1/ 5/2010- January 4, 2010, BOSTON —At barely 8:00 a.m. today, the first Monday of a new decade, the U.S. Census Bureau ceremonially launched its regular ten-year mission to count everyone living in the United States, as mandated by the first article of the Constitution. Fittingly, the launch in Boston took place in front of the U.S.S. Constitution docked in Charlestown, with the commander of “Old Ironsides” and the 1812 Marines colonial drum and fife core on hand, besides numerous government officials and area Census partners.
1/ 5/2010- December 15, 2009, BOSTON —Reflecting the diversity of our immigrant nation, a broad Massachusetts coalition of faith, labor and community leaders voiced their support for the immigration reform bill that Illinois Representative Luis Gutierrez introduces in the U.S. House of Representatives at noon today. The bill marks the first major legislative action honoring President Obama’s promise to fix our broken immigration system, and it achieves the goal of starting the process within the president’s first year in office.
1/ 5/2010- November 17, 2009, BOSTON —Standing in the Great Hall at the State House before a packed audience this morning. Governor Deval Patrick spoke about the importance of the New Americans Agenda, a set of policy recommendations on integrating the commonwealth’s immigrants and refugees more fully into the civic and economic life of Massachusetts. The report is the product of a yearlong study by the Governor’s Advisory Council on Refugees and Immigrants (GAC), produced in collaboration with the state’s Office of Refugees and Immigrants (ORI) and the non-profit Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition (MIRA). The fourth such study to be released in the nation, the NAA report is the product of the most extensive research yet undertaken, with input from 1200 members of the general public and almost 200 policy experts, state-agency staff and community workers.
1/ 5/2010- November 4, 2009, WORCESTER- In a rare joint presentation, the secretaries of labor and education appeared at the UMass Medical School yesterday announce an even rarer accomplishment in these bleak economic times: the creation of a new education fund. In response to state budget cuts of nearly ten percent in adult education and almost 6o percent in workforce training, Secretary of Elementary and Secondary Education Paul Reville and Secretary of Labor and Workforce Development Suzanne Bump worked together to create a new dedicated fund for workplace classes in Adult Basic Education (ABE) and English for Speakers of Other Languages (ESOL). Thanks to money from the Obama administration stimulus package, the two departments were able to combine $1 million from the Executive Office of Workforce and Labor Development (EWOLD) and an additional $400,000 from Elementary and Secondary Education (ESE) in the new “Learn at Work” program, which will distribute the $1.4 million in grants through the Commonwealth Corporation (RFPs will be available through their website, http://www.commcorp.org.
10/26/2009- October 21, 2009, BOSTON -- On Monday, October 19, Pedro Juan Tavarez, a 49-year-old native of the Dominican Republic in Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) custody, died at Women and Bringham's Hospital in Boston.
ICE was holding Tavarez on immigration violations at The Suffolk County House of Corrections, which transferred him to Brigham and Women's after the correction facility's medical staff suggested possible pneumonia. The hospital was treating Tavarez for heart and respiratory conditions when he died, but the official cause of death has not yet been determined by the medical examiner.
