WASHINGTON, DC OFFICE
1224 Longworth House Office Building
Washington, DC 20515
P: (202) 225-7772
F: (202) 225-2919
RE: CongressionalChange & New Leadership
My Dear Congressman:
It would be unbecoming of Eddie Griffin not bid to youfarewell and God’s spend, after all the memories and good times we have sharedtogether, with you as my congressional representative.
I wish to thank you for your diligent service to thecommunity, and for the grace and favor you have shown to me, personally.
I am especially thankful to your assistant, Erik With, formaking me a part of the Economic SummitWorkforce of the Future Advisory, which has proven to be a great work in mylife and a work that continues to this day in its implementation stage.
Besides this, I wish to thank you for supporting my campaignagainst Misogynyand for reading myletter to entertainment industry executives before the Congress into theRecord, Sept. 25, 2007.
I want to thank you also for that one vote that youcharacterize as “this vote is for Eddie”, in voting to raise the Minimum Wage,albeit this was a compromise included in President George Bushes’ 2007 “WarFunding Bill”.
Your supportive role in voting NOto the “Walk Street Bailout” was instrumental to changing the tide inWashington, D.C.’s culture of K-Street domination, although for a short time period. Butfor those who hedged their bets, banking on an early bailout from Congress, ona particular day, the big disappointment led to great losses and the collapse ofthe stock market. It was the turning point in the economy that got Barack Obamaelected.
Thank you for also building a VA Clinic in Southeast Fort Worth. The clinic, built across thestreet from Tarrant County College, helps support the institutionalinfrastructure in our community, besides the local jobs it created.
I am particularly thankful insofar as it enabled the VA toprovide medical services, locally, to a disabled veteran old warhorse like me.
I am thankful to God for you, and I pray on your behalf, eachand every morning, of every day.
THE MIRACLE OFREDISTRICTING- When It All Began
April 11, 2005
From: Eddie Griffin
To: Erik With
RE: “No Plates For Some”
Dear Erik:
I love my new congressman, MichaelBurgess. Thank you for introducing us. I told him that “one day I woke up inhis gerrymandered district”. He said it was “the miracle ofre-districting”…
Since the congressman is just nowgetting a feel for this new population, he might be tickled pink to know thathe now represents the “poorest section of the Fort Worth community”, whichbrings me to your comment in your last email: The concept of shortage isdifficult to imagine in a country as blessed as the US.
I am inspired to speak on behalfof “the poorest of the poor” in irony to “the concept of shortage” in a nationof prosperity. Once again, I allude to Thomas Malthus: “There are no plates forsome”.
Eddie Griffin
ACCEPTING THECHALLENGE
FortWorth, Texas
Congressman Michael Burgess, District 26, kicked off the SmartCommute Initiative before an audience of about 100 southeast residents andcommunity leaders. The Initiative is designed to attract people back into thehistoric inner city district, after years of decline.
Congressman Burgess praised the coalition that put theInitiative together, which included representatives from Transportation,Housing, and the community. Glenn Forbes, president of Southeast Fort Worth,Inc., served as master of ceremony. Also, participating in the program wasMayor Pro-Tempore Ralph McCloud, Tarrant County Commissioner Roy C. Brooks, andState Representative Marc Veasey.
Re-Urbanization Plan
Community leaders and financial institutions have beenmeeting with community residents in developing a re-urbanization plan for sometime. Increasing the population density of Near Southeast Fort Worth has been along-range goal for business visionaries like Glenn Forbes. New home buildingin the area would create an UrbanVillage, which is attractive to new business capital.
The Initiative represents a grandvision in modern urban developmentplanning and provided Congressman Burgess, who serves on the Energy andCommerce Committee, with some ideas to take back to Washington, D. C.
