The National Institute for Restorative Justice "Educating for Advocacy" |
i |
Core Socio-Economic Concerns |
15226 Lakeshore Blvd Cleveland, Ohio 44110 rjusticeinc@aol.com |
Social Justice Economic Justice Legal Justice |
i |
i |
i |
"Many are attracted to social service - the rewards are immediate,the gratification quick. But if we have social justice, we won't need social service." Julian Bond |
Municipal & Local Media Monitoring Movement A Movement Toward Taxation With Representation |
Sustainable Community Controlled Development "Jobs. Not Programs." Community Design & Development By The People, For The People |
i |
The Municipal and Medial Monitoring Movement is an initiative to identify, organize, train and engage a nationwide network of individuals and organizations to document public official's actions in public legislative meetings, and reporting patterns of local print and broadcast news media. Individual participation is passive, and for the sole purpose of establishing a physical presence and systematic, united front in: a) gathering data and information regarding the policies and practices of elected and appointed local officials, as it relates to the issues and concerns of the electorate and taxpaying citizens who they are appointed to represent; and, b) reviewing and documenting patterns of local news print and broadcast agency reporting. Municipal Monitors will attend public meetings of councils, commissions and boards. Media Monitors will review print, and radio and television broadcast reporting in a place of their comfort. We are looking for interested individual and organizational partners in the following cities and surrounding areas: |
i |
In carrying out its mandate to "report on EZ, EC and RC programs and their effect on poverty, unemployment and economic growth," The 2004, 2006 and 2010 Government Accounting Office Reports have each concluded that the lack or limitations of the data collected by the administering agencies - Housing and Urban Development (HUD), Health and Human Services (HHS), the Department of Agriculture (USDA) and the Internal Revenue Services (IRS) - has made it difficult to accurately evaluate the overall program's effectiveness. For example, data collected from the individual program administrators indicate that while poverty and unemployments fell in some of the designated communities, it could not be determined that the rate of decline was directly tied to the programs because census information on these communities was only collected every ten years. Therefore the possibility that the decline in the poverty and unemployment rates could be tied to shifting demographics, including the overall decline in the population of the communities. That said, HUD's 2011 Community and Planning Development EZ/EC/RC Summary Statement on the initiatives reported $3.5 billion dollars in employment tax credit claims allowed between 1999 and 2008. While the GOA in Washington can not determine the effectiveness of billions of dollars being poured into municipalities for the purpose of improving the socio-economic quality of life of "economically distressed communities," with majority black and brown populations, those of us living in EZ's, EC's and RC's can resoundingly report that the money did not make it to the predesignated existing residents and businesses. The majority of the money has gone to new and rehabilitative construction, which did not create significant or sustainable business, employment or affordable housing opportunities for the residents of the designated zone. And perhaps one of the most startling disclosures in the GOA's report with regard to the "Qualified Zone Academy Bonds" was that there were "no interest bonds issued in the EZs/ECs by state or local governments to finance school programs, with purchasers receiving interest payments as tax credits." Yet, hundreds of schools have closed in the zones. |
Individual Designated Enterprise Communities Renewal Communties & Empowerment Zones Official Reports |
Akron - Canton, Ohio Albany, New York Albuquerque, New Mexico Atlanta, Georgia Augusta, Maine Austin, Texas Baltimore, Maryland Baton Rouge, Louisiana Birmingham, Alabama Bismarck, North Dakota Boise, Idaho Boston, Massachusetts Bridgeport, Connecticut Buffalo, New York Camden, New Jersey Carson City, Nevada Charleston, South Carolina Charleston, West Virginia Charlotte, North Carolina Chattanooga, Tennessee Cheyenne, Wyoming Chicago, Illinois Cincinnati, Ohio Cleveland, Ohio Columbia, South Carolina Columbus, Georgia Columbus, Ohio Concord, New York Corpus Christi, Texas Cumberland County, NJ Dallas, Texas Denver, Colorado Detroit, Michigan Des Moines, Iowa Durham, North Carolina East St. Louis, Illinois El Paso, Texas Flint, Michigan Fort Worth, Texas Frankfort, Kentucky Fresno, California Gary, Indiana Greensboro, North Carolina Hamilton, Ohio Harrisburg, Pennsylvania Hartford, Connecticut Helena, Nevada Houston, Texas Huntington, West Virginia Indianapolis, Indiana Ironton, Ohio Jackson, Mississippi Jacksonville, Florida Jefferson City, Missouri Kansas City, Kansas/MO Knoxville, Tennesee Lansing, Michigan Lexington, Kentucky Lincoln, Nebraska |
