Obama bans the box!

On Monday, President Obama is announcing a new order to reduce potential discrimination against former convicts in the hiring process for federal government employees.

It is a step towards what many criminal justice reformers call “ban the box” – the effort to eliminate requirements that job applicants check a box on their applications if they have a criminal record. While the rule was once seen as a common sense way for employers to screen for criminal backgrounds, it has been increasingly criticized as a hurdle that fosters employment discrimination against former inmates, regardless of the severity of their offense or how long ago it occurred. Banning the box delays when employers learn of an applicant’s record.

Obama is unveiling the plan on a visit to a treatment center in New Jersey, a state where Republican Gov. Chris Christie signed a ban the box bill into law last year. Hillary Clinton endorsed ban the box last week, while Republican Sen. Rand Paul also introduced similar federal legislation, with Democratic Sen. Cory Booker, to seal criminal records for non-violent offenders.

The White House says it is “encouraged” by such legislation in a new statement, but emphasizes the president’s order will take immediate action, mandating that the federal government’s HR department “delay inquiries into criminal history until later in the hiring process.”

President Obama spoke to several federal prisoners about that very approach in July, when he was the first sitting president to visit an American prison.

“If the disclosure of a criminal record happens later in a job application process,” he told them, “you’re more likely to be hired.” Obama described what many studies show – that when many employers see the box checked for an applicant’s criminal record, they weed them out without ever looking at their qualifications.

“If they have a chance to at least meet you,” the president continued, “you’re able to talk to them about your life, what you’ve done, maybe they give you a chance.”

About 60-to-75% of former inmates cannot find work within their first year out of jail, according to the Justice Department, a huge impediment to re-entering society.

Research shows the existence of a criminal record can reduce an employer’s interest in applicant by about 50%, and that when white and black applicants both have records, employers are far less likely to call back a black applicant than a white one. As a 2009 re-entry study in New York city found, “the criminal record penalty suffered by white applicants (30%) is roughly half the size of the penalty for blacks with a record (60%).”

Obama’s move also comes in the wake of a growing movement for criminal justice reform – from broad calls by groups like Black Lives Matter to a specific campaign on ban the box that ranged from half the Senate Democratic caucus to civil rights groups to artists like John Legend.

On Monday, Legend told MSNBC, “We applaud the President’s decision to end this unfair bias against people who have served their time and paid their debt to society. We hope that Congress and state legislatures across the country will follow suit.”

The President is announcing several other measures Monday, including public housing and money for re-entry programs, and he is speaking about prison reform in a speech and an exclusive interview with NBC Nightly News Anchor Lester Holt.

Via: http://www.msnbc.com/msnbc/obama-bans-the-box 

President Obama Promoting Criminal Justice Reform

This month we saw President Obama visit a prison in El Reno, Oklahoma, making him the first ever sitting president to visit a federal correctional facility. The effects of the recent initiatives made by both him and his administration to promote our nations need for criminal justice reform are already proving their indispensability for the roughly seven million Americans who are either currently incarcerated or on probation or parole. (htt)

For the first time in our Nation’s history, criminal justice reform, fairer sentencing, and a reduction in government spending on prisons and mass incarceration has become a bipartisan issue. In a recent USA today article, Republican House Speaker John Boehner backed prison reform legislation on the basis of U.S. expenses stating, “Some of these people are in there under what I would call flimsy reasons. And so I think it’s time we review this process.” (htt1)

 We live in a nation that thrives on the prison industrial complex, and because of that we are the leading country in mass incarceration at 25%. (htt3)

Our criminal justice system does very little for drug related offenders in regards to rehabilitation, recovery, and re-entry, and instead operates through outdated and largely ineffective policies and procedures that are reminiscent of Reagan era War on Drugs ideologies and misconceptions.

President Obama has proved in his recent initiatives that our response to nonviolent offenders should reflect a preventative and rehabilitative nature, instead of the punitive and borderline vindictive sentencing that this particular prison demographic has been facing for nearly four decades. Through signing the Fair Sentencing Act, to the Justice Departments “Smart on Crime” initiative, to commuting the extensive sentences of nearly four dozen non-violent offenders, a change is finally becoming evident.

