BAIRC hosts monthly brown bag coalition meetings. We will be meeting in different cities in the Bay Area, including Oakland, San Francisco, San Jose, San Rafael and other cities.

Join us as we discuss policy updates; strategize responses to emerging advocacy issues; network with a broad base of immigrant advocates, service providers and grassroots organizers; build our skills through training; and make announcements about upcoming events and actions. Click here for the notes of our last meeting.

What Non Profit Organizations Need to
Know about Electoral Work and an
Update on State Initiatives for the June Primary Elections
Tuesday, April 22
12:00 - 2:00 PM
Location TBD

Notes from March Coalition Meeting
Helpful materials:
CAP state budget timeline
budget fact sheet
On Wednesday, March 26, more than 20 individuals gathered at the Asian Resource Center to discuss and learn about the state budget deficit of $14 billion and to understand and share how these cuts will impact them and their communities personally.

We learned that education and Medi-Cal are taking the hardest hits and that low-income communities of color and immigrants will be disproportionately carrying the burden for closing the $14 billion gap. These communities are more likely to be impacted by more than one cut to programs or services.

In the Bay Area, Alameda County is the county to be hit the hardest by CalWORKs and SSI/SSP reductions. Long-term impact on communities will be especially evident in the children of poor families who will experience cuts in education, including a reduction in free and reduced cost breakfast and lunch, and a reduction to health access through the Medi-Cal cuts being proposed.

Our presenters, who included Armida Sawan from the California Partnership, Cary Sanders from the California Immigrant Policy Center, Joel Ramos from the Transportation and Land Use Coalition and Jessica Rotthaar from Health Access, shared how difficult it is to increase revenue and arrive at a balanced solution to fill the budget gap, due in part to partisan politics. For example, in February, Assembly Republicans blocked a measure that would have raised $26 million to help reduce the deficit by requiring individuals who purchase luxury items such as yachts or airplanes to pay sales tax.

The California Partnership will be organizing an action on Tax Day, Tuesday, April 15 from 4:00 - 6:00 pm at the Walnut Creek BART station. Why Walnut Creek?!?!? Assemblymember Guy Houston (R) represents that area and is a key vote for a balanced approach - one with cuts AND increased revenue - for closing the budget deficit. For more information, contact Armida Sawan or Jessica Rotthaar.

For more information on the budget and information about budget workshops by Californians United for a Responsible Budget.

Elections Debrief [word document]
BAIRC and the Applied Resource Center hosted an elections debrief on Friday, February 22. Many thanks to the individuals who joined us for that afternoon’s discussion on what was and what could be. What follows is a summary of our discussion and what we collectively believe Super Tuesday meant to our communities and the movement.

On Tuesday, February 5th, California joined 23 other states for what was called “Super Tuesday” the largest primary elections in the country. It was the largest due to the number of states that participated. In California, we experienced the highest voter turnout in history.  According to the California Secretary of State’s website, 8.7 million Californians participated in Super Tuesday; a turnout of 55.5%.

The youth vote and that of people of color proved critical. According to Project Vote, California Latinos set a record for voter turnout by increasing their turnout by 81%.  While Latinos make up 22% of the voting eligible population in California, they represented 29% of total voter turnout.   The youth vote –voters under the age of 30 – increased their turnout by 73% in California.

A large number of new citizens voted in February; studies show that naturalized citizens have a higher likelihood to remain civically active, which is promising given the large numbers of immigrants who are currently waiting to become naturalized citizens and the increase in organizations working to mobilize this particular community to the polls.

Traditionally, youth, low income communities of color and immigrants vote at a much lower rate compared to whites and are not fully represented in the electorate. The increase in voter participation is exciting and a reflection of the work by community based organizations to register, educate and mobilize disenfranchised communities.

Other factors helping with turnout: The economy and continuing war in Iraq undoubtedly motivated people to polls, along with the diversity of candidates. For the first time in US history a woman and an African American man stand a chance to be elected president. Communities of color usually have higher turnout levels when they identify with a candidate. 

Filipinos for Affirmative Action (FAA) has worked to increase the Filipino vote for years and were surprised to learn about the high turnout during their GOTV phone banking with a large number of community members already having voted. Further, FAA’s volunteer base was all youth – some of whom were too young to vote – a reflection of the energy felt statewide.

We do not expect the same level of participation in June, even though several local initiatives will need the attention of immigrants, low income communities of color and youth. Statewide there are two competing eminent domain/renter rights initiatives and voters will be asked to choose party candidates – another primary - for state and national seats.

Organizations can advance a progressive, social justice movement by using the elections as one strategy to build power in our communities. Organizations such as the Mobilize the Immigrant Vote Campaign and the California Alliance are two organizations promoting movement building models for electoral work. One reason movement building models are so important is that they help to cultivate a culture of political engagement within our communities that ensures consistent participation regardless of the elections. This means parents are involved in their child’s school, in the neighborhood association, etc.

Building power is the end goal and leadership development is key to developing future leaders, possibly candidates, that understand our particular interests and more importantly, are accountable to our communities.

The February elections were exciting and brought in new resources to California. We may have experienced what every election year could be like for our communities – and non election years, too. Let’s continue working to ensure new leadership, greater accountability and even more power for our communities.

“’Super Tuesday’ Exit Poll Findings for Five States show Young, African American, and Latino Voters Surging”.  Project Vote, 2/5/2008 (http://projectvote.org/fileadmin/ProjectVote/Blog_docs/Project_Vote_Super_Tuesday_Analysis.pdf)

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