April 1, 2008
PACT/Our Lady of Guadalupe Church
Supervisor Candidates Forum: Schools or Streets
www.youtube.com
view article, from Mercury News
View article, from El Observador
600 community members came out to express their concerns that the failing school system is driving crime - in County Supervisor District 2, 9 homicides have occurred in the previous 8 weeks, and 70% of 8th graders graduate below grade level. All four of the Supervisor candidates - Richard Hobbs, Richard Lopez, Patricia Martinez-Roach and George Shirakawa - agreed that failing public schools are a major cause of violence and that they would work to reduce the dropout rate.
They signed covenants with PACT, committing to:
1.) support charter schools and district-sponsored new, small autonomous schools as key solutions to the dropout crisis
2.) provide leadership to make Santa Clara County a model immigrant-friendly community
3.) meet again with PACT to follow up on these commitments

March 18, 2008
PACT/Calvary United Methodist Church
Community Action Meeting: Who Will Safeguard Our Children?
www.youtube.com
PACT leaders with 150 community members expressed their concern that the dropout rate has increased 215% since 2002 while the County alternative programs have been slashed 65% and violence is on the rise. Santa Clara County Office of Education Board members Leon Beauchman and Grace Mah County committed to:

1.) make solving the dropout crisis a top priority

2.) hiring a new superintendent with a proven track record of success with alternative education programs


February 25, 2008
PACT/First Unitarian Church
Making Mayor Reed's Green Vision Agenda accessible to all residents.
Guests: San Jose Mayor Reed and Council member Forrest Williams.
view article from Mercury News
view article from El Observador (the cover)
view video from www.YouTube.com

300 community members attended PACT's Community Action Meeting : San Jose Green ALL WAYS to urge the Mayor to include low and moderate income residents in the City's Green Vision, because without the active participation of hundreds of thousands of lower income residents the ambitious goals will be impossible to achieve.

Mayor Chuck Reed agreed to:

1.) Make sure that as 25,000 new clean technology jobs are created, at least 1/3 of them will be green collar jobs accessible for working people without college degrees.

2.) Regularly gather community input, including non-English speaking and moderate and low-income communities, throughout the planning and implementation of the Green Vision. He said he would need PACT's help to do this.

August 20, 2007
San Jose Forum pushes for health care reforms; Charlotte Bear, pastor at Cambrian Park, delivers a personal message never before shared.
view article from Mercury News

June 4, 2007
PACT gets promise of support for mentally ill from elected officials; Councilman Sam Liccardo and Supervisor Liz Kniss.
view article from Mercury News

May 1, 2007
Marchers trek through San Jose calling for Immigration Reform. Roughly 125,000 people gathered in one of dozens of rallies that echoed across the country.
view article from Mercury News

April 6, 2007
San Jose leaders pledge their support for SJPD's hands-off policy on immigration enforcement.
Guests: City Council members Dave Cortese and Sam Liccardo and Police Chief Rob Davis.
view article from Mercury News

February 24, 2007
PACT/CCIR/Diocese/Catholic Charities/Justice for Immigrants joint Town Hall Meeting on Immigration Reform
Guests: Congresswoman Lofgren, Dist. Attorney Dolores Carr, City Council Member Sam Liccardo
view article from Mercury News
view article from La Oferta

February 12, 2007
PACT/PIA Action on Health Care
Congregation Shir Hadash
Guests: Hon. Zoe Lofgren (via video), Santa Clara County Supervisor James Beall, California State Assemblymember Ira Ruskin, Santa Clara County Supervisor Liz Kniss

June 15, 2006
PACT Action to Save the Alviso Youth Center
Our Lady Star of the Sea Catholic Church
Guest: District 4 Councilmember Chuck Reed

Community residents asked Councilmember Reed to commit to keeping funding for the Alviso Youth Center a priority, so that it can keep it's doors open to the youth of the community. Right now, the center is only open two days a week, for three hours each day. PACT leaders hope to expand the use of this relatively new building and keep Alviso's young people engaged and off the streets.

