Archive for January, 2012

Demos has a briefing on the new USCIS guidelines which require that all new U.S. citizens be given a voter registration application at their naturalization ceremonies:

In early October 2011, the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) revised its guidelines for the conduct of naturalization ceremonies. The revised memorandum includes new guidelines regarding voter registration activities at naturalization ceremonies.

For the first time ever, USCIS has committed to providing the opportunity to register to vote to every single naturalized citizen at every single administrative naturalization ceremony in the country. In brief, according to the USCIS, “All newly naturalized citizens will have the opportunity to receive a voter registration application at administrative naturalization ceremonies.”

Click here to read the full briefing.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 27, 2012

Contact: Melvin Tabilas, 202-223-2442, melvin@nationalcapacd.org

CIVIL RIGHTS ORGANIZATIONS HAIL OBAMA ADMINISTRATION’S CREATION OF FINANCIAL CRIMES TASK FORCE AND STEPS TO HELP HOMEOWNERS

Washington, D.C.—Earlier today, the Obama administration fulfilled a promise made during the State of the Union address, announcing the creation of a new financial crimes task force to investigate those responsible for misconduct contributing to the financial crisis.  NCLR (National Council of La Raza), NAACP, National CAPACD (National Coalition for Asian Pacific American Community Development), and the National Urban League (NUL) applaud the administration for taking a strong stand in the name of banking accountability.

“Today the administration made a major move in helping American homeowners, especially Latino and other minority families,” said Janet Murguía, NCLR President and CEO.  “The housing crisis must be resolved not only for the sake of these hardworking families, but also because the full recovery of our economy depends on it.  We believe that steps such as creating the financial crimes task force, enhancing the HAMP program, and pushing Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac to offer principal reductions to underwater homeowners will go a long way toward providing much-needed relief.”

Numerous studies indicate that communities of color are disproportionately targeted with abusive and expensive mortgages, even when adjusting for factors such as income and credit score, compared to their White counterparts.  As a result, communities of color are losing their homes at record rates.

“The damaging impacts of the housing and economic crisis continue to permeate Asian American and Pacific Islander communities across the country,” said Lisa Hasegawa, National CAPACD Executive Director.  “The administration’s actions today are a step forward in bringing justice to the many families who have lost their financial security because of predatory practices that explicitly targeted AAPIs and other communities of color.”

The Residential Mortgage-Backed Securities Working Group will be chaired by New York Attorney General Eric T. Schneiderman, who has a strong record of defending homeowners against unfair lending practices and fraud.

“The economic collapse and foreclosure crisis overwhelmingly impacted communities of color,” said Marc H. Morial, President and CEO of the National Urban League.  “The administration’s decision is significant not only because it will bring those who brought about the devastation to justice, but also because it will help to restore America’s faith in our financial institutions and systems.”

In addition, the administration announced important changes to the Home Affordable Modification Program (HAMP), including more incentives for mortgage servicers to provide principal reduction to underwater homeowners and extending those incentives to Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.  Both the Financial Crimes Task Force and these important changes to HAMP will work in tandem to hold banks accountable and provide more resources to families.

“The NAACP commends the administration for taking these concrete steps to seriously tackle financial crimes against American families and the foreclosure crisis,” said Hilary O. Shelton, the Director of the NAACP Washington Bureau and the Senior VP for Advocacy and Policy.  “Given the disproportionate number of racial and ethnic minority families who are facing home foreclosure due to decades of targeting by predatory lenders and their nefarious tactics—including balloon payments, early payment penalties and hidden fees, as well as steering qualified borrowers into unnecessarily high-cost loans that could not be sustained—this new enforcement task force is a welcome action to give some recourse to Americans struggling because of these insidious predatory lending practices.”

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National CAPACD’s mission is to be a powerful voice for the unique community development needs of AAPI communities and to strengthen the capacity of community-based organizations to create neighborhoods of hope and opportunity.

Cleveland Chinese Music Ensemble presents:

Melodies for the Year of the Dragon
古韵龙年

3 p.m., Sunday, January 29, 2012

Saint Francis Chapel
Lombardo Student Center
John Carroll University
20700 North Park Boulevard
University Heights, Ohio

Free and open to the public

• Vocalist  Xue “Snow” Yu (于雪).
• Traditional Chinese instruments such as the dizi and xiao (bamboo flutes), suona (oboe), sheng (mouth organ), zhonghu and yehu (2-stringed fiddles), pipa (pear-shaped lute), guzheng (zither), gongs, drums, and other percussion instruments.
• A classical Chinese dance and traditional Chinese tea ceremony by JCU visiting Chinese language instructor Zhenping Shao (邵贞萍).
•  A special showing of traditional watercolor paintings by distinguished Chinese painter Mr. Guangsheng Wang (王广生).
• Chinese food tasting to follow in the Atrium of the Lombardo Student Center.

Alliance for Justice Presents…

The Basics: Legal Issues in Nonprofit Advocacy

Beginning February 15th, 2012
Every week for 10 weeks
2:00-3:00 p.m. (E/T) 

For information, registration or other workshop dates, visit Alliance for Justice’s events page.

Alliance for Justice will be offering a FREE 10-part webinar series for nonprofit organizations engaging in advocacy. This series will begin on February 15, 2012 and will run until April 18. Each webinar will be offered in English and Spanish.

Participants will learn the answers to such questions as:

• How much lobbying can 501(c)(3) public charities do in a year?
• How can 501(c)(3) organizations engage on their issues during an election year?
• Can 501(c)(3) organizations support or oppose ballot measures?
• What different rules apply to your funders?
• What are the rules governing affiliated 501(c)(3) and 501(c)(4) organizations and nonprofit coalitions?

All of the multilingual flyers for our FREE citizenship classes and immigration legal assistance can now be viewed from our Citizenship and Immigration Resources page.  Information available in 中文 (Chinese), 한국의 (Korean), Español (Spanish), по-русски (Russian), and English.