TEN affiliate BRIDGE has won a major legislative victory in Maryland. Leaders helped secure last-minute passage of HB457 -- a bill requiring that 0.5% to 1% of construction spending be used for job training programs that benefit local communities.

Caption: Fair Development Coalition celebrates signing of HB 457. BRIDGE leaders Maureen Daly, Rev. Louis Boston, Ida Gowans Beasley, David Carl Olson, along with Job Opportunities Task Force, Safe and Sound Campaign, CASA de Maryland, Red Line Now PAC, and others, stand with State Senator Verna Jones-Rodwell, as Governor Martin O'Malley signs HB457 designating one half of one percent of federal funding to the Department of Transportation for infrastructure construction to be dedicated to job training, more than $1 million annually to fund construction related job training. BRIDGE (Baltimore Regional Initiative for Developing Genuine Equality) is a congregation-based
organization for social change and a founding member of the Fair Development Coalition and an affiliate of TEN.