At Time for Change Foundation we believe in the value of potential of the human being and that treatment, not punishment is the solution. We are people that have made mistakes in our past, and are thankful for second chances!

As prioritized by the President, “we’re just at the beginning of this process, and we need to make sure that we stay with it.” (htt4)

For many of us we are far from the beginning; we have poured out sweat, blood, and tears to get to where we are today playing tremendous roles in our justice system. And although we still have a long way to go, we will not give up or lose heart. We must stay active and aware of what is being done and continue our fight for fair, supportive, and rehabilitative policies and practices that promote healthy families and thriving communities. 

By: Abry Elmassian, Intern

Time for Change Foundation

Obama: ‘Now is the moment’ for police to make changes

WASHINGTON >> President Barack Obama said Monday the deaths of unarmed black men in Missouri and New York show that law enforcement needs to change practices to build trust in minority communities, as a White House task force called for independent investigations when police use deadly force.

The president said last year’s deaths of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Mo., and Eric Garner in New York City exposed “deep rooted frustration in many communities of color around the need for fair and just law enforcement.” He said a policing task force that he appointed found it’s important for law enforcement to improve training, data collection and cooperation with the communities they cover.

“The moment is now for us to make these changes,” Obama said from the White House during a meeting with members of the task force, who worked for three months to develop the recommendations. “We have a great opportunity coming out of some great conflict and tragedy to really transform how we think about community law enforcement relations so that everybody feels safer and our law enforcement officers feel — rather than being embattled — feel fully supported. We need to seize that opportunity.”

The task force made 63 recommendations after holding seven public hearings across the country that included testimony from more than 100 people. The panel also met with leaders of groups advocating for the rights of blacks, Hispanics, Asians, veterans, gays, the disabled and others.

Obama said the task force found the need for more police training to reduce bias and help officers deal with stressful situations. He recognized a particularly controversial recommendation would be the need for independent investigations in fatal police shootings.

“The importance of making sure that there’s a sense of accountability when in fact law enforcement is involved in a deadly shooting is something that I think communities across the board are going to be considering,” Obama said.

Specifically, the task force recommended external independent criminal investigations and review by outside prosecutors when police use force that results in death or anyone dies in police custody, instead of the internal investigations that are the policy of some law enforcement agencies. The task force suggested either a multi-agency probe involving state and local investigators, referring an investigation to neighboring jurisdictions or the next higher level of government. “But in order to restore and maintain trust, this independence is crucial,” the report said.

Bill Johnson, the executive director of the National Association of Police Organizations, said an outside investigation of a police-involved shooting may make sense in limited circumstances when a police department has few resources. But in the vast majority of cases, he said, it is unnecessary and perhaps even counterproductive.

“I think it helps to drive a wedge between a local police department and the community it serves, which is exactly contrary to what the intent of this police task force was supposed to be,” said Johnson, whose organization is an umbrella group of police unions. “I think it sends a message that your local police can’t be trusted.”

The task force echoed calls from officials including Attorney General Eric Holder and FBI Director James Comey for more complete record-keeping about the numbers of police-involved shootings across the country. Such data is currently reported by local law enforcement on a voluntary basis, and there is no central or reliable repository for those statistics.

“There’s no reason for us not to have this data available,” said Philadelphia Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey, a task force co-chair, who said he was surprised to learn that there were no reliable records kept. “Now that we know that this does not exist, it is our responsibility to do everything we can to develop that information.”

Ramsey also pointed out that the task force recommended decoupling immigration from local law enforcement to help improve police relationship with immigrant communities where residents may fear calling for help if they or someone in their family is in the country illegally. He said information on immigrant felons would remain available under the panel’s recommendations.

Obama earlier had called for Congress to help fund the purchase of 50,000 body cameras for police to wear and record their interactions with the public. But the task force found that the cameras raise extraordinarily complex legal and privacy issues.

