Dear Friend,
I am writing to you today from Washington, DC. After spending the week in Memphis, I came back to attend many events surrounding the 50th Anniversary of the March on Washington taking place in our nation’s capital over the next week, including a breakfast with Dr. C.T. Vivian tomorrow.
This afternoon, I was glad to be able to meet with a large group of Memphians who spent last night driving from Memphis to DC to attend tomorrow’s march that will retrace the route taken by Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. and so many others—including several members of this group from Memphis—down the National Mall some 50 years ago. I am looking forward to joining them tomorrow to hear my friend and civil rights icon Congressman John Lewis speak at the end of the march.
Next Week in Washington, DCProtecting the Voting Rights of All AmericansPreparing Children for Success in SchoolHelping Make College More AffordableReforming our Broken Immigration SystemIncreasing Graduation Rates and Helping Young People in MemphisHelping Treat and Prevent HIV/AIDSGrant Announcements
Next Week in Washington, DC
In addition to tomorrow’s commemoration, another ceremony will be held on Wednesday, August 28th. At Wednesday’s ceremony, Barack Obama—who accepted the Democratic Party’s nomination for President on the same day five years ago—will address the nation from the same steps that Dr. King stood on in 1963. President Obama will be joined by President Jimmy Carter and President Bill Clinton.
If you are planning to be in Washington during Wednesday’s ceremony, my office, located in room 2404 of the Rayburn House Office Building, will be open from 9:00am to 6:00pm. I will be at the Lincoln Memorial during the afternoon ceremony, but please feel free to stop in—both my staff and I would be happy to welcome you. If you are having trouble finding the office, please don’t hesitate to call us at (202) 225-3265
Protecting the Voting Rights of All Americans
The March on Washington spurred our nation into action and led to both the Voting Rights Act and Civil Rights Act within just two years. Sadly, a recent Supreme Court ruling left important provisions of the Voting Rights Act in limbo and raised questions about whether the civil rights of millions of Americans—including minority groups who have historically been oppressed—would remain protected.
One of the first tests of the Supreme Court’s ruling on the Voting Rights Act is a recently-passed Texas voter ID law, SB 14, which threatens to disenfranchise countless voters. While the Court’s ruling gutted certain provisions of the Voting Rights Act, the Department of Justice announced on Thursday that it will continue to aggressively defend our civil rights and that it had filed suit against the State of Texas because SB 14 violates other Voting Rights Act provisions as well as the 14th and 15th Amendments of the U.S. Constitution.
Congress still needs to address the Supreme Court’s ruling and strengthen the protections in the Act—and we should do so as soon as possible. But while we work to do that, I am pleased that the Department of Justice and Attorney General Holder aren’t waiting for more discrimination against minorities to occur before using every tool at their disposal to protect the civil rights and human rights that we fought for so long to obtain.
Preparing Children for Success in School
On Tuesday, I announced that Shelby County was awarded more than $3.6 million dollars to support Head Start programs that help prepare young children to learn at school by enhancing their cognitive, social, and emotional development. Tuesday’s announcement completes the current year’s funding for a total of $23,249,312.
Our Head Start programs are an investment in our children, an investment in our families, and an investment in our future. They help ensure that children from low-income families throughout Shelby County will be healthier and better prepared to learn when they enter school. We will see countless benefits down the line as today’s children grow into tomorrow’s entrepreneurs, doctors, scientists, and productive members of our society. Head Start is an important program that I am proud to support.
Helping Make College More Affordable
Yesterday, President Obama kicked off a bus tour of colleges to highlight his new agenda that puts the interests of middle class families and students first to help combat rising college costs. I am glad the President laid out his new vision. Throughout my career, whether leading the fight to create the HOPE Scholarship program—which I talked about on Channel 5 News earlier this week—or working to keep student loan rates down, I have always believed that we need to do all that we can to keep higher education within reach for our students and for middle class families. If we price our students out of a quality education, the whole country risks missing out on the contributions they could make to our economy—and that is not an acceptable risk for us to take.
Reforming our Broken Immigration System
Earlier this week, the conservative American Action Network released a report highlighting just how much fixing our broken immigration system will help our economy. According to their report, over the next 10 years the Ninth District would gain 11,527 new jobs and Tennessee would gain more than 40,000. There are a lot of reasons to support comprehensive immigration reform, but I’m glad that some Republicans are now realizing the important economic benefits it could have. I continue to call on Speaker Boehner and the House Republican leadership to bring a comprehensive immigration reform plan to a vote as soon as possible.
Increasing Graduation Rates and Helping Young People in Memphis
At a lunch hosted by the Greater Memphis Chamber on Wednesday, I spoke with Bill Strickland, the founder and CEO of the Manchester Bidwell Corporation. Manchester Bidwell is a Pittsburgh-based non-profit organization that helps teach at-risk youth and the unemployed important job skills so that they can lift themselves up and succeed. The program has helped increase high school graduation rates, college admissions rates, and job preparedness in his community, and it should be emulated across the nation. When Congress returns to session next month, I will co-sponsor the National Program for Arts and Technology Act to help make that happen. Once we pass the bill, I look forward to welcoming Bill Strickland back to Memphis and working with him to help young people in our community learn the skills they need to find and keep jobs.
Helping Treat and Prevent HIV/AIDS
On Thursday, I announced that Serenity Recovery Centers in Memphis was awarded $520,000 in funding to expand and enhance substance abuse and HIV/AIDS treatment and prevention services for low-income African American women through its Memphis Substance-Using Women’s Action Team (SWAT) program.
The Memphis SWAT program is a collaborative effort that aims to capitalize on a unique citywide coalition to expand substance abuse treatment and outreach capacity as well as enhance treatment services for low income African American women who are infected with, or at risk for, HIV/AIDS but have multiple barriers to accessing substance abuse treatment and other support services. The funding will help Serenity, in collaboration with Friends for Life and CHOICES, continue providing important health services throughout Memphis.
Grant Announcements
I regularly release a list of grant announcements from federal agencies like the Department of Health and Human Services, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Department of Transportation, and others. These federal funding opportunities are available to faith-based and neighborhood associations, nonprofits and other community organizations in the 9th district. The announcements are updated regularly on my website.
Wishing you a happy and safe weekend,
As always, I remain, Most sincerely,Steve Cohen Member of Congress