Campaign News

For Immediate Release

Media Contact: Center for Popular Democracy; press@populardemocracy.org 

SPANISH BELOW

San Juan – In response to the appointment of Justin Peterson to the Fiscal Management Oversight Board (FOMB), Boricuas Unidos Por La Diáspora, Center for Popular Democracy, Construyamos Otro Acuerdo, Diáspora en Resistencia, Latino Justice PRLDEF, Diáspora en Acción, Hedge Clippers and VAMOS issued the following statement.

“Over the past few years, community groups have sounded the alarm about the conflicts of interest within the FOMB and the impact on the policies it was imposing on Puerto Rico. The appointment of Justin Peterson embodies some of our worst nightmares. As a managing partner of DCI Group, Peterson has actively lobbied to oppose comprehensive bankruptcy protections and advised hedge fund bond holders that have pushed for exorbitant debt payments as the people of Puerto Rico struggle to recover from hurricanes, earthquakes, and a pandemic. From the brutal austerity policies that closed schools, crippled hospitals, and forced hundreds of thousands to leave their homeland, to the preferential treatment of banks connected to the members of the board, FOMB has become an existential threat to the people in Puerto Rico.

This appointment is a clear example of how Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA) and the FOMB have become a tool for Wall Street to extract wealth from Puerto Rico. We wholeheartedly oppose this nomination. We will continue to advocate for debt cancelation as the only real solution to providing comprehensive relief to the people of Puerto Rico.” 

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Grupos comunitarios de Puerto Rico y su diáspora se oponen al nombramiento de Justin Peterson como el nuevo miembro del FOMB Este nombramiento es un claro ejemplo de cómo la Ley PROMESA y el FOMB se han convertido en una herramienta para que Wall Street extraiga riquezas de Puerto Rico. 

San Juan – En respuesta al nombramiento de Justin Peterson para la Junta de Supervisión y Administración Financiera para Puerto Rico (FOMB), Boricuas Unidos En La Diáspora, Center for Popular Democracy, Construyamos Otro Acuerdo, Diáspora en Resistencia, Latino Justice PRLDEF, Diáspora en Acción, Hedge Clippers y VAMOS emitieron las siguientes expresiones:

“En los últimos años, varios grupos comunitarios han hecho sonar la alarma sobre los conflictos de interés  dentro del FOMB y el impacto de las políticas que se estaban imponiendo en la isla. El nombramiento de Justin Peterson encarna algunas de nuestras peores pesadillas. Como socio gerente de DCI Group, Peterson ha cabildeado activamente para oponerse a protecciones de bancarrota y ha asesorado a los bonistas de fondos buitre, quienes han presionado por pagos exorbitantes mientras el pueblo de Puerto Rico lucha por recuperarse de huracanes, terremotos y una pandemia. Desde las brutales políticas de austeridad que cerraron escuelas, paralizaron hospitales y obligaron a cientos de miles a salir de la isla, hasta el trato preferencial de los bancos vinculados a los miembros de la junta, esa alarma se ha convertido ahora en una amenaza existencial para la gente de Puerto Rico. 

Este nombramiento es un claro ejemplo de cómo la Ley PROMESA y el FOMB se han convertido en una herramienta para que Wall Street extraiga riquezas de Puerto Rico. Nos oponemos rotundamente a esta nominación. Continuaremos abogando por la cancelación de la deuda como la única solución real para proveer una recuperación justa a Puerto Rico.