“There’s been a lot of talk about body cameras as a silver bullet or a solution,” Obama said. “I think the task force concluded that there is a role for technology to play in building additional trust and accountability but it’s not a panacea. It has to be embedded in a broader change in culture and a legal framework that ensures that people’s privacy is respected.”

Laurie Robinson, a professor at George Mason University and co-chair of the task force, told reporters the type of community-police relations envisioned by the report does not happen quickly.

“It takes time, it takes relationship-building and it doesn’t happen overnight,” she said.

The President Proposes to Make Community College Free for Responsible Students for 2 Years

David Hudson

January 08, 2015 
06:16 PM EST

This month, the President unveiled a new proposal: Make two years of community college free for responsible students across America.

In our growing global economy, Americans need to have more knowledge and more skills to compete -- by 2020, an estimated 35 percent of job openings will require at least a bachelor's degree, and 30 percent will require some college or an associate's degree. Students should be able to get the knowledge and the skills they need without taking on decades' worth of student debt.

The numbers:

If all 50 states choose to implement the President's new community college proposal, it could:
Save a full-time community college student $3,800 in tuition per year on average
Benefit roughly 9 million students each year

Under President Obama's new proposal, students would be able to earn the first half of a bachelor's degree, or earn the technical skills needed in the workforce -- all at no cost to them.

The requirements:

What students have to do: Students must attend community college at least half-time, maintain a 2.5 GPA, and make steady progress toward completing their program.
What community colleges have to do: Community colleges will be expected to offer programs that are either 1) academic programs that fully transfer credits to local public four-year colleges and universities, or 2) occupational training programs with high graduation rates and lead to in-demand degrees and certificates. Community colleges must also adopt promising and evidence-based institutional reforms to improve student outcomes.
What the federal government has to do: Federal funding will cover three-quarters of the average cost of community college. Participating states will be expected to contribute the remaining funds necessary to eliminate the tuition for eligible students.

Expanding technical training programs:

President Obama also proposed the new American Technical Training Fund, which will expand innovative, high-quality technical training programs across the country. Specifically, the fund will award programs that:

• Have strong employer partnerships and include work-based learning opportunities
• Provide accelerated training
• Accommodate part-time work

Read the full fact sheet of the President's proposal. 

via: http://www.whitehouse.gov/blog/2015/01/08/president-proposes-make-community-college-free-responsible-students-2-years

White House announces college-campus sexual assault awareness campaign

President Barack Obama and Vice President Joe Biden announced a sexual assault awareness campaign Friday that aims to promote bystander education on college campuses and engage more men in preventing sexual violence.

Components of the campaign, called “It’s On Us,” include tips on ending sexual assault and victim-blaming as well as an online pledge to not stand by in situations that may lead to sexual assault. Additionally, student leaders at college campuses nationwide, including UC Berkeley, and organizations such as the NCAA and Viacom have publicly partnered with the campaign.

“It’s On Us” represents an effort to facilitate change around the culture of sexual assault, according to UC Berkeley senior Sofie Karasek, a sexual assault survivor who co-founded End Rape on Campus, a survivor advocacy organization.

“They are intentionally trying to change the culture of men accepting that other men commit sexual violence,” Karasek said. “What’s different about this campaign is that it’s so much more comprehensive.”

The campaign utilizes a variety of social media to promote awareness: those who have taken the online pledge can change their Facebook profile pictures to support the campaign, and a public service announcement featuring celebrities was released Thursday. The NCAA plans to show the PSA at its championship events and publicize the campaign on social media.

The campaign’s focus on education signals a positive shift in treating sexual assault prevention as a collective effort, said Kevin Sabo, director of legislative affairs in the ASUC external affairs vice president’s office.

ASUC Student Advocate Rishi Ahuja called the campaign the “philosophical framework” of a new approach to sexual assault prevention.

Additionally, Ahuja, whose role on campus includes providing resources for sexual assault survivors, said the decision to target men was significant.

“When you’re trying to make a culture shift,” Ahuja said, “you have to utilize every mechanism you have to get the word out.”

