Remarks by Rev. Michael Livingston at Circle of Protection press conference

Circle of Protection leaders share about poverty and the election at the National Press Club in Washington, DC before they release videos made by both presidential candidates that explained, from a faith perspective, what they would do to form a circle of protection around people living in poverty.

Remarks by Rev. Michael Livingston at Circle of Protection press conference upon release of videos made by the presidential candidates explaining how they will form a circle of protection around the most vulnerable.

September 12, 2012 – National Press Club

By the end of July, over 1 billion dollars had been raised, and most of it spent, by the presidential candidates, their respective parties, and just one primary Super Pac supporting each candidate.  Fifty-five days from the election that number is much higher.  Over a billion dollars!  And our candidates have not been talking about helping the people of our nation, over 12 million of them children, living in the most desperate conditions.

Since the recession began in 2007 two congressional districts in the entire nation have seen poverty decrease significantly.  In 388 congressional districts poverty has deepened.  Our congress, our candidates are not talking about this.  It doesn’t seem to matter.  Shame on us.

Children and families living in poverty don’t have a Super PAC representing their interests, buying commercial airtime, making back room deals to improve their lot.  Well, their interests are our interests.

People of faith in our congregations can’t compete with the shadowy contributions of millionaires hiding behind bad campaign laws. We can and do stand with people living in poverty and lift our voices on their behalf.  And today we are asking the 350,000 congregations we represent in the U.S. to make hunger and poverty a core issue when they go to the polls in November.

Rev. Michael Livingston, former president, National Council of Churches and Director of National Public Policy, Interfaith Worker Justice

Poverty and the Election: Listen in on What Some NCC Leaders are Saying

Kathryn M. Lohre,  President, National Council of Churches

Jesus worked and lived with people on the margins of society, and our call as a church is to continue that ministry. We are called as God’s church to build a kingdom of God where all are fed and community shares with each other. God’s church is at work bringing offerings of food to share with hungry people, sheltering those without homes in our fellowship halls, and creating support networks like job clubs and employment ministries. Yet, that is not enough. We must also create a society that provides for those in need. Senior religious leaders from the National Council of Churches joined with other religious leaders through the Circle of Protection, calling on our presidential candidates to address poverty. In response, Presidential candidates from both sides of the aisle have articulated how they plan to exercise their leadership in order to alleviate poverty. We, as the church, join them and encourage the nation as a whole to make eradicating poverty a national priority.

The Rt. Rev. Reginald T. Jackson, Bishop 

Office of Ecumenical and Urban Affairs, African Methodist Episcopal Church

We must not be misled into believing that the recession is the primary cause of increased poverty in America, for while poverty has increased during the recession, poverty was also increasing before the recession. A decade before the recession, while the nation’s economy was booming, poverty was on the rise. The gap between the middle class and the poor was widening and more and more people and families were falling out of the middle class. This is especially true among African Americans and other minorities.

The people of God, regardless of political party or affiliation, must raise our voices and call upon our political leaders to face and address the issue of poverty, and do it now. Leadership demands it, and the hurt and suffering of the poor, especially children, requires it.

Dr. Sharon E. Watkins

General Minister and President, Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in the United States and Canada

The Biblical vision of wholeness (shalom) includes a world in which there is enough for everyone. As people of faith who are committed to this vision of wholeness, the members of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) are deeply concerned about the poverty that currently plagues so many of God’s children. We therefore support all efforts to end this poverty, from the courageous compassion of our local, regional and general ministries to the public policies that affect all of us. We are pleased that the Presidential candidates from both major parties are giving time and attention to the issue of poverty, and we look forward to hearing more from them about their specific plans to address this problem.

Nathan Hosler
Advocacy and Peace Witness Ministries, Church of the Brethren

The Church of the Brethren has firmly believed that as followers of Jesus we are called to serve one another in the way that Jesus demonstrated by washing his disciples’ feet. We urge all leaders to support programs that care for persons in poverty. We recognize that as individuals and families are assisted they will not only lead healthier lives but will be able to assist others in need.

 Dr. Carroll A. Baltimore, Sr., President

Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc.

The Progressive National Baptist Convention, Inc. (PNBC) is the denominational home of the late Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. who said, “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.” Organized in 1961, the PNBC has a rich and lavish history of championing the cause of social justice issues and public policies for the voiceless and the most vulnerable of our global society.

The scriptures tell us that the poor will always be with us. But, we are not to neglect caring for the poor. The measure of our society and humankind in particular, is how we address the least of these. People who are destitute have no lobbyists or any media machine to advocate for them. That is why the Christian faith community is called upon to constantly bring this issue to our politicians. This is the first step to feeling the discomfort that is necessary to make a change. We must lift the veil of denial and neglect that keeps our nation from confronting poverty.

