From Bonners Ferry to Bear Lake, from Boise to Burley, many ordinary people are making their communities stronger. They have a calling to work for justice, freedom, equality and democracy. Do you have a similar commitment?United Vision for Idaho and our partner United Action for Idaho build networks of people and organizations. Enter this web community and find out more. Join online discussions and blogs. Read the articles and send us more. Become active in our member organizations. Just because Idaho is known for "taters" does not mean you should be a "spectater" in the movement for change! |
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Announcement: The Board of Directors of United Vision for Idaho, and its partner organization United Action for Idaho, are seeking qualified applicants for the position of Executive Director. The Executive Director will serve as the chief executive officer of United Vision for Idaho and United Action for Idaho, with primary responsibility for leading the vision of the organization to create change in Idaho. The individual must have a working knowledge of and personal commitment to creating positive change in Idaho and working with member organizations to achieve the same. We are looking for someone with a Bachelor’s degree (required), but a Master’s or post graduate degree is preferred. The ideal applicant will have a minimum of 5 years experience in nonprofit management experience. This person should have demonstrated success in fundraising, program delivery, volunteer recruitment, community development, problem solving and decision- making. Women, people of color, people with disabilities, and LGBTQ individuals are encouraged to apply. Salary and benefits comparable with executive director positions in the region and depending on experience.
For more information, please download the full job announcement below (PDF). If you have further questions, please contact e-mail Pam Baldwin at: pam@tiaidaho.org or call UVI at 208-331-7028. To submit your resume, e-mail gmunoz@uvidaho.org and in the subject line: “Executive Director” or send it to United Vision for Idaho, c/o Pam Baldwin, P.O. Box 2181, Boise, ID 83701. Application deadline is February 15, 2009.Executive Director Job Description
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In the past 2 weeks since Election Day, we have had some time to
celebrate and hopefully take a few more deep and contented breaths than
in the past months - or maybe years! As we enter this new political
reality, I saw Alice Walker on Democracy NOW! read her "Open Letter to
Barack Obama" in which she writes, "I would advise you to remember that
you did not create the disaster that the world is experiencing, and you
alone are not responsible for bringing the world back to balance." ( http://www.theroot.com/id/48726
) So while we certainly have a lot of work ahead of us, she is also
encouraging us to do it with the joy that we feel now and that will
allow us to bring creativity and enthusiasm to the changes that so
desperately need to be made.
If you haven't had a chance to check out your county's election results you can go to http://www.sos.idaho.gov/ELECT/results/ENR/menu.html.
If you see some work to be done in your county, contact us at
UVI...United Vision for Idaho and Idaho Interfaith Alliance are
embarking on a project to help
identify progressive folks in every county in Idaho. We'd love for you to join in on the fun! 208-331-7028 or < pamb@unitedactionforidaho.org>
Remember to let your voices be heard at the Town Hall meetings, Boise, December 8th and Idaho Falls, December 11th!
To view the results of the races here in Idaho, visit the Idaho Secretary of State's webpage at http://www.sos.idaho.gov/ELECT/results/ENR/menu.html
Thank
you to everyone who ran for office, volunteered with a campaign and
just got out an voted! But our work is just beginning. Keep checking
back here to find out how to stay involved.
As this election winds down, I want to thank every member of the USAction/USAEF team for the smart, hard, creative, passionate work you have done to make democracy work in our nation. Your efforts are an inspiration to me and to many others – colleagues, partners, voters, family and neighbors. We have labored for many years in the vineyards of chipping away and playing defense and fighting against intolerance and oppression and elitism. This election season will be, I think, a great turning point when we begin to revive our democracy and make progressive values again defining, leading forces in our nation’s civic life. Being in Missouri and Colorado this week has re-affirmed my deep respect and admiration for people who join together at election time to make a change. People like Ben in St. Louis, who is taking on increasing responsibilities to move an entire statewide program. Like Adam, a young organizer in Ft. Collins who is running this entire operation here, deploying people onto doors, phones and at polling places. Like Angie in Greeley, who has managed a large operation in the low-income Latino/a community there, despite having lost her voice days ago. (Angie blew the whistle on County Clerk-inspired Latino voter suppression that we made into a cause célèbre Tuesday, with substantial media attention) Like Tahira, who trained me for canvassing Sunday in Denver – and sometimes canvasses with her three-year-old when she can’t find a sitter, but hasn’t missed a day’s work for the entire project. Driving around Ft. Collins Tuesday making a supply run, I was also inspired by the overwhelming presence of volunteers on street corners waving Obama signs. And something clicked for me. All year we’ve worried about whether white people would vote for a black candidate, and it’s obviously a legitimate worry. Certainly some didn’t. But I believe something else is also obviously in play in the stunning movement for change that is sweeping the country. I believe millions of white people – especially young, but not at all only – are making a statement about the America we want to be, a powerful break from the worst parts of the past of a nation built on racial slavery and, more recently, enamored of its unique role in the world to the point of becoming, under this Administration but not for the first time, the world’s bully. I think one powerful element of what people are saying is in fact a statement about race and about equalizing the roles of all people in this world – a statement that explicitly claims the multi-racial nature of our society, that says it’s time to turn the page toward a future that treats everyone respectfully, regardless of race or nationality. That, to me, will hopefully be one of the lasting, profound impacts of this election. Paired with the reinvigoration of our democracy, and before any new policies that we will all fight madly for become law, that’s a wonderful delayed start to this new millennium. I hope you have all enjoyed and been enriched by your participation in this great democratic endeavor. And I look forward to sharing these next chapters in the lives of our organizations and our movement and our national community. Jeff Jeff Blum, Executive Director, USAction
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| Health Care for America NOW
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August 8, 2008, Public News Service
Boise, ID More than 80 percent of Americans believe the country's
health care system needs a major overhaul, according to a new poll from
The Commonwealth Fund, which is being touted by health care reform
backers in Idaho.
