National Low Income Housing Coalition - As the Delta variant surges and our understanding of its dangers grow, over 6.5 million renter households remain behind on rent and at heightened risk of losing both their homes and their ability to stay safe during the pandemic. NLIHC urged the White House and Congress to extend the moratorium; on Tuesday, I testified before the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Crisis to emphasize the urgency. But in a devastating failure to act in a moment of crisis, Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court will allow the eviction moratorium to expire.

Yesterday, the White House punted responsibility for extending the federal eviction moratorium to Congress - 48 hours before its expiration – stating that the CDC could not extend it after the Supreme Court tied its hands. This evening, after a last-ditch and ultimately failed effort by Democrats to extend the moratorium, the House left for summer break. Chairwoman Maxine Waters – and so many of you - fought fiercely to protect renters, but the inaction of others put the lives of renters at risk and threatens our collective public health.

With both the White House and Congress unable or unwilling to extend it, the federal eviction moratorium expires tomorrow.

Our collective work to keep renters stably and safely housed is more important and urgent than ever. Immediate action must be taken at federal, state and local levels.

If you or someone you know needs emergency rental assistance:

The Biden administration must immediately take every possible action to protect renters. The administration should implement an eviction moratorium for renters living in all federally assisted properties and consider a moratorium for properties with a federally backed mortgage. The Department of Justice should direct courts to stop evictions for renters applying for ERA and urge courts to work with ERA programs to prioritize aid for those renters most at risk. The Treasury Department should eliminate barriers that continue to prevent ERA programs from serving households in need, and the CDC should require landlords to provide 30-days-notice to renters before beginning eviction actions.

Congress and the Biden administration must fix the gaps in our federal housing safety net – gaps that brought us to the brink of an eviction tsunami during a global pandemic – by enacting the #HoUSed campaign’s long-term policy agenda. The first – and best – opportunity to advance this agenda is in the infrastructure and economic recovery packages that Congress will work on next week. Congress must enact the #HoUSed campaign’s top priorities: expanding rental assistance to all eligible households, $70 billion to preserve public housing, and at least $45 billion for the national Housing Trust Fund.

With Congress and the Biden administration failing to extend a broad eviction moratorium to keep renters stably housed during the pandemic, state and local governments must take action by:

With the possibility of state and local courts processing and hearing a greater number of eviction cases, it is crucial that attorneys, judges, justices of the peace and court staff are active partners in connecting landlords and tenants to the assistance they need. To improve access to ERA through state and local courts, ERA program administrators should immediately:

Join our national call on Monday to hear more about immediate actions you can take to keep renters safely and stably housed. Thank you all for your advocacy and dedication.

The National Low Income Housing Coalition is dedicated solely to achieving socially just public policy that ensures people with the lowest incomes in the United States have affordable and decent homes.

JULY 29, 2021 - Today, Black women are taking action to demand our freedom to vote! Enough is Enough! Join us by urging Congress to end the filibuster and pass the #ForthePeopleAct NOW! Call your U. S. Senator TODAY at (202) 224-3121 to protect our voting rights! #BlackWomenTakeAction #FreedomtoVote.

All Americans should have equal access to register to vote, cast a ballot, and have that ballot counted fairly. Protect your voting power!

The For the People Act will bring down the barriers erected to silence Black, Indigenous, young and new Americans and ensure an equal voice in the decisions that impact our lives.

Everyone has the right to be heard at the ballot box regardless of color, age, zip code, or ethnicity. We must ensure all Americans have an equal say in who their elected officials are.

✅ Reduce Long Lines at the Polls

✅ Safeguard Against Foreign Interference in American elections

✅ Expand Early Voting

✅ Protect ability for voters to vote for candidates of choice

✅ Ensure our democracy works for everyone

✅ Same-Day Voter Registration

✅ Voting Rights Restoration

✅Prohibits Voter Purges for Eligible Voters

✅ Reduce the influence of money in politics

✅ Restore Voting Rights for Returning Citizens

On October 1, 2020, Dr. Princess Dennar, a fellow New Orleans physician educator, filed suit against the entity responsible for the corporate acts of Tulane University School of Medicine. The suit alleges that the institutional officer responsible for residency training programs and the dean of the medical school orchestrated an environment that was hostile, racist and sexist. Further, the suit exposed the ATLAS medical student ranking system, created by said institutional officer for use at Tulane, as one that actively and intentionally disadvantages students from historically Black medical schools – Meharry Medical College, Howard University College of Medicine, Morehouse School of Medicine, and Charles R. Drew University of Medicine and Science. These allegations mean that Tulane no longer has any Black person directly in charge of a residency training program, and that Tulane is unlikely to hire graduates from the four historically Black medical schools even though those institutions graduate between 20 and 25% of all Black medical school students in the United States. The New Orleans Medical Association (NOMA) strongly opposes systemic racism and its deleterious effects on Black health professionals and the diverse patients that they serve.

