California Forward
At age 14, Joyce Cooksey-James had her first experience with politics. In Detroit at the time, she helped a during an election campaign. Then at 22, she began helping neighborhood housing complexes.
read moreOnce again the Legislative Analyst has pulled back the curtain on California’s budgeting practices, announcing last week that the state is likely to have a $3 billion deficit at the end of this fiscal year. This means we can expect significant mid-year cuts to education and social services programs under the budget “trigger” mechanism.
read moreHats off to the Think Long Committee (TLC) for braving the waters of reform with a thoughtful, bipartisan approach to addressing the gridlock and fiscal issues that face the state. The TLC report builds on what California Forward has learned: Californians want change, and they want it now.
read moreThe Capitol Weekly conference on California’s prison system: ‘The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly’ delved into the problems plaguing our prison system, potential reforms, and the influence of politics.
read moreAs a girl, Celina Rodriguez saw two worlds—one where people could afford a lot and another where folks could barely survive. This juxtaposition, she says, shaped who she is today and how she decided to spend the rest of her life.
read moreCalifornia’s economy has struggled to find solid footing, and even as we see positive sparks, we find that the state budget approved in June is now nearly $1.3 billion under-funded.
read moreCalifornia has reached the point of no return. Either we decide to value education and support it financially as a state or we face a very uncertain future, one that will eliminate the American Dream for a full generation of students and have a cascadingly negative impact on all of California. I want every student to become a successful tax-payer, not just a tax-user. This requires an appropriate investment in California’s education system Pre-K-16.
read morePassion, community engagement and involvement were the messages given to those who gathered at last weekend’s second annual United Latinos Voter Empowerment Forum at Sacramento State University.
read moreAs the state continues to struggle with chronic budget shortfalls and a sluggish economy, Californians are overwhelmed by a plethora of political solutions. These “solutions” do little to either restore faith in government or that can — or will — address the issues at hand; namely, greater accountability at all levels of government and improved outcomes of critical public programs that most directly impact performance, prosperity and productivity.
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