According to the study, one patient in every three claims to have experienced inefficient care.
Pastor Ed Keener, with The Interfaith Alliance of Idaho, is working on
the national Health Care for America Now campaign, which is pushing for
a national health insurance alternative.
"What we have now is not working. It's unfair. It's going to become far too expensive for millions of our citizens."
One criticism of national insurance is that it would be like health
care in Britain, which is often criticized for supposedly not offering
patients medical choices. Keener says the U.S. is in a great position
to design the best plan for patients and doctors because of those
experiences elsewhere.
"We will do better. We can choose what works in those other countries and leave out what doesn't work."
Keener says Idahoans who can't get coverage at work would be able to
buy the national plan. Critics of the idea say it would encourage
companies to drop coverage, and be unfair competition for the private
insurance market. Click here to view this story on the Public News Service RSS site and access an audio version of this and other stories: http://www.publicnewsservice.org/index.php?/content/article/5879-1
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| How your life is affected by the Idaho Legislature
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Your legislators gathered for 86 days in the cramped quarters of the temporary statehouse to decide how to invest your tax dollars and made many other decisions affecting your family and community. Many also refused to make decisions on concerns that you or your fellow Idahoans brought to them. In some committees, a majority refused to allow some legislation to be introduced and other legislators quietly agreed when committee chairs undermine the principles of open government and public trust when they refused to schedule public hearings on other legislation. For the rest of the story, click here or go to Archives. |
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 : Over the past 40 years, the legislature has given away a long list of special exemptions so some taxpayers so they don't have to pay sales, income or property taxes at the level most ordinary people do. That narrows the base of support for investments in things like schools, health care, transportation and public safety. Check out the analyses by Judy Brown, Director of the Idaho Center on Budget & Tax Policy. There are also some observations on the United Action for Idaho blog. |
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| The Latest on "The Ledge"
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As the session ended, cartoonist Mike Flinn saw guns a blazing...  For earlier cartoons and issues in the Idaho Legislature click here.
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For 12 years, United Vision for Idaho has helped people who are active in diverse grassroots organizations build relationships, learn new skills and organize important changes in public policy such as fair tax policies and open government processes. We are all the richer for it and have made Idaho an better place. Recently, UVI created an affiliate organization called United Action for Idaho to engage more people into a growing movement for positive change.
Rather than just announce information, we want to use this site and United Action for Idaho's site to enhance face-to-face relationships. To many, the web seems too chaotic for meaningful interaction. We hope with your help we can include the web as one of the tools to connect people like you.
Please click on "register" above and sign up, also go to United Action for Idaho's site and connect with other people who want to become more involved in improving thier community, their state, their nation and the world. Be patient and persistent with this new tool and with each other.
These web communities should be
like neighborhood coffee shops, or libraries, or your living room: a
place for you to share your experiences and ideas, to learn from others' expertise, to
answer questions, to reinforce your hopes for the future.
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United Vision for Idaho is working with USAction Education Fund to build a national movement for economic and social justice. Our shared values include: In order to ensure strong families and communities we must do more than just stop the conservative agenda of endless war, privatization, immigrant-bashing and tax cuts for the wealthiest individuals and corporations. We must make changes to ensure our economy works for everyone; in what our government does to help expand opportunity and prosperity for the vast majority of people; and in how our nation functions as a moral leader and partner for democracy and peace throughout the world. To ensure long-term economic stability so families and small businesses have the opportunities to do well, we believe the best strategy is for our government to invest in critical long-term priorities. Those priorities includes quality, affordable health care for all people, meaningful educational opportunities from early childhood through college, and energy independence through clean energy investments. . After years of enacting policies that subsidize some of the largest
corporations in the world, Congress finally recognized it can
no-longer ignore hard working low-wage workers in our country. In 2007, the minimum wage increased, ending the longest period when there has been no increase. A minimum wage is not a living wage. It is only a floor below which it would be immoral to expect people to work. United Vision for Idaho released analysis of the minimum wage. . Congress reauthorized the State Children's Health Insurance Program (SCHIP) in 2007 but the Bush Administration vetoed bi-partisan legislation to improve this critical investment in the health of America's children. One of Idaho's House members voted with the children. The other House member and both Senators stuck with the President. Find out more at United Action for Idaho's site. . Medicare serves millions of Americans - especially seniors and people with disabilities - who were left out of private health insurance. It is a program built on the obligation we have in a just society to the most vulnerable of our neighbors. Medicare has provided this insurance with administrative costs far below the private market. Now, Medicare faces a privatization scheme called "Medicare Advantage" that will cost taxpayers an average of 12% more than normal Medicare. The Congressional Budget Office reports that with 20% of Medicare-eligible seniors using "Medicare Advantage" plans the over payments to the insurance industry will total $54 billion over five years. . With the total cost of the Iraq war and occupation has now surpassed half a trillion dollars ($500 billion and counting), Idaho taxpayers’ share of that cost is well over $1.2 billion and rising. UVI released a report in 2007 detailing how much stronger and more secure Idaho's families would be if that $1.2 billion was invested in other long-neglected priorities. For example. - health care for 337,393 adults – almost 2 times more than the 171,730 uninsured adults
- health care for 786,643 children – 17 times more than the 45,120 kids without health care
- full funding for Head Start, which has been cut by 7.4 percent since 2001
United Action for Idaho
is a network of individuals working with organizations in Idaho to
lobby for important social, economic and human rights policies. There
are many ways to take action. |
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Ordinary people across Idaho are discussing what's happening - or should happen - in Idaho communities on a wide range of topics. United Action for Idaho hosts blogs and links to many others. Join in the discussion at |
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