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The Center for Popular Democracy is a national network of more than 50 community organizations dedicated to achieving racial and economic justice through local grassroots organizing. CPD trains and supports leadership, staff, and members to grow base-building organizations to scale and leverage that strength to win cutting-edge policy victories at the federal, state, and local levels. www.populardemocracy.org

 

 

The Honorable Mitch McConnell The Honorable Nancy Pelosi Majority Leader Speaker of the House United States Senate United States House of Representatives  Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20515

The Honorable Charles E. Schumer The Honorable Kevin McCarthy  Minority Leader Minority Leader United States Senate United States House of Representatives  Washington, DC 20510 Washington, DC 20515

Re: Request for a Transparent Nomination Process of New Members of the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board (FOMB) for Puerto Rico

Dear Speaker Pelosi, Minority Leader McCarthy, Majority Leader McConnell, and Minority Leader Schumer:

We write to you as organizations in Puerto Rico and stateside that are deeply concerned about upcoming vacancies at the Fiscal Oversight and Management Board  (FOMB) and the impact that a rushed and secretive appointments process would have on the people of Puerto Rico.  Given the sweeping authority that this board has over the territory and the serious questions raised by the actions of the current members of the FOMB, we request that Congress  pursue a transparent and open FOMB nomination process that ensures that any new member is able to be thoroughly vetted before taking over the role.

Congress, through the Puerto Rico Oversight, Management, and Economic Stability Act (PROMESA), made the FOMB the fiscal trustee of the Government of Puerto Rico.  Over the last few years, the FOMB has forced brutal austerity measures that have further weakened health, educational, and other public infrastructures.  Austerity measures have included cuts to Medicaid, cuts to funds for public schools including the University of Puerto Rico, cuts to compensation for public employees, and cuts to municipalities struggling in the wake of natural disasters.  These measures have not been successful in paving the way for long-term economic recovery and fiscal health for Puerto Rico; instead, they have resulted in the people of Puerto Rico living in greater precarity during a pandemic, and recurring natural and manmade disasters, with no end in sight.

Moreover, research has revealed that the current members of the board are plagued by conflicts of interest that may have undermined their ability to act in the best interest of the people of Puerto Rico:

Two members of the FOMB, José R. González and Carlos M. García, are former Santander executives who both served as heads of Puerto Rico’s Government Development Bank (GDB). Together, these men built Santander Securities, the bank’s municipal bond business, which was a leading bond underwriter during the growth in Puerto Rican public debt. A 2016 report estimated “Santander has participated in the underwriting of $61 billion in Puerto Rican bonds, and as part of these bond issues, $1.1 billion was paid to Santander and others in issuance fees.” As Puerto Rico was falling deeper into debt, Santander used an unscrupulous revolving door scheme to peddle risky financial products like capital appreciation bonds and interest rate swap agreements, designed to maximize profits, all while the people of Puerto Rico suffered. While Santander faces claims from the FOMB for its role in underwriting billions in illegally issued debt, Carlos García faced no consequences for overseeing these transactions during his tenure at both Santander and the GDB.

The Chairman of the FOMB, José B. Carrión, has numerous familial and business ties that represent potential conflicts of interest in his oversight role and fiduciary duties. Concerns over these conflicts arise, for instance, when the FOMB signs off on debt restructuring deals that grant immunity to, or fail to pursue claims against, current or former employees of Mr. Carrión's firm while they served as officers and directors of the GDB. The Carrión family business, namely Popular Inc., has also escaped liability in the FOMB's last-minute attempt to recover fraudulent transfers from a long list of underwriters in over $12 billion of bonds potentially issued illegally.

José R. González was also director of OFG Bancorp, parent company of Oriental Bank and Oriental Financial Services, the bank's municipal bond subsidiary. Oriental likewise escaped liability in the FOMB's last-minute blitz of avoidance actions against underwriters of billions in potentially illegal debt during González's tenure.

As Supreme Court Justice Sonia Sotomayor recently stated in an opinion concerning the appointment of FOMB members, these individuals, “tasked with determining the financial fate of a self-governing Territory, exist in a twilight zone of accountability, neither selected by Puerto Rico itself nor subject to the strictures of the Appointments Clause.”  We cannot allow individuals who will be empowered, as Justice Sotomayor stated, with  a “freewheeling exercise of control” over the people of Puerto Rico, to be appointed in a rushed and secretive manner.

For these reasons, we request that Congress  move forward with a transparent and open FOMB nomination process that ensures that any new member is able to be thoroughly vetted before taking on the role.  Thank you in advance for your support.

