AUSTIN, Texas - The Prime Partner program, which provides funds for vulnerable Texans seeking justice, is gaining momentum. Prime Partner banks agree to pay higher interest on lawyers' trust accounts to support legal-aid assistance for the poor, explained Betty Balli Torres, executive director, Texas Access to Justice Foundation.

"Prime Partner banks agree to pay 1 percent on IOLTA (Interest on Lawyers' Trust Accounts) accounts so they can increase funding for civil legal aid in this state. The 'I Bank on Justice' component is really lawyers and law firms that move their accounts into Prime Partner banks in order to support legal aid," Torres explained.

"I Bank on Justice" has the support of the State Bar of Texas and recently hit a record monthly high for new accounts opened. Across the state, 65 banks have thus far joined the Prime Partner program.

One of them is PlainsCapital Bank Westlake, Austin. President Jon Levy said it is part of their greater mission.

"At PlainsCapital, we have some core values," Levy said, "and they include supporting our employees, supporting our customers and supporting our community. We felt like this program was one of the best ways that we could honor those core values."

Those who want to support the program can move their funds to a participating bank or, Torres noted, they can have a conversation with their current bank about joining.

"We would encourage people who support legal aid, who support this program, to visit with their bank and talk to them about becoming a Prime Partner. In fact, many of the Prime Partner banks that participate now are because a customer talked to them, explained the importance of the program to them," Torres said, "and it made a difference."

Torres noted that the need for funding legal aid programs is great, because millions in Texas qualify, but about 80 percent never get that help because there is not enough money.

Information from the Texas Access to Justice Foundation about choosing a Prime Partner bank is available at www.teajf.org/attorneys/choose_a_prime_partner.aspx, and information about the "I Bank on Justice" campaign is at www.teajf.org/i-bank-on-justice-campaign




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Today, the day after the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday, comes a chance to put our ideals into action on the sixth annual National Day of Racial Healing.

Everyone is invited to log onto the virtual event, which will feature a performance by singer John Legend and roundtable discussions with social-justice advocates.

Dr. Icela Pelayo, program officer at the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, which sponsors the event, said everyone can reach out to friends and family to talk about racial equity.

"When we take the time to see the humanity in one another and develop and repair our relationships, we are in a better position to advance racial equity and to fix our broken systems to cause the great injustices," Pelayo asserted.

The event starts at noon Pacific time today on dayofracialhealing.org. The website also has tips on how to engage in authentic conversations about racial healing and encourages people to share their own experiences using the hashtag #Howweheal.

In 2021, the City of Los Angeles created an Office of Racial Equity, an effort started several years ago at grassroots community dinners.

Pelayo pointed out the Day of Racial Healing is designed to start the conversation, so communities can decide what needs to be fixed and move forward.

"Whether they want to focus on various systems like housing or health care or transportation, justice, the economy," Pelayo outlined. "Communities know what they need, and therefore they definitely set the agenda."

According to the Public Policy Institute of California, the Golden State is marked by wide racial disparities in criminal justice, health, wealth and education. And a 2016 study from UCLA found white households in L.A. have a median net worth of $355,000, while Mexican and African American households have a median wealth of $3,500 and $4,000 respectively.

Gov. Roy Cooper has signed a new executive order that directs cabinet agencies to consider issues of environmental justice when taking actions related to climate change, resilience and clean energy. Conservation groups are applauding the move.

The state will appoint an Environmental Justice Lead at each cabinet agency, tasked with increasing local residents' participation when projects are likely to affect their neighborhoods.

Daisha Williams, environmental justice manager with the group CleanAIRE NC, said providing a "point person" to tackle these issues will boost collaboration between state agencies.

"When they work together," she said, "it will result, of course, in more direct engagement with not only the agencies themselves but impacted communities to implement the needed remedies to foster the creative solutions that we need."

The order also called for more funding to increase public awareness about the health-related effects of climate change, and provide public updates on air pollution and heat-related illness risks and their disproportionate effects on Black and Brown communities.

Bonita Green, president of the Merrick Moore Community Development Corp., said she supports the executive order, adding that residents in her historically Black and increasing gentrified neighborhood feel they've been shut out of conversations on proposed development.

"The community is frustrated," she said, "the fact that development is just being shoved down our throats, and we have nothing to say about how our neighborhoods or communities are being developed."

Ron Ross, president of the Northwood Estates Community Organization in Charlotte, said families there are dealing with chronic health conditions from a lifetime of breathing polluted air. He said he believes the governor's latest action is a step in the right direction "for the communities that I live in - that are surrounded by highways, industrial facilities and so forth, and continue to be exposed to those situations on a daily basis."

The order also requires the state to update a greenhouse-gas inventory, to measure current levels of greenhouse-gas emissions and seek potential pathways to achieve net-zero emissions by 2050.

When plans come together for new retail centers and office buildings, policy experts and local leaders in Iowa said municipal and real-estate developers need to adopt a more inclusive mindset.

They said child care and accessible transportation should be on a project's checklist. The Greater Des Moines Partnership recently hosted a forum on the topic.

Dawn Oliver Wiand, president and CEO of the Iowa Women's Foundation, said their outreach has reinforced the belief child care is the number one barrier to economic success for women.

As it relates to development, she emphasized making sure a community has enough child-care workers who receive fair wages and benefits is key.

"If we can't figure out a way to step out of the box and creatively address that, we're not gonna have enough child-care slots," Oliver Wiand asserted.

She suggested businesses assisting with development investments not only help their staff, but also their bottom line by keeping more women in the workforce.

Wiand was on the governor's Child Care task force, which recently recommended a tax-credit program to incentivize employers to purchase available childcare spots for their workers.

Meanwhile, a regional transportation leader said more flexibility in public transit, such as non-traditional service hours, is important.

Luis Montoya, chief planning officer for Des Moines Area Regional Transit, said in his organization's long-term planning, it has found customers from different backgrounds prefer service that goes beyond the standard workday ride.

"The way people move about the community to drop their kids off to take night classes, shifts that are on the weekends or outside of what we would normally consider normal business hours," Montoya outlined.

He argued an expansive, inclusive transit vision should prioritize service information catering to those who speak little or no English.

The panel discussion also centered around needs to include input from those advocating for people with disabilities, noting they are not just consumers, but also business owners and entrepreneurs.