Tuesday, October 8, 2024
New to URL Media? Subscribe below to get our weekly newsletters.
A View From the Ground
News and information about politics, government, civic participation and engagement from URL Media's network of Black and Brown publishers.
Good evening. In today's newsletter, we’re covering the Black and Brown women leading labor unions, a city-sponsored program helping New York's undocumented migrants cover high childcare costs, the horrors doctors and other medical workers have witnessed while working in Gaza after October 7, 2023, and more.Plus, URL Media has been at the forefront of issues affecting Black and Brown voters all year, and we continue to closely follow matters related to the big election, just 27 days away. If you're looking to understand policy issues better or how to cast your vote (on Election Day and before), we have a dedicated section on our homepage to help you navigate this current election season.
iStockMore Black and Latina women are leading unions - and transforming how they work: Many may still picture labor union leaders as the stereotypical "white guy in a hard hat," as Georgetown University labor historian Lane Windham puts it. However, in recent years, figures like Chris Smalls from Staten Island, New York, who led the charge at Amazon, have been the face of the labor union and worker resilience movements. While this imagery better reflects the reality—studies show about two-thirds of people covered by union contracts are women and people of color—it still doesn’t account for the growing wave of Black and Latina women stepping into leadership roles within labor unions.In this story published in Black Girl Times, we learn the names of prominent women of color who are leading unions—and transforming how they work. As Black and Brown women continue to experience a wide gender pay gap compared to their white counterparts, women of color are using their power as leaders to fight beyond wages and advocate for policies that address systemic inequities at work, including sexual harassment and gender equality.One example is Liz Shuler, who made history in June 2022 as the first woman to lead the AFL-CIO, a federation of 60 national and international labor unions.“The #MeToo movement, I think, has really emboldened women across the board, including in labor, to say, you know what? I’m not going to be sitting on the sidelines,” Shuler told The Associated Press.This shift in leadership extends beyond Shuler. Black and Latina are increasingly rising to the top in labor union organizations around the country, including the National Education Association, National Nurses United, and the Service Employees International Union (SEIU). In May, April Verrett became the first Black woman to lead SEIU. “If we want to build power among those who are often seen as the least powerful, we need to create space for people of those identities to lead,” said Verrett.More in Black Girl Times →
Undocumented parents need jobs, but first, they need child care. One program is helping them get it
: In New York City, a program created to serve the growing influx of recently arrived migrants, who need work to sustain themselves and their families, is specifically addressing one main need that is often the primary barrier to sustainability — childcare. In a city with a relatively high cost of living, full-time childcare for infants can cost up to $900 a week.
The city-sponsored initiative, Promise NYC, provides childcare for low-income, undocumented children through city-subsidized vouchers, covering about 80 percent (or $700) of the cost.
For families like Malka’s, who fled Colombia after repeated threats on her and her family’s lives by the militant group that assassinated her husband, the program was a godsend.
"This was the best thing that could have happened to us. The center is close to where we live, so my daughter is safe and
," she told
Epicenter-NYC
.
Even though the program has proven its potential since it launched in January 2023, its future is not guaranteed.
→
Plus
:
(
Epicenter NYC
and THIRTEEN)
One year of genocide backed by American tax dollars: A year after Palestinian militants launched a surprise attack in Southern Israel, killing 1,200 and taking 240 people hostage, the swift and subsequent barrage of attacks against Palestinian civilians has continued, with reported deaths now around 41,000. Published on the day of the one-year anniversary, doctors and medical workers who have served in Gaza over the past year have recounted the horrors they have witnessed to Prism.The outlet has provided comprehensive coverage on Israel and Palestine since well before October 7, 2003. Its reporting finds that attacks against Palestinians have been consistent and heavily financed with support from the U.S., which reportedly provided up to 16.5% of the Israeli military’s defense budget before the October 7 attack, and has since approved billions of dollars in military aid.Now, medical workers are joining Palestinian Americans in pleading with the Biden administration to push for a ceasefire and to stop arming Israel.“[The situation in Gaza] is like nothing I have ever seen or experienced in close to 20 years of doing Doctors Without Borders,” said Naina Bhalla, a team leader for Doctors Without Borders/Médecins Sans Frontières currently in Khan Younis.An emergency medicine physician based in the U.S., who spoke with Prism from Nasser Hospital on the Gaza Strip in early September, said she has seen children with gunshot wounds to the head. More in Prism →
Haitians, Cubans, Venezuelans and Nicaraguans face deportation as U.S. ends humanitarian parole program: The Biden administration announced that it is ending a humanitarian parole program that was initiated in 2022 to manage undocumented migration. The end of the program could affect more than 500,000 people from Haiti, Cuba, Venezuela and Nicaragua, according to Haitian Times.Affected people who haven’t established legal, permanent status could be deported. Some paroles affecting Venezuelans expire this month. Others expire by January.Read more at Haitian Times →
Student-run Black barbershop gets permanent spot in Minn. town (Sahan Journal)
Opinion: Debunking the myth that a GOP president is better for the economy (India Currents)
Check out our Currency of Impact dashboard, a new tool designed to revolutionize media buying conversations and put community impact on the foreground. Dive into our impact tracker and case studies highlighting demonstrated impact across the URL Media network. This project was co-produced with the Reynolds Journalism Institute. Visit it here.
