Greetings,

The White House hosted a conference call on the President’s new initiative, “My Brother’s Keeper” with Latino organizations that are leading the effort to help our boys and young men of color get ahead. Please join the discussion with key policy staff from across the Administration to learn more about “My Brother’s Keeper” and ways that you can get involved.

To RSVP for the conference call, click here.

President Barack Obama delivers remarks at an event to highlight “My Brother’s Keeper,” an initiative to expand opportunity for young men and boys of color, in the East Room of the White House, Feb. 27, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

Univision Telemundo Town Hall

Last week, President Obama participated in a town hall on Latinos and the Affordable Care Act. The town hall “Tu Salud y La Nueva Ley: Conversación con el Presidente” (Your Health and the New Law: A Conversation with the President) was an opportunity for people to learn about both the benefits of the Affordable Care Act and ways Latinos can sign-up for quality, affordable health insurance.

During the town hall, President Obama assured the participants that 99% of the problems with HealthCare.gov have been resolved. In addition, he stated that 95% of the problems with CuidadoDeSalud.gov have been resolved. He also guaranteed that information provided for health care enrollment would not be shared with ICE for immigration enforcement purposes. He stated, “So, for everybody out there that’s in a mixed family, there’s no sharing of the data from the health care plan into immigration services. You should feel confident that if somebody in your family is eligible, you should sign them up.”

President Barack Obama participates in the Univision Telemundo Town Hall with Enrique Acevedo and José Diaz-Balart at the Newseum in Washington, D.C., March 6, 2014. (Official White House Photo by Pete Souza)

In other news, the President announced several Latinos for key administration posts. The new Latino nominees include:

• José Cisneros – Nominated to serve as Vice Chair to the President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans
• Anna Maria Chávez – Nominated to serve as a Member on the  President’s Advisory Council on Financial Capability for Young Americans
• Joe Echevarria – Nominated to serve as a Member on the President’s Export Council

As always, please share this information with your networks to help inform the Latino community on the latest news about the Health Insurance Marketplace and other updates.

Thank you.

Jorge Neri Associate Director White House | Office of Public Engagement

Administration Highlights

Opportunity For All: Middle Class Tax Cuts In The President’s FY 2015 Budget

The President’s FY2015 budget will show how to achieve real, lasting economic security and expand opportunity for all so that every American who is willing to work hard can get ahead. The President’s budget will show in real terms the choices we can make to expand economic opportunity and strengthen the middle class, like closing unfair tax loopholes so we can invest in the things we need to help the middle class and those striving to get into it, grow our economy, and provide economic opportunity for every American. It invests in infrastructure, job training, and preschool; the bill cuts taxes for working Americans while closing tax loopholes enjoyed by the wealthy and well-connected; and reduces the deficit.

Last week, the President released his FY2015 Budget laying out a specific vision for how we create opportunity for all Americans. The President’s Budget provides a roadmap for accelerating economic growth, expanding opportunity for all Americans, and ensuring fiscal responsibility. It invests in infrastructure, job training, preschool, and pro-work tax cuts, while reducing deficits through health, tax, and immigration reform. To read more about how the President’s budget supports Latino families, click here.

Agency Updates

Statement from U.S. Secretary of Commerce Penny Pritzker on the Minority Business Development Agency’s 45th Anniversary “Forty-five years ago today our nation embarked on a vision to ensure that minority-owned firms throughout the country could become critical economic agents of change and job creation. This vision led to the founding of the Minority Business Development Agency (MBDA), the only federal agency focused on strengthening the economic contribution of our nation’s 5.8 million minority-owned businesses. Today, more than ever, MBDA continues to play a vital role in growing the U.S. economy and providing jobs for Americans of all backgrounds and cultures by ensuring that minority-owned firms grow in size and scale.”

It’s Time to Enroll. Come Back to HealthCare.gov Today! As we head into the final weeks of open enrollment, HealthCare.gov and CuidadoDeSalud.gov are ready to serve you. We all deserve the security and the peace of mind that comes from having health coverage that we can count on when we need it most. And we continue to make the application process easier for you. Read some of the ways we have improved the consumer experience.

Es Hora de Inscribirse. ¡Regrese Hoy a CuidadoDeSalud.gov! A medida que nos acercamos a las últimas semanas del período de inscripción abierta, CuidadoDeSalud.gov y Healthcare.gov está listo para servirle. Todos merecemos la seguridad y tranquilidad de tener cobertura médica con la que podemos contar cuando más la necesitamos. Y seguimos haciendo el proceso de solicitud fácil para usted. Lea más sobre la manaeras en la que hemos mejorado la experiencia para nuestros consumidores.

Blog Highlights

Still Need Health Insurance? Join a Live Chat with Valerie Jarrett & Cosmo for Latinas On Wednesday, March 12 at 3 p.m. ET, Senior Advisor to the President Valerie Jarrett will join the editors of Cosmopolitan & Cosmo for Latinas for a live chat on Google+ to discuss everything you need to know about the Affordable Care Act and how you can get insured before the March 31 open enrollment deadline.

