from those who have benefited the most from our public investments.

Dr. Susan Birns is board president of the Elizabeth Freeman Center and professor of Sociology/Anthropology/Social Work at MCLA. Dr. Brent Kramer is an economist at the Borough of Manhattan Community College and the Fiscal Policy Institute.

Three Strikes: Just do it: call your reps and senators now!

Stop 3-Strikes!  Actions & Updates

I.   Call / Email Your Rep & Senator Now! [all week]

II.  Conference Committee Meeting [Wednesday @ 11am]

III. Stop 3-Strikes Rally & Lobby Day [Thursday]

IV. Boston City Council Passes Resolution Against 3-Strikes Bill

www.BostonWorkersAlliance.org

I.  Call / Email Your Rep & Senator Now! 

Our state legislators are on the brink of passing a 3-strikes bill that would further overcrowd our prisons and cost our state millions.  Call or email your legislators today and tell them to Stop 3 Strikes and pass Smart Sentencing Reforms.  

Sample phone script - call / email both your State Rep and State Senator: 

"Hello, my name is [________].  I live in [Rep / Senator _______'s] District.  I'm calling today ask [Rep / Senator _______] to help Stop the 3-Strikes Bill and pass Smart Sentencing Reform.  

I am against 3-strikes sentencing and mandatory parole, but I do support  shrinking the school zones and ending mandatory minimums for non-violent offenses.  

The bills they are discussing would overcrowd our costly system.  While private prison contractors get rich, those funds should be used for jobs and programs that could make our communities safer.  Thank you."  

State House Operator (get any official): 617 722-2000

Find out who your Senate and Rep in General Court is: www.wheredoivotema.com 

Find their phone # and email: www.malegislature.gov/people/findmylegislator

Please have your friends, family, allies, staff and members make phone calls to their state officials this week!  You can also call Governor Patrick's public comment line and leave a message (617) 725 4005.   

Every call and email counts - be seen and be heard! 

II.  Conference Committee 

Notice from State Senator Cynthia Creem: 

There will be a Conference Committee meeting where the public is able to attend.  The Conference Committee is responsible for creating the final bill that will be sent to the Governor's Desk.  

Thursday, March 14, 11 am, State House, 4th Fl., Conference Room 413-E

For questions, Senator Creem's Office is: 617 722 1639

III.  RALLY TO STOP 3-STRIKES LAWS IN MASSACHUSETTS

Community Rally to Stop the 3-Strikes Bill
Urgent Action for Criminal Justice Reform

Rally & Lobby Day
State House Steps
Thursday, March 15
11-1pm

Please join us and help spread the word! 

 Tell your Reps and Senators to stop the 3-Strikes bill
 This dangerous bill will expand an overcrowded prison system
 It costs $48,000 a year to jail a prisoner; these funds could be used for jobs, schools, housing and transportation
 Incarceration breaks apart families but does not deal with the real causes of crime
 Stand up against mandatory sentencing and demand fairness in the criminal justice system

Help stop this costly and harmful bill before it is too late: the "Justice System" is Unjust and the time for action is now!  We will rally on the State House steps and then enter the building to visit our elected officials.

Support the Rally or for Questions contact: (617) 606-3580 / info@bostonworkersalliance.org / BostonWorkersAlliance.org

Learn More About Prison and Sentencing Reform:  Blackstonian.com / ChurchandPrison.org / CJPC.org / Exprisoners.org /  FAMM.org / MCLS.net
Endorsing Organizations*

