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Vote NO on Amendment 46
The Latina Chamber Foundation believes everyone should have a fair chance a the American Dream!
Ward Connerly is campaigning for enactment of Amendment 46 in Colorado on the November 2008 ballot which would eliminate equal opportunity programs for women and minorities.
The results of the identical initiatives in California, Washington
and Michigan provide a great deal of evidence that this Amendment will
cause real, serious harm to women and minorities in Colorado.
AMENDMENT 46 IS BAD FOR COLORADO
Amendment 46 would change the Colorado constitution by eliminating ALL public equal opportunity initiatives. Identical ballot measures have become law in California, Washington and Michigan with devastating results.
Among its many impacts, Amendment 46 would ELIMINATE:
· Mentorship programs for young women in math and science
· Initiatives to close the pay gap between men and women
· Opportunities for women and minority owned small businesses to compete with big corporations
Equal
opportunity initiatives, like outreach, mentorship and training
programs, ensure that everyone gets the chance to compete in public
education, contracting and employment.
DECREASED EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY
California.
Ten years after the passage of Prop 209: African-American students
made up only 2% of UCLA's enrolled freshman--96 of the 4,802 entering
students-the smallest number of black entrants in 30 years. The drop
in minority enrollment in the freshman class from 1996-2006 was 45%.
At the University of California at San Diego, only 1% of the 2006 entering class was African-American.
Only
3.3% of Berkeley's 2006 entering class was African-American. The
number of minority freshman in the entering class at Berkeley fell 65%
from 1996-2006.
K-12 programs to providing training and resources for teachers of Native American students were eliminated
A summer program to encourage girls to pursue careers in math and engineering had been eliminated.
Michigan. In the first full year after Proposal 2 was passed:
The total number of applicants to the University of Michigan went up by 8.5%, but the number of minority applicants declined by 2%.
The Michigan Civil Rights Commission has determined that programs now at risk include:
After-school tutoring for at-risk elementary school girls
Grant programs for minority college students going into K-12 teaching careers
Medical school programs for minorities committed to work in undeserved communities
In Colorado,
programs that have expanded opportunities and leveled the playing
field, enriching our entire community, will be at risk under Amendment
46:
CU-LEAD Alliance and the Pre-Collegiate Development Program to
recruit and mentor underrepresented students both in high school and on
the Boulder campus. CU Journalism School/George Washington High School program to encourage broader minority participation in the journalism field
The Success Institute, Summer Bridge program and Female Recruits Explore Engineering to support underrepresented populations, particularly women, to enter the engineering and IT fields.
UCD's Early College Scholars to prepare students from underrepresented populations for college attendance.
Coloradans should expect the following harm to our community if Amendment 46 passes in November:
Minority populations-already only 14.8 percent of the Boulder campus student body-at public universities will plummet!
Fewer women will enter engineering, science and math fields
A growing coalition of Coloradans opposes this out of state imposition on our constitution.
Senate President Peter Groff
Speaker of the House Andrew Romanoff
* Kay Norton, President, University of Northern Colorado
*Nancy McCallin, President, Colorado Community College system
The Minority and Women's Chamber Coalition, including:
Asian Chamber of Commerce
Back Chamber of Commerce
Hispanic Chamber of Commerce
Native American Chamber of Commerce
Women's Chamber of Commerce
Hispanic Contractors of Colorado
Hispanic Bar Association
9to5 Working Women
The League of Women Voters
American Association of University Women
The Latina Chamber Foundation
The Latina Initiative
Colorado Council of Churches
Colorado Springs NAACP
Colorado Progressive Coalition
The Leadership Conference on Civil Rights
Women's Advocacy Consortium
Denver Women's Commission
Colorado Center on Law and Policy
Women's Resource Agency-Colorado Springs
All Families Deserve a Chance Coalition
AFL-CIO
Denver Area Labor Federation
Boulder County YWCA
*
The institutional affiliations listed above are for identification
purposes only; this does not imply an endorsement from the organization
AMENDMENT 46 IS BAD FOR COLORADO
DON'T LET THIS HAPPEN IN COLORADO!
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