For Immediate Release – June 27, 2016
Contact: Jamie Horwitz, jhdcpr@starpower.net, 202-549-4921 or Roger Kerson, roger.kerson@gmail.com, 734-645-0535
Field Hearing on U.S. Postal Service
Rep. Alma Adams to Join Civic Leaders Pushing for New and Improved Ppstal Services in Greensboro
Citizens call for expanded services and a better response to needs of senior citizens and many other postal customers
Greensboro – U.S. Rep. Alma Adams (D-NC) will join civic leaders and concerned members of the community at a field hearing on the future of the U.S. Postal Service in Greensboro, North Carolina on June 29.
Participants will discuss the need for new and expanded postal services in Greensboro. Topics at the hearing will include the potential for postal banking and a call for a better response to the needs of senior citizens and other postal patrons.
The Greensboro event is one of five hearings being held in cities across the United States organized by A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service, a coalition of more than 130 civil rights, faith-based, environmental, senior citizen, civic and labor organizations.
Who: Rep. Alma Adams, Member of Congress; Councilwoman Sharon Hightower, Greensboro City Council; Viola Fuller, First Vice President, Greensboro NAACP; Andrew Brod, Senior Research Fellow, Univ. of North Carolina at Greensboro, Bryant School of Business and Economics; Assoc. Prof. Philip Rubio, North Carolina A&T University; Prof. Larry Morse (retired), North Carolina A&T University; Michael Young, United for a Fair Economy; John Jones, President of the Renaissance Community Co-op; Dr. T. Anthony Spearman, Pastor at St. Philip A.M.E. Zion Church; Fred Erwin, Greensboro firefighter; Richard Koritz, board member, International Civil Rights Center & Museum and organizer, Grand Alliance – Greensboro; John Swaine, CEO of the International Civil Rights Center & Museum.
What: Field hearing on the future of the U.S. Postal Service in Greensboro and surrounding communities.
When: Wednesday, June 29, 2016, 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Where: International Civil Rights Center & Museum
134 S. Elm Street, Greensboro, NC 27401
Postal privatization remains an ongoing threat to this public institution enshrined in the U.S. Constitution over 240 years ago and still cherished by the people of this country.
“Our community needs high quality postal services, not a downgrade in service standards and ongoing cutbacks in facilities and personnel,” said Rep. Adams. “We have seniors who rely on the mail to receive medicine and small businesses that need reliable deliveries. It’s also clear that many people in this area could benefit from expanded services like postal banking.”
Also at the June 29 hearing community leaders will examine the effect expanded postal services would have on employment, especially for veterans and minorities.
- Andrew Brod of the UNC-Greensboro Bryant School of Business and Economics will comment on the overall impact of privatization of the public postal service on the regional economy.
- According to The Washington Post, recent moves by USPS to outsource work have hit “a disproportionate number of African American breadwinners.” North Carolina A&T’s Philip Rubio, author of There’s Always Work at the Post Office: African American Postal Workers and the Fight for Jobs, Justice, and Equality, will discuss how employment in the U.S. Postal Service has been an important gateway to a decent life for African-Americans and others.
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A Grand Alliance to Save Our Public Postal Service is a coalition of more than 130 local and national civil rights, environmental, faith-based and labor organizations united to advocate for a great public postal service, including non-profit postal banking and other financial services. For more information, please visit http://www.agrandalliance.org.