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Based on our vision that collectively we can create a regional Central Coast economy that is just, prosperous and environmental healthy, since our formation in 2001 CAUSE has led and participated in policy initiatives and community organizing efforts to adopt local living wage ordinances and hold local development accountable to a standard based on community benefits and long-term sustainability. Living WageSince 2001 CAUSE has led citizen campaigns of community, labor and faith-based organizations in the adoption of four municipal Ventura County living wage ordinances and policies, while also assisting in the adoption of the City of Santa Barbara living wage ordinance. Living wage ordinances and policies require employers who receive public contracts, subsidies or leases to pay a locally determined living wage standard, which is defined as an income level necessary to pull a family of four above the poverty threshold. CAUSE continues to work with the Ventura County Living Wage Coalition and Santa Barbara for a Living Wage Coalition, in ongoing policy monitoring, research and efforts to expand existing living wage ordinances and policies. Adding to the over ninety living wage ordinances/policies adopted nation-wide since 1994, California Central Coast living wage ordinances and policies have included:
Ventura and Santa Barbara Living Wage Matrix For more information on CAUSE’s living wage work and how you can get involved contact CAUSE’s Legislative Analyst, Das Williams: das_williams@hotmail.com. For online information on living wage as a regional and national economic justice and poverty reduction policy strategy, see the following: Living Wage Research
The Impacts of Living Wage Policies
Living Wage Ordinances in California
Raising Low Pay in a High Income Economy: The Economics of a San Francisco Minimum Wage
Living Wages and Economic Performance: The San Francisco Airport Model
Living Wages and Airport Security
Living Wages at the Port of Oakland
Living wages at the Airport and Port of San Francisco: The Benefits and the Costs
Living Wages and the San Francisco Economy: The Benefits and the Costs Regional Living Wage Information
City Council passes living wage-law
Ventura Needs a Living-Wage Ordinance
Living Wage Study Exposes Empty Threats by Business Living Wage Movement Resources
ACORN Living Wage Resource Center
Living Wage: Choosing the High Road Sustainable DevelopmentBased on the premise that economic development should pursue the goals of shared prosperity and community and environmental well-being, CAUSE, in collaboration with its many regional, state and national partners, has engaged in the enactment of sustainable development policies and community initiatives based on a common set of principles also linked to the concept of accountable development:
Since 2001 CAUSE has led and played key leadership roles in several sustainable development campaigns and initiatives in Ventura County, with several new initiatives underway, with broader Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties regional impact. Sustainable development accomplishments to date have included: the 2005 inclusion of big box and good paying jobs provisions into the City of Ventura General Plan; facilitation of a successful, yet ongoing, grassroots campaign to stop the development of a Wal-Mart store in the City of Ventura; and the successful grassroots environmental justice campaign to defeat the proposed BHP Billiton liquefied natural gas (LNG) terminal off the coast of Oxnard. CAUSE is also in the process of launching a new regional transit equity initiative, with the goal of significantly expanding the current public transportation system in Ventura and Santa Barbara Counties through a combination of bus and rail. The following provide additional information on current CAUSE Sustainable Development campaigns: Wal-MartSince November 2004 CAUSE in conjunction with the StopVentura Wal-Mart Coalition and Livable Ventura, have led a local campaign to stop the development of a proposed Wal-Mart on Victoria Avenue in Ventura. The effort has included grassroots organizing, community education and policy initiatives including the adoption of a one-year 2006 moratorium on the development, and in 2007 the adoption of an interim ordinance. The campaign has now stepped up its effort by seeking a big-box ballot measure for the November 2008 election. Help Stop a City of Ventura Wal-Mart! Log on to http://www.stopwalmartventura.com/.
Lands Commission Rejects LNG Terminal
No to Wal-Mart –Yes to a Livable Ventura
Ventura OKs Moratorium on Stores: Victoria Avenue Ban Includes Proposed Site for Wal-Mart
How Your Tax Dollars Subsidize the World's Largest Corporation
Living wage sought in Ventura: Coalition urges ballot measure No-LNGDespite the clear lack of research to substantiate California’s need for liquefied natural gas (LNG) and research indicating the dramatic public health and environmental impact of proposed LNG project to date, corporations, such as BHP Billiton and NorthernStar Energy continue to propose the construction of LNG facilities off the California Central Coast. CAUSE, in collaboration with a diverse coalition of community, labor and environmental organizations led by the California Coastal Protection Network, are responsible for halting the proposed BHP Cabrillo Port LNG facility and are currently working to halt the proposed NorthernStar proposal off the coast of Ventura.
Organized Community Halts LNG
Lands Commission Rejects LNG terminal |