When ground breaks for the new Scotland Neighborhood Recreation Center, members of historically black and historically white churches will join in the ceremony.
"Bette Thompson, African-American and a member of Scotland AME Zion in Potomac, and Judy Walser, white and a member of Our Lady of Mercy in Potomac, will be united once again" at the ceremony, according to an Action in Montgomery news statement.
NEW HAVEN — Carolina Bortolleto, an undocumented student from Danbury, came forward Monday to testify, not for herself, but on behalf of her parents, explaining what drivers’ licenses would for mean for them.
“Sitting in the back seat I can see my mom shaking and praying if she sees the police behind us. ... ‘Pull over anywhere. Pretend we are stopping for coffee. Pretend we are stopping at this restaurant, because if the police stop us, we are going to be deported,” Bortolleto said of the daily fear they experience just driving to work or to school or the grocery store.
Gov. Pat Quinn and Illinois Senate President John Cullerton met with community activists Sunday afternoon at a Gold Coast synagogue to support an effort to curb gun violence.
“The only way to beat a powerful lobby is to organize,” Quinn told a group of about 400 at the Chicago Sinai Congregation, 15 W. Delaware. “Early to bed, early to rise, work like hell and organize.”
By Robert Samuels
Even though 800 people had gathered in a house of the Lord, the bishop made a request that usually would be out of line.
“This is going to be the one time in church you’ll be glad to have your cellphone,” Bishop Douglas Miles said as he encouraged members of the crowd to keep their cellphones on, although the reason why was not immediately clear
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By Holly Nunn
Eight hundred people joined in prayer in a church in Silver Spring on Tuesday night, praying for the Dream Act. Many were leaders of churches and synagogues, all pledging to encourage their congregations, neighbors and friends to vote for Question 4.
Possibly the most active part of a coalition that spans labor unions, the education community and a number of elected officials including Gov. Martin O’Malley, faith communities in Maryland have almost unanimously campaigned in favor of the law, which passed in 2011 and was brought to referendum by petition.
SILVER SPRING, Md. — Supporters of a measure to allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition at Maryland colleges in certain circumstances are mobilizing for a referendum in November.
Clergy members who belong to the Maryland Industrial Areas Foundation are holding an event in Silver Spring on Wednesday to talk about how they plan to discuss why the measure is important to Maryland.
The group says it's launching a grassroots field campaign to talk about the law's virtues.
Approximately 85 of Maryland's religious organizations, schools and neighborhood groups are banding together to fight for state legislation known as the "Dream Act," which would allow illegal immigrants to pay in-state tuition.
The group, led by the Maryland Industrial Areas Foundation, a coalition of liberal activists, consists mostly of groups from Montgomery and Howard counties and Baltimore. On Wednesday, the group gathered 70 clergy at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Silver Spring to train them in the language and the teachings of the grassroots movement.
Today seniors (age 60 and over) comprise 15 percent of the population of Montgomery County. County planners project that by 2020, less than eight years from now, seniors will comprise 24 percent of county residents. Yet according to the Action in Montgomery (AIM) organization, many seniors are being forced out of the county because they are unable to find affordable housing.
In addition, one of every six seniors in Montgomery County today lives in poverty.
At a March 20 meeting at Kehilat Shalom synagogue in Montgomery Village, over 250 — mostly senior — AIM members packed the temple’s multipurpose room to share these concerns with County Executive Ike Leggett, County Council President Roger Berliner (District 1) and Council member Hans Riemer (At-Large).
If the Justice Department wants to get serious about investigating financial fraud by Wall Street big boys, it ought to drop by the White House and interview Jeffrey Immelt, CEO of General Electric. Immelt is chair of President Obama’s jobs and competitive council, where he strategizes about how to revive American manufacturing. In some other places, only thirty miles from the White House, Immelt is known as the subprime foreclosure king.
General Electric preyed upon low-income minorities—people of color and immigrants—with notorious subprime mortgages designed to fail. And fail they did. GE Capital’s mortgage subsidiary originated some $700 million in housing loans to families in Prince William and Manasses—high-cost, predatory loans of which $218 million wound up in foreclosure. GE, well known for its inventiveness, pioneered online loan origination in which borrowers did not have to prove they had any income. Naturally, they were charged sky-high interest rates and sold weird mortgages with variable rates that went up but never went down.
US State News
May 2, 2012
ELLICOTT CITY, Md., May 2 -- Howard County issued the following news:
Howard County Executive Ken Ulman today announced that Howard County Government and People Acting Together in Howard (PATH) have joined forces to create a new partnership to address two growing community concerns - youth employment and stormwater pollution.
Starting this summer, PATH and their partner the Alliance for the Chesapeake Bay, with the financial backing of a grant from Howard County Government, will hire and train 40 young adults who will learn how to develop green solutions to stormwater management issues. READY (Restoring the Environment and Developing Youth) program members will use their new knowledge to build facilities that will reduce the storm runoff that carries sediment and pollutants to our streams and the Chesapeake Bay.
We in Montgomery County live in a suburb of one of the great cities of the world with a quality of life that is arguably unmatched. The cultural opportunities, educational institutions, and creative political energies found here make it a vibrant place where people want to live and where those who have lived here for decades want to continue to live.
Yet, increasingly, for many older residents, continuing to live in this county has become problematic. As a consequence, we are witnessing an exodus of great community leaders, parents and friends. Many members of the 30 congregations that make up Action in Montgomery have left the county. They leave because they cannot afford to retire in our county or because they cannot downsize to suitable one-floor homes near transportation. We mourn this loss and believe we must act to reverse the trend.
Leggett unveiled the plan in a meeting with Action in Montgomery, a group of religious congregations lobbying for improvements in senior living, at the Kehilat Shalom synagogue in Montgomery Village. Housing and Community Affairs Director Richard Nelson said the project could be completed as early as late 2014.
Leggett dedicated the $1.5 million to enhance senior housing in his recommended fiscal 2013 operating budget at a time when the need for both affordable and market rate senior living facilities is growing.
Maryland-IAF spearheads faith effort for DREAM landslide vote.
Action In Montgomery 
8900 Georgia Ave
Silver Springs, MD 20910
301-588-0330
