The Leadership Conference on Civil and Human Rights

Latest News

Mourning a Warrior for Justice. The Leadership Conference is mourning the passing of John Payton, who served as a longtime member of its Executive Committee and as the President and Director-Counsel of the NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc. "John Payton was a warrior for justice and equality. He was a lawyer’s lawyer and an insightful activist," said Wade Henderson, president and CEO of The Leadership Conference, in a statement. "John was comfortable in the courtroom, the board room, or the community setting – and was persuasive and effective wherever his analysis and skills were needed."

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"The Same Bad Ideas." Nancy Zirkin, executive vice president of The Leadership Conference, blasted the proposed federal budget put forward by Rep. Paul Ryan, R.-Minn., as the "same bad ideas ... that fell flat last year."  Once again, Zirkin said, Ryan has presented a budget that provides tax cuts for the wealthy and slashes services and program that help lower- and middle-income Americans. "Chairman Ryan might be able to live fine with this budget – but the communities represented by The Leadership Conference don’t have the same options as he does."

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Health Care Disparities and the ACA. Focusing on the lives that will be affected by the upcoming Supreme Court ruling on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), The Leadership Conference this week released a set of fact sheets outlining the ACA’s importance to minority communities. As the documents show, the burdens of costly health care are not distributed evenly. Rather, they fall disproportionately on disadvantaged populations, which are more likely to experience higher rates of unemployment, to have jobs that do not provide health insurance, and to have lower incomes that put higher insurance premiums out of their financial reach. View the fact sheets at www.civilrights.org/healthcare.

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Catch a Screening in D.C. of "Not in our Town." Campus Progress and Progress 2050, a project of the Center for American Progress, are hosting a screening followed by a moderated discussion of the new PBS documentary, Not In Our Town: Class Actions at the Center for American Progress on March 27 at 6:30 p.m. The documentary profiles student leaders and community members working together to create change in the wake of racism, anti-Semitism, and the traumatic consequences of bullying. Online RSVP is available.

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