SAVE THE DATE for Public Advocates’ 39^th Anniversary Dinner!
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WEDNESDAY, APRIL 28, 2010



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Become a sponsor!  Revisit memories of Public Advocates' past events.

Here’s an update on the progress of the powerful step forward in our transit justice work.

Background: After investigating our civil rights complaint, the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) has not only lambasted Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) for cutting corners on meeting civil rights requirements, but has actually halted $70M in federal stimulus funds that MTC allocated to the controversial Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) project. This strong FTA action demonstrates that the Obama Administration is “open for business” when it comes to civil rights.

**See below for the full story. 

At their January 27th meeting, MTC commissioners decided to continue rolling the dice and risk losing $70 million in stimulus funds for the Bay Area. They voted 11-5 to give BART until February 16, 2010 to get FTA approval for a Title VI corrective action plan “subject to a review by MTC of this action plan at a special MTC meeting to take place on February 17, 2010.”
We continue to stand by a basic principle: transit stimulus projects are not shovel-ready until they are fair.

Jamienne S. Studley, President

Governor's Budget Imperils Federal Stimulus & RTTT Funds
Community Groups and Education Community Urge Duncan to Require California to Meet Minimum Education Spending Requirements

February 8, 2010 — The State of California is manipulating numbers in its attempts to qualify for federal stimulus and Race To The Top (RTTT) funding to avoid having to spend more on public education, according to a letter sent to Education Secretary Arne Duncan today by a coalition of community groups.

press release     letter

In Landmark Action, Federal Transit Administration Withholds Stimulus Funds from Bay Area Rapid Transit District for Cutting Corners on Civil Rights
Advocates Hail Decision Requiring BART to Evaluate Impacts of Controversial Transit Project on Low-Income and Minority Communities

January 25, 2010 — Today at 1:00pm EST, civil rights advocates, transportation equity experts and local leaders held a telephonic press conference to discuss the decision by the Federal Transit Administration (FTA), to withhold $70 million in stimulus funds from the Bay Area Rapid Transit (BART) agency. The FTA action was based on BART’s disregard of federal civil rights obligations. This marks the first time the Obama Administration has held back stimulus funds based on non-compliance with Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, which prohibits discrimination by recipients of federal funds.

National Transit Justice Press Conference (audio)     speakers and resources     speaker quotes     press release

Obama Administration Puts Hold on BART Stimulus Funds
Say MTC and BART Put $70M at Risk Because of Failure to Follow Rules on Civil Rights

January 20, 2010 — In a major victory for Bay Area transit riders and workers the Federal Transportation Administration (FTA) has informed BART and the Metropolitan Transportation Commission (MTC) that the agencies have put at risk $70 million in stimulus funding currently allocated to the controversial Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) project. The action, the first of its kind in the nation, comes as a result of a complaint filed last Fall by nonprofit law firm Public Advocates Inc. on behalf of Urban Habitat, TransForm and Genesis, charging BART with failing to comply with federal civil rights obligations

press release     FTA Letter to MTC     MTC Certification     Plan for reallocation     Timeline
BART'S response to FTA letter    Our Statement on BART Response to FTA    Our Letter to MTC Commissioners
Our letter to BART 1.22.10     Our letter to BART 1.25.10   Press         

November 12, 2009 — The Federal Transit Administration (FTA) Office of Civil Rights will conduct an on-site compliance review of BART’s entire Title VI program “within the next several months,” based in part on a complaint filed by transit policy experts and community advocacy groups. That complaint charged that in the rush to build the controversial Oakland Airport Connector (OAC), BART officials were evading well-established civil rights obligations.   
press release    FTA letter   

As covered on KALW Radio, in Contra Costa Times, Oakland North and Living in the O.

October 12, 2009 — The Federal Transit Administration has assigned an investigator to our civil rights complaint about BART’s Oakland Airport Connector project. The investigation will be completed within 180 days, starting October 1.    FTA letter

September 3, 2009 — Entering a new phase in BART's controversial Oakland Airport Connector (OAC) project, Bay Area transit policy experts and community advocacy groups have filed a Title VI Civil Rights administrative complaint with the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) charging BART with failing to comply with federal civil rights obligations.

press release   complaint    more about our transportation work

USDA and School Districts “Flunking Lunch" Says New Report
Misused Subsidies, Lunch Line Segregation Undermine School Lunch Program

December 15, 2009 — The fundamental goals of the National School Lunch Program (NSLP) to ensure healthy meals are offered to all students regardless of means are being undermined in schools across the nation, according to a new report by Campaign for Better Nutrition. Public Advocates provided legal analysis for the report.

“Segregating lunch lines for subsidized meals can be as damning as making these kids walk around with a scarlet “P” for poor,” said John Affeldt, Public Advocates Managing Attorney. “Congress intended the opposite—to preserve the anonymity of low-income children who participate in the school lunch program and to safeguard them from the stigma of poverty.”

press release     full report

Statement in Support of ACORN

November 23, 2009 — Public Advocates believes that real change and real justice only happen when disadvantaged and excluded communities organize, speak out together, and build their own power. That’s why we are proud to have worked for years with California ACORN as partners, friends, and lawyers.

read the statement

Update: NCLB “Highly Qualified Teacher” Case Under Review for Rehearing

October 20, 2009 — The Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals is considering plaintiffs’ request to reverse its decision in Renee v. Duncan. A July 23, 2009, 2-1 ruling in that case left in place a U.S. Department of Education regulation defining novices still in training as “highly qualified” teachers under the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). There are more than 10,000 such teachers in California (where they are known as interns) and 100,000 nationwide considered “highly qualified” by the Department despite not having completed training.   

