One of the world's biggest social good foundations is contributing to one of society's biggest ills — the private prison industry. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust has invested more than $2 million in GEO Group, one of the largest and most abusive private prison corporations in the United States. GEO makes a business of jailing those with the fewest resources, profiting from their labor, stripping them of their dignity, and leaching precious human capital from already-distressed communities. GEO Group and other private prison companies have a perverse profit motive to drive criminal justice and immigration policy towards more incarceration of citizens and immigrants in prisons, jails, and immigrant detention centers. They spend millions of dollars — dollars provided in part by investors like the Gates Foundation Trust — lobbying local, state, and federal governments to institute longer sentences, to incarcerate more people for minor crimes, and to terrorize immigrant communities. If that weren't bad enough, GEO's prisons are notorious for their awful treatment of prisoners. Accounts of sexual assault, physical abuse, medical neglect, rotten and inadequate food, forced signing of immigration papers, and death have been well-documented at GEO facilities. A federal judge called the inhumane conditions at GEO’s now-closed Walnut Grove Youth Correctional Facility, "a picture of such horror as should be unrealized anywhere in the civilized world." In light of this evidence, it is shocking that the Gates Foundation Trust would maintain its investment in the GEO group. The Gates Foundation prides itself on the good it does in the world. But this investment fundamentally contradicts the Foundation's stated mission: to "ensure that all people — especially those with the fewest resources — have access to the opportunities they need to succeed in school and life." If enough of us speak out now, we'll be able to create a powerful media narrative that exposes this contradiction and shames the Gates Foundation Trust to withdraw its investment. Join Presente, Enlace, and 25 other organizations in calling on the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Trust to immediately withdraw its investment in the GEO Group.

Every working person deserves a living wage and an economy that works for everyone, not just the wealthy and well-connected. Join with me in calling on our state legislature to pass legislation to raise the minimum wage to $11.”

“Our state's current minimum wage is $8. That's not enough and completely disproportionate to inflation and other financial realities. We deserve an economy that works for everyone. Join with me in calling on our state legislature to pass legislation to raise the minimum wage to $12.” (or higher!)

Illinois minimum wage is $8.25 an hour and the tip wage is $4.95 an hour. ALL Illinois workers deserve an economy that works for everyone. A $12.95 an hour minimum wage for ALL workers would began that process. Join me in telling our legislature and our governor to raise the minimum wage to $12.95 an hour.

Currently, a payor can remit on the first of one month & the last day of the next & be within the letter of the law, even though he has effectively skipped a month. Rents, mortgages, credit cards and other billers don't allow us to pay that way, so why does the state?

Ever since his State of the Union address this year, President Obama has been calling on Congress to pass a federal minimum wage increase. He even signed an Executive Order, requiring federal contractors to boost their minimum wage to $10.10. But with the Tea Party in control in Congress, there's little chance of a vote for a federal minimum wage increase. That's why the people need to stand together and demand this of Colorado.

SOME OF OUR CHILDREN DID NOT GRADUATE HIGH SCHOOL THEREFORE IT IS TOUGH FOR THEM TO GET HIGH PAYING JOBS, IT IS OUR RESPONSIBILITY TO HELP OUR CHILDREN IN WHATEVER WAY WE CAN, RAISING THE MINIMUM WAGE WOULD HELP MANY FAMILIES WITH CHILDREN TO LIVE A BETTER LIFE

I have been a supporter of health care reform and worked to make sure that the Affordable Health Care Act or Obamacare was passed. One of the many benefits for society assured that no one would loose their homes due to health care expenses. My husband and I (age 60 and 63) have been newly enrolled in Medi-Cal. We qualify for this program due to the changes in income and asset eligibility. We own a small family daycare home which provides low cost preschool and childcare in Auburn. After a lifetime of work, like other middle class families, we have just finished paying for our home. We signed up for Medi-Cal thinking that our assets were protected under the ACA. No where in the application process was I told about the Medi-Cal Estate Recovery Program. Due to a recent notice form Medi-Cal I have been informed that due to our age group (55-64) that care or services delivered through Medi-Cal are fully billable to our estate upon our death. That means our home, which is our only substantial asset, will be subject to a government lien to pay for prescriptions, doctor's visits, hospitalizations and beyond. As it stands today, Medi-Cal is not health care for low income seniors but a loan program with homes, cars, life insurance, stocks, retirement funds, virtually any asset serving as collateral. As we know, a week's stay in a hospital with surgery for any reason can easily amount to the total value of a home in California. For someone with an expensive monthly prescription the cost over 10 years time could be substantial. This is surely not the intent of the Affordable Health Care Act with it's Medicaid (Medi-Cal in California) expansion. Please help Medi-Cal seniors like myself and my husband obtain the same financial security as those who purchase subsidized insurance through the exchanges, purchase health insurance, or receive health insurance as a benefit through their work. Please help by signing this petition urging Governor Brown and the California State Legislature to take immediate action to change the certain risk that the Medi-Cal Estate Recovery Program posses to the assets of low income seniors in California. Please due it now. Please, before you or someone you know looses their inheritance due to their parent's enrollment in Medi-Cal. Thank you for helping!

We need to support home economy to let the nation's economy grow.

So tired of wealth winning over poverty in this state (NC) Teachers need a better wage too! It will help all children in the state if both of these 2 issues get addressed promptly.

The daily torture of ducks for corporate profit needs to end now!

Wages in New Mexico have traditionally be low even though the cost of living is not low. Raising the minimum wage would be a real help.