In this election year, the PNBC calls on our politicians and elected officials from the local and federal government entities to break the silence in dealing with issues of poverty. We can do better as a nation. It is unjust and immoral to constantly ignore the issues of poverty and push the least of these aside as if they do not exist. We must make the issue of eradicating poverty a top political and social agenda in this decade.

Rev. Geoffrey A. Black
General Minister and President of the United Church of Christ

Our faith calls us to place the poor and most marginalized in our communities at the forefront of concern.  Those who struggle economically in our society, the most vulnerable  — children living in poverty, people living with chronic health issues, seniors, women trying to escape violence in their homes – do not have a voice at the policy-making table or a hand in influencing political campaigns. The United Church of Christ has a long history of actively serving the needs of vulnerable populations in our communities and advocating for systemic solutions that lift people out of poverty and uphold the common good. We urge all people to let your voices be heard through your vote. As our faith teachings remind us, nations are judged by how they treat the poorest and most vulnerable people.  Our faith calls us to consider how our choices this election affect the “least of these.”

Rev. Michael Livingston

Former President, National Council of Churches

National Public Policy Director, Interfaith Worker Justice

“Since the current recession began in 2007, only two congressional districts in the entire nation have seen poverty decrease significantly. In 388 districts, poverty has deepened. We cannot fix a problem we don’t acknowledge exists. There is precious little conversation about the millions of Americans living in poverty and the swelling numbers of children and families falling into poverty. Our presidential candidates can lead the way in a broader and deeper wrestling with our moral obligation to care for the poor. These videos are a good start on a much needed, much avoided national conversation. Next, let’s get to work repairing our safety net, putting people to work in good jobs and caring for the most vulnerable among us.”

 

A Labor Day Sermon by Rev. Michael Livingston: Best Seat in the House

Best Seat in the House

James 2:1-10, 14-17

Rev. Michael Livingston; Director of Public Policy, Interfaith Worker Justice

Delivered at the United Methodist Chapel at 100 Maryland Ave NE Washington, DC on September 5, 2012

I’ve got a new friend.  Her name is Vernell Livingston.  I met her last October at the fall mobilization for Fighting Poverty with Faith.  It’s an interfaith effort to eliminate poverty as soon as possible—to engage people of faith across the religious spectrum in understanding the dimensions of the problem and more importantly—doing something about it.  There is always a “Take action” component:  You know, like the text—“Faith without action is nothing.”   The focus of the mobilization was on hunger and we decided to issue a Food Stamp Challenge, to people of faith across, the congress, to religious leaders.  The center of the event was an experience shopping at the Capitol Hill Safeway grocery store.

We invited members of Congress, religious leaders, and a White House representative to shop with food stamp recipients in the District of Columbia on the $31.50 for a week of groceries provided through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program—that’s what we call food stamps now. So, I met Vernell. We talked first about the coincidence of having the same last name and tried to figure out if we were related but her North Carolina clan didn’t seem to have any connection to my Louisiana/Texas bunch.  It was instructive watching her make decisions about what to buy based on what she had already and calculating what she’d need for other necessities during the month.  That’s no longer my reality.

I got in touch with her after the event wanting to write an article about her, telling her story.  So we talked by phone and we met and I got to know her better and I learned about her life.  Vernell was one of the oldest of 12 children in South Carolina.  What were you doing at 12?  I was playing little league baseball and learning the Clarinet; I was in the Boy Scouts and praying the Lakers would one day beat the Celtics and Elgin Baylor and Jerry West would win an NBA championship.  Vernell was picking cotton and tobacco alongside her father in sweltering heat.  After he suffered a debilitating stroke, Vernell’s fate was sealed.  She never went back to school and spent what would have been her junior and senior high years in those fields inhaling the deadly fumes of tobacco plants and pesticides sprayed with farmworkers in the fields.  She’s not much older than I am.

As a young woman she was sent to Washington DC to keep the children of an aunt while the aunt worked and she soon began domestic work in DC homes and that led finally to work as a maid in the motel industry in for most of her life.  Disability following hip replacement surgery ended her days on her knees cleaning bathtubs and toilets and dusting under beds in motels and she lives today in government subsidized housing on $885 a month Social Security.  Earlier this year her nearly $200 a month SNAP benefits were cut, without explanation, to $31.  She’s still trying to understand what has happened.

What has happened?  It is a good question for all of us.  We listen to lie upon lie from candidates running for every political office and that has become normal discourse barely commented upon by mainstream media and fodder for ridicule on cable stations that reach a few million people a night.  Our great (?) nation has the most unequal income distribution among all major industrialized nations on the planet.  In the last 40 years our economy doubled in size and yet the average income for 90% of us fell by 6% while annual income of the top 1/100^th of 1% grew by nearly $20 million.  We’re talking about 16,000 households here.    Vernell’s isn’t one of them.

