Good budget news, Haiti update and more

By No Limits on 02/17/2010 @ 02:00 PM

If you are tired, keep going. If you are scared, keep going. If you are hungry, keep going. If you want to taste freedom, keep going.
- Harriet Tubman

SOME GOOD NEWS ABOUT THE BUDGET. SERIOUSLY.

There hasn't been much good news in Washington lately - and we don't just mean the weather! But President Obama's budget, released last week, includes a lot of good news that deserves our attention:

Education: More support for expanded Pell grants, and a new American Graduation Initiative to strengthen community colleges and support working students. The budget supports legislation that has passed the House (waiting on a vote in the Senate) to reform the student loan process by lending directly to students - eliminating billions of dollars in bank subsidies.

Health Care: A major expansion of health centers to provide affordable, high quality primary and preventive care; and increased funding for Title X Family Planning programs, expanding access to contraception, health information and preventive services.

Equal Pay: Increased funding for the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission and the Justice Department's Civil Rights Division to improve compliance, public education and enforcement of the Equal Pay Law.

Caregiving: More Funds for Head Start and Early Head Start, and for the Child Care and Development Fund, providing child care subsidies to 1.6 million children; establishes a State Paid Leave Fund that will provide competitive grants to states to launch paid-leave programs; and new resources to local agencies that provide critical help to seniors and caregivers.

Violence Against Women: An increase of more than twenty percent to support victims of domestic abuse as well as sexual assault; and increased funding for family violence prevention services, battered women's shelters, and for the domestic violence hotline.

Diplomacy and Development: An increase in State Department programs supporting education, economic opportunity, and global health, including investing in women and girls; efforts, that, as Secretary of State Hillary Clinton has said, help build a more secure and safe world. One of our favorites: expansion of the Global Health Initiative, with increased efforts to reduce the mortality of mothers and children under five, avoid unintended pregnancies, and work toward the elimination of devastating tropical diseases.

See what we mean about good news? But remember: making it into the budget is just the first step. It's going to be up to us to make sure these valuable programs get the Congressional support they deserve!

For more information about the 2011 budget, check this analysis by No Limits Vice President for Policy Leecia Eve.

HAITI UPDATE

On January 12, an earthquake fractured Haiti. More than 3.7 million people, the majority women and children, saw their families ripped apart, their homes and communities crushed, and their access to food, water and medical care vanish. More than 230,000 died, including three heroes of the Haitian women's movement, Myriam Merlet, Magalie Marcelin, and Anne Marie Coriolan.

Haitian women, even before the quake, lived in the shadow of sexual violence. UNIFEM reports that more than 70% of Haitian women had been raped and 40% lived with domestic violence. The havoc inflicted by the earthquake puts Haitian women at increased risk for assault, while the quake leveled desperately needed women's clinics and shelters. (In a recent visit, President Bill Clinton met with Marjorie Michel, Minister of Women's Affairs and Women's Rights, and representatives of women's organizations to discuss ways to make women full partners in the emergency planning and reconstruction of Haiti.)

Today, despite heroic efforts, more than 2 million Haitians still do not have reliable access to food. More than 1.1 million people have no shelter at all, not even plastic sheeting for tents; and 700,000, including 63,000 pregnant women, are in desperate need of medical care.

The need is so great. Please click here to contribute to Stand with Haiti - Partners in Health, an organization that has provided health care services in Haiti for over 20 years.

Allida M Black

Chair, No Limits Human Rights Task Force

A VALENTINE WITH A MESSAGE

Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, sent an important Valentine's Day message this year on the unromantic fact that too much of our holiday candy is made with cocoa harvested by children.

More than 3.6 million children are used to produce cocoa, more than half cultivated in Ghana and Côte d'Ivoire. The work is dangerous; many of the children are kept out of school. Weingarten praised Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack for beginning consideration of how to reduce or eliminate the use of child labor in agricultural products imported into the United States.

"Let's ensure that the candy Americans share with loved ones on future Valentine's Days is not spoiled by the bitterness of child labor." Weingarten said. "We ask that you declare... that, next Valentine's Day, you will have a plan to assure the American people that the chocolate marketed in the U.S. has not been produced with cocoa harvested by children."

ENDING VIOLENCE AGAINST WOMEN AROUND THE WORLD

The International Violence Against Women Act (I-VAWA) was introduced in Congress on February 4th, by Senators John Kerry and Barbara Boxer and Representatives Bill Delahunt (D-MA), Ted Poe (R-TX) and Jan Schakowsky (D-IL). It is currently supported by 21 Senators and 27 Representatives, as well as hundreds of non-governmental organizations. The bipartisan bill would authorize the development of a 5-year strategy to "reduce, prevent, and respond to violence against women and girls around the globe," supporting the work of Secretary Clinton and the Obama administration on these issues.

I-VAWA would require the U.S. government to respond to outbreaks of gender-based violence in armed conflict - such as the mass rapes now occurring in the Democratic Republic of Congo - in a timely manner. It would encourage investment in local women's organizations, expanding opportunity and enabling women and girls to live healthier, safer lives. I-VAWA can strengthen our national security by promoting peace and stability abroad.

If you want to support I-VAWA: Send a Message to Congress Today!

AND ABOUT YOUR MESSAGE TO HILLARY

More than 1,800 No Limits members and friends responded to our last newsletter by sending messages to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, congratulating her on her one year anniversary. We had planned to deliver them last week, but then the snow came... If you sent Hillary a personal note, thank you. Your message will be on its way to her soon.

If you haven't sent a note yet: you get a Snow Day! Check our one year report on Hillary's accomplishments here and add your message.

HONORING BLACK HISTORY MONTH

Our opening quote is from a great American, Harriet Tubman. The best known of the "conductors" of the Underground Railroad, Harriet repeatedly risked her life by traveling from the North to the South 19 times to bring more than 300 enslaved African Americans - from infants to the elderly - to freedom.

During the Civil War, and at the request of the Union Army, Harriet served as a spy, nurse, and guide for black troops throughout South Carolina. She planned and helped lead the Combahee River attack, which enabled more than 750 African Americans gain their freedom.

After the Civil War, Harriet Tubman returned to her home in Auburn, New York and continued her work on social issues, including suffrage. She also established a home for elderly and poor African Americans, now known as the Harriet Tubman Home. She died on March 10, 1913 at the age of 93.

For more information about Harriet Tubman, visit www.harriettubman.com

THE LAST WORD

We're projecting that with this additional focus on systems investment and particularly the health care for women and children, that we'll be able to prevent...300,000 pregnancy-related deaths and three million newborn and early childhood deaths.

- Deputy Secretary of State Jack Lew, on the FY 2011 State Department budget

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