Austin Interfaith Victory Pages
October 15, 2010
A newsletter on the successes of Austin Interfaith member institutions

New Member Institutions: Austin Interfaith proudly welcomes four new member institutions which have joined the organization since the beginning of the summer!
St. Josephs Catholic Church in Manor
Workers Defense Project
Cristo Rey Catholic Church in Austin
Cab Drivers’ Association of Austin
Each of these institutions have already begun participation in our collective efforts to improve the lives of Central Texas families. We look forward to a long and effective partnership.

Austin Interfaith Votes: Following an assembly with 600 leaders at San Jose Catholic Church on August 8th, Austin Interfaith institutions launched a non-partisan Get Out the Vote effort to sign up and deliver 20,000 voters to the polls around its agenda of issues. Right now the signature count stands at 4,000, and over 100 block walkers have held hundreds of conversations in neighborhoods around Central Texas to talk about issues affecting families. Austin Interfaith Votes weekend is October 23rd-24th where over 200 leaders will conduct GOTV walks and congregations will encourage people to early vote after services.

AI leaders at City Council: Over 50 Austin Interfaith leaders appeared before City Council on September 30th to urge the Austin City Council to make long-term job training programs like Capital IDEA a distinct city budget priority. Several council members reaffirmed their commitment to Capital IDEA from the dais and during face to face meetings throughout the preceding week. Austin Interfaith leaders were also recognized by council members from the dais.

Over $100,000 New Funding: Austin Interfaith would like to recognize two local foundations: The Alice and Michael Kuhn Foundation and the Sooch Foundation for generous new grants to Austin Interfaith in 2010 to support organizational expansion and workforce organizing respectively. Additionally, Austin Interfaith will partner with member institution Education Austin on an “Innovation Fund” Grant that Education Austin secured to organize community-based schools in AISD. Collectively these three new grants represent over $100,000 in new funding to Austin Interfaith this year.

Readers’ Corner: Malcolm Gladwell, in a recent article entitled Small Change, compares the “strong ties” that bound the leaders of the civil rights movement with the “weak ties” that connect people through modern social networking through the internet and text messaging. While he concedes that social networking can be effective for some types of communication, the thick network of relationships developed through churches and face to face conversation are what ultimately gave civil rights leaders the capacity to overcome segregation.

Upcoming Actions and Events
• Austin Interfaith Votes Weekend! October 23rd-24th. All congregations are urged to deliver their members to the polls this weekend as well have blockwalkers out in full force!
• Austin Interfaith Monthly Leaders Meeting: Tuesday October 26th, 7:00pm Prince of Peace Lutheran Church (1711 E. Oltorf St., Austin, TX 78741)
• Early Voting Runs Monday, October 18th through Friday, October 29th!
• Election Day Tuesday November 2nd

AUSTIN INTERFAITH ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT INITIATIVES 2008-09
Austin Interfaith, with a budget of under $250,000, leveraged an investment of over $18,000,000 in 2008-09 in human development and neighborhood initiatives created through its organizing
 JET FUND: Austin Interfaith worked to create a $10,000,000 competitive state grant program for proven,
long-term job training programs such as Capital IDEA, started by Austin Interfaith. Austin Interfaith worked with a bipartisan group of elected officials, including Comptroller Susan Combs, Lt Governor David Dewhurst, Rep Mark Strama and other legislators, to create the Jobs and Education for Texans (JET) Fund Grants for Innovative and Successful Programs, which will match local investment.
 CAPITAL IDEA: $2.5 million in direct investment in Capital IDEA by the City of Austin, Travis County
and federal government. Capital IDEA was started by Austin Interfaith and the business community.
 ACCOUNT FOR LEARNING: Over $3,200,000 in resources for low-income schools in AISD through
the Account for Learning Program, including the funding of Parent Support Specialists for these schools.
 ESL PROGRAMS: $222,000 City/County investment in adult ESL programs started by Austin Interfaith
 AFTER SCHOOL PROGRAMS: Over $800,000 for after school enrichment programs for 28 AISD
through the Prime Time Program, created by Austin Interfaith.
 INVESTMENT CAPITAL FUND: $200,000 in state grant money to AISD schools for parent and
teacher training through the Investment Capital Fund Grant created by Austin Interfaith and its Texas IAF Network sister organizations. To date, AISD schools have received over $2,000,000 in funding through this grant.
 SUMMER YOUTH EMPLOYMENT: $600,000 in City and County funding for the Summer Youth
Employment Program.
 WATER INFRASTRUCTURE: Over $500,000 in public and private investment to connect 40 families
in East Travis County to running water for the first time in five years.
 TRAFFIC SAFETY: $100,000 for a traffic light at the dangerous intersection of Metric and Bittern
Hollow, near St. Albert the Great Catholic Church.
 

AUSTIN INTERFAITH’S WORK HAS BEEN RECOGNIZED THIS PAST YEAR BY:
The Annenberg Institute for School Reform at Brown University: In a just released study of Austin Interfaith’s work with East Austin Schools over a six year period, Austin Interfaith’s work with AISD schools increased student achievement on standardized tests by an average of 15-19%, improved professional culture and parent involvement, and yielded substantial new resources to all high poverty, low-performing schools.
Texas Comptroller Susan Combs: In her Texas Works Report, recognized Austin Interfaith for its work in creating Capital IDEA, long term job training initiative started by Austin Interfaith which prepares low-earning adults for careers in living wage jobs.
The Governor’s Select Committee on Global Competitiveness: This committee chaired by businessman Woody Hunt called on the legislature to invest money in successful workforce strategies, singling out Austin Interfaith’s Capital IDEA as successful example.

Austin Interfaith leaders met with Rep. Lloyd Doggett in the summer to discuss the need for a deeper commitment from the federal government to long-term job training for families in Austin. Thanks to the work of Austin Interfaith leaders and Rep. Doggett, the new Federal budget signed 12/27/2007  includes a $238,000 appropriation for Capital IDEA! 

Austin Interfaith has always known that Capital IDEA is a stellar job training program, and two awards this year help demonstrate that fact.  Executive Director Steven Jacobs won the Ernst & Young Social Entrepreneur of the year, and Capital IDEA received an award from the Austin Chamber of Commerce.

Austin Interfaith and Texas IAF leaders successfully advocated for the creation of a Governor's Select Committee to evaluate and redesign the states testing and accountability system. This will allow our institutions to have the important conversations about what our children should learn and how they should be assessed. Leaders have begun to focus our education work on reducing the over-reliance on a single test, and broadening assessment and curriculum. Congratulations also to our Alliance Schools for their commitment this year to the highest academic standards and organizing parents and teachers in collaboration for school improvement.