UC Berkeley junior Meghan Warner, chair of the ASUC Sexual Assault Commission, lauded the campaign’s efforts to shift the dialogue from victim-blaming to a focus on active bystandership.

Although she said the ASUC will look to incorporate aspects and ideas of “It’s On Us,” focusing on the Cal Consent Campaign and other existing student activism on campus comes first.

“I am a very big proponent of student activism,” Warner said. “Not that there’s anything wrong with this campaign, but why would we take government activism when we already have this student activism that’s already in existence?”

According to UC spokesperson Brooke Converse, the university is still deciding how to engage in “It’s On Us” and integrate it alongside systemwide efforts such as UConsent, the University of California Student Association’s sexual assault awareness campaign.

Karasek applauded the campaign’s partnership with companies such as Electronic Arts, a video game developer that has made games such as the “Sims” and “Battlefield.” The company agreed to incorporate “It’s On Us” into the promotion of its brand, taking a step in reaching out to a male-dominated culture that might lack awareness of sexual assault, according to Karasek.

Along with the campaign announcement, a White House task force posted three documents on its website that provide sample language and recommendations for campus policy surrounding sexual assault.

The task force, created in January, released a report in April about ways for colleges and universities to respond to and reduce cases of sexual assault.

UC Berkeley, which is currently under investigation by the federal government for possible violations of federal law regarding the handling of sexual violence cases, is taking its own steps toward sexual assault awareness. The campus released a resource website for survivors in April and revamped sexual assault prevention training for incoming students.

At Wednesday’s UC Board of Regents meeting, Chancellor Nicholas Dirks announced that those who do not complete the mandatory orientation on sexual violence — numbering about 500 students — will have their registration blocked.

According to Ahuja, the ASUC Student Advocate’s Office just finished the hiring process for a confidential survivor advocate, who will help the campus coordinate a student-focused response to sexual assault.

Taking the conversation to the national level, though, ultimately leads to a greater scale of awareness, Sabo said.

“I’m excited that there’s now a national dialogue talking about what we can all do — not just women, but people of all gender identities,” Warner said.

Contact Katy Abbott at kabbott@dailycal.org and follow her on Twitter @katyeabbott.

via: http://www.dailycal.org/2014/09/19/white-house-announces-campus-sexual-assault-awareness-campaign/

Student loan deal to get Obama's signature Friday

By Ricardo Lopez

August 9, 2013, 8:03 a.m.

It took an entire summer of wrangling, but students heading to college this fall won't see dramatic student loan interest rate hikes once President Obama signs a deal on the matter, a move expected Friday.

About 11 million college students are expected to benefit from the legislation, which brings interest rates near what they were before a temporary extension expired in June.

Undergraduates will now be able to borrow at a 3.9% rate for subsidized and unsubsidized loans, according to legislation that was negotiated in July.

The previous rate for undergraduate borrowers was 3.4%.

Workers beware: Top cities with falling wages

Graduate students will be able to borrow at 5.4%; parents at 6.4%. But rates are expected to edge higher as they are tied to financial markets. The lower interest rates are in place because the government can borrow more cheaply now, but once the economy improves, borrowers can expect to see rates rise.

There is a cap, however. Interest rates for undergraduates cannot go higher than 8.25%, for instance. Congressional Budget Office estimates show that those higher rates are not expected to be reached any time in the next decade.

The bill, which Obama is expected to sign Friday, was approved by the Senate Aug. 1 -- two months after the previous extension expired and caused interest rates to double to 6.8%.
 
Student loan debt has ballooned in the last decade as more people went to school during the recession. There is now between $902 billion and $1 trillion in total outstanding student loan debt in the U.S, according to Federal Reserve Bank of New York and Consumer Finance Protection Bureau estimates.

via: http://www.latimes.com/business/money/la-fi-mo-obama-student-loan-deal-20130809,0,6067318.story

California farmers eager for immigration reform

At Chandler Farms, just outside of Selma in the San Joaquin Valley, about three dozen workers are needed each season to pick acres of delicate peaches, plums, nectarines and citrus.

