Rick Tingling-Clemmons

Rick Tingling-Clemmons

Rick Tingling-Clemmons is a Washington DC activist. He is married to Michele Tingling-Clemmons.

Military service

United States Air Force Telecommunications (1962-1970) Five years in Southeast Asia; Honorable discharge. Fluent in Japanese.

Education

Candidate, Ph.D. Sociology Howard University, Washington, DC – Currently on medical sabbatical.

Master of Arts, Adult Education University of the District of Columbia (UDC), Washington, DC, 1993 (emphasis on community-based educational programs)

Bachelor of Arts, Urban Studies UDC, Washington, DC December 1991

Activism

Rick Tingling-Clemmons has been involved with public policy for close to 40 years in many areas including: Substance abuse treatment – "I directed Rubicon Door, a federally-funded residential drug treatment program in Norfolk, VA with a 1% recidivism rate; Housing – Lobbied for National Tenant Organization, working with Congressman John Conyers to craft legislation to expand public housing; Consumer Protection – Worked with Ralph Nader on Patient Notification; Environmental Justice – Worked with Sierra Club on Clean Air Conference, and with National Conference on State and Local Public Policies on Right to Know Conference; Peace – Worked against nuclear proliferation and for world peace as co-founder of Hiroshima-Nagasaki Peace Committee; Hunger – Worked with National Anti-Hunger Coalition and National Welfare Rights Union to expand Child Nutrition Programs and affect public policy at local, state and national levels; Health Care – Worked with John Conyers to build demand for Universal Health Care and Medicare for All. As an ANC Commissioner I work with community groups on strategies to secure jobs for District residents."

National Welfare Rights Organization

Black Radical Congress

In March 1998 “Endorsers of the Call” to found a Black Radical Congress included Rick Tingling-Clemmons, People's Tribune, Washington, DC.

National Health Insurance Conference

Congressman John Conyers (D-Mich.) hosted a National Health Insurance Conference, April 16-17, 2004 to kick off a 50-state campaign for passage of national health insurance legislation, HR 676 – the “Expanded and Improved Medicare for All Act.” Conyers introduced HR 676 in the House in 2003.

Dr. Quentin Young, national coordinator of Physicians for a National Health Program, keynoted the conference, speaking on “The State of Health Care – The Case for National Health Insurance.” Conyers spoke on “Launching a National Movement for HR 676,” followed by a session on “Getting the Message Out – Working the Media.”

Dean Baker, of the Center for Economic and Policy Research, and Joel Segal, senior assistant to Conyers, presented the details of HR 676 in a session titled, “What Is It and How Do We Pay For It?” They will seek to arm the participants to take the message back to the neighborhoods. There was also a session on strategies to promote single-payer legislation on the state level. Activists were working on state single-payer bills in a number of states, including Massachusetts, California, and Pennsylvania. The agenda includes nuts-and-bolts workshops on working with unions, faith communities, educators, and health workers.

Ron Gettelfinger, United Auto Workers president, and Leo Gerard, Steelworkers president, both advocates of single-payer health care, were invited to address the conference. The conference also extended invitations to Rep. Barbara Lee (D-Calif.) and Democratic presidential candidate Dennis Kucinich of Ohio, two of the co-sponsors of HR 676.

Conference organizers intended to establish a national health insurance citizens’ network to begin implementing a campaign to pass HR 676 or its equivalent. They also hoped to open a national health insurance coordination office in Washington.

Dozens of health care and social justice organizations endorsed the conference including Physicians for a National Health Program, the Gray Panthers, Jobs with Justice of Washington, D.C., the National Coalition for the Homeless, the American Medical Students Association, Universal Health Care Action Network, and the National Welfare Rights Union.

“We believe that the leadership should come from the people that do the work, and now is the time to build a serious movement for national health insurance for all in America,” asserted conference organizers Michelle Tingling-Clemmons and Rick Tingling-Clemmons. The conference was held at Howard University Hospital and Towers Auditorium, 2041 Georgia Ave. NW, Washington, D. C.

References

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