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May 21, 2006 Mayoral Forum at Parkside Hall

Position Papers on Education, Affordable Housing, School Extended Day, Immigration, and Parks and Recreation

Mercury News Article May 22, 2006

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Local residents with ties to Louisiana advocate on behalf of displaced families,December 12, 2005

Action for At-Risk Youth held at Westminster Presbyterian Church, November 15, 2005

PICO National Network response to Hurricane Katrina

District 7 City Council Candidates Forum held at St. Maria Goretti Catholic Church, Wednesday, August 31, 2005

Let’s make our Valley more immigrant friendly: PACT Immigration Forum held on Monday, June 6th, 2005 at St Patrick’s Proto-Cathedral

District 7 Race: PACT Candidate Forum held on May 17, 2005 at Most Holy Trinity Church

An Action for the future of Alum-Rock schools held on April 25, 2005 at the Mexican Heritage Plaza

Santa Clara County Health Care Model goes Statewide, held on April 13, 2005 at the Westminster Presbyterian Church

Local Residents advocated on behalf of displaced families in Lousiana: PICO organizations in 25 cities delivered HOURGLASSES to members of Congress to remind them that time is slipping away for displaced families.  PICO urged Congress to pass a supplemental spending bill before Christmas '05 to assist New Orleans and the Gulf Coast in re-building its levees and homes, support a permanent revenue stream from oil and gas revenues, to restore coastal wetlands, and choose the Senate’s approach to Medicaid which reduces the profit margin of drug and insurance companies while sparing children from benefit cuts and new access fees. PICO National Network organized the events to highlight the stark choices that Congress faced on children's health care and Gulf Coast reconstruction in the ten days before Christmas.

Action for At-Risk Youth: Students, parents, clergy, and other community members have been concerned about the recent rise in youth violence and high school drop-out rate. Without new leadership to solve this problem, thousands of San Jose youth faced a bleak future. At the event, community leaders and elected officials discussed real solutions to this growing problem.

District 7 City Council Candidates Forum: Members of PACT (People Acting in a Community Together) are encouraging the community to listen, learn and vote on the special election for San Jose District 7 council seat on September 13.District 7 has not had a leader since Terry Gregory resignation in January. The community is extremely concerned with gangs in the neighborhoods, the  quality of the schools, the lack of community and youth facilities, and the deterioration of the local neighborhoods.Nine communities members stepped up for the race but now only two remain, Linda Nguyen and Madison Nguyen. PACT does not endorse any candidates, but rather is encouraging the community to participate in the democratic process. The candidates will be available afterwards for further questions by the public

PACT Immigration Forum: Given the growing anti-immigrant sentiment in the state and country as a whole at this time – supported by powerful political leaders and organizations – this was critical for people of faith and elected officials in our Valley to stand together in support of our diverse immigrant community.

District 7 Race: PACT Candidate Forum: Members of PACT (People Acting in Community Together) encouraged the community to listen, learn and vote on a special election for San Jose District 7 council seat, June 8, 2005. District 7 had not had a leader since Terry Gregory’s resignation in January. The community was extremely concerned with gangs in the neighborhoods, the quality of the schools, the lack of community and youth facilities, and the deterioration of the Tropicana Shopping Center. Eight community members stepped up for the race. Seven of them confirmed to attend the Forum. They were: Beth Gonzales, Timothy Lauwers, Mahealani, Linda Nguyen, Madison Nguyen, Rudy Rodriguez and Bob Dhillon. PACT does not endorse any candidates, but rather encourages the community to participate in the democratic process. The candidates were available afterwards for further questions by the public.

An Action for the future of Alum Rock Schools: Five years ago, PACT (People Acting in Community Together) began organizing parents around local school issues in east San Jose. What emerged over the course of the 5 years since is a reform agenda that included the creation of new small autonomous schools of choice throughout Alum Rock. Alum Rock in collaboration with PACT, and San Jose State University’s LEAD Center; mentored through San Jose’s first 3 new small schools of choice. Today, LUCHA, ADELANTE and RENAISSANCE are serving the Alum Rock community by providing theme based instruction, longer school days, after school partnerships, in a small school setting where families are highly motivated to support student learning and parental involvement is high. In the past year, Alum Rock once again experienced changes in leadership and PACT and parents who support the new changes in Alum Rock seek a continued commitment to this reform strategy. PACT feels that changes in leadership may derail a strategy that has yet to be fully implemented without the continued commitment of the Alum Rock School Board to this reform.

Santa Clara County Health Care Model goes Statewide: As shown by the Santa Clara County Children’s Health Initiative, comprehensive health insurance for children has been cost-effective and promotes access to early, less costly preventative care and treatment. Expanding health coverage to all children also had widespread support with a recent statewide poll showing that 78% of voters would support a plan that “ensures that every child in California have health insurance.”  The California Healthy Kids initiative (similar to Santa Clara County’s Healthy Kids program) would extend coverage to low- and middle-income families whose children are not covered by employer coverage and who cannot afford to purchase insurance, as well as to low income families whose efforts to apply for health coverage are often stymied by long, complex, applications and the confusion created by a myriad of health programs.