Thursday, June 09, 2005
The East and Southeast Forth Worth Economic DevelopmentSummit convened on June 3, 2005, organized by the Public Forum Instituteand hosted by honorary chairman U.S. Congressman Michael C. Burgess (District26). Keynote speaker for the event was Acting Deputy Secretary of CommerceDavid Sampson. About 225 community and business representatives convened withlocal, state, and national leaders to develop plans on how to attractinvestment, encourage entrepreneurship, change perceptions and prepare the workforce in some of Fort Worth's most blighted neighborhoods…
Congressman Michael Burgess called for a unified vision that addresses economicdevelopment from the inside out. "Growth and economic prosperity flourish allaround this section of Fort Worth, and we must find a way to end the cycle ofneglect," he stated, citing the area's trouble in attracting privateinvestment. "As we look at our urban communities, we must workcooperatively together to turn our words into actions. It will require puttingcommunity interest ahead of self interest."
Summit Workshops
· AttractingInvestment
· Preparing theWorkforce of the Future
· BuildingCommunities & Changing Perceptions
· EncouragingEntrepreneurship
Summit Objective:
- To Stimulate Economic Growth In East And Southeast Fort Worth
- To Help The Region Define A Vision And Plan For Its Economic Future
- To Seek To Identify A Champion Who Would Promote And Advocate For The Area With Their Words And Their Wallet
- To Examine Approaches To Strengthen Educational Achievement Of Local Students
- To Remove Barriers To Employment For An Aging Labor Force
- To Improve Quality Of Life For Are Residents
- To Change The Negative Perceptions Held By Others Outside The Community
- To Help Reduce Crime And Promote A More Positive Image Of The Area
- To Examine How Entrepreneurs Bring Innovation To The Area And Develop Businesses That Can Serve As A Catalyst For New Growth
ACTION PLANS forWorkforce of the Future
Eddie Griffin, amember of the Workforce of the Future Task Force, helped identify areas ofpriority and helped build the framework for developing the future local workforce. Byworking together with constituents across boundaries, we formed lifelong bondsand working relationships and alliances between local institutions and ourcommunity.
I championed the cause for a “livable wage” at the low-endwage scale and advocated raising the Minimum Wage. An unfair distribution ofprofit is the formula for the rich getting rich and the poor racing to keep upwith inflation. Through inflation and stagnate wages, the purchasing power of low-endwage earners continues to erode.
An Action Plan to raise the minimum wage reached outside thestate of Texas to other states that eventually enacted new minimum wage ratesand forced Congress to do the same.
Interdiction through the School System
Since the future workforce must come through the publicschool system, the taskforce identified local high schools as the ideal point ofinterdiction to upgrade workforce training and development.
We confronted the high school dropout problem head on, andformed various work groups and committees to study the issue, and worked inconjunction with FWISD Community Action Teams (CAT) to find viable solutions.Members of the congressman’s Workforce Advisory also worked on CAT teams. Todate, this is what has been accomplished:
GO Centers were createdby a business and social service collaborative to provide computer resources,internet access, and guidance that would help students in high risk areas tonavigate their way to and through college. These were first placed into all the highschools, and later expanded to middle schools and into faith-based communitycenters and churches, to form a community support network for education at thegrassroots level. The Centers would later also provide tutorial services tostruggling students and other parental assistance programs.
Vocational andTechnical Certification programs were introduced into the high schools forstudents who wanted or needed to get straight into the job market. Theseprograms allowed students to become viable earn wages before high schoolcompletion, and provided a powerful incentive against having to drop out of schoolin order to go to work because of family needs. Some students gained certifiedskills as technicians, medical assistants, and tax preparers.
The programs have since evolved into the FWISD Gold Seals Programs that teachskill sets in other vocational fields like culinary arts.
Virtual Education,a cause for which we lobbied, was championed by State Rep. Jerry Madden, whohelped pass of a bill that allowed school districts to use online curriculumand materials, and set the state for the use modern technology like whiteboardsin the classrooms. Thus, FWISD became the first digital school district of itssize in the stage, which is now poised for a new round of education technology.
