The Amp

Last week, the Department of Homeland Security officially published its final “public charge” rule which would punish immigrants who access any public assistance. When it goes into effect on October 15, 2019, the rule will threaten millions of immigrant families. Immediately after the announcement, advocacy organizations across the country filed four lawsuits against the Trump Administration to block the implementation of the rule. Discuss this development by referring to the values of Community and Economic Security.

• Take action: Sign and share this action alert to Congressional representatives to support H.R.3222, the No Federal Funds for Public Charge Act of 2019.
• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking About Poverty & Economic Opportunity Today: Three Core Pillars; Protecting Immigrant Families’ social media toolkit, webinar recording, updated fact sheet and Let’s Talk About Public Charge; Migration Policy Institute’s Millions Will Feel Chilling Effects of U.S. Public-Charge Rule That Is Also Likely to Reshape Legal Immigration; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Immigrants Contribute Greatly to U.S. Economy, Despite Administration’s “Public Charge” Rule Rationale; Kaiser Family Foundation’s Changes to “Public Charge” Inadmissibility Rule: Implications for Health and Health Coverage; National Immigration Law Center’s Three Things You Should Know about Trump’s Racially-Motivated Immigration Wealth Test; CLASP’s Advocates Vow to Block Trump Attack on Millions of Families and American Democracy
• Hashtags: #ProtectFamilies and #PublicCharge

At 2 pm EDT (11 am PDT), join the National Immigration Law Center and CLASP for a tweetstorm about the administration’s new “public charge” rule. Cite the values of Community and Economic Security in your tweets.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking About Poverty & Economic Opportunity Today: Three Core Pillars; Protecting Immigrant Families’ webinar recording, updated fact sheet and Let’s Talk About Public Charge; Migration Policy Institute’s Millions Will Feel Chilling Effects of U.S. Public-Charge Rule That Is Also Likely to Reshape Legal Immigration; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ Immigrants Contribute Greatly to U.S. Economy, Despite Administration’s “Public Charge” Rule Rationale; Kaiser Family Foundation’s Changes to “Public Charge” Inadmissibility Rule: Implications for Health and Health Coverage; National Immigration Law Center’s Three Things You Should Know about Trump’s Racially-Motivated Immigration Wealth Test; CLASP’s Advocates Vow to Block Trump Attack on Millions of Families and American Democracy
• Hashtags: #ProtectFamilies and #PublicCharge

On this day in 1996, President Bill Clinton signed into law the Personal Responsibility and Work Opportunity Reconciliation Act of 1996, known as “Welfare Reform.” The legislation created Temporary Assistance for Needy Families (TANF). Use this anniversary to talk about the need for safety programs and the values of Economic Security and Community.

• Take action: At 2pm EDT, join the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities and CLASP for a tweetchat to mark 23 years of TANF. They’ll discuss why #IncomeMatters and ways TANF can be improved to better serve families living in poverty..
• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking About Poverty & Economic Opportunity Today: Three Core Pillars; The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities’ TANF at 23: States Have Boosted TANF Benefits, But There’s Room to Do More; TANF at 23: Cash Income Matters to Children’s Lives and TANF at 23: Over 2.5 Million More Families Could Be Getting Cash Assistance, Work Supports
• Hashtag: #IncomeMatters

Today is also Black Women’s Equal Pay Day, the approximate day that an African-American woman must work into the new year to make what a white non-Hispanic man made at the end of the previous year. Use this news hook to talk about the values of Equality and Economic Security.

• Take action: At 2pm EDT, join the social media storm with the hashtag #BlackWomensEqualPay.
• Messaging and communication tools: Equal Pay Today’s 2019 Toolkit; Inequality.org’s Ten Solutions to Bridge the Racial Wealth Divide; The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking About Economic Justice and Shifting the Narrative on Poverty;
• Hashtags: #BlackWomensEqualPay and #BlackWomenCantWait

Today, the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) recognizes the International Day for the Remembrance of the Slave Trade and its Abolition. This year, the day has even more resonance in the U.S. with the 400th anniversary of the arrival of the first enslaved people from Africa. Cite the values of Voice, Equality and Community when talking about this event.