media advisory    more about this case

AB 8 Veto

October 14, 2009 — Education advocates today decried Governor Schwarzenegger's decision to veto Assembly Education Committee Chair Julia Brownley's bill Assembly Bill 8 (AB 8), pointing to it as yet another example of refusal by the Governor to move forward on a long overdue overhaul of California's archaic and highly dysfunctional school funding system.    AB8VetoResponse   letter to the editor

October 8, 2009 — “It’s long past time for the governor to live up to his pledge to reform how we fund education,” said Liz Guillen, Public Advocates Director of Legislative & Community Affairs in advocating for Assembly Bill 8 (AB 8), legislation by Assembly Member Julia Brownley (D-Santa Monica) requiring a working group to recommend a new school finance structure by December 2010. The bill is currently sitting on the governor’s desk along with some 700 others waiting for his signature. more

Read the bill    letter of support    Bownley press release   Huffington Blog Post
New America Media Commentary   more about our education work

OP ED: School Matters: Obama’s Chance to Spark Real School Funding Reform

October 7, 2009 — Op-Ed by Public Advocates Staff Attorney Tara Kini: President Barack Obama and Secretary of Education Arne Duncan have an unprecedented opportunity to lead real school funding reform through the federal stimulus package. They can encourage states like California to fund public schools
adequately and equitably. The question is, will they?

op ed    our comments on the Race to the Top proposal    more about our education work

Federal Complaint Charges School District with Discrimination
Says Service Cuts Harm English Language Learner Students

October 6, 2009 — The Centinela Valley Union High School District in Lawndale, California has unlawfully discriminated against its English Language Learner (ELL) students, according to a complaint filed today with the U.S. Department of Education by nonprofit law firm and advocacy group Public Advocates Inc.

press release    complaint    more about our education equity work

Court Strikes Down Raid of $1 Billion in Transit Funding

October 2, 2009 — The California Supreme Court has left intact a lower court's ruling that the state illegally raided money intended for local public transit projects.

As covered in a Los Angeles Times Editorial, in the San Francisco Chronicle,
in the Mercury News, and in the Blog post by Richard Marcantonio

On June 30, 2009 the California Court of Appeal, Third District, held that $1 billion in "spillover" gas tax revenues dedicated to public transportation by Proposition 116 may not be diverted by the California Legislature to the General Fund. This ruling is a significant victory for all Californians, and especially for low-income communities where transit services have been scaled back as a result, in part, of the misappropriation of funds that has now been found illegal.

opinion    amicus brief    more about this case

Evidence Confirms Antioch Targeted Black Section 8 Families

September 11, 2009 — A new expert report in Williams v. Antioch demonstrates that the City of Antioch specifically targeted Section 8 households comprised of African Americans. The findings of nationally renowned criminologist Barry Krisberg, Ph.D., the President of the National Council on Crime and Delinquency, validate the underlying claims of our lawsuit, and confirm Public Advocates' original analysis.

report    more about Williams v. Antioch

Good News in Pleasanton Affordable Housing Case

As covered by the Pleasanton Weekly

August 28, 2009 — An Alameda County Superior Court judge yesterday rejected a bid by the city of Pleasanton to dismiss legal challenges by an affordable housing coalition and the state of California to the city's 1996 voter-mandated housing cap.

The ruling by Judge Frank Roesch means that the three year old suit by Urban Habitat, recently joined by Atty. Gen. Jerry Brown, will move forward to trial later this year.

Also in the Contra Costa Times

August 27, 2009 — "Now we are at the point where all the road blocks are out of the way," said Richard Marcantonio, an attorney for Public Advocates Inc. a nonprofit representing Urban Habitat. "We now are at the point where the court can rule whether the housing cap is illegal."

A ruling on our claim that the housing cap is illegal is expected late this year.  Zoning policies like the housing cap not only exclude low-income families from suburban opportunities near low-wage jobs, but also fuel global climate change as low-wage workers drive long distances to those jobs, with harm to the regional economy as well.

more on Urban Habitat v. City of Pleasanton

Parisa Fatehi to Participate in Clorox/Stanford Law School/Equal Justice Works Panel

On February 19, 2010, Clorox General Counsel Laura Stein, Stanford Law School Associate Dean Diane Chin, and Equal Justice Works Fellow Parisa Fatehi will hold an evening of conversation and more as Equal Justice Works brings together some of the Bay Area's leading attorneys and the next generation of public interest lawyers.

details and registration

Studley to Participant in "Stimulating Equity? The Impact of the Federal Stimulus Act on Educational Opportunity"

February 8 - 9, 2010 Teachers College, Columbia University will hold the first major national forum to analyze,
in-depth, the impact of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act on educational equity and on educational opportunity. 

agenda

Studley Named to Prestigious National Committee

December 21, 2009— President and CEO Jamienne Studley has been named by Secretary of Education Arne Duncan to the National Advisory Committee on Institutional Quality and Integrity (NACIQI). The Committee advises the Secretary on matters related to accreditation, including decisions to recognize accrediting organizations.
 
release

Public Advocates' Sacramento Office Has Moved

The Public Advocates Sacramento office has moved to a new suite within the same building. Please send all mail to: 1225 Eighth Street, Suite 210, Sacramento, CA 95814. The phone and fax numbers remain the same: 916/442-3385(o), 916/442-3601(f).