Category: Advocate

This week, a national effort is underway to make the disability vote more influential. The American Association of Persons with Disabilities (AAPD) has designated July 11-15 as National Disability Voter Registration Week. Regardless of one’s political affiliation, people with disabilities play an important role in our democracy and should be able to have as great a voice in the political process as anyone else who exercises their Constitutional right to vote.

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It was two years ago near July 4, that Congress showed a rare form of bi-partisanship and passed the Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA), the law that establishes job-training programs and vocational rehabilitation services. The following year, around this time, the agencies responsible for overseeing the law’s enactment released the proposed regulations for implementation. Just prior to the holiday this year, the final rules were made public.

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The average payday loan carries an annual percentage rate (APR) of 391 percent. Are you or someone you know affected by these often debilitating fees? The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) has proposed new rules that would reign in many of the most egregious abuses of payday lenders and car title loan businesses. This long awaited effort follows on the efforts of many states to bring order to the nearly unregulated small lender marketplace.

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For Father’s Day, many of us spent time with our dads or remembering them in various ceremonies. We bought our dads really bad ties, took them to dinner, or did the chores they would normally do so they could sleep in late or watch a game. But there is one group of dads who experienced Father’s Day very differently this year: those who are currently incarcerated.

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Our country celebrated a bittersweet Flag Day earlier this week, as a nation in mourning. This June 14 marked the centennial of this observance, first proclaimed by President Woodrow Wilson. Congress later enacted a statute officially recognizing Flag Day in 1949. The flag is a symbol of leadership and is what unites us. Yet every flag flown at half-staff was a reminder to me that it is a symbol of our democracy and emblem of our freedom, in good times and bad.

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This week a House GOP task force on poverty, opportunity, and upward mobility released their blueprint for a poverty agenda, A Better Way, to mixed reviews. The topic of poverty, and issues that those in poverty struggle with every day, doesn’t get nearly enough attention as it should. The fact that Speaker Ryan and leadership are willing to generate ideas and spur discussion and debate should be applauded.

READ MORE from Goodwill® Explores Ways to Engage GOP Task Force on Poverty

For the last thirteen years, I’ve taken for granted the fact that I live in the Washington, DC area – our nation’s capital, rich with history and full of sites that attract tourists from around the world and all walks of life. And I get annoyed when those same tourists block the escalators or take a long time to get through security on the Hill when I’m trying to get a meeting. All of that changed last week.

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We’ve told you about how the statistics on recidivism are staggering.  On average more than six in ten people re-entering society from prison re-offend within three years.  This alone is tragic, but even more so is the number of veterans who end up on this life ruining merry-go-‘round. And while some data is showing that incarceration

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My Facebook feed has recently been filled with pictures from the class of 2016. My cousin Sofia graduated from the University of Florida, a friend received her master’s degree from Howard, and President Obama gave the commencement address at my alma mater, Rutgers University. The pictures and well wishes were full of hope and encouragement for these recent graduates. Yet, a recent report from the Economic Policy Institute tells a different story.

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Congress designated May as National Military Appreciation Month in 1999 to ensure the nation was given the opportunity to publicly demonstrate their appreciation for the sacrifices and successes made by our service members - past and present. Each year the president makes a proclamation, reminding Americans of the important role the U.S. Armed Forces have played in the history and development of our country.

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This week marks Goodwill Industries Week, which has taken place every full first week of May since 1951.  As part of the celebration, Goodwill organizations around the United States and Canada are hosting career fairs, donation drives, and offer tours and conduct other celebratory events. The sale of donated goods at Goodwill’s more than 3,100 stores

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Each year, more than 600,000 individuals return to society after serving time in federal and state prisons, and another 11.4 million individuals cycle through local jails. Nearly a quarter of Americans has had some sort of encounter with the criminal justice system – mostly for relatively minor, non-violent offenses, and sometimes from decades in the past.

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