In the largest event of the local election season, Austin Interfaith leaders turned out 800 leaders strong to set the agenda for candidates running for City Council, AISD (Austin Independent School District) and ACC (Austin Community College) Boards. Held on April 20 at St Ignatius Martyr Catholic Church in South Austin, leaders shared their stories of pressures around health care, employment, education, ESL, immigration, police and traffic concerns and got commitments for increased funding and support for these initiatives that build and strengthen the middle class.

City Council approved $1.3 million for Capital IDEA, a long term job training program started by Austin Interfaith

An increase of $106,000 for English as a Second Language Classes.

A stoplight near a dangerous intersection at St. Albert the Great Catholic Church with a cost of $100,000.

City Council put aside $600,000 for additional increases in social services.

Austin School Board raised the minimum wage for full time employees to $10/hr to include custodial and food service workers.

AISD increased funding for library books by $2.1 million.

AISD gave a 3% increase to all employees through a ballot election supported by Austin Interfaith.

Travis County Healthcare District increased funding for clinics and mental health services.

Capital IDEA trained 100 new nurses to serve the need for quality health care workers. This'll impact their families also.

AISD Superintendent agreed to strictly enforce a state law that requires no more than 10% of classroom time be spent on district mandated standardized testing.

Austin Interfaith leaders testified before the Governor's Committee on Accountability. Subsequently, the Governor's Committee on Accountability issued recommendations to the legislature to broaden assessment use in the accountability system, implement a growth model, and end retention of students based solely on standardized test.

Austin Interfaith leaders organized their first North/Northwest Accountability Session with legislative candidates around education, health care, jobs and immigration. 250 Austin Interfaith leaders participated and the candidates agreed to a majority of the leaders’ issues.

Austin Interfaith leaders are working to create a $10 million competitive grant fund for proven long-term job training programs, like Capital IDEA.

As Austin Interfaith enters this New Year, leaders are engaged in conversation about the current economic situation with people within and outside their institutions. The organization recognizes the importance of engaging the business community and elected officials in this conversation.  Therefore leaders will host an Economic Summit on February 7, 2009.