Meet a Center member: Tahirih Justice Center

Protecting immigrant women and girls from all across the world, the Tahirih Justice Center works to end gender-based violence. With both in-house and a network of pro bono attorneys, Tahirih Justice Center provides the ammunition to help their clients struggle against injustice and inequality. Executive Director and Founder Layli Miller-Muro explains that Tahirih Justice Center “is about changing peoples’ lives through law.” Beyond their legal services, the nonprofit organization provides access to social services and advocates national public policy for gender equality.

In choosing cases, Tahirih Justice Center begins by doing a phone interview. From there, the potential client is asked to come to the office for a more in-depth look at the case. Once the facts are compiled, the case goes to the group of lawyers for a decision. If at any point during the process the woman’s case is not chosen, she is referred to other organizations. However, if the woman is chosen, the case is given to a particular lawyer, either a staff member of Tahirih Justice Center or a member of the organization's Pro Bono Legal Network.

Since its founding over ten years ago, Tahirih Justice Center has achieved a 99% success record and has never had a client deported. Guided by the vision of a bird with two equally strong wings, the organization seeks a day when both men and women are equally valued as members of society.

The Tahirih Justice Center is the recipient of The Washington Post 2007 Award for Excellence in Nonprofit Management. Miller-Muro is a recipient of the Gelman, Rosenberg & Freedman 2008 EXCEL Award. Click here to learn more about the Tahirih Justice Center.

[Thank you to Center intern Casey Linsey for contributing this post.]

Join Us Next Week at the Center

We hope to see you next week at one of these upcoming workshops at the Center for Nonprofit Advancement. Click each listing below for event and registration details.

• Tuesday, July 14, Effective Management 101 for First Time Managers
• Wednesday, July 15, Branding in a Tough Economy
• Thursday, July 16, Stewardship: The Lifeblood of Fundraising

Nonprofits: Register your volunteer projects

Beginning June 22, citizens of the United States were called upon by President Obama to serve our nation. We were not asked to enlist in the armed forces, but rather to volunteer our time and efforts where they are most necessary and appreciated. The United We Serve campaign encourages people of all ages and backgrounds to participate in our nation’s recovery and renewal by serving in our communities.

Visit the Web site to explore the many opportunities available. If you need volunteers for your organization, we encourage you to log in and register your volunteer project(s).

As of today, very few nonprofits in our region had taken advantage of this. Please visit the Web site, watch Michelle Obama’s three minute video and take full advantage of this resource.

[Thank you to Center intern Lindsay Smith for contributing this post.]

Action Alert: Help Preserve the Safety Net, Call the Mayor

This week, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty will be finalizing plans to address the District’s new $340 million revenue shortfall. We need to send him a message right now that he should protect key services — especially the safety net — as he works to balance the budget.

All DC residents have a stake in the city budget: if city leaders make wise choices with our shared resources, our communities will be more healthy and prosperous, and better able to weather the economic downturn.

Please call or e-mail the Mayor today to tell him that his budget-balancing plan should maintain a strong safety net. Feel free to use the talking points below, or write your own message. Call the
Citywide Call Center at 202-727-1000 and ask to speak to someone in the Mayor's Office, or e-mail mayor@dc.gov.

• The safety net provides stability. DC families and individuals are already struggling with stagnant, low wages, layoffs and rising food, energy, medical and housing costs during this economic downturn. Cutbacks in safety net programs can increase hardship, reducing
  residents' buying power, and creating the need for more costly emergency services.
• A strong safety net is good for the economy. Public investments stimulate economic recovery because the money is spent quickly and locally. Support for human capital development, the environment, and infrastructure will help DC build living-wage jobs, healthy communities, and a thriving business climate.
• Maintaining healthy communities requires raising revenue. The use of responsible revenue enhancements and DC's rainy day fund should be part of the city's approach. It will be difficult or impossible to keep safety net programs from being cut unless new revenues are
  identified. The economic downturn offers an opportunity to review DC's revenue system and to identify changes that would both raise revenue and improve our tax structure, creating a higher quality of life for all.

Please share this Action Alert with other DC residents in your networks. If you have not done so already, consider signing on to a letter to the Mayor.

Join Us This Week at the Center

We hope to see you this week at one of these upcoming workshops at the Center for Nonprofit Advancement. Click each listing below for event and registration details.