• Messaging and communication tools: The New York Times’ 1619 Project and podcast; 400 Years of Inequality’s timeline and Guidebook to Planning Your Place-Based Observance; The Opportunity Agenda’s Ten Lessons for Talking About Race, Racism and Racial Justice; UNESCO’s The Slave Route: breaking the wall of silence and Legacies of Slavery: A Resource Book for Managers of Sites and Itineraries of Memory
• Hashtags: #1619Project; #400YearsofInequality; #FightRacism

Today would have been LGBTQ activist Marsha P. Johnson’s 74th birthday. Johnson was a prominent figure in the Stonewall uprising of 1969. She was a founding member of the Gay Liberation Front, and S.T.A.R. (Street Transvestite Action Revolutionaries) along with Sylvia Rivera. When discussing Marsha P. Johnson’s birthday, cite the values of Economic Security, Community, and Voice.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Ten Tips for Putting Intersectionality into Practice; Social Justice Sexuality Project’s Intersecting Injustice: A National Call to Action Addressing LGBTQ Poverty and Economic Justice for All; Center for American Progress' Protecting Basic Living Standards for LGBTQ People; Making Gay History podcast’s episode Marsha P. Johnson & Randy Wicker
• Hashtag: #MarshaPJohnson

TTwo years ago, President Trump granted a pardon to Sheriff Joe Arpaio for his obstruction of justice conviction. By pardoning him, the president sent a message that civil liberties are only for some, and that he is fine with law enforcement flouting the very laws they are meant to uphold. Other sheriffs, like Butler County’s Richard Jones, are continuing to follow Arpaio’s example. When discussing this anniversary, cite the values of Equal Justice and Community.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Tips for Talking about the President’s Pardon of Ex-Sheriff Joe Arpaio
• Hashtag: #Arpaio

On this day in 1925, A. Philip Randolph and colleagues launched the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters (BSCP). The union was was the first labor organization led by African Americans to receive a charter in the American Federation of Labor and played a vital role in U.S. labor and civil rights movements. Discuss this anniversary by citing the values of Voice and Economic Security.

• Messaging and communication tools:he Opportunity Agenda’s Talking about the Importance of Unions and Economic Security and Talking About Economic Justice; BlackPast’s Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters
• Hashtags: #brotherhoodofsleepingcarporters; #aphiliprandolph; #DecentWork

On this day in 1920, the 19th Amendment to the United States Constitution was formally adopted. While a groundbreaking accomplishment, it only gave white women the right to vote since Jim Crow laws prevented many women of color from exercising this right for decades. Cite the values of Equality and Voice when talking about this anniversary.

• Messaging and communication tools: Southern Poverty Law Center's Challenging the whitewashed history of women’s suffrage; National Park Service’s African American Women and the Nineteenth Amendment; New York Times Editorial Board’s When the Suffrage Movement Sold Out to White Supremacy; Zinn Education Project’s Seneca Falls, 1848: Women Organize for Equality
• Hashtag: #19thAmendment

On this day in 1955, African-American teenager Emmett Till was abducted for allegedly offending a white woman. His brutalized body was found a few days later. Today, vandals continue to tear down and shoot historical markers that were erected to recognize Till’s death. Cite the values of Voice, Equality, and Community when discussing this anniversary.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Ten Lessons for Talking About Race, Racism and Racial Justice; Building a Narrative to Address Violence in the U.S. and Opportunity for Black Men and Boys; Movement for Black Lives’ A Vision for Black Lives
• Hashtag: #EmmettTill

During the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. delivered his “I Have a Dream” speech on this day 56 years ago. Use this anniversary to remind your audiences about the importance of reaffirming our values, as exemplified by Dr. King’s speech. Cite the values of Community, Voice, and Equality.

