January is Human Trafficking Awareness month and Albion Fellows Bacon Center and Willard Library are partnering to present Beyond the Book: Human Trafficking; a book discussion of The Slave Across the Street by Theresa Flores on Tuesday, January 16th from 6:00 pm to 7:30 pm.  All community members are invited to participate by reading the book and gathering at Willard Library to discuss human trafficking within the United States and in our Tri-State Area.

“There is a conversation, nationally, about human trafficking. Communities are noticing it is not just a problem in other countries, but that human trafficking and sexual exploitation occurs here. Because this is a new conversation, there is a lot that is misunderstood about domestic human trafficking. Albion Fellows Bacon Center strives to educate the community about the reality of human trafficking and sex exploitation. This starts with a conversation, which is why community events like Beyond the Book are paramount to address the issue of human trafficking,” said Courtney Keating, Crisis Intervention Specialist for Albion Fellows Bacon Center.

The book has mature content and language.  Therefore, teen readers are encouraged to seek parental/guardian permission before reading the book and attending the discussion.  Books can be checked out at Willard Library and Evansville Vanderburgh Public Library. Both libraries have inter-library loan, so it can be requested from a partnering library.   Copies of the book can also be purchased at barnesandnoble.com and Amazon.com.  While having read the book is recommended, it is not a requirement to attend the discussion.

“Our Communities. Your College. Pathways for Student Success and a Stronger Indiana.”

INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. – Ivy Tech Community College has kicked off its new five-year strategic plan: “Our Communities. Your College. Pathways for Student Success and a Stronger Indiana.” The plan’s vision is for Ivy Tech students to earn 50,000 high-quality certifications, certificates, and degrees per year aligned with workforce needs.

The plan aligns with Indiana’s goal to equip 60 percent of the workforce with a high-value, post-secondary degree or credential by 2025. Through achievement of this goal, the College will help increase Hoosier per capita income and support the transformation of the state’s advanced industries economy.

“Indiana is home to some of the world’s largest, most innovative corporations—not to mention countless ambitious smaller companies and start-ups,” said Ivy Tech President Sue Ellspermann. “And all of them share a common need: well-trained, skilled workers.”

The plan development covered 18 months, including a restructure of the College, comprehensive fact finding conducted internally and externally, including thousands of faculty, staff, students and statewide stakeholders.

“Our plan compliments the work of those with whom we collaborate including the Commission for Higher Education, Department of Workforce Development, the Indiana Chamber and industry groups, Strada Education Network, Lilly Endowment, and Lumina, to name a few,” Ellspermann said. “We are committed to aligning with those who have similar goals and are dedicated to Hoosier prosperity of employers, individuals, and the state.

The plan is comprised of seven goals, with detailed strategies and tactics accompanying each goal, and metrics to ensure success:

• Goal 1 – Student Success: Ensure every student persists towards their educational objective.
• Goal 2 – Recruitment and Enrollment: Recruit and enroll Hoosiers from every demographic into high-demand/high-wage career pathways.
• Goal 3 – Completion: Students earn 50,000 high quality certificates, certifications, and degrees annually.
• Goal 4 – Workforce: Students are placed into and succeed in high-demand, high-wage jobs.
• Goal 5 – Employee: Become known as a great place to work.
• Goal 6 – Financial: Ensure the institution has sufficient financial resources to achieve our mission.
• Goal 7 – Community: Effectively engage with and serve our unique communities.

Strategies focused on student success include initiatives through improved technology, structured scheduling, eight week classes, and improved academic advising. Recruitment strategies include targeted outreach to adult workers, as well as high school students with no post-secondary plans. Completion strategies include reverse transfer, expanding the Associate Accelerated Program (ASAP), and more short-term, industry-focused certificates. Completion strategies are centered on “right-program, right-place, right-size” in each community and focused career development into high-demand, high-wage jobs.

“We are committed to putting more ‘community’ in community college,” Ellspermann continues. “To quote one of our own employees, ‘community’ is our middle name, and I look forward to seeing Ivy Tech become the workforce development and higher education engine our communities need to ensure long-term Hoosier prosperity.”

Olivia Covington for www.theindianalawyer.com

The Indiana Attorney General’s Office has filed a notice of appeal with the 7^th Circuit Court of Appeals after a district court judge struck down its motion to intervene in a federal immigration case that places additional requirements on local law enforcement detaining individuals for the federal government.

Indiana Attorney General Curtis Hill moved last month to intervene in the case of Antonio Lopez-Aguilar v. Marion County Sheriff’s Department, et al., 1:16-cv-02457, after Southern District Court Judge Sarah Evans Barker entered a consent decree between Antonio Lopez-Aguilar, an illegal immigrant, and Marion County law enforcement. The consent decree prohibits the Marion County Sheriff’s Office from detaining illegal immigrants on behalf of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement unless ICE can produce a signed warrant or other probable cause.

The state moved to intervene for the limited purpose of appealing the consent decree, arguing that under Indiana Code section 5-2-18.2, state and local law enforcement officials have a “duty to cooperate” with federal immigration efforts.

“The consent decree was approved in large part due to the Court’s analysis determining that it did not violate any Indiana statutes,” Hill’s office wrote in its December motion. “Because the State contends that the consent decree does in fact violate the Indiana statutes at issue, the harm to the State’s proper enforcement of its statues is both caused by the consent decree and remedied by its vacatur on appeal.”

Barker, however, denied the motion to intervene in a Jan. 5 opinion, finding the state lacked standing to intervene. She specifically held I.C.5-2-18.2-4 does not require local law enforcement’s cooperation with federal immigration detainers or removal orders under the text of that statute, or under the Immigration and Nationality Act or Fourth Amendment.

The judge also likened the instant case to 1000 Friends of Wisconsin, Inc. v. U.S. Department of Transportation, 860 F.3d 480 (7^th Cir. 2017) and Kendall-Jackson Winery, Ltd. v. Branson, 212 F.3d 995 (7^th. Cir. 2000). Those cases stand for the proposition that “a defendant does not have standing to appeal an order binding a different, nonappealing defendant which injures the appealing defendant only indirectly, and which, if set aside, will benefit the appealing defendant only collaterally or contingently,” she said. Here, the appealing defendant would be the state, while the nonappealing defendant would be the Marion County Sheriff’s Office.

“The state does not, and cannot, point to any authority for this proposition that is has a legally protected interest, sufficient to confer standing, in defending its statutes from any judicial interpretation its lawyers deem undesirable or do not otherwise share,” Barker wrote in her Jan. 5 order.

Barker also determined the state’s motion to intervene, filed Dec. 4, was untimely considering the consent decree was submitted by both parties for approval on July 10. Finally, she determined the state failed to prove its entitlement to intervention of right, or to permissive intervention.

Hill’s office filed its notice of appeal on Monday morning. The Attorney General also reaffirmed his position that local law enforcement should be required to cooperate with federal immigration efforts.

“Establishing a policy that requires law enforcement personnel to not cooperate with each other not only violates Indiana law but jeopardizes public safety,” Hill said in a statement.