More recently, new FWISD Supt. Walter Dansby invited EddieGriffin to assist in developing a strategic 5-year vision for the public schoolsystem.
THE NEW FRONTIER
All of the old frontiers are conquered. The current state ofthe workforce, that once spearheaded the growth industries of yesterday, is nowaging and old skill sets are becoming antiquated. We are moving into a world ofNano-Technology, at a time when ourschool children are lagging behind in their academic understanding in math.
The workforce of the future is now engineering at asub-atomic particle level, creating new composite materials in bio-medicine,and connecting new wave theories to voice recognition programs and receptorsthat execute voice commands.
Heretofore, the greatest challenge between the students inpoor districts versus those in richer districts was the digital divide. But newcost-effective technology is bridging the gap, and bringing a whole new experienceand medium into the classroom.
The Workforce of theFuture for the next generation will depend on putting the right tools intothe hands of our children and teaching them early on how to use and master them.The higher the educational skill sets, the more competitive the labor force inthe global economic environment.
Parity in EducationalResources
There is still structural disparity between the districts thatgive favor to students in the richer schools. This advantage provides for unequalcompetition in the job market. The Federal Equal Opportunity Employment laws canprotect again discrimination, but it cannot equalize and protect the lessereducated. Therefore, inner city unemployment is higher, without recourse toCivil Rights protections.
This is a problem that we can solve by first utilizing best whatwe have now-- more wisely, more efficiently, and more purposefully- and secondly, continuingto fight for parity in education resources and equality in employmentopportunities.
This has been and remains my greatest mission.
FINAL NOTE ABOUT OBMACARE
One factor in the Workforce of the Future scenario ishealthcare- infant, child, mother and worker healthcare, in general.
A vibrant workforce begins with healthy babies. And, theAffordable Healthcare Act, otherwise known as Obama Care, eliminated certain preexisting conditions like “BlueBabies” syndromes, where babies are born into the world with breathingproblems.
Women’s healthcare provisions allow expectant mothers toreceive early prenatal care and disease prevention strategies for unbornchildren. Obama Care allows women to get early diagnosis, medical advice andcare, and services that enable unborn children to come into the world withhealthier prognoses.
And, worker healthcare provides protection against medicalinsurance overcharges, by forcing insurance companies to refund excess profits.
These protections, benefits, and safeguards should not be takenaway, now that the law is enacted.
AS FOR MANDATES UNDER THE AFFORDABLE HEALTHCARE PLAN
I always disagreed with compulsive subscription to insurance policies. And, Ibelieve also that President Barack Obama would not have capitulated to theInsurance Industry, if the government had been allowed the power to sell cheaper insurancecoverage, as the original bill first proposed.
As you know, the government insurance option was designed togive the public an alternative to high rate private insurance providers. It didnot eliminate a patient’s choice, as propagandists claimed.
But having thegovernment in the insurance business, and its ability to uncut the rate of privateinsurers, was something repulsive to Congress at the time. Thus, the congressionalrejection of the public option forced the Obama administration to make a dealwith the devil, so to speak. Mandatory insurance coverage for all then became the onlyway to get the Insurance Industry to support Universal HealthcareCoverage.
All other partisan claims are distortions.
Eddie G. Griffin (BASG) will continue to support the right of the unbornchild to come into the world with full healthcare provisions and coverage, and a mother’sright to medical services of her choice and according to her needs, at theadvisement of her own medical doctor, and not doctors chosen for her by thegovernment, whether federal or state.
I will continue to support healthy working conditionsthrough industry regulations, and covered medical service for workers injuredon the job. I will oppose exploitation of undocumented laborers who have noprotection or medical coverage.
CONCLUSION
Of course, we will continue to disagree on much legislation,particularly those immediately identified above. But you are and will always bemy friend.
I have hereby officially adopted you as my FACEBOOK FRIEND, in hopesof continuing to win your support and your vote on issues key to the concerns of our new U.S.Congressional District 33.
Sincerely,
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