ACTS lobbies its agenda to 25th District hopefuls
Syracuse Post-Standard
Paige Dearing
October 27th, 2008
Candidates heard the interfaith group's concerns at Most Holy Rosary
With nine days until Election Day, the Alliance of Communities Transforming Syracuse gathered more than 1,000 Central New York residents Sunday to meet local candidates and lobby the group's antipoverty and social justice issues.
The group's meeting at Most Holy Rosary Church in Syracuse focused on justice, education, health care and the economy, with reports given by leaders of four task forces on the progress made in the last year.
The three candidates running for the 25th Congressional District - Dan Maffei, Dale Sweetland and Howie Hawkins - attended.
"We just want people to participate in the electoral process and we want to hold the people we elect accountable," said the Rev. Kevin Agee, ACTS president.
ACTS is an interdenominational activist group, made up of 26 faith, civic and union organizations that aims to highlight poverty and social justice issues in its annual political program.
"I think this group has made a lot of progress," said Maggie Mahoney, of Syracuse. "I know at first a lot of people wrote them off as a flash in a pan, but they have made a lot of progress. I give them a lot of credit for that."
Over the past year, ACTS has worked to:
Help those getting out of jail get a free birth certificate and help people get identification cards. It also pushed for legislation to have the state Department of Motor Vehicles accept jail records as valid proof of identification, which it currently does not do, said Emily NaPier, justice task force chair.
Increase the number of students exposed to the Advancement Via Individual Determination program, which encourages higher education and helps young people get ready for college, said Sheryl Aiello, youth task force co-chair.
Introduce community benefit agreements, contracts between developers and a coalition of community members, to "nurture, nourish and develop a community that benefits all of us," said Julio E. Urrutia, economic development task force chair.
Pushed for fixes of technological problems with enrollment in Child Health Plus, New York state's health insurance plan for children, and helped increase enrollment by 420 children, said Peter Sarver, health care task force chair.
"America is finally recognizing something we've been fighting for 40, 50 years," said Bernard McMillian, of Syracuse. "In order to be a world state you've got to be about the people."
Agee asked the congressional candidates if they would pledge to work with S-CHIP (a children's health insurance program); commit to work for ACTS legislative agenda; and appear Dec. 4 at a forum on community, faith and democracy in Washington, D.C. Hawkins and Maffei said yes to all three questions; Sweetland was not present when Agee asked the questions.
Hawkins said he would not be able to ignore a group with such big, clear goals and would be willing to work with ACTS if elected.
"I think it will be a challenge, a dialogue," he said.
Maffei referred to the biblical story of David, who always remembered his roots in Jerusalem, to show his dedication to the community.
"You, my friends, are my Jerusalem," Maffei said. "I will remain faithful to you."
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