Sincerely,

Action Center on Race and the Economy

Alianza for Progress,  Florida

Alianza por Puerto Rico/Massachusetts

Boricuas Unidos en la Diáspora 

BoriSquad

Cancel the Debt

CASA

Center for Popular Democracy

Construyamos Otro Acuerdo Campaign

Communities United for Fair Housing (CUFFH)

Defend Puerto Rico

Diaspora en Acción

Diáspora en Resistencia

Hedge Clippers

Florida Immigrant Coalition

Little Sis

Make the Road CT

Make the Road NJ

Make the Road NY

Make the Road NV

New York Communities for Change (NYCC)

Power 4 Puerto Rico Coalition

Public Accountability Initiative

ReFund America Project 

Harvard Puerto Rico Divestment Campaign 

Hispanic Federation 

Strong Economy for All

VAMOS

05.29.2020

WASHINGTON -- Jennifer Epps-Addison, Network President and Co-Executive Director of Center for Popular Democracy, issued the following statement on the events in Minneapolis, Minnesota:

George Floyd. Ahmaud Arbery. Breonna Taylor. Tony McDade. Sean Reed.

These are just a few of the Black people murdered in just the last month because of white supremacy and the pervasive anti-Blackness that permeates every aspect of our society. We mourn them and the countless other victims of state violence and racial terror whose names have not garnered national attention.

Black people have grown weary of this cycle of oppression, violence, and of being told to peacefully reform a system of oppression that is working exactly the way it was designed. We are tired of perpetual fear that we, or someone we love, will be next.

We have seen this before: Anti-Black violence occurs; leaders shake their heads and offer thoughts and prayers; we go to the streets to demand action and accountability but none occurs, only empty rhetoric. It’s time to move beyond rhetoric.

The uprisings in Minneapolis and Louisville are a legitimate and necessary reaction to militarized, aggressive policing, and a criminal justice system that claims more of our people every day without consequence. While recent news that former officer Derek Chauvin will be charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter is welcome, the other three officers are equally as culpable for their lack of action to stop a public execution.

Even if the uprisings secure a conviction of the officers involved, those convictions alone will not deliver the freedom and justice Black communities deserve. The only way for us to win real liberation is to transform our systems by divesting from policing, investing in community-led solutions, and demanding that politicians take concrete legislative action at every level from the City Council to Congress.

Over the last 30 years, at both the national and local levels, governments have dramatically increased their spending on criminalization, policing, and mass incarceration while drastically cutting investments in basic infrastructure and slowing investment in social safety net programs.

Making our communities safer means providing a living wage, increasing access to holistic health services and treatment, educational opportunities, and stable housing, not additional investments in police or prisons.

At the federal level, CPD has endorsed the resolution put forth by Congresswomen Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) and Ilhan Omar (MN-05), in partnership with Congresswoman Karen Bass (CA-37), Chair of the Congressional Black Caucus, and Congresswoman Barbara Lee (CA-13) to condemn police brutality, racial profiling, and the excessive use of force.

At the local level, we ask that those who believe in freedom support Black-led organizations putting their lives at risk to hold police systems to account and working to ensure that the rise in racial terror against Black communities does not persist.

The CPD network is rooted in the belief that through our collective action we can build a world where each and every person has the freedom to thrive. We know that when a new world emerges, it will be birthed by the struggle, labor and love of Black communities. We invite others to join us by giving to organizations that are fighting for freedom on the frontlines right now: Black Visions Collective, Minnesota Freedom Fund, Northstar Health Collective, Reclaim the Block, Unicorn Riot, Just Georgia Coalition, and Louisville Community Bail Fund.