Tulane University was established, “For the promotion and encouragement of intellectual, moral and industrial education among the white young persons in the city of New Orleans.” Those beginnings stand in stark contrast to the awakening of White America to realities facing minorities following the murder of George Floyd, catalyzing a movement. As such, Tulane University President Michael A. Fitts announced in fall 2020 a new plan for promoting diversity, equity and inclusion. He stated, “The historical significance of this moment must be underscored. Each of us is challenged to address our behaviors, practices and systems.” An essential component of the plan called for more community discussion, with Fitts adding, “I believe the most successful efforts in creating positive change begin by listening.” We call on Dr. Fitts and the leaders of all health and medical institutions to move from a focus on statements about equity towards concrete actions to change our healthcare milieu for the better. As a start we request:

Tulane Medical School’s current probationary status aside, it must address the underlying problems raised by the lawsuit and numerous complaints. The time is now for it to live up to its mission: “…Educate our medical students and residents in the practice of evidence-based medicine, professionalism, and humanism. Growth and respect for the diversity of our faculty members in their academic endeavors….” With this lawsuit, Tulane is on the hot seat, but all institutions training physicians in our community need to answer for past harms and provide substantive action-oriented goals to map a future that is better for non-white identifying physicians, trainees and students.

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The New Orleans Medical Association (NOMA) is a local affiliate chapter of the National Medical Association. It was founded in 1954 as a means to organize physicians and health professionals of color to advocate for the needs of a diverse workforce and the patients they serve. For information, contact Dr. Maurice G. Sholas at [email protected]

NEW ORLEANS (7/11/2021) - Louisiana Black Women's Roundtable is working to help build consumer awareness about the Emergency Broadband Benefit, a new Federal Communications Commission (FCC) program. The temporary benefit will help to lower the cost of broadband service for eligible households during the on-going COVID-19 pandemic.

The $3.2B Emergency Broadband Benefit program provides a discount of up to a $50 per month toward broadband service for eligible households and up to $75 per month for qualifying households on qualifying Tribal lands. The benefit also provides up to a $100 per household discount toward a one-time purchase of a computer, laptop, or tablet if the household contributes more than $10 and less than $50 toward the purchase through a participating broadband provider.

A household is eligible if one member of the household meets at least one of the criteria below:

Emergency Broadband Benefit enrollment period is available now. Eligible households can enroll through a participating broadband provider or directly with the Universal Service Administrative Company (USAC) using an online or mail-in application. Additional information about the Emergency Broadband Benefit is available at www.fcc.gov/broadbandbenefit, or by calling 833-511-0311 between 9 a.m. and 9 p.m. any day of the week

The Black Women's Roundtable (BWR) is the women and girls leadership development, mentoring, intergenerational empowerment & power building arm of The National Coalition on Black Civic Participation.

The BWR promotes health and wellness, economic security & sustainability, education and global empowerment as key elements for success. BWR established its Intergenerational Policy Network in 2008, which is comprised of a diverse group of Black women civic leaders representing international, national, regional, and state-based organizations and institutions. Together, the BWR membership represents the issues and concerns of women and girls who live across the United States and around the world.

To learn more about the Louisiana Unity Coalition's Black Women's Roundtable, contact Louisiana's BWR Convener Gwendolyn Hughes at [email protected].

The Louisiana Unity Coalition is an affiliate of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation (NCBCP), is a 501©3, non-profit, non-partisan organization dedicated to increasing civic engagement and voter participation in Black and underserved communities. The National Coalition has a national membership of organizations representing a diverse constituency base including civil rights, labor, and business organizations; fraternities and sororities; women, youth, educators, faith leaders, public policy makers, researchers, and others.

The National Coalition was founded on May 6, 1976. For nearly 40 years, The National Coalition has served as an effective convener and facilitator at the local, state, and national levels of efforts to address the disenfranchisement of underserved and other marginalized communities through civic engagement including: ​

As a State affiliate, we serve as the lead entity for NCBCP's local initiatives which engage state-based organizations to lead, organize and implement non-partisan efforts centered around Voter Engagement, Registration, Assistance & Voter Protection. Activities include Field & Online Outreach; Poll Monitor Recruitment Drive; Get Out the Vote (GOTV) Campaign; Debate Watch Parties, Spill the Tea & Field Outreach events among others.

The National Coalition strives to create an enlightened community by engaging people in all aspects of public life through service/volunteerism, advocacy, leadership development, and voting.

Black Youth Vote! (BYV) is the youth-led civic engagement arm of the National Coalition on Black Civic Participation. Black Youth Vote’s mission is to train, invest and provide Black youth and young adults with civic engagement, organizing and civic leadership opportunities------focused on Millennials, Generation Z and Returning Citizens (18 – 35 yrs. old). Black Youth Vote! is focused on leveraging the power of the black youth electorate to make positive social change and win on the issues they care about in their communities, including: racial & economic justice, college affordability, criminal justice/policing reform, affordable health care, workers’ rights, voting rights, human rights and more! For more information visit:

www.unitycampaign.org.