In recent years, however, owners Carol and Bill Chandler have struggled to find laborers as immigration from Mexicohas slowed to a near standstill.

"When the crops are ripe, we need a reliable labor force," she said. "That's what we're worried about going forward."

The Chandlers are among the state's farmers who welcomed a move this week by Congress to make immigration reform a legislative priority this year.

But the promised changes may not be enough to solve their chronic labor problems, which have been exacerbated by deportations, a stronger Mexican economy and, in good times, the lure of construction jobs.

On Monday, a group of Republican and Democratic senators unveiled a blueprint that aims to grant legal status to an estimated 11 million illegal immigrants in the country.

President Obama also joined the fray Tuesday, urging Congress to move legislation along quickly this year.

Immigration reform has been a rallying cry among farm groups in California and around the country for years.

According to data from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, roughly half of all hired crop farmworkers are in the country illegally. Of all workers, 7 of 10 are from Mexico, a country that has provided a steady supply of farm laborers to California since the middle of the last century.

With immigration reform back on the table this year, California farm groups are fiercely lobbying to make sure proposed legislation includes provisions for their workers.

There have been false starts in the past, including efforts by former President George W. Bush, who sought to create a guest worker program and overhaul immigration laws during his administration.

But the latest push to tackle the highly politicized issue is "one of the best signs we've seen in a long time," said Ken Barbic, senior director of government affairs for Western Growers in Irvine, a trade group that represents farmers in California and Arizona.

If Congress passes legislation, "the folks who are currently working here with false documents, it takes them out of the shadows," Barbic said.

Barbic added that immigration reform would remove legal liabilities for employers who hire illegal immigrants.

Diego Olagaray, 51, who grows 750 acres of wine grapes in Lodi, just north of Stockton, said that granting legal status to the state's agricultural workers ensures that both farm hands and employers would be able to breathe a little easier.

"Some of these workers go back to Mexico on a regular basis," Olagaray said. When they travel, "they're fearful of something happening to them. With amnesty, it'll make them feel more comfortable. They'll also feel that they're part of society.… And it will make it easier for employers as well."

Olagaray said that if immigration isn't resolved soon, labor shortages will become more pronounced. Last spring, he said he had trouble filling his usual crew to work on his vineyard, and other growers saw ripe crops languish in the fields.

Still, any policy effort may do little to solve the labor shortage for California farmers, said Edward Taylor, a professor of agriculture and resource economics at UC Davis.

Such shortages predate the recession. During boom times, contractors persuaded many workers in the fields to work in construction jobs, according to farmers and Taylor, who recently co-wrote a study that examined the decline in the number of farmworkers from Mexico.

A key finding in Taylor's study was that more immigrants were staying home to work on Mexico's farms. They were taking advantage of a strengthening Mexican economy and a growing middle class that ramped up agricultural production.

Now, American farmers find themselves competing for a dwindling supply of workers.

"Immigration policy stops being a solution if you can't find workers," Taylor said.

Farmers in California have already begun adapting to the drying supply of laborers.

Growers, for instance, have swapped out labor-intensive crops such as tomatoes and peaches for less labor intensive ones such as tree nuts.

Almonds, which were the second-most valuable crop in California in 2011, were ranked No. 11 in 2000. Sales of almonds have skyrocketed from $682,000 to $3.9 billion during that time period, according to the California Department of Food and Agriculture.

Technology is also playing a role. Using robots that shake loose crops from trees, farmers have been able to cut back on labor costs.

Paul Wenger, president of the California Farm Bureau Federation, said farmers are well-aware that their industry is changing.

And although he agrees that a dwindling labor supply will cause problems further down the line, he said Congress should still pass immigration reform that will allow farmers to hire legal farmworkers.

"Within the next two decades, we're going to have a problem. A domestic workforce will not want to work in the fields," he said. "It's going to be a problem. But that still doesn't mean we shouldn't fix the problems that exist today."

via LA Times