April 23, 2008

Contact:      Kim Kruckel    510-717-6287             
María Eraña    559-455-5781

Central Valley Families Join the Campaign

For Working Families in California and Nation

Ten town halls throughout California in April place spotlight on budget cuts and policies that impact families

Fresno:  Community leaders and community members from 6 Central Valley organizations will hold a town hall meeting in Fresno, Saturday, April 26, as part of Equal Voice for America’s Families, a national campaign to develop a family issues platform.  The town hall will begin at 1:00 pm at the Cornerstone Church Hall, 1525 N. Fulton St., in downtown Fresno. The Fresno town hall is one of six held throughout northern California.

Rosa Lopez, a Mixteca homemaker from Madera, CA, plans to attend the town hall meeting in Fresno. Rosa says that the Equal Voice meeting is a good opportunity “to articulate and share our concerns and needs, so that we are taken into consideration. Our community has few chances to be heard, so we should take advantage of this meeting by attending and expressing the problems that affect our community the most.”

 A diverse group of Central Valley residents, from Mixteco and Hmong parents, to Latino youth to immigrant workers to child care teachers, will attend the town hall meetings to highlight their stories and struggles, and develop a platform of family issues to be addressed at both the state and national level. The California budget crisis and the presidential campaign will impact the working families and youth who are struggling to make ends meet and succeed. Over the next few weeks, as the California budget is debated, the Equal Voice for America Families campaign members will meet with local and elected officials to advocate for themselves and their families.

The Marguerite Casey Foundation and its grantees launched Equal Voice for America’s Families in late 2007. Town halls are being held throughout the Foundation’s grant making region in Alabama, Arizona, Arkansas, California, Florida, Georgia, Illinois, Louisiana, Mississippi, New Mexico, Texas and Washington. The Campaign will culminate in a multi-city convention on September 6, 2008, when 10,000 families will gather in Los Angeles, CA, Chicago, IL and Birmingham, AL, to unveil the national platform.

Sponsoring organizations: Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo Indígena Oaxaqueño, Fresno Center for New Americans, Children Services Network, Radio Bilingüe, Parent Institute for Quality Education (PIQE), and American Friends Service Committee (AFSC).

For information regarding national town halls, please visit www.equalvoice2008.com