Spare Change News

Category: Political

  • State House Hearing on Jim Brooks Act Draws Massive Crowd

    The Massachusetts General Court held a hearing on Tuesday, January 30, where its Joint Committee on the Judiciary heard two hours of testimony regarding Boston’s Jim Brooks Stabilization Act. Present were about 100 housing activists, including members of advocacy group City Life/Vida Urbana, voicing overwhelming support for the bill. The Jim Brooks Stabilization Act  would…

  • Homeless for the Holidays

    Homeless for the Holidays

    Outside London’s Piccadilly theatre where tickets cost up to 110 pounds and a banner advertising the musical “Annie” reads “It’s a hard knock life”, Bryan and Kevin sleep in small tents on the street. They are among almost 1,000 people who sleep rough in the British capital, according to official figures, while more than 4,000…

  • Know Hard Times or Homelessness? We’d Love You to Work For Us!

    What does the Trump Era mean for Spare Change News? In the simplest terms, it means that we as an organization feel called to think bigger. The original vision of the Spare Change founders to “build a bridge between the haves and the have nots” takes on a new urgency today as current events suggest…

  • Cambridge Might Increase Housing Stock to 20 Percent Affordable

    Cambridge has created 100 units of affordable housing over the past year, a trend it’s looking to build on in 2017. The Cambridge City Council hopes to increase the percentage of affordable housing to 20 percent of the city’s total residential housing units by June of this year. Cambridge implemented inclusionary zoning, a tool utilized…

  • Critics Call HHS Proposal “License to Discriminate”

    LGBT Americans face a patchwork of civil rights protections from state-to-state, and their advocates say a potential new government office could increase discrimination. On Friday, the Department of Health and Human Services released details of a proposed rule for a new division in its Office of Civil Rights for the purpose of protecting religious freedom,…

  • Inclusivity and Immediacy: The 2018 Cambridge-Boston Women’s March

    Inclusivity and Immediacy: The 2018 Cambridge-Boston Women’s March

      Lorraine Doyle has protested for women’s rights in Cambridge for 56 years. “For me, protesting is a lifelong event,” Doyle said. “It is every chance to go further with my cause. Women first, men second. They don’t like it, they can step aside. It’s time. That’s really how I feel. I am an arch-feminist…

  • Bay State Politicians and Patients React to Sessions Announcement on Marijuana

    On January 4, Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced he would rescind the Cole Memo which dictates that federal prosecutors wouldn’t interfere with states that had legalized recreational marijuana. The Cole Memo was issued after Washington and Colorado became the first two states to legalize marijuana, and they came across a conundrum, when regulatory bodies within…

  • Friends, Allies, Advocates Continue to Call for ICE to Release of Nahant Activist and Mother

    Friends, Allies, Advocates Continue to Call for ICE to Release of Nahant Activist and Mother

    On Jan. 9, a crowd assembled in front of the J.F.K. Federal Building in Boston to protest the deportation of Siham Byah, an activist and single mother from Nahant, Massachusetts. Byah was detained on Nov. 7 after attending a routine check-in at the Immigration and Customs Enforcement office in Burlington, Massachusetts. Separated from her 8-year…

  • Activists Protest Police Brutality On MLK Day

    Activists Protest Police Brutality On MLK Day

    It was clear who the veterans of the March for Justice were. They wore ski pants. On this freezing January 15th, a group of near-60 people marched from Grove Hall to Dudley Cafe. They chanted against police brutality. The third annual Martin Luther King March on Justice illustrated participants’ commitment to progress.   The volunteer…

  • Sen. Warren Visits Roxbury Health Center, Vows to Fight for Health Insurance for Low-Income People and Kids

    Sen. Warren Visits Roxbury Health Center, Vows to Fight for Health Insurance for Low-Income People and Kids

    File photo Board members, health providers and staff members at The Dimock Center in Roxbury shared their concerns with Senator Elizabeth Warren during a roundtable discussion centered on the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) and the Community Health Center Fund in early January. Warren, nationally known for her progressive views, was greeted by a round…