 

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Media Contact: press@populardemocracy.org

05.05.2020

Today, the Center for Popular Democracy, a network of community organizations, released a letter to the House of Representatives calling for immediate and long-term spending for elementary and secondary education. The letter, signed by 21 organizations including Detroit Action, One Pennsylvania (OnePA), Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC), Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT), the Texas Organizing Project (TOP) and the Make the Road network, among others, urges Congress to pass another economic stimulus package that injects funding into state and local authorities for education funding. The letter comes a day before the House Appropriations Labor, Health and Human Services, and Education (Labor/HHS) Subcommittee will hold a hearing titled, "COVID-19 Response."

The latest major spending bill, the CARES Act, allocated $2 trillion dollars, yet less than one percent of that was allocated toward education funding through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund and the Governor’s Educational Stabilization Fund. Especially given the resource-intensive shift of public education toward distance/online learning, and the expected budgetary shortfall in states and localities, the letter signers note that public education needs deep federal investment in order to survive. The letter acknowledges the important, but small step taken by Congress in passing the CARES Act, but implores Congress to do more. 

“Following the Great Recession of 2008/9, Congress provided over $100 billion for education relief funding, yet has only provided $16 billion through the CARES Act. Instead of padding the pockets of Wall Street investors, Congress needs to ensure a huge additional stimulus package with far more funding for education stabilization. Anything less would be to condemn millions of students -- low-income students and students of color in particular, to a schooling system in a worse position than it was following the decade since the Great Recession,” said Dmitri Holtzman, director of education justice campaigns at the Center for Popular Democracy. “We need a spending bill that prioritizes investment in our public education system, at unprecedented levels, to meet the short, medium and long term health and economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic.” 

A full copy of the letter is available below.

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May 5, 2020

Representative Bobby Scott

US House of Representatives

Education and Labor Committee

1201 Longworth House Office Bldg

Washington, DC 20515

Dear Honorable Member Bobby Scott and the honorable members of the Education and Labor Committee:  

Re: The urgent need for additional immediate and long-term economic stimulus and relief for Elementary and Secondary Education funding.

We are the Center for Popular Democracy, a national network of 53 affiliated grassroots organizations in 131 cities in 34 States, Puerto Rico and Washington D.C. On behalf of our members and the communities they represent, we write to you today with an urgent appeal that you ensure that Congress pass a further economic stimulus package, which includes a massive injection of funding for state and local authorities for the purposes of stabilizing education funding. 

While we recognize the important steps taken by Congress in passing the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) in March this year, as members of the Education and Labor Committee we are certain you will agree that this funding package alone is wholly insufficient. If there is to be any hope of adequately and equitably managing the health and economic crisis brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic and its impact on our education and schooling system, hundreds of billions of dollars more will be needed by states and local education authorities over the next few years.  

Although the full extent of the economic impact (in the short, medium and long term) of the coronavirus on our education system is yet to be seen, creating much uncertainty, what should be clear and certain is our government’s commitment towards the stabilization of education funding and the protection of our most vulnerable students. In light of this, we wish to highlight the following:  

The CARES Act education funding is a drop in the bucket:

The CARES ACT provides $13.5 billion to elementary and secondary schools through the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund, and an additional $3 billion dollars for education through the Governor’s Education Stabilization Fund. However, this funding falls far below the levels required to ensure adequate and equitable stabilization for K-12 schooling during and beyond the COVID-19 epidemic. In fact, the funding for education under the CARES Act, makes up less than 1% of the $2.2 trillion economic relief package. With respect, this is an unconscionable reflection of the level of priority given to education needs.  

The CARES Act funding is wholly insufficient given the the significant costs of continuing education during shelter-in-place orders and the need for unprecedented shifts to distance/online learning during extended school closures, the need for continued and expanded provision of school-based meals programs, the anticipated loss in state revenues (between 15% - 20%) and the likelihood of proposed budget cuts in response to the economic crisis brought about by the pandemic. For example, the Center for Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP) recently estimated that state budget shortfalls will ultimately reach about 10% in the current fiscal year and as much as 25% in the 2021 fiscal year (according to current projections).  