Aid to Incarcerated Mothers, Alternatives for Community Environment (ACE), American Civil Liberties Union-MA, APIA Movement, Arise for Social Justice, Arlington Street Church (Social Committee), Artists for Humanity, Asian American Resource Workshop, Black Educators Alliance of Massachusetts, Blackstonian, Boston Workers' Alliance, Cambridge Peace Commission, Center for Church and Prison, Chelsea Collaborative, City Life / Vida Urbana, Coalition Against Poverty / Coalition for Social Justice, Coalition for Effective Public Safety, Codman Square NDC, Community Change Inc., Community Church of Boston, Community Labor United, Criminal Justice Policy Coalition, Dorchester People for Peace, EPOCA - Ex Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement, Families Against Mandatory Minimums, Gavin House, Grove Hall Neighborhood Development Corporation, Hyde Square Task Force, Jewish Alliance for Law and Social Action, Jobs With Justice, Lansing Workers Center, Louis D. Brown Peace Institute, Marcus Garvey House, Mass Alliance of Minority Law Enforcement Officers (MAMLEO), Mass Jobs with Justice, Massachusetts Communities Action Network, Mass Global Action, MassUniting, NAACP New England Area Conference, National Association of Social Workers-MA, National Lawyers Guild-MA, Neighbor to Neighbor MA, New England United for Justice, Nuestra Community Development Corporation, Occupy The Hood Boston, Oiste Latino Civic Engagement Organization, Partakers, Inc., Prisoners' Legal Services, Right to the City Alliance Boston, Rosie's Place, Roxbury Dorchester Labor Committee, SEIU 1199 Healthcare Workers, SEIU 615 Janitors and Security, Side-by-Side Community Circle, Sisters At Work, Social Workers for Peace and Justice, SPAN, STRIVE, Inc., Students for Sensible Drug Policy, TFCC-Boston, Northeastern University School of Law chapter, Survivor's Inc., The Real Cost of Prisons Project, Union of Minority Neighborhoods / MARC, Unite Here! New England Joint Board, Urban League of Eastern Mass, UU Mass Action, Voices of Liberation, Young Cape Verdean Club

*Partial list 

Please help protect the Quabbin forest

Please help protect the Quabbin forest!  (photo and post by Chris Matera)

This is the most important piece of undeveloped forest in Massachusetts that protects the drinking water for 2.2 million citizens, and the public owns it, but private logging companies want to start logging it again.

Environment Massachusetts is running an excellent campaign to permanently ban logging in the Quabbin and needs our help now.

Please go to this easy link to send a message:

https://secure3.convio.net/engage/site/Advocacy?cmd=display&page=UserAction&id=317

For a reminder why we need to keep the private logging companies out of the quabbin, please see:

Quabbin Watershed Clearcutting - Ground & Aerial (15 MB):   www.maforests.org/QUABBIN.pdf

  

Quabbin Watershed Clearcutting - Google (5 MB): 

www.maforests.org/QUABBIN_Google_Earth.pdf

Please forward this message to friends and family!

thank you

Chris Matera

Massachusetts Forest Watch
www.maforests.org
www.maforests.org/MFWBmess.pdf
413-341-3878

Three Strikes legislation wrong direction for MA-- take action now!

From the ACLU: 

A lot is on the line and we need your help. Massachusetts lawmakers are under intense pressure to pass a "3 strikes and you're out" proposal that would make our already harsh sentencing laws even more punitive.

In November, each branch of the state legislature hurriedly passed legislation that would, among other provisions, expand "mandatory maximum" sentences for people with certain criminal histories who are convicted of new crimes.

That's right--mandatory maximum sentences.

Please ask four key legislative leaders to reconsider these overly harsh sentencing proposals.

Unless we take bold and steady steps, "3 strikes" would tie judges' hands and require them to impose the maximum possible sentence on any defendant with past felony convictions charged as a "habitual" offender--such as stealing something with a value over a $250 threshold.

It should never even be a possibility that a judge could be forced to lock somebody up for years for an offense like stealing an iPod or an expensive pair of shoes. On top of that, the law would push back any chance of parole, and in many cases strip it away entirely. That's not only wrong, but with a price tag of nearly $50,000 a year to taxpayers, we can't afford it.

Please tell Massachusetts lawmakers that mandatory maximum sentences are the wrong way to go.

Thank you,
The ACLU of Massachusetts Legislative Team

P.S. To learn more about this dangerous legislation, visit our website.

Kids get poisoned by lead-- but funding gets cut

Nearly half the housing in Massachusetts is likely to have lead paint.  New studies have shown that lead poisoning damages children at much smaller amounts than previously documented.

But the federal government is about to eliminate the remaining funding for lead poisoning prevention, and Massachusetts is very unlikely to be able to make up the difference.  Read more at Boston Globe.

Last year Massachusetts had thirteen employees working in lead-poisoning prevention programs.  This year, we have three.  What will next year bring?

