TAVIS SMILEY CALLS FOR WHITE HOUSE CONFERENCE ON THE ERADICATION OF POVERTY IN AMERICA
-- This January, Smiley and his All-Star Panel discuss a Vision for a New America' --
Los Angeles, CA (BlackNews.com) -- As Congress convenes to determine the fate of the 50 million Americans living in poverty and a shattered middle class stalled in a jobless recovery, broadcaster Tavis Smiley is calling on everyday people from coast to coast to urge President Barack Obama to convene a White House Conference on the Eradication of Poverty in America.
Smiley will moderate a nationally televised discussion, "Vision for a New America: A Future Without Poverty," 6:30 p.m. - 9 p.m. Thursday, January 17, 2013, at George Washington University's Lisner Auditorium, 730 21st St. NW, Washington, D.C. Taking place just days before the presidential inauguration, the event is free and open to the public. Doors open at 5 p.m., and advance registration is required at www.tavistalks.com/visionforanewamerica.
"If poverty can be made a national priority, together we can create a plan to cut poverty in half in 10 years, and move closer to eradicating it in the richest nation in the world," said Smiley. "This is not a skill problem; this is a will problem."
During the nationally televised LIVE broadcast, panelists will discuss proven solutions on how government officials can contain the wildfire of American poverty. They will challenge the Obama administration within its first 100 days to aggressively address the nation's economic crisis by refusing to abandon those Americans most in need -- the perennially poor and the new poor - the country's former middle class. Additionally, panelists will encourage citizens to make their voices heard by signing an online petition calling for a White House Conference on the Eradication of Poverty in the tradition of past White House conferences held on aging, children and youth, conservation, LGBT rights and civil rights.
Confirmed panelists include: Marian Wright Edelman, founder and president of the Children's Defense Fund; John D. Graham, dean, Indiana University School of Public & Environmental Affairs and author of America's Poor and the Great Recession; Jonathan Kozol, author of Fire in the Ashes: Twenty-Five Years Among the Poorest Children in America; Jeffrey Sachs, director of the Earth Institute at Columbia University; and Cornel West, Union Theological Seminary Professor and author. Additional panelists to be announced.
This symposium is broadcast annually LIVE on C-SPAN, and will rebroadcast for three nights on Tavis Smiley on PBS beginning Tuesday, January 22 through Thursday, January 24, 2013. The conversation will continue during The Tavis Smiley Show and Smiley & West, both distributed through Public Radio International (PRI).
"With 1 in 2 Americans living in or near poverty, we must move from denial to game-changing action," said Smiley. "It's time to imagine an America without poverty, and do the requisite work to make the future conform."
About TAVIS SMILEY PRESENTSTavis Smiley Presents produces events and programs dedicated to bringing thought-provoking discussions, engaging town hall meetings, and consumer expos to communities across the country. During the past 11 years, its programs have reached more than 500,000 conference attendees and attracted millions of television viewers nationwide.
Tavis Smiley is the host of Tavis Smiley on PBS, and host of The Tavis Smiley Show from Public Radio International (PRI). Smiley is also co-host of Smiley & West, a weekly news and opinion program featuring provocative commentary and exclusive interviews also distributed by PRI.
~
https://theblacklist.net/
Replies
Right now the President is working to further impoverish home care workers while pretending to help them. How? By including home care workers into the law that says you can't work more than 40 hours per week unless you're paid time and a half. BUT THERE IS NO MONEY TO PAY TIME AND A HALF!!!!!!!! That means us home care workers will not be allowed to work more than 40 hours per week. We've depended on those extra hours because the hourly wage is so low. Now, if this gets approved by the Dept. of Labor, we'll see our hours split up between two or even three people, none of whom will be making a livable wage. Why is the President doing this? To show he's quickly creating more jobs and to pay back the unions for their support since most of the impoverished workers will still have to pay union dues. I worked for the Obama campaign in 2008. I thought President Obama would improve the lives of people of color, not make them worse! I hope this issue is included in the discussion. Philip Bennett
Thanks for being on the frontlines and making a difference.
I trust that you will be relentlness in voicing and winning allies to your cause. You'll only be heard when you speak and without new actions there are no new results.
You bet your butt I'll speak out! This effects mostly immigrant women of color and people with disabilities, the two most politically powerless groups in our nation. SOMEONE must speak out for them! I thought the President would. Instead it's up to us.
I request that you focus 100% on what you are for and what you are committed to - your cause.
You will loose support by focusing or sharing your commitment with what your are against.
Win support for your cause without vilifying the President and who will win more support for the fulfillment of your cause - you may even convert the President.
Thank you for the advice, KWASI. It's not my intention to vilify the President. I'm very glad he won re-election(even though I voted for Jill Stein this year).
Let me go into more detail: the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) mandates that workers working more than 40 hours per week must be paid time and a half for those extra hours. But we home care workers have been exempted from the FLSA by the Dept. of Labor (DOL) because we are considered "companions" to the people we assist, not real workers with careers.
In December 2011 the President ordered the DOL to remove the "companion exemption."
http://www.whitehouse.gov/photos-and-video/video/2011/12/15/preside...
But he did this before making sure there was money to pay for the countless numbers of workers who would be getting that extra fifty cents on the dollar. Talk to home care workers and you'll find that a huge percentage work overtime and want to. In NY it's well over half of all workers.
We all know the President is not a stupid man. He and every student fresh out of law school must know what the consequences of removing the "companion exemption" will be.
Yes I may go further with this cause if I left the President out of this. But the order came directly from him. The Dept. of Labor works for him so there's little point focusing on the DOL which, thankfully, is taking its time writing new regulations before enacting his order. But that can't go on forever.
How can we prevent the President's well-meaning order from further impoverishing us workers? We have some courses of action:
1) Raise the federal medicaid/medicare cap so there'll be funding to pay the overtime (very unlikely given the national debt and Republican pressure to cut spending);
2) The President can rescind his order (again unlikely since he's under pressure to show he's creating more jobs and pay back the unions, otherwise it'll cost him and the Democratic party in future years);
3) Change the regulation of home care agencies to limit the number of workers per consumer (I hate the word "patient"). This will make it harder for the agencies to split the hour between more workers and force them to pay overtime.
I believe the last choice is the most do-able. Of course the agencies will lobby hard against the regulation. But, if this simple regulation came to pass, from that time onward the agencies will work for us by pushing for more funding.
What does everyone think?
Philip Bennett, Brooklyn, NY
The issue is now before the White House Office of Management and Budget. If OMB doesn't release it, it dies. Call the OMB (202-456-1414, 202-4561111) ansd tell them not to release it.