By way of further example, in 2009, in response to the economic consequences of the Great Recession, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) provided over $100 billion dollars for education, dwarfing the $16.5 billion currently allocated under the CARES Act. Moreover, before COVID-19, many states had not even recovered to their funding levels prior to the 2008 economic meltdown. Studies have shown that districts and states with the highest-need populations (often poor, Black and brown communities) were the hardest hit by austerity measures adopted in response to the Great Recession. Without a further and massive injection of funds to support education stabilization in the next stimulus package, most states will surely be in an even worse economic position than what they were in the decade following the Great Recession. 

While  §18008 of the CARES Act provides that: States that receive funding from the Governor’s Emergency Education Relief Fund or the Elementary and Secondary School Emergency Relief Fund must maintain education funding for the current and next fiscal year; this requirement can be waived by the US Secretary of Education if states have experienced a “precipitous decline in financial resources.” State revenues have already begun a precipitous decline (and will continue to), and it is impossible to see how they can be expected to maintain current levels of funding for the next two fiscal years on their own. 

We need adequate and equitable funding for elementary and secondary education relief and stabilization: 

In light of the above, as part of the next unequivocally necessary federal stimulus package,  Congress MUST include at least the following if there is to be any hope of adequate and equitable relief for elementary and secondary education in response to the widespread impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Congress MUST: 

Reject and prevent all funding cuts to public schools and public education.

Allocate a minimum of an additional $175 billion towards the Elementary and Secondary Education Stabilization Fund and the Governors Emergency Education Relief Fund in the next stimulus package: to provide for meals, access to technology and internet services/support for distance learning, and services for special needs students, at least. In addition, Congress should provide directives to facilitate the expansion of broadband internet services in rural areas, where access to internet services are typically less so than in urban cities. Universal, quality and affordable broadband and internet services are indispensable towards the education needs of our communities across the country. 

We acknowledge the House plan, introduced by Representative Clyburn and others, to allocate $80 billion for the expansion of access to broadband internet services to rural and low income communities, and support this plan as a step in the necessary direction.     

Identify specific equity criteria for the use of federal funding for education stabilization.

Make a commitment to fully funding Title I and IDEA Programs in the 2021 fiscal year and thereafter, including a directive towards using a portion of those funds for the expansion of community schools. Title I funding goes to schools with high concentrations of students in poverty and the IDEA provides funding to ensure the proper education of students with disabilities. Both programs are severely underfunded, which harms the education of low-income students, students of color, and students with disabilities. In 2017, Title I funding was short by $33.3 billion and IDEA funding was short by more than $21 billion. Funding shortfalls have resulted in a lack in basic infrastructure needs. The federal government must fulfill its promise to fully fund the education of low-income students and students with disabilities, particularly in this time of crisis. 

Provide funding to hire full-time nurses who are equipped with adequate medical supplies in every school. Approximately three million students attend schools with police but no nurses. The federal government should provide grants, especially to Title I schools, to hire full-time nurses. Local organizations have long demanded these basic staffing needs be met to ensure their health and safety, which are now more important there ever given the current crisis.

Create a grant program for local districts to hire more guidance counselors, social workers, and psychologists, equitably targeted to schools in Black, brown, and low-income neighborhoods. 

Immediately issue a restriction from using relief funding or funding under the Charter School Program for primarily-virtual charter schools. While virtual schools may seem a viable alternative education provider during the crisis, studies show how ineffective they are. Virtual charter schools led overall to the loss of 72 days of instruction in reading and 180 days of instruction in math over a 180 day school year. Virtual charter schools were also found to provide poor return on public investment, graduate only about half of their students, and often incentivize cutting costs by their administrators. There is currently no mention of virtual charter schools in the regulations for the Charter School Program’s grants. This omission must be replaced by a strict limitation on public funding being used to uphold virtual charter schools. 