What can you do as the parent of a child who may be at risk?   If you're renting, ask the potential landlord if the apartment has a lead certificate.  And ask your pediatrician to test your child, and test regularly.  Looks like we're on our own for the indefinite future.

Transgender Equal Rights bill signed today!

Governor Deval Patrick Expected to Sign Transgender Equal Rights Bill Today, Public Signing To Be Held in Near Future

Today, Governor Deval Patrick is expected to sign the Transgender Equal Rights Bill privately, as he has just a 10-day window in which to sign bills into law. The bill was passed by the legislature last week. A public signing ceremony will be scheduled for a future date. The law will take effect on July 1, 2012.

“Governor Patrick has been a vocal supporter of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill since the bill was first filed in 2007” said Gunner Scott, executive director of the Mass. Transgender Political Coalition. “We applaud the Governor because he has been a staunch advocate in recognizing the transgender community and leader in getting this bill passed.”

Gov. Patrick was a vocal proponent of the Transgender Equal Rights Bill, advocating, he has submitted written testimony in support of the bill at all three public hearings. Last February, he signed an executive order prohibiting discrimination against transgender people in state employment, which reaches 43,500 executive branch employees and 13,500 state contractors.

In 2008, Gov. Patrick appointed the first transgender person, Diego Sanchez, to a Democratic National Committee standing committee. Diego Sanchez is a former co-chair of MTPC and has since gone on to work as the first out transgender legislative staffer for Rep. Barney Frank (D-Mass.).

MTPC thanks the members of the Transgender Equal Rights Coalition for all of their efforts in passing “An Act Relative to Transgender Equal Rights.” Some of the 104 members of the coalition include  MassEquality, MassNOW; ACLU of Massachusetts; Jane Doe, Inc., The Massachusetts Coalition Against Sexual Assault and Domestic Violence; National Association of Social Workers, MA; Mass AFL-CIO; Gay & Lesbian Advocates & Defenders; Mass Gay and Lesbian Political Caucus; Jobs with Justice; the Interfaith Coalition for Transgender Equality; and Massachusetts Transgender Political Coalition.

The House voted 95-58, and the House vote tally is here: http://aclum.org/sites/all/files/legislative/2011/trans/mass_trans_house_vote.pdf. The Senate passed the bill on a voice vote (see MTPC Senate co-sponsor list).

MTPC encourages all community members to thank the Representatives and Senators that voted for the bill and most especially, the lead sponsors, Representative Carl Sciortino & Byron Rushing, and Senators Ben Downing, and Sonia Chang-Diaz; the legislature's leadership House Speaker Robert Deleo and Senate President Therese Murray; and especially, Governor Deval Patrick.

MTPC will alert community members to the date and location of the public signing ceremony so community members may attend and MTPC plans to hold an additional community event on or about the same day to share in this historic moment.

More kids hungry, too thin in MA, elsewhere

Doctors at Boston Medical Center are reporting that the numbers of too thin children ages 3 and under seen  in their emergency room have jumped from 12% in 2007 to 18% in 2010, says today's Boston Globe.. 

Pediatricians at hospitals in four other cities - Baltimore; Little Rock, Ark.; Minneapolis; and Philadelphia - also reported increases in the ranks of malnourished, hungry youngsters in their emergency rooms since 2008. But Boston’s increases were more dramatic, said Sandel, a lead investigator with Children’s HealthWatch, a network of researchers who track children’s health. Researchers said higher housing and heating costs in Massachusetts probably exacerbated the state’s surge.

BMC has also seen a 58 percent increase, from 24 in 2005 to 38 in 2010, in the number of severely underweight babies under the age of 1 who were referred by family physicians to its Grow Clinic, where doctors provide intensive nutritional, medical, and other services to boost babies’ growth. Such malnourishment is similar to what is more typically seen in developing countries, Sandel said.

 Frankly, I can't even imagine where we're headed in this country. 

Photo from Ivan Cabrera's photostream at Flickr.

Be careful, people....

