| 43-0! |
| March 30, 2012 |
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| By a vote of 43 to 0, the Georgia State Senate passed the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act on Tuesday. The Act helps keep families from losing their heir property, or land passed down through generations without a valid will. And the Georgia State House passed the Act 166 to 0 last month. That makes Georgia the first state in the South to pass a uniform partition law. Comparable efforts are under way in Alabama, Louisiana and South Carolina. |
| Why I'm Proud |
| March 23, 2012 |
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| Making sure the national HIV/AIDS strategy works. Improving services for those recovering from addiction. Creating a film to build support for summer food programs for hungry children. Protecting consumers who send money abroad. These are just a few of the Appleseed networkʹs recent accomplishments. As immediate past chair of the national office of Appleseedʹs Board of Directors, Iʹve had the privilege to see much of this work take place during my term. Iʹm so proud of Appleseed and our Centersʹ work and wanted to share a sampling of recent articles and clips that feature it. |
| Voting While Blindfolded |
| March 15, 2012 |
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| We often see justice depicted as a woman with a blindfold over her eyes to signal impartiality to the identity of litigants. But in Illinois, where judges are elected, all too many voters go into the voting booth blindfolded. Voters donʹt know anything about the candidates theyʹre voting for or what biases each candidate may have. Chicago Appleseed Fund for Justice is removing these blindfolds. Chicago Appleseed encourages voters of Cook County to go to VoteForJudges.org to learn about the judicial candidates before voting in the 2012 primary election next Tuesday, March 20. |
| Not Just About History |
| March 9, 2012 |
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| "So long as I do not firmly and irrevocably possess the right to vote I do not possess myself. I cannot make up my mind--it is made up for me," said Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Just this week, our Nebraska and Alabama Appleseed Centers marched for voting rights and immigrant rights. Labor, civil rights and immigrant rights groups joined in a march from Selma to Montgomery to reenact the 1965 Voting Rights March. The goal was not only to commemorate the historic 1965 march. They marched to call attention to voter suppression laws in Alabama and nationwide, as well as to Alabama's anti-immigration law, HB 56. |
| 166‐0! |
| February 24, 2012 |
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| When Appleseed takes on a project, we stick with it. Weʹve been helping families keep their family property for more than five years, and last week marks a huge milestone: The Georgia State House of Representatives unanimously passed HB 744, the Uniform Partition of Heirs Property Act. |
| CFPB Director Cordray Thanks Appleseed |
| February 17, 2012 |
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| "Payday lending is destructive to our fundamental core values and yet we allow this practice to continue," said Alabama Appleseed Legal Director Shay Farley at a recent Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) roundtable discussion and field hearing. Payday loans are small cash advances with high interest rates that must be paid back in a few weeks. But as consumers accumulate interest and fees, they often need to take out a second loan to pay off the first and end up deeply buried in debt. These loans directly cause people who are on the verge of poverty to fall into poverty. |
| Uncounted and Underserved: Unaccompanied Homeless Youth |
| February 15, 2012 |
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| Unaccompanied homeless youth are overlooked and underserved--they face barriers to education, housing and healthcare services and are at a greater risk of death and arrest than other young people. They often resort to bartering sex acts to secure food, clothing and shelter because they have limited opportunities to earn money legally. True to our model of researching and advocating on behalf of those who lack genuine access to justice and opportunity, this week, Appleseed and Massachusetts Appleseed Center for Law and Justice is releasing an issue brief that examines why capturing the plight of these youth is so difficult. |
| Progress on Consumer Debt Issues |
| February 3, 2012 |
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| Many of the justice issues regarding mortgages are equally present in the consumer debt arena. Families struggling to save their homes and credit often find themselves in court without representation by counsel‐‐and sometimes they donʹt belong in court at all. On January 30, the Federal Trade Commission announced a $2.5 million fine against one of the largest debt buyers in the country. Asset Acceptance was fined for using deceptive practices to collect debts that are too old to be collected legally. In addition, some of the biggest credit card companies are rethinking their processes and calling for a moratorium on some of their collection efforts |
| Sparking Dialogue in Resource Equity |
| January 20, 2012 |
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| "It's time for local school boards to use their power to create high-quality learning opportunities for all students--particularly minority students, who now represent the majority of U.S. newborns," Appleseed Executive Director Betsy Cavendish wrote in an op-ed this week. "True, 37 states spend less per pupil today than they did the previous school year, but school boards can't simply blame their state capitols for spending less on districts with fewer resources. Instead, they must re-prioritize how they use their considerable resources and authority." |
| Appleseed Meets with CFPB Director Richard Cordray |
| January 13, 2012 |
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| Last week, in a recess appointment, President Obama appointed former Ohio Attorney General Richard Cordray to head the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB). This week, Appleseed met with Director Cordray to alert him to the importance of the pending rule on remittances that CFPB is expected to issue this month. Each year, immigrants send billions of dollars of remittance payments home from the U.S., and both Appleseed and Congress believe that these remittance senders need to be treated fairly. With more transparency, the cost to send money home could decrease, and the difference matters. Even a $10 difference when sending $300 home could translate to a weekʹs worth of food for an impoverished mother or child. Remittances are critical to developing countries, too: they dwarf charitable aid and provide nearly three times the funds of government foreign aid. |
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