- Ban abusive credit card industry practices. Unfair and abusive credit card policies – such as hidden and high-cost fees, changing contract terms, mandatory arbitration, and double-billing on purchases made abroad – strip wealth from Latino families. These policies create obstacles for many Latino consumers trying to accumulate savings and get out of debt.
- Reauthorize the Workforce Investment Act (WIA). WIA provides funding for integrated training programs that combine training and English acquisition which help Latinos gain meaningful employment. Congress should also eliminate the rigid sequential servicing structure under WIA which negatively impacts Latinos.
- Protect the rights of immigrant workers. Oppose electronic employer verification programs (like E-Verify) which build on flawed enforcement-only immigration policy and undermine the rights of all workers.
- Reauthorize and improve the No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) in 2008. NCLB is intended to help Latino and ELL students improve their academic achievement levels. While Latino students have shown some progress, it is clear that the legislation has not fulfilled its promise. We urge Congress to reauthorize NCLB now with provisions to ensure that schools, teachers, and parents have the tools necessary to help ELL and Latino students close the achievement gap.
- Increase supports for English language learners in NCLB reauthorization. The purpose ofTitle III of NCLB is to ensure that ELL children are successful in school. As part of the reauthorization to improve NCLB, we urge Congress to include the “Providing Resources to Improve Dual-Language Education Act of 2007” (PRIDE Act) (H.R. 3842), which would provide grants to local education agencies and early childhood education programs to demonstrate effective implementation and evaluation of a high-quality dual-language programs.
Push for Comprehensive Immigration Reform
- Creating a path to citizenship for current undocumented workers
- Reducing family backlogs
- Creating legal channels for future immigrant workers
- Protecting American and immigrant workers
- Ensuring that enforcement is both effective and conducted in a manner consistent with America’s laws and values
- Urge your representative to vote “Yes” on immigration reform legislation that addresses the five principles mentioned above, including the “DREAM Act” and “AgJOBS.”
- Urge your representative to vote “No” on any proposals that focus only on the enforcement side of immigration. These policies are tantamount to an attempt to deport all 12 million undocumented immigrants; these proposals do little to address the immigration issue effectively, and they do great harm to our communities
Keep Youth Out of Trouble and Maintain Safe Communities
Over the last decade, numerous pieces of legislation have been passed to address youth violence, including gang activity. Ironically, this has occurred at a time when youth violence has already been decreasing and such efforts have had an unfair and disproportionate impact on communities of color. While there are various legislative vehicles to deal with youth crime, NCLR supports system responses that take into account the cultural and linguistic needs of youth and provide community-based alternatives to incarceration which have proven to be more effective and less expensive than incarceration. Simultaneously, NCLR has been working to support juvenile justice system accountability and reform of policies, practices, and programs that impact Latino youth.
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Oppose legislation that relies on incarceration as the only way to deter youth crime.
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Support Reauthorization of the Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention Act (JJDPA) of 1974. The JJDPA provides federal standards for safeguarding the care and custody of children and youth involved in the juvenile and criminal justice systems. In 2008, the JJDPA will be reintroduced in the 110th Congress for reauthorization. As advocates, we must ensure that the 2008 JJDPA reauthorization contains provisions that establish equity, fairness, competence, and culturally and linguistically appropriate programs, policies, and practices. These provisions will safely and effectively address the needs of youth of color, and in particular Latino children, while reducing overrepresentation and disparate, harsh, and unfair treatment.