E-Newsletter, March 2011 New Study Finds Food packaging is the Main Source of Hormone Disrupting Chemicals BPA, DEHP Levels of BPA and DEHP Decrease over 50% When Adults and Children Avoid Food Packaging, Study Says Grocery shoppers may want to avoid food packaged in plastic and cans and opt for fresh food prepared at home, according to a new study released today.  The study, "Food Packaging and Bisphenol A and Bis(2-ethylhexl) Phthalate Exposure: Findings from a Dietary Intervention" tracked levels of the hormone-disrupting chemicals Bisphenol A (BPA) and the phthalate DEHP in study participants as they changed to a fresh food diet with limited food packaging.  BPA is a weak estrogen mimic with evidence of promoting breast cancer in laboratory studies.  The study, conducted by Silent Spring Institute and Breast Cancer Fund, found that levels of BPA and DEHP declined by over 50% on average in study participants when they ate a fresh food diet that excluded plastic food packaging, cans, plastic wrap and other food packaging suspected to contain these chemicals.  Reductions were more pronounced for the highest exposures, which decreased by over 70% for BPA and over 90% for DEHP. These chemicals can migrate from the lining of cans and plastic packaging into food and beverages, especially when broken down by acids and fats in food, and when they are heated.  "Women should not have to worry that using canned and packaged foods might be contributing to higher breast cancer risk," said Erin Boles, Associate Executive Director for the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition. "Laboratory studies show that BPA stimulates breast cancer cell growth and can influence early breast development in ways that increase cancer susceptibility later in life.  This is a clear example of how our current laws are failing us and need to be updated to reflect modern science." Consumers in Massachusetts should be outraged, particularly because the state has among the highest breast cancer rates in the country, nearly 10% higher than the national average.  The new study supports stronger consumer protections.  Last year the Public Health Council of the MA Department of Public Health voted to ban BPA in baby bottles and sippy cups, but dismissed a push by the Massachusetts Breast Cancer Coalition and other health and environment groups to pass a broader ban aimed at all food and beverage containers.  This study provides compelling evidence that a more comprehensive BPA ban and substitution of safer alternatives is needed to protect health.  "This study provides compelling evidence that food packaging is the major source of exposure to hormone-disrupting BPA and the phthalate DEHP.  Now that we know food packaging is a major source, we can take action to reduce exposure," according to Dr. Julia Brody, an author of the study and the executive director at Silent Spring Institute. * Study and further information available at: http://www.silentspring.org/our-research/research-updates/new-study-shows-fresh-food-diet-reduces-levels-hormone-disruptors-bpa-  ** A tip sheet on how to reduce BPA and DEHP exposure is available at:  http://www.silentspring.org/six-steps   Want more information about breast cancer prevention?  Join us on Facebook to receive up-to-date research, tips and information.     HELP MBCC CONTINUE THE IMPORTANT WORK TOWARDS BREAST CANCER PREVENTION!

The Big Losers: Poor families at risk of homelessness

OK, service providers, state bureaucracies and Gov. Patrick-- stop pretending that the revamping of the state's Emergency Assistance Program has to do with anything but saving money.  If it was really about preventing families from being out on the street, the state would be offering housing assistance alternatives as well as shelter.  Instead, the state will take away the right to shelter and offer housing assistance which may or may not succeed in preventing homelessness.  AND if that assistance isn't successful in helping a family avoid homelessness, the family is barred from any further assistance for two years.

This is a bit of a long post, but it has information we all need to know.   What follows is from the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless.  Read it and then call you legislators-- please!  You can find their phone numbers at The Massachusetts Legislature.

Under the Governor’s budget, most homeless children and parents with no other safe place to stay would be denied access to emergency shelter through the state’s Emergency Assistance (EA) program

Families who would be denied shelter include those who are homeless because they are members of families that are extremely poor, have lost jobs in the horrible economy, have lost homes because of evictions due to foreclosure, or have previously fled a domestic violence situation. 

·        These families have no family or friends with whom to stay -- otherwise they would not currently be eligible for EA. The only families who could access shelter under the Administration’s proposal are those who are fleeing domestic violence in their current housing situation, headed by a young parent, or homeless due to a fire or natural disaster.

Homeless families denied shelter would be offered only temporary rental assistance and help looking for  an apartment.   The proposal mandates shelter denials but not an immediate right to housing.

·        Providing re-housing resources as quickly as possible is important, and this aspect of the proposal (7004-0108) can be useful, with some important revisions.  But since it can take weeks or months to find a unit to rent -- even with subsidies much more valuable than what is being proposed here -- we would be left out in the cold while searching for housing.

