Chipotle Urged to Work With CIW in Protecting Farmworkers’ Rights

Last week, leaders of the food justice movement — including Eric Schlosser and Robert Kenner, producer and director of the hard-hitting new documentary “Food, Inc.” — sent a strongly worded letter to Chipotle demanding that they “work with the Coalition of Immokalee Workers (CIW) as a true partner in the protection of farmworkers’ rights.”  Now it’s your turn to get in on the action.  Add your name to the letter to Chipotle CEO Steve Ells demanding real “food with integrity” and an end to the human rights crisis in Florida’s tomato fields. To participate in this email action sponsored by American Rights at Work visit >>> To read more about CIW’s campaign against Chipotle, read the NESRI prepared report “Challenging Chipocrisy.”

Congresswoman Waters Introduces Resolution on Children’s Right to Housing

Following up on a commitment she made at a Los Angeles Congressional Field Hearing on affordable housing in March, which was organized in cooperation with local members of the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights, Representative Waters (D-CA) introduced a resolution today calling for a right to housing for children and their families. The resolution, House Resolution 582, affirms that housing for children is not just a value we share as Americans, it is a basic human right.  To view Congesswoman Waters’ press release about the resolution >>>

Amnesty International USA calls on Senate to Consider Single Payer proposals – Healthcare Is A Human Right

In an E-Alert released today, AI USA stated that current draft health care reform legislation falls far short of fulfilling a human rights vision. AI USA suggests that one reason for this is that single-payer advocates, a crucial human rights constituency, have been largely excluded from the reform process. In fact, Senator Max Baucus’ Senate Finance Committee, the single most important legislative grouping in the reform process, has yet to hold a public hearing on single-payer. The E-Alert references NESRI and NHeLP’s recent analysis of current single-payer proposals, which finds them to come much closer to fulfilling the human right to health care than the prevailing market-based reform plans. View the e-alert >>> View the list of initial endorsers of Amnesty’s statement of principles >>> Add your organization to the list of endorsers >>> Send a letter or email to Senator Baucus telling him to hold a Finance Committee Hearing on Single-Payer >>> Listen to a NESRI interview with Sameer Dossani of Amnesty International >>>

Frank/Waters Letter to HUD Urges National Moratorium on Demolition of Public Housing

Today U.S. Representatives Barney Frank and Maxine Waters signed and sent a letter to HUD Secretary Shaun Donovan strongly requesting a national moratorium on the demolition of public housing!  In the letter Frank and Waters state that in the last ten years “over 120,000 units of public housing have been demolished or disposed with only a portion being replaced by hard units.”  In light of this reality, Frank and Waters suggest that “now is the time to preserve this vital asset before more affordable homes are lost forever.”  This victory is the result of continuous hard work on the part of housing rights advocates and local community groups and leaders across the country, including the Campaign to Restore National Housing Rights.  The Campaign, of which NESRI is a founding member, is a coalition of national organizations and local groups advocating for the preservation and improvement of our nation’s public housing stock as a critical component to protecting the human right to housing for all. Read the letter >>>

National Conference Articulates “A Collective Voice for Dignity in Schools”

On June 5 and 6, 150 advocates, organizers, youth, parents and educators from 20 states around the country came together in Chicago for the first ever Dignity In Schools Campaign (DSC) National Conference. There they discussed positive alternatives to zero-tolerance discipline and school pushout. Amongst the core conference organizers and participants were NESRI and its partners CADRE and FFLIC (pictured here). The goal of the conference was to reframe the national dialogue on school climate and discipline within a human rights framework. The DSC is now working to finalize a National Resolution on Ending School Pushout. For more information on the DSC and the conference >>> To view a conference photo gallery >>> To participate in the ongoing work to finalize the National Resolution email the DSC >>>