Ask President Obama Your Health Care Questions on WebMD Next week, President Obama will sit down for his first-ever interview with WebMD, the leading source of health information for consumers and health care professionals, to discuss the importance of signing up for health insurance under the Affordable Care Act. During a conversation with the site’s health care reform expert Lisa Zamosky, the President will answer questions about health care and the ACA directly from WebMD users in an interview that will air on March 14.

Presidential Innovation Fellows Round 3: Serve. Create. Innovate. We are very excited to announce that applications are now being accepted for the third round of the Presidential Innovation Fellows program. This initiative pairs talented, diverse individuals from outside government with top Federal innovators to implement game-changing projects that make the Federal Government work better for the American people.

Get Involved

My Brother’s Keeper: Latino Community Call President Obama’s recently launch an initiative called My Brother’s Keeper.  For decades, opportunity has lagged behind for boys and young men of color.  But across the country, communities are adopting approaches to help put these boys and young men on the path to success. And the President, in collaboration with foundations, businesses, and others, wants to build on that success to ensure that every American who is willing to work hard and lift themselves up has the opportunity to get ahead and reach their full potential.

Who: Jorge Neri, Associate Director, Office of Public Engagement What: Discussion with key policy staff from the White House and across the Administration to learn more about the My Brother’s Keeper Initiative. When: 5 PM EST on Tuesday, March 11 RSVP: Click here to RSVP

White House Internship The White House Internship Program’s mission is to make the “People’s House” accessible to future leaders from around the nation, and cultivate and prepare those devoted to public service for future leadership opportunities. If you know of any such future leaders, please encourage them to visit http://www.whitehouse.gov/internships for more information.

Who: The White House Internship Program What: Fall 2014 White House Internship When: DEADLINE is Sunday, April 13 Apply: www.whitehouse.gov/internships

Get Updates

The results are different for everyone

Wouldn’t it be great if our schools had all the money they need and oil companies had to hold a bake sale to fund their tax loopholes?

Sen. Rodney Tom and his Republican caucus have refused to close the Big Oil tax loophole, so we decided to act. On Monday, we held a bake sale at the Capitol with a goal of selling 59 million brownies and cookies – enough to make up for the $59 million our schools lose to the Big Oil tax loophole.

The response from progressive legislators and activists at the Capitol was incredible. In the end, we raised $247 for the Education Legacy Trust Account, which unfortunately leaves our schools  $58,999,753 short. We could bake a lot more cookies, but it would be easier for the Senate to close the Big Oil tax loophole and devote the funding to our schools.

Oil companies like BP and Shell are some of the most profitable in the world. They don’t need our taxpayers dollars. Our kids’ classrooms do. Will you share this graphic to spread the word about closing the Big Oil tax loophole?

“[Goldman Sachs] is a great vampire squid wrapped around the face of humanity, relentlessly jamming its blood funnel into anything that smells like money.” – Matt Taibbi¹

Please click on Graphic and Send a Can

Pledge of Resistance

Pledge of Resistance volunteers march to TransCanada’s office in Houston. September 16, 2013.

When the march began, I was nervous. I had never done anything like this before, but by the time we reached the Houston office of TransCanada, the company trying to build the Keystone XL tar sands pipeline, my nervousness had washed away. I was resolved and ready to be arrested for blocking the entrance to TransCanada’s office. When the police came for me, my voice was hoarse from chanting for President Obama to stop the pipeline.
I decided to risk arrest because I don’t want to leave my four grandchildren with a hellish world of climate disasters and resource wars. I hate that they might have to live in a much more dangerous, polluted and inhospitable world when they are my age. To protect the climate and usher in the future they deserve, we must collectively take on hundreds of tasks to transition to a clean energy economy in next five years. And stopping Keystone XL is one very concrete thing that we can do to protect the climate RIGHT NOW.
Will you help me stop the pipeline by joining the Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance?
The Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance is a project bringing together tens of thousands of people to risk arrest in peaceful civil disobedience, if necessary, to make it politically unfeasible for President Obama to approve the pipeline.
As for myself, I am organizing a Pledge of Resistance action in Atlanta because I want to demonstrate to the President that people all across the country are commited to fighting climate change, even in conservative Georgia, where I live. Hundreds of other volunteers are organizing actions in every part of the country. We need your help to make the actions as big as possible. If we do that, we can demand the President represent the people and not the corporations and reject Keystone XL.
Please join me in the Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance and commit to participating in a peaceful civil disobedience action to call on the President to reject Keystone XL.
The bonds I formed with the twelve others arrested in Houston are some of the most powerful I’ve ever made in such a short time. Those bonds, along with the tens of thousands coming together in the Pledge of Resistance, have made clear to me that we are finally ready to take the urgent stand necessary to protect the climate. If we take that stand, President Obama will not be able to ignore us.
Join the Pledge of Resistance to stop the Keystone XL pipeline.     

		For the climate and our grandchildren,
		Greg Sutherland                                 Keystone XL Pledge of Resistance Volunteer

P.S. Have you already signed the Pledge of Resistance? If so, please forward this email to your friends and family.