 Families who receive any homelessness assistance would be barred from any other help for 2 full years even if they literally have no safe place to stay.

Barring families from shelter does not end homelessness!  Fewer families will need shelter if better housing resources are available! We can improve housing resources AND preserve the safety net!

Proposed House 1 language

 Item 7004-0101

provided further, that notwithstanding any general or special law, or program regulation, to the contrary, (i) those families that shall be eligible for assistance through a temporary emergency family shelter shall be only (a) families that are at risk of domestic abuse in their current housing situation; and (b) families that, through no fault of their own, are homeless due to fire or natural disaster; and (ii) all families otherwise eligible for temporary emergency family shelter pursuant to departmental regulations, including those families otherwise eligible under (i) above, in which the head of household is not more than 21 years of age at the time of application for emergency assistance, shall be served only through a young families congregate housing program;

provided further, that benefits received under section 30 of Chapter 23B and/or the short-term housing transition program shall render a family ineligible for emergency assistance and/or short-term housing transition benefits for a period of 24 months from the later of the date upon which the family exits a temporary emergency family shelter or a short-term housing transition payment is made to or on behalf of the family;

 Item 7004-0108 (proposed new line item in House 1)

provided, that the assistance provided hereunder may include payments of rent arrears; a portion of the household's monthly rent, first and/or last month's rent, and/or security deposit; utility charges; and extraordinary medical bills so long as such assistance will maintain housing for the family; provided further, that a family's eligibility for such assistance shall not exceed a period of 36 months, as a single, uninterrupted period of time or otherwise; provided further, that such payments shall not exceed $8,000 for the initial 12 month period for which the family receives assistance hereunder, reduced by 5 per cent for each of the next 12 month periods for which the family receives assistance hereunder, such 12 month periods being a single uninterrupted period or otherwise; provided further, that the continued eligibility of the family shall be determined on an annual basis;

provided further, that assistance received under this program shall render a family ineligible for benefits pursuant to section 30 of chapter 23B and short-term housing transition benefits for a period of 24 months from the later of the date upon which the family exits a temporary emergency family shelter or a short-term housing transition payment is made to or on behalf of the family;

 ________________________________

For more information or to join the Coalition, please contact members of the Coalition to Protect Homeless Children:  Mass. Coalition for the Homeless 781-595-7570 (Kelly Turley x17 kelly@mahomeless.org), Mass. Law Reform Institute 617-357-0700 (Ruth Bourquin x333 rbourquin@mlri.org or Deborah Harris x 313 dharris@mlri.org), Arise for Social Justice, 413-734-4948 (Michaelann Bewsee, michaelannb@gmail.com); Family Economic Initiative 617-603-1626 (Elizabeth Toulan etoulan@gbls.org), Mass. Alliance on Teen Pregnancy 617-482-9122 (Liz Peck epeck@massteenpregnancy.org), Coalition for Social Justice 508-678-5497 (Debbie Fastino dfastino@aol.com), Coalition Against Poverty 508-999-2777 (Missy Gilbarg missygilbarg@gmail.com), Boston Area Rape Crisis Center 617-492-8306 (Clare Namugga cnamugga@barcc.org or Stephanie Decandia sdecandia@barcc.org) or NASW/MA Chapter 617-227-9635x12 (Rebekah Gewirtz Gewirtz@naswma.org), Medical-Legal Partnership – Boston  617-414-3649 (Johanna Flacks Johanna.Flacks@bmc.org).\

Photo from RCVNL's photostream at Fickr.

UMass to rally in solidarity with public sector workers

A friend called me during a break at work to say she'd seen a flyer for a rally at UMass, and would I put it on the Arise blog?  Well, sure-- got to keep that solidarity growing.  I don't know if we're quite ready to "get it" in the U.S., but I do know that without more voices, more solidarity and more organizing, too many people will continue to act against their best interests.

My daughter posted a joke on Facebook this morning and now I've seen it everywhere, and even posted it myself; so one more time, because it really explains (almost) everything.: 

A public union employee, a tea party activist, and a CEO are sitting at a table with a plate of a dozen cookies in the middle of it. The CEO takes 11 of the cookies, turns to the tea partier and says, "Watch out for that union guy. He wants a piece of your cookie."

