Press and Updates

October 02, 2026

More than 200 leaders filled today’s public field hearing hosted by Congressman Joaquin Castro on mass deportations and the proposed ICE detention center in San Antonio. Congressman Castro was joined by TX State Senators Jose Menendez, Roland Gutierrez, TX Representative Barbara Gervin-Hawkins, and San...

September 25, 2026

At the urging of COPS/Metro and allies, San Antonio City Council passed the city’s first property tax rate increase in 33 years – protecting essential programs from cuts. Those programs include SA Ready to Work, the workforce development program COPS/Metro leaders fought to create. 

September 03, 2026

After Mayor Gina Ortiz Jones released a memo that suggested killing SA Ready to Work to solve a budget shortfall, COPS/Metro began working with city and business leaders to defend the largest workforce development program ever attempted by a major U.S. city. 

July 16, 2026

July 29, 1938 – June 14, 2026 [Adapted from obituary] Beatrice G. Cortez was born in Kenedy, Texas on July 29, 1938, to migrant farm workers, Miguel and Josefina Gonzales. Beatrice was the 6th of ten children who helped her parents in the fields...

June 12, 2026

Five years after COPS/Metro proposed, championed, and won voter approval for SA Ready to Work, the nation's largest municipal workforce development initiatives, the organization continues to work with the City of San Antonio, Ready to Work staff, and working families to ensure the program...

April 23, 2026

We must regain the conviction that we need one another, that we have a shared responsibility for others and the world, and that being good and decent are worth it." ― Pope Francis, Laudato Sí: On Care for our Common Home On Friday, April...

April 09, 2026

[Excerpt] San Antonio ISD officials during a Tuesday night meeting struggled to answer basic questions from concerned parents about curricula, sports and transportation options for students at three campuses the district recently handed over to an out-of-state charter operator. Hosted by the watchdog group...

March 31, 2026

As the San Antonio ISD (SAISD) and Edgewood ISD Boards consider relinquishing four neighborhood campuses to Colorado-based charter operator Third Future Schools, COPS/Metro leaders and members showed up in force to testify at SAISD—uncovering the power dynamics at play, raising urgent concerns, and putting...

January 28, 2026

SAISD voted unanimously to close Carvajal Elementary, a 76-year old West Side school serving families in one of San Antonio’s poorest zip codes. While the closure disrupts hundreds of families, COPS/Metro leveraged SAISD’s commitment of $28.6 million in bond funds to build a new,...

January 23, 2026

For generations, residents on San Antonio’s Southeast Side have grappled with robberies, shootings, and acts of violence in their neighborhoods and in front of institutions like St. Margaret Mary Catholic Church. After years of organizing, COPS/Metro celebrates a major victory - the groundbreaking of...