Welcome to the Public Rights Project Newsletter! Each month, we’ll keep you up to date with our efforts to empower states and cities to protect the rights and freedoms that define us as Americans. We’ll also share a few articles you may have missed that highlight the importance of state and local government, and how states and cities are picking up the torch to protect our rights.

UPDATES FROM PUBLIC RIGHTS PROJECT

PUBLIC RIGHTS PROJECT’S 1ST FELLOWSHIP APPLICATION LAUNCHING

We are excited to announce that the Public Rights Fellowship application will be launching Spring 2018!

We will conduct a nationwide search for talented attorneys seeking a pathway into public service. Successful applicants will be placed in a City Attorney, District Attorney, or Attorney General’s office. The program is ideally suited for attorneys 3-5 years out of law school.

If you or someone you know might be interested, please be on the lookout for our application launch and announcement about our first partner agencies in the coming weeks!

CORO FELLOWS JOIN PUBLIC RIGHTS PROJECT!

In early January we welcomed our first cohort of CORO Fellows! CORO trains future leaders to develop skills and master tools needed to engage and empower communities. CORO Fellows gain experience in government, business, labor and not-for-profit community organizations, and participate in special community and political problem solving processes. You can learn more about our four new team members here!

IN CASE YOU MISSED IT

THE AGENCY THE WHITE HOUSE JUST TOOK OVER IS ABOUT TO FEED US TO LOAN SHARKS
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) is expected to re-write a regulation that made it harder for payday lenders — lenders who charge high interest fees on short term loans — to keep mostly poor Americans in cycles of debt. The CFPB, created by Dodd-Frank legislation during the financial crisis, is tasked with keeping Americans safe from predatory behavior in the financial services industry. It's supposed to keep Wall Street from eating our lunch — as it has since, and will likely do again. However, at the end of last year it was taken over by the Trump administration in something of a bloodless coup.
Read more via Business Insider

TRUMP'S ENVIRONMENTAL ACTIONS SPARK RESISTANCE IN MANY STATES
Democratic governors, attorneys general and state legislators spent 2017 fighting President Donald Trump’s environmental agenda, and the conflict shows no sign of letting up this year. While the president has pushed to reduce regulations on businesses and open up new areas to oil, gas and coal extraction, others want to crack down on polluters and reduce fossil fuel emissions that contribute to climate change.
Read more via Pew

HOW PROSECUTORS ARE FIGHTING TRUMP'S DEPORTATION PLANS
Since 2016, prosecutors across the country have been looking for ways to shield some low-level offenders from deportation. “As the current administration in Washington continues to increase its efforts to enforce immigration laws, we as prosecutors are the torch-bearers of justice in this city,” the Baltimore city prosecutor, Marilyn Mosby, said in a news release. “We must utilize our prosecutorial discretion as we do in every case by considering the unintended collateral consequences that our decisions have on our immigrant population.”
Read more via The Marshall Project