RALLY! Starting at 11:45am
Wednesday, March 2nd
In front of the Student Union - UMass

An injury to one is an injury to all!

Governor Walker of Wisconsin has filed a bill which he claims will balance the budget. The true motive is to crush the unions in Wisconsin by ending their right to collectively bargain. Similar union-busting bills are being considered in Indiana, Ohio and elsewhere.

The people of Wisconsin, Ohio and Indiana are fighting back! We need to stand with them in solidarity. They are on the front lines of a concerted attack on the public sector all across the country.

Working class living standards across America have been under attack for over 30 years; it's time to draw a line in the sand.

Right here on our campus we see a steady disinvestment by the state in public higher education, the mortgaging of students' futures through enormous debt, and hundreds of workers who still labor without union protection.

Rally for workers rights! Defend the public sector! Join the Fight-back!

Lying Facebook page - why you can't believe everything you read

The Housatonic River, which runs 149 miles through Western Massachusetts and Connecticut before emptying into the Long Island Sound, was contaminated with PCBs from the Pittsfield General Electric plant for forty-five years.  GE was ordered by the EPA to clean up the river, and two miles have been cleaned so far. 

Now, as GE prepares the next phase of the clean-up, a new Facebook page has appeared, the Smart Clean-Up Coalition, suggesting that the best clean-up may be no clean-up.  
Clean-up issues are complicated, and I don't know enough to promote the best way to deal with the River's contamination.  But when it turns out that the Smart Clean-Up Coalition is actually an initiative of a coalition that took $300,000 from the General Electric Company-- and that at first, they lied about it-- well, you have to wonder, yes?
Beth Daily at the Boston Globe is covering this story.


Photo from Jahansell's photostream at Flickr.

Sen. Scott Brown: sexually abused, on welfare, but.....

Massachusetts Senator Scott Brown was on 60 Minutes last night.  I didn't watch the show, but MassLive printed an AP article about it this morning.

Brown's book, Against All Odds, is due to be released today and apparently details his experiences of sexual abuse as a child.  He also says that he and his mom were on public assistance for a while.

But....he says his experiences as a child do not affect the decisions he makes now about the federal budget, including voting against programs very similar to the ones that supported him and his family when they needed them.

Well, I say his decisions today do stem from his childhood...and we call it Internalized Oppression.  Maybe Sen. Scott should see a therapist.

Meanwhile, he will vote in favor of cutting CDGB funds, which are likely to provide programs for childhood victims of sexual abuse, and will vote against the remnants of the tattered safety net that helped him and his family survive. 

I like to think that people-- and nations-- who have been oppressed learn how not to replicate that oppression.  But it doesn't always work that way, does it?

Police Brutality in Northampton MA!!!!

I went to the rally yesterday and I wanted to update you all.
People have been VERY hostile to this information getting out, many listserves that I am on have been home to heated debate with area residents making exclamations like "Come on this is Not L.A." Or " There Is no story. It was made up" to "if its true why is in not in the police blotter"--Come one since when have the police kept record of their own brutality??!!?? These things do happen--even in th happy valley!


The following is information of what allegedly took place in Downtown Northampton this past weekend.
Here is the information as it was told by Al's best friend Aaron @ yesterday's rally:
Al is a Black Disabled Veteran. He was arrested at Urban Outfitters for alleged shoplifting. Aaron believes that when the police brought him out of the store and around the corner there were reports of Al yelling "You are really hurting me!" It is at that point that Aaron believes (based on eye witness accounts) that the beating ensued. It is believed that Al received many blows to his face (and probably body as well). Aaron reported that he was notified of the arrest and proceeded to gather bail money. Aaron arrived at the Police station sometime after the arrest (I'm not sure how much later--it might have even been the next morning?) Aaron said that he was here to bail Al out. The officers began processing bail. It was at that point that an officer went to go retrieve Al and found him unconscious (later to be deemed in a coma) in his cell. Al was NOT breathing at this point in time and the officer returned to report to Aaron that he "had come bad news," It appeared his friend had suffered a Massive Heart Attack. Aaron said that it was was clear at that point in time that Al had NOT been monitored while locked up. The police were ONLY aware of Al's condition because they had gone to retrieve him for bail. Once at the Hospital Aaron was disturbed to see the extent of Al's injuries.
Al's bottom jaw was injured so badly and that it was knocked so far to the right that "Al can look down to the side and see his own jaw!" His upper lip was completely split open horizontally and his eyes were swollen shut. Al's family came to Cooley Dickinson and they, as well as Aaron and members of Poverty is Not a Crime, have reported that all doctors and nurses at Cooley Dickinson Hospital who have cared for Al have said "There is Nothing wrong with this man's heart. He did not have a heart attack" Aaron reported that Al has no spleen and due to this feels pain much more intensely than most. Aaron said that the medical professionals believe that Al's body went into a coma as a way of coping with the intense pain he was experiencing. It is not known for how long Al laid on the cell floor, not breathing, nor the extent of brain damage due to an extended period of time with no oxygen going to his brain. Al is currently at Cooley Dickinson, in and out of consciousness.

