Naked City

The Austin Independent School District's Cultural Connections to Teaching and Learning Task Force will hold a half-day community forum Saturday, Jan. 18, 8am-1pm, at Reagan High School. The CCTF initiative seeks to help AISD eliminate the "undeniable" achievement gap between students of different ethnicities. Dr. Margarita Espino Calderon of Johns Hopkins is the keynoter; breakout topics include parental involvement, cultural awareness training, and the impact of cultural values. There is no cost to attend. Contact Vince Bland at 414-0159 or vbland@austin.isd.tenet.edu to register.

A local advocacy team interested in banning the use of credit reports in employment and rental housing is looking for people who were denied rental housing or employment due to information in their credit reports (no credit, poor credit, inaccurate credit report, etc.) and who are willing to share their stories with the media and state officials in the upcoming legislative session. For more information, contact Scott Cobb at 680-7806 (scottcobb@hotmail.com) or Daniel Andrade at 426-7335 (alazan99@hotmail.com).