Currently, there are no laws in place to guarantee how your child support money is allocated or provide your child with future funds to continue their educational pursuits (college, learning a trade, or workforce development). Many fathers have a very difficult time making ends meet while supporting their child and also trying to financially maintain their own household. In many instances, once the support period ends when the child turns 18 or later (if they continue their educational pursuits) the father is financially unable to contribute further towards their child’s future. Child support typically renders the father unable to save for the future. EKOL has started a petition that is intended to institute a clause/mandate in the child support orders from the court that requires the custodial parent to invest 20% of each monthly child support payment into a trust fund for each child receiving child support. These funds will be released to the child upon successful completion of high school and enrollment in college or towards a trade and/or workforce development program. Please sign the 20% FATHERHOOD PETITION - EKOL to help create a law in your respective state that guarantees that up to 20% of your child support payments will be allocated into an interest bearing “trust fund” for your child’s future. THANK YOU for doing your part to help sustain our families and communities.

Luis Lopez-Acabal could be deported any time! He fled to the United States from Guatemala as an unaccompanied minor at the age of 16 to escape gang violence, and has been in the US for seven years. He is the husband of Mayra Canales, a legal permanent resident, who has struggled with depression and anxiety for many years. Mr. Lopez has taken in his wife’s two US citizen children, one of whom has autism, as his own, and both of whom consider him their father. Mr. Lopez is the sole breadwinner, which allows his wife Mayra to act as full time caregiver for their autistic son. In addition to his financial support, the emotional support he provides for his wife and children cannot be measured. Luis has been in deportation proceedings as a result of a minor traffic incident. On July 7, 2014, his attorney submitted a request for a stay of removal to keep Luis in the United States with his wife and children, but that request has been denied. He now lives under the threat of immediate deportation. Luis, with the support of his wife, children, and community, will be living in the University Presbyterian Church 24/7 as they shield him from immigration authorities, hoping that they will be able to do so until Obama passes an executive order that he will qualify for.

I live in the South End of Waterville, an area that is full of low income and struggling families. Adding a trash bag fee only serves to take more of what little money the families in this area have. The Pay as you Throw program should be stopped before it does damage to already poor families.

The Metro Crenshaw Line has affected the local businesses in the area that have been there for years (some decades) to point that most of the businesses are in danger of going out of business. We need your signature to let the City and Metro know that you respect the advancements of the incoming transit system, but you do not want to sacrifice the culture of your neighborhood for it. Therefore together we ask that the city and Metro provide assistance to local businesses so that they may endure the affects of the construction and continue to provide the community with the same services.

to stop contractors from taking away our home privacy

As a consumer of all things film and television - especially N.C.-based productions - I am appalled by the new grant program put forth by the N.C. General Assembly to replace the current film incentive program. The film industry provides numerous jobs to people from all different backgrounds. The industry also helps spark tourism revenues at filming locations across the state, helping many local businesses. Please read this story on my blog for more information: http://reflectcw.blogspot.com/2014/08/the-case-for-nc-film.html

Should we be surprised anymore? Leaked audio shows that Cory Gardner recently spoke at a private retreat for the Koch brothers' financial network that has been spending heavily in his race this year. We know the Kochs have an agenda. Ask Cory Gardner what he promised to get their dirty money.

If one chooses to participate in a habit which is detrimental to ones health, that is a sad state of affairs, but it is their protected right, as long as it is legal. When people choose to smoke in public, they not only endanger themselves, but non smokers, as well. These non smokers are often our children. Smoking in public should be prohibited.

This year, most school districts across Washington state were forced by Secretary Arne Duncan’s selective enforcement of the No Child Left Behind Act to send letters to all parents that labeled our schools as failures. We are parents, teachers, students and community members who reject this label that has been placed on our schools. We know that our schools are not failures. In fact, their accomplishments have been remarkable, especially given the deeply flawed policy imposed on them by the federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). While there are certainly changes needed for our schools – many due to the legacy of racism, class inequality, and lack of equitable funding for our schools – we believe that those changes should be directed by communities that make up local school districts, not by top-down mandates. This website will share stories and testimonials about the great things that are happening in our schools that should be supported and connect our communities so that we can organize opposition to Arne Duncan’s policies and No Child Left Behind. According to NCLB, our schools should have had 100% of students test at proficient levels in reading and math by 2014. No county, no state, and no school district has ever achieved 100% proficiency on standardized tests and, in fact, the way the tests are designed make it statistically impossible to achieve that goal. Washington, like many other states, originally had a waiver in place that would have exempted it from this absurd NCLB mandate. However, when the state legislature refused to pass bills tying teacher evaluations to test scores (following overwhelming evidence that this would not improve teaching or learning), Arne Duncan chose to punish Washington state by revoking the waiver. With the waiver gone, nearly all of Washington’s schools have been labeled failures, we have lost control of millions of dollars in federal money, and some schools will be at risk of state takeovers and mass layoffs of teachers. This kind of political game-playing has no place in our schools. Our schools and teachers should not be labeled as failures simply because we have rejected extremely flawed education policies. In August 2014, 28 school superintendents from around the state authored a letter, where they declared that their schools’ successes are not reflected in these ratings and criticized No Child Left Behind. We agree. It’s time for the voices of parents, teachers and students to be heard and respected. Endorsed by: Parents Across America (PAA), Seattle Education Website, Social Equality Educators (SEE), Wayne Au, PhD, Associate Professor of Education at the University of Washington Bothell*, Jesse Hagopian, Teacher, Garfield High School*, Kshama Sawant, Seattle City Council member*, Sue Peters, Seattle School Board Director* *For identification purposes only For more information, visit http://www.ourschoolsarenotfailing.org

The U.S. has the most expensive health care system in the world, and until the Affordable Care Act, millions of working class Americans couldn't afford health insurance, yet didn't qualify for medicaid. To repeal the Affordable Care Act will doom working class Iowas to financial catastrophes if they no longer can afford health insurance or are removed from Iowa's medicaid program. This will cost at least some of these Iowans their lives as they put off needed medical care, and reduce their use of necessary prescription drugs to ineffective levels. In addition, the inability to take advantage of lower cost preventive and early intervention care means more medical care gets provided when medical conditions become severe and initial treatment occurs in emergency rooms. That's going to increase costs for all of us as hospitals try to cover losses that occur when people simply can't pay. To repeal the Affordable Care act will also cost families of young adults (18-27) significantly more in terms of assuring their children have health insurance coverage. Repeal is, quite simply, a very bad idea, unless we replace the act with a single payer plan such as exists in almost every other industrialized nation in the world where, by the way, health care is also much, much less expensive.

Senator Bruce Bradley voted for Obamacare when he served Iowa in Senate, because he knew that it would help Iowans gain health coverage. Now as he runs for reelection, his opponent Joni Ernst has made it clear that she does not share his sentiments. Joni Ernst has repeatedly said that she wants to repeal Obamacare, even airing a television advertisement in which she fires a gun at a target while a narrator says, "Once she sets her sights on Obamacare, Joni's gonna unload." Obamacare granted 148,000 Iowans access to affordable healthcare, and now Joni Ernst wants to shoot it dead. I am one of those 148,000 Iowans, I am a hard working tax paying citizen it is just with a family of 4 and prices of goods these days this is best insurance for me. Please let Joni Ernst know that we want Obamacare to stay in Iowa

Due to individuals consuming and selling illegal drugs on the west side of Verbena Park in Denver, Colorado at the covered pavilion which impacts the neighborhood and those wishing to enjoy Verbena Park without encountering such criminal activity. We wish to have the covered pavilion removed and placement of secure fencing installed on the west side of Verbena Park.