Action MUST be taken!!! Please make the following phone calls:
Mayor Higgins should have an earful--413.587.1249
WE MUST PUSH FOR AN INDEPENDENT INVESTIGATION!

Police Chief Russell Sienkiewicz---413.587.1100 The arresting officers AND the officers that left Al bleeding and unconscious in a cell should be suspended without pay effective immediately

Even if you are NOT a resident of Northampton I urge you to make these phone calls--because we ALL do business in that town, purchase items in that town, are patrons at its stores and restaurants, or work in Northampton! We ALL have a stake in protecting our Disabled Veterans! We ALL deserve to feel safe.

One in five elders in MA live below the poverty level

Here's a video (and text, in case you don't have sound) about a program helping homeless seniors in Boston get into shelter. This week I'm going to be interviewing seniors at the Loaves and Fishes soup kitchen in Springfield, MAto find out why they need to eat there instead of at home. If anyone is interested in helping, let me know.

Hearth works to end elder homelessness in Boston

Play video

(Greg Wayland, NECN: Boston) - For many older Americans, the new year marks the beginning of a new chapter in their "Golden Years". Still others will begin the new year in a homeless shelter. Homelessness among older citizens is the special concern of one Boston-based organization.

A snowy New Year's Eve at Boston's Pine Street Inn. This is the men's shelter in a system of shelters that care for ten thousand men and women a year.

Inside it is lunch hour. And it is busy.

25-year-old Kate Waters is the outreach case worker for Hearth -- a seventeen-year-old Boston-based non-profit organization working exclusively to end elder homelessness.

"I got the news from the Section Eight lottery, so we can go over that today. Where you are on the waiting list."

Since 1991, Hearth has placed 1300 elders in housing. -- elders being defined as men and women over fifty. Through outreach workers such as kate, hearth tries to integrate housing, mental health, medical and social services in an effort to gain independence for its struggling clients such as 66-year-old James Coleman.

My hopes are to get into an apartment and get out of here

There are some success stories in the making at pine street. Al Davis is among them. Kate got him an interview with the boston housing authority for a possible apartment.

Oh, it really helped me a lot. Because, you know when I first came here, I was still in the shelter. I was living on the floors.

Hearth tries to serve a diverse population. Ramone Torriente-Rodrigues is Cuban, 63-years old and one of Kate's clients. "In everything she every day is helping for me, you know?"

Kate "It can take anywhere from six months to a year if somebody's meeting with an advocate on a weekly basis for them to get into housing."

Kate says both young and old come to homelessness from many paths. "I can't say that there's one certain path that leads to it. Certainly there are issues of mental illness for some folks. Substance abuse for some folks. Others maybe loss of income, job."

A lot of them don't have the resources to fall back on. Either they've burned bridges with family or friends or some family and friends...

Hearth expects to lose 12 percent of its federal funding...and has lost a quarter of the philanthropic funding it had anticipated.

Even before the onset of these hard times, the people at Hearth knew we were working in a tough environment. They say that here in Massachusetts, one in five people over the age of 65 lives below the poverty line.

"Yeah, I think there's just a lot more demand and there's a lot less housing."

But hearth will labor on, believing a person's golden years should not be spent on the street.

IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO MAKE A DONATION TO HEARTH, YOU CAN VISIT THEIR WEBSITE AT www.hearth-home.org