• Messaging tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Ten Lessons for Talking About Race, Racism and Racial Justice and Talking about Economic Justice
• Hashtags: #ihaveadream; #civilrights

On this day in 2005, Hurricane Katrina made landfall in Louisiana and Mississippi . The humanitarian disaster that followed laid bare racial and economic inequities and served as a precursor to recent hurricanes like Harvey and Maria. Use the anniversary to discuss the need for equitable infrastructure spending and emergency assistance. Cite the values of Community and Economic Security.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s The State of Housing in New Orleans; Gulf South Rising’s Final Report; Partnership for Working Families' We Make This City Social Media Toolkit; Our Neighborhoods, Our Future's principles
• Hashtags: #HurricaneKatrina; #GulfSouthRising

In 1964, President Lyndon B. Johnson signed the Food Stamp Act, which formalized the federal program now called the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The Trump administration is now proposing to implement, through executive action, a second SNAP benefits cut that Congress already rejected. Its new proposed rule would eliminate “Broad-Based Categorical Eligibility” for working families in 40 states. Use this hook to discuss protecting a program that supports the economic security of families and protects the American values of Community and Economic Security.

• Take action: Before Sept. 23, easily submit a comment on the proposed rule through the Coalition on Human Needs’ portal. Share this with your networks.
• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda's Talking About Economic Justice; Center on Budget and Policy Priorities' Factors Affecting SNAP Caseloads and Senate Agriculture Committee’s Bipartisan Farm Bill Strengthens SNAP and Avoids Harming SNAP Households; Center for American Progress' Tax Cuts for the Top 1 Percent Cost More Than SNAP and The Sargent Shriver National Center for Poverty Law's The House GOP Budget: A Recipe for More Hunger
• Hashtags: #HandsOffSNAP; #SNAPMatters

September is Hunger Action Month when Feeding America and the nationwide network of food banks spread the word and take collective action on the hunger crisis. Use this hook to discuss the need to address underlying economic injustice that creates hunger. Cite the values of Economic Security and Community.

• Take Action: Share Feeding America’s Find a Local Food Bank as well as Need Help? Find Food resources.
• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking About Poverty & Economic Opportunity Today: Three Core Pillars; Talking About Economic Justice and Shifting the Narrative on Poverty
• Hashtag: #HungerActionMonth

It’s also National Recovery Month, which raises awareness about mental illness and substance abuse disorders. It also provides the opportunity to talk about harm reduction, alternatives to incarceration, and the need for health insurance and federally-supported programs, many of which are under threat by Congress. Cite the values of Redemption and Community.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Alternatives to Incarceration; Center for Budget and Policy Priorities’ Report of Taking Away Medicaid from People with Substance Abuse Disorders; Drug Policy Alliance's Safety First curriculum; Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration's toolkit and Center for American Progress' Trump Administration’s Response to the Opioid Crisis: Re-Igniting the War on Drugs
• Hashtags: #RecoveryMonth; #handsoff

Labor Day honors the contributions of American workers and the labor movement (the people who brought you the weekend, the eight-hour work day and improved working conditions). Use this holiday to highlight the importance of worker rights, including the right to organize and join a union. Cite the values of Economic Security, Voice, and Community.

• Messaging and communication tools: The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking about the Importance of Unions and Economic Security; Economic Policy Institute's How Today’s Unions Help Working People
• Hashtag: #LaborDay

On this day in 1916, President Woodrow Wilson signed into law the Adamson Act, which established an eight-hour workday for railroad workers as well as additional pay for overtime work. The act was the culmination of organizing by railroad workers and the first federal law to regulate the hours of workers in private companies. Discuss this anniversary as evidence of the importance of unions and worker rights. Cite the values of Economic Security, Voice, and Community.

• Messaging and communication tools: National Employment Law Project’s Remembering the Adamson Act; The Opportunity Agenda’s Talking about the Importance of Unions and Economic Security; Economic Policy Institute's How Today’s Unions Help Working People
• Hashtags: #AdamsonAct; #8HourWorkDay

Today at 2pm EDT, the Coalition on Human Needs will help you prepare for the Census Bureau's release of national poverty and income data later in September and October. Join their webinar What Can We Expect from the New Poverty, Income and Health Insurance Data, And How Can We Find the Info We Need? Panelists will share predictions about the data (i.e. More uninsured after years of better news? More progress in reducing poverty or stubbornly high numbers?) as well as help participants navigate the Census Bureau’s new website and resources. Whether you plan to comment on September 10th or use the data over time, we will give you the tools you need. Register today. Even if you can't attend, sign up to gain access to a captioned recording and slides after the webinar.