In this issue of the MONITOR, we review legislative and administrative activities related to the Census 2000, and provide updates on the Elementary and Secondary Education Act, Work Incentives Improvement Act, the Hate Crimes Prevention Act, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act, and efforts to preserve the Community Reinvestment Act. Finally, we summarize activities at LCEF and review Marvin Caplan's, former director of LCCR, memoirs, Farther Along: A Civil Rights Memoir, and Harvard Professor Gary Orfield's latest report on segregation in elementary and secondary education.
Inside.....
Continued Debate Over Census 2000: Funding And Sampling:
With the twenty-second count of the nation's population just seven months away, many details of the 2000 census remain unresolved. Congress has yet to provide the U.S. Census Bureau with funding for their Fiscal Year 2000 activities, and the political debate on the use of scientific methods has begun in state legislatures.
Reauthorization Of Esea Underway In The Congress:
CCCR Issues Reports on the Impact of Title I, and Joins with LCEF to Release the Results of a Public Opinion Survey on the Federal Role in Public Education: The U.S. House of Representatives approved Title I of the Elementary and Secondary Education Act and rejected efforts to include vouchers for private schools.
Congress Passes Disability To Work Bill:
The Congress has passed the Work Incentives Improvement Act to allow individuals with disabilities to hold a job while retaining federally funded health benefits. The measure is expected to transfer about 2 million disabled adults from welfare to the workforce.
Employment Non-Discrimination Act Of 1999 Introduced In The 106th Congress:
On Thursday, June 24, 1999, the Employment Non-Discrimination Act (ENDA), was introduced jointly in the House (H.R. 2355) and Senate (S. 1276) by Senators Edward Kennedy (D-MA), Jim Jeffords (R-VT), and Joseph Lieberman (D-CT), and Representatives Christopher Shays (R-CT) and Barney Frank (D-MA). The sponsors held a press conference that day to announce its introduction and to call upon Congress to pass meaningful legislation protecting gays and lesbians in the workplace.
Hate Crimes Prevention Act Of 1999 In The 106th Congress:
The Senate passed HCPA as part of the Commerce, Justice, State and Judiciary Appropriations Bill and the House Judiciary Committee has held hearings.
The Senate Attacks The Community Reinvestment Act:
On May 6, 1999, the Senate approved the Financial Services Modernization Act of 1999, a broad financial services reform bill that includes measures severely limiting the scope of the Community Reinvestment Act (CRA). CRA, enacted in 1977, strongly encourages federally ensured banks to invest in low-income, high-risk communities and has been effective in stimulating economic growth and revitalizing communities.
Leadership Conference Education Fund Joins With National Fair Housing Alliance In Housing Program To Address Community Tensions:
LCEF will undertake a major two-year project to develop and implement programs for dealing with community tensions that arise from persons exercising their rights under the Fair Housing Act. LCEF, working in conjunction with the National Fair Housing Alliance (NFHA) and local fair housing groups, will establish model programs in Boston and Chicago and a local team trained to respond to tensions in San Diego.
Former Lccr Director, Marvin Caplan's Memoir Published.
In his book "Farther Along: A Civil Rights Memoir," Marvin Caplan, one of the 'unsung' heroes of the civil rights movement, writes of his years as a fair housing activist, labor union official and director of the LCCR.
Harvard Civil Rights Project Reports Rise In School Segregation:
A report issued by The Civil Rights Project at Harvard University and researchers at Harvard Graduate School of Education finds that students in U.S. public schools are becoming more segregated by race and class. The study, Resegregation in American Schools, highlights several important trends in public schools. Among these trends are rapid resegregation in the South, severe segregation among Latino populations, increased isolation of blacks and Latinos in the suburbs, and a strong overlap between segregation by race and by class.