• Tuesday, July 7, How to Keep Staff More Motivated in Turbulent Times
• Wednesday, July 8, How Everyone on Your Staff Can Play a Role in Fundraising Success
• Wednesday, July 8, Wooing Women Donors of New Wealth to Be Major Donors
• Thursday, July 9, The New Form 990–How to be Prepared for All the Changes

Sign On to the Letter: Protect Safety Net Programs from Budget Cuts

This week, D.C. Mayor Adrian Fenty will be finalizing plans to address the District’s new $340 million revenue shortfall. We need to send him a message right now that he should protect key services — especially the safety net — as he works to balance the budget. In particular, we need to urge the Mayor to tap DC’s rainy day fund and to raise revenues — as more than half the states have done this year.

Here’s how you can help:

1. Sign on to the letter below by close-of-business Tuesday (See details below.)
2. Call-in or e-mail the Mayor later this week. We will post details of an action alert later this week.
   

Sign-on letter details:

Please review the letter and sign on by close-of-business on Tuesday, July 7. Also, please forward this message to other organizations or networks of organizations. To sign on, please e-mail info@coalitionforcommunityinvestment.org. Include organizational name is signing on as a group. Please include individual name and the ward of residence if signing on as an individual.

TEXT OF SIGN-ON LETTER

July 6, 2009

The Honorable Adrian M. Fenty
Executive Office of the Mayor
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW
Suite 316
Washington, DC 20004

Dear Mayor Fenty:

We, the undersigned organizations and individuals, are concerned about the potential impact of the recently announced revenue shortfall on services that DC residents rely upon. We encourage you to work with the DC Council to develop a plan that balances the budget while maintaining key investments that support residents, build strong neighborhoods, and invest in the future health and vitality of the District.

Addressing the new revenue shortfall will require the District’s leaders to make increasingly difficult budget decisions. Falling revenue collections already required $800 million in budget-saving measures in the FY 2010 budget, including cuts in virtually every DC agency. The new shortfall — totaling $340 million in FY 2009 and FY 2010 — means that an even wider range of gap-closing options will need to be considered.

In particular, we urge you and the DC Council to take steps to replace a portion of the city’s falling revenues, including using DC’s rainy day reserves and adopting revenue increases. This would be consistent with the actions taken in other states, most of which have tapped rainy day funds or adopted revenue increases this year, or both.

The following steps can help balance the District’s budget while limiting the impact on DC residents.

• Use Half of the Rainy Day Fund: Some 27 states have tapped their reserves recently, but the District has not. Using half of DC’s $330 million in rainy day reserves would cover roughly half of the $340 million shortfall for FY 2009 and FY 2010, while leaving some of the reserve for future years. The Mayor and Council also should start working now with Congress to eliminate numerous federal rules that make DC’s reserve far more restrictive than the rainy day funds in nearly every state, including a requirement to repay withdrawals in a very short time frame — two years.
• Tap Other Revenue Sources: The District’s budget includes a number of special-purpose funds that are financed by dedicated fees and taxes. Many of these funds currently have surpluses that should be used to help cover the budget shortfall. All dedicated funds should be considered, including the Ballpark Revenue fund and the Washington Convention Center Authority.
• Raise New Revenues: Fully half of all U.S. states have enacted revenue increases this year and 12 more are considering increases. The District should consider tax changes based on a number of factors, including those that would improve tax fairness or that would spread the costs partly to non-residents — such as imposing a sales tax on tickets to live performances. Tax changes should be structured to protect residents who are least able to absorb the additional burden and should instead fall as much as possible on those most able to pay.
• Preserve Safety Net Programs: DC’s unemployment rate is at the highest level in 25 years, and demand for public assistance benefits has risen significantly over the past year. Given the rise in need, the District should avoid cutting services that help with basic necessities like housing, healthcare, and food assistance. Cutbacks in safety net programs can prove to be "penny wise and pound foolish" by increasing hardship, reducing residents' buying power, and creating the need for more costly emergency services.
  

We welcome the opportunity to discuss these recommendations with you in more detail. Thank you.

Free Training Call: The Influential Fundraiser

The Network for Good Learning Center is hosting a free training call on Tuesday, July 14 at 1 p.m. on "The Influential Fundraiser: Using Psychology & Neurology to Win Over Donors."

Click here to learn more about, or register for, this session.