The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

George Washington University has announced that civil rights champion William L. Taylor’s collection of legal papers, speeches, and historical documents will be housed at its Graduate School of Education and Human Development Gelman Library.  Taylor died in June 2010.

Civil rights groups played an essential role in ensuring a fair and accurate 2010 census, Arturo Vargas, executive director of the National Association of Latino Elected and Appointed Officials (NALEO) Education Fund, told lawmakers at a Senate Homeland Security subcommittee hearing last week.

In a victory for the civil rights community, a federal appellate court ruled Monday in favor of a lower court’s decision to block controversial aspects of Arizona’s anti-immigration law.

In anticipation of the release of newly collected poverty data in the fall of 2011, advocates, researchers, and policymakers are considering how statistical tools, such as the Supplemental Income Poverty Measure, can be used to evaluate the effectiveness of poverty alleviation efforts nationwide. 

Four fair housing organizations discovered severe racial disparities in how lenders secure and maintain foreclosed properties, according to a report released by the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA).

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 organizations, is calling on Congress to reject the Fiscal Year 2012 budget resolution put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan (R-WI).

"The Ryan budget makes cuts that are extreme and irresponsible, slashing or eliminating many services that are needed by communities represented by The Leadership Conference, including vulnerable and low-income people such as young children, students, older people, the jobless, and the uninsured," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference, and Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president, in a letter to members of Congress.

On May 12, the civil and human rights community will honor civil and human rights activist Shirley Sherrod with its highest honor, the Hubert H. Humphrey Civil and Human Rights Award, for a lifelong advocacy on behalf of all working people.

The Senate and the House of Representatives will introduce the Paycheck Fairness Act (PFA) today in honor of Equal Pay Day, a day when people around the country call attention to disparities in salary between men and women.

The PFA updates and strengthens the Equal Pay Act of 1963 (EPA), which made it illegal for employers to pay unequal wages to men and women who perform substantially the same work.

In a letter this week to President Obama, 22 senators, including Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, R. Nev., urged the administration to defer immigration enforcement proceedings for "all young people who meet the rigorous requirements necessary to be eligible for cancellation of removal or stay of removal under the DREAM Act."

The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights, a coalition of more than 200 organizations, welcomed the Obama administration’s $4 trillion deficit reduction plan released this week.