Today, Thursday, January 12, 2012 is National Human Trafficking Awareness Day and this is part of National Slavery and Human Trafficking Month.    President Obama, in his Proclamation, stated, “NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Constitution and the laws of the United States, do hereby proclaim January 2012 as National Slavery and Human Trafficking Prevention Month, culminating in the annual celebration of National Freedom Day on February 1.  I call upon the people of the United States to recognize the vital role we can play in ending modern slavery and to observe this month with appropriate programs and activities.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this thirtieth day of December, in the year of our Lord two thousand eleven, and of the Independence of the United States of America the two hundred and thirty-sixth.     BARACK OBAMA”

Riverside is having an Anti-Human Trafficking Workshop on Thursday, January 19th from 9:00 AM to 12:00 Noon at 4080 Lemon Street.  There will be three dynamic speakers who will discuss  Human Trafficking in our area, what’s being done about it, and how we can help.

Layoffs of public sector and school support-staff employees in New York City in October had a disparately severe impact on black women, Women’s eNews reported last month. Women of color held the majority of the 642 jobs the city laid off that month, many of which have now been outsourced to private contractors. This fits with a national trend toward eliminating public sector jobs and turning to contractors to provide the same services. Women have accounted for 66 percent of the public sector job losses; black women are 22 percent more likely to work in the public sector than are non-black women and so have been doubly affected. Additionally, the contract employees hired to fill positions vacated by layoffs are often paid less and have more limited access to benefits such as paid sick leave than did the public sector workers.