Los Angeles, California Lawrence, Massachusetts Little Rock, Arkansas Lowell, Massachusetts Macon, Georgia Madison, Wisconsin Memphis, Tennessee Miami, Florida Milwaukee, Wisconsin Minneapolis, Minnesota Mobile, Alabama Montgomery, Alabama Montgomery, West Virginia Montpelier, NH Nashville, Tennessee New Haven, Connecticut New Orleans, Louisiana New York, New York Newark, New Jersey Niagara Falls, New York Norfolk, Virginia Oklahoma City, Oklahoma Oakland, California Ouachita Parish, Louisiana Paterson, New Jersey Phoenix, Arizona Philadelphia, Pennsylvania Pierre, South Dakota Pittsburgh, Pennsyvania Portland, Maine Providence, Rhode Island Pulaski County, Arkansas Raleigh, North Carolina Richmond, Virginia Rochester, New York Sacramento, California Salt Lake City, Utah San Antonio, Texas San Francisco, California Santa Ana, California Savannah, Georgia Schenectady, New York Seattle, Washington Selma, Alabama Shreveport, Louisiana Springfield, Illinois Springfield, Massachusetts St. Louis, Missouri St. Paul, Minnesota Syracuse, New York Tacoma, Washington Tallahassee, Florida Tampa, Florida Topeka, Kansas Tucson, Arizona Washington, DC Winston Salem, NC Yakima, Washington Yonkers, New York Youngstown, Ohio |
Link To HUD |
Back To Core Concerns or Forward To: |
www.restorativejusticeinstitute.org |
i |
The Schott Foundation 50 State Report on Public Education and Black Males |
Food For Thought |
The University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee Center for Economic Development Report: |
Join The Drum Majors For Justice! |
i |
Young men from the National Urban League's "I Am Empowered" initiative are defying the odds against them! |
Link To GOA |
2011 Summary On EZ, EC, RC Programs |
Link To HUD CP&D |
2010 Congressional Briefing On EZ, EC, RC Programs |
i |
While no funds or tax credits were utilized to help stabilize traditional academic institutions, millions of EZ funds, combined with Department of Labor funds were channeled into temporary youth and adult vocational training programs that resulted in no specific skills, and no permanent employment opportunities. Or as one young man so poignantly stated, "we got programs, they got jobs." Hundreds of academic reports, newspaper articles, and grassroots advocate complaints make it very clear that the best interest of the existing residents and businesses at the time of fund designation simply went unrepresented in negotiating the disbursement of the funds. Abuse was rampant, including geographic expansion of the designated zones to include businesses that would not have otherwise qualified, and your basic "too many politicos - and friends - hand in the till." Through the Sustainable Community Controlled Development's Indigenous Community Leadership Development Initiative, The National Institute For Restorative Justice aims to advocate for a shift from externally controlled community development organizations, to true community controlled design, development and implementation, with the actual residents of the community receiving primary benefits from government infused funds. Planning for pilot Sustainable Community Controlled projects are underway in three communities in three states. |
Renewing Inalienable Rights, Rebuilding Communal Confidence, Re-energizing Sustainable Economy, Reviving Unbridled Spirit |
Site Map |
i |
Backs, Brains, Bucks & Ballots! Crafting Indigenous Controlled Communities In The Age Of Mass Black Urban Removal A Community Justice & Indigenous Leadership Empowerment Summit Click Here For May 25 - 26 Summit |
Overt the past twenty years, the US Congress has passed legislation to establish over two hundred Empowerment Zones, Enterprise Communities, and Renewal Communities to reduce unemployment and "revitalize high-poverty, economically distressed communities." Through both the Clinton and Bush administrations, a series of Congressional Acts in 1993, 1997, 1999, 2000 and 2004, allocated nearly $15 billion through a mix of $5 billion in grant funds and tax benefits for community development initiatives; loans guaranteeing subsidized housing; and $11 billion in tax break incentives for businesses to establish and upgrade facilities for the purpose of creating new jobs for EZ, EC and RC populations. Funding for these initiatives were extended by President Obama through 2011 by Tax Relief and Jobs Creation Acts to "encourage and support business investment, economic revitalization and expansion of job opportunities for residents in the designated high poverty and high unemployment census tracts." In addition to proof of high levels in poverty, unemployment and general distress, eligibility requirements for the programs included strategic plans based on four key principles: 1) economic opportunity; 2) sustainable community development; 3) community-based partnerships; and 4) strategic vision for change. |