In April, US Education Secretary, Betsy DeVos announced the allocation of more than $300 million of CARES Act funding towards two grants (Rethink K-12 Education Models Grant and $127.5 million for the Reimagining Workforce Preparation Grant), in a clear attempt to politicize the allocation of federal stimulus funding so as to further her agenda of education privatization. This move is no more than a thinly veiled voucher program and attempt to divest from public education models. This will only further disrupt the road to recovery if left unchecked. Congress must protect further stimulus funding from being used for such a nefarious agenda aimed at undermining the public education system even further.  

Redirect federal funds currently used to criminalize and surveille young people into critically needed staffing and infrastructure programs. All federal funding towards criminalizing students must be divested. There are several funding programs that run through the Office of Community Oriented Policing Services (COPS), Bureau of Justice Administration and other federal offices which funnel federal dollars to ineffective and criminalizing grant programs. These programs pay for police, metal detectors, military grade equipment and more. There is no substantial evidence that school-based police create a safe school environment, but there is undeniable evidence it leads to an increase in children being funneled into the criminal legal system. During a pandemic, the federal government should not waste money on failed strategies and should instead invest in the supports and resources that truly make our schools and communities safe - nurses, supplies, and food. Congress could redirect some of these funds towards a fund similar to the 2010 Education Jobs Fund, providing funding directly to public school districts to be used only for personnel costs, and could be earmarked for educators, nurses, counselors etc. 

Expand funding for Pell Grants by $100 billion over the next ten years to help cover the cost of living for students.

In addition to the prioritization of funding to stabilize elementary and secondary education, in light of the broader economic impact of the coronavirus pandemic, we are calling on Congress to also cancel all student debt.

Cancel ALL Student Debt: The student debt provisions in the CARES Act left out nine million student loan borrowers, were overly complex and unworkable and, in some cases, provided regressive tax giveaways that would only benefit the highest income borrowers. In order to provide relief to the millions of families saddled with unbearable student debt, we must:

Cancel all federal student debt. This is debt owed TO the federal government, and immediate cancellation is easy to administer and would provide immediate relief to families in crisis.

Halt involuntary collections, social security or tax refund seizures, wage or federal wage garnishments for all student loan borrowers in default. 

Extend the suspension on payments and waiving of interest outlined to all borrowers, not just those with federally-held loans. 

Remove the temporary income tax exclusion for employer-paid student loans. Ensure any emergency relief funds received by for-profit colleges are subject to bans on using them for executive compensation or advertising. 

Ensure no one who consolidated to become eligible for relief ends up with an increased loan balance and clarify that no interest will capitalize. 

US Education Secretary, Besty DeVos, recently excluded undocumented students from receiving financial support through the CARES Act. Congress must prevent such unconscionable action in future and ensure that undocumented students are specifically included in all further education relief and stimulus funding and federal support.  

Honorable member Bobby Scott and honorable members of the Education and Labor Committee, we thank you for your previous efforts to prioritize education needs in the first stimulus package. But, we implore you and Congress to do more. 

We trust that you receive this letter with the urgency it deserves, and look forward to further engagement with you as the committee and as individual congressional representatives to whom our members across the country are calling on to do what is needed, and nothing less. 

Signed, representatives from the following organizations: 

Arkansas Community Organizations (ACO)

Detroit Action

Florida Student Power Network (FLSPN)

Future of Tomorrow (FOT)

Kenwood Oakland Community Organization (KOCO)

Latinos Unidos Siempre (LUS) 

Leaders Igniting Transformation (LIT) 

Living United for Change in Arizona (LUCHA)

Make the Road Connecticut (MTRCT)

Make The Road Nevada (MTRNV)

Make The Road New Jersey (MTRNJ)

Make The Road New York (MTRNY)

Make The Road Pennsylvania (MTRPA) 

Maryland Communities United (MCU)

One Pennsylvania (OnePA) 

Our Future West Virginia (OFWV)

Rights & Democracy (RAD) - New Hampshire and Vermont

Sistas and Brothas United (SBU)

Step Up Louisiana (Step Up LA)

Texas Organizing Project (TOP)

Urban Youth Collaborative (UYC)

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