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Last Chance: Make the Health Care Law Work Better for Women …Judy Waxman, National Women’s Law Center

10/21/2011 Nativegrl77

Over the past few months, you helped us send nearly 15,000 messages to the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to make sure ALL women get birth control without a co-payment through the health care law.

We need your help again. HHS is deciding how key parts of the health care law will work and is accepting comments from the public until the end of the month. Join us in telling HHS how to improve the way the health care law works for women!

There are three things HHS can do right now that are crucial to women’s health:

: Include strong consumer protections to make it easy for women to enroll in high quality, affordable health care plans that meet their needs.
: Simplify the rules for insurance plans that cover abortion so women can choose the health plan that’s right for them.
: Maintain strong, enforceable standards to protect women against discrimination.

We need your help! Tell HHS to move women’s health forward by including these three important provisions in the implementation of the health care law.

The new health law has already helped millions of women: insurance companies are prohibited from dropping patients when they become sick and can no longer limit the amount of money they will pay for benefits over a woman’s lifetime, and women can get no-cost preventive health care like mammograms and pap smears.

We will continue to work with you to make sure that we keep this important law strong for women and their families.

Thank you for all that you do.

Sincerely,

Judy Waxman
Vice President for Health and Reproductive Rights
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. Your support allows us to continue to improve the health care of women and their families, as well as work on many other critical issues. Please consider making a contribution today.

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Test your knowledge: Take the Mitt quiz …Brad Woodhouse, Democrats.org

10/20/2011 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

The Mitt Romney who’s running for the Republican presidential nomination has said he would sign legislation to end Medicare as we know it, slash Social Security, and repeal health care reform as one of his first acts in office.

But over the years, Mitt Romney has supported expanding access to health care, protecting a woman’s right to choose, and investing in infrastructure — just like the kind in the Recovery Act that brought us back from the brink of a depression.

It’s one thing for a politician’s positions to evolve over time. It’s another to flip back and forth over the course of a 20-year political career based on what office you’re running for and where.

And that’s exactly what Romney has shown: He has no core convictions or values. With him, it’s all just politics.

It makes you wonder — which Mitt would we get in the White House?

And which Mitt would we be relying on to make decisions on behalf of millions of Americans, during a crisis, or as commander in chief?

So we took a hard look at his record, everywhere he’s stood on the issues, and put it all together in the form of a new site, www.WhichMitt.com

We can’t predict exactly how Mitt would govern as president, but you can take the quiz to test how well you know his track record to get an idea — and perhaps learn a little more about the man some are calling the Republican front-runner.

Which Mitt do you know?

The answer may surprise you:

http://www.WhichMitt.com

Thanks,

Brad

Brad Woodhouse
Communications Director
Democratic National Committee

P.S. — After you check out the quiz, pass this note on to your friends and family, and challenge them to beat your score.

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Occupy Black America …The Black Institute

10/20/2011 Nativegrl77 1 Comment

Black celebrities such as Kanye West, Russell Simmons and Danny Glover have publicly supported the Occupy movement, but even with such an endorsement, Black people have had relatively low attendance. Some believe this is in part because when Black people turn on their televisions or search the web, they look out into the crowd and see mostly white faces. This gives Black Americans the sense that the protests are not about them. However, someone must take the first step. If Black people want to see themselves in the movement, Black people have to put themselves in the movement.

In this week’s blog we explore the role of black america in the occupy movement.
Read it and tell us what you think.

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Free Tax Credit Webinars: Keep Working Families from Missing Out

10/20/2011 Nativegrl77


	Free Tax Credit Webinars: Keep Working Families from Missing Out



	Register today for our online trainings about helping families claim important tax credits.

Many people dread filing their taxes. But for many families, filing a tax return enables them to claim valuable tax credits! Unfortunately, if they don’t have the information they need, eligible families might miss out on potentially thousands of dollars.

Let’s make this tax season different! We need your help to spread the word. And we’re offering two free online trainings to give you the information and tools you need:

Part I – Tax Credits: What Working Families Need to Know
Wednesday, Oct. 26 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (1 hour)

Get the facts about how federal and state tax credits can give working families a leg up, and get access to resources that will help you to get that information to families in your community.

This webinar will cover:

The EITC, which is worth up to $5,751 for low- and moderate-income families with children;
The Child Tax Credit, which is worth up to $1,000 per child;
The Child and Dependent Care Tax Credit, which gives families with child care expenses up to $2,100;
Basic tips for sharing information about tax credits with families.

Part II – Tax Credits Outreach: Tips and Tools for Service Providers and Advocates
Tuesday, Nov. 8 at 1:00 p.m. Eastern (1 hour)

You can make a big difference by making sure families get the information they need. Learn about simple outreach activities that can have a major impact on working families. This webinar will help you:

Get free outreach materials;
Connect with local coalitions;
Find free tax preparation services in your community; and
Learn some successful techniques for spreading the word about tax credits.

In addition to the webinars, you can also sign up to be one of our community partners. Community partners receive customized resources that make it easy to spread the word about tax credits to families in your community and technical assistance on issues relating to tax credits and outreach activities.

These webinars are part of the National Women’s Law Center‘s Citi Education Series on Family Economic Security and the Tax Credits Outreach Campaign. We hope you can join us!

Sincerely,

Joan Entmacher
Vice President, Family Economic Security
National Women’s Law Center

P.S. If you’re interested in doing more tax credits outreach in your community, remember to sign up for our community partner program in addition to the webinars!

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A climate presentation in your hometown …

10/20/2011 Nativegrl77

We couldn’t be more excited. People from all over the world have told us they want to work in their community to help solve the climate crisis. And we are responding. Today, I invite you to join us and host a climate presentation where you live.

Our Chairman and Founder, former Vice President Al Gore, has personally trained more than 3,000 people to deliver a multimedia presentation based on our worldwide event, 24 Hours of Reality. This is a powerful story about how climate change is affecting us now and what we can do to solve it. People across the globe have asked to bring a Climate Presenter to their communities. Now, you can too.

Join us today. Host a free Climate Reality presentation where you live.

Hosting a presentation is easy. Fill out our simple online form, and we’ll contact you shortly to match you with a trained Climate Presenter in your area. You can host a presentation in your workplace, your place of worship, your local school, or another location of your choice.

When you host a presentation, you’ll hear about how climate change is affecting us around the world. You’ll engage your community. You’ll learn about the reality we face. And I think you’ll have some fun in the process.

Take action now. Click here to get started and host a Climate Reality Presentation:

http://forms.climaterealityproject.org/request

Thanks for all you do,

Maggie L. Fox
President and CEO
The Climate Reality Project

P.S. Want to learn more? Visit the Climate Reality blog and read about a few simple steps you can take to host a great presentation where you live.