What has happened here?  Forty-nine million Americans living in poverty; 12 million of them are children.  There are only two congressional districts in the entire nation that have had a statistically significant decrease in poverty since the recession began in 2007.  145 have stayed the same 388 have seen a significant increase in people living in poverty since 2007.  And we keep electing people to congress who don’t work to lift people out of poverty.  Dr. William Barber is the President of the NAACP in North Carolina.  A friend sent me a video of his remarks from their recently concluded annual gathering.  He put words in the mouths of political candidates today:  “Elect me and I’ll take your health care, I’ll take your voting rights, I’ll take your social security, I’ll re-segregate your schools, I’ll ignore your poverty”—and he said, “…they still get votes.”

What has happened?  Workers are fighting to bargain collectively, to be paid fairly, to afford health care, to send their children to college and hope they graduate without crushing debt, to expect that they will be able to afford to live comfortably in the last years of life. Labor Day is a hollow shell, just another not so long weekend in a hard year. President Eisenhower said in 1956 that the right of workers to organize would be a permanent part of the platform of his administration and that anyone who opposed it would be, his word, “stupid.”  Times change.

This text from James has been the occasion for the ages old debate—what is more important, faith or works?  There is no choice here and I think James makes that clear.  This is not just about remembering the poor in our prayers, not about having our consciences pricked or raising the level of our awareness.  This goes beyond sending money to organizations that serve the needs of the poor.  It is more than sophisticated political advocacy on Capitol Hill of the kind we are engaged in here.  It includes but is deeper than addressing the root causes of poverty, the structural impediments to a fundamentally just society that is vigilant in its opposition to racism and effectively guards against the unfettered greed that so infests our system, turning corporations into people and money into speech while grinding real people into dust.

All of this is essential; we had better attend to it, but not at the expense of missing the deeper truth.  Wherever we are on the spectrum of human life, whatever our age, level of education, whatever our status, class, place of work, sexual orientation, age, race, color, or creed; if we don’t have a job or a safe place to sleep, if we’re the elite of elites or the last among the lost, whether we’ve inherited riches or are rich in our humanity alone– We are all one people; all in this together.  No one is better than any other, more worthy, closer to wherever heaven might be.  James reminds us that building relationships of mutuality and respect, that treating people—whether rich or poor is the measure of our grasp of the divine among us: the image of God on every face.

So James says “If Donald Trump comes in your church and a poor person in dirty clothes comes in and you seat the Donald and make the poor person stand—your mind is poisoned with sin and the whole weight of moral law falls on your head.”  We know that in early Christianity in Syria, this teaching took root. If a poor person showed up, and no seats were available in the congregation, the bishop had to give up his seat.

We are living in a nation at a time when the wealthy get all the good seats:  Jack Nicholson on the floor at the Laker games, the Royal Box at Wimbledon, the legacy admissions at top colleges…and on and on and on.  James says:  Vernell gets the best seat in house, and doesn’t she deserve it?  Amen.

Livingston to Leave NCC to Work for Interfaith Worker Justice

I share this press release about my coming departure from the National Council of Churches with a sense of deep gratitude for the opportunity I have had to work with you to end poverty. I see my new work at Interfaith Worker Justice as an extension of this work and hope that you will be, or already are, an ally of IWJ in the ministry of good work and fair pay for the people of God.

Shantha Ready Alonso, who has worked with the Poverty Initiative for two years as an advocacy and outreach specialist will carry our work forward as Interim Poverty Initiative Coordinator starting at the beginning of September. You can click here to read her bio and you can reach her at shantha@nccendpoverty.org.

Grace and Peace,

Michael Livingston

Director, National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative

We’re on and  @nccendpoverty … Check us out!

The NCC Poverty Initiative’s role in raising the awareness and will of Christians to act to reduce poverty is more crucial than ever. Please consider how God might be calling you and your church to join together with the NCC in the work to end poverty. May our voices grow louder and stronger as we amplify God’s call for justice and righteousness.

LIVINGSTON TO LEAVE NCC STAFF TO WORK FOR INTERFAITH WORKER JUSTICE

Washington, August 14, 2012 – The Rev. Michael Livingston, a former president of the National Council of Churches and now leader of the Council’s Poverty Initiative, has resigned that position effective August 31.

Livingston said he will be joining the staff of Interfaith Worker Justice, a Chicago based group that mobilizes persons of faith to support economic justice and worker rights at the local, state and national levels.

“Words are insufficient to the task of conveying my deep appreciation for the opportunity to labor among the people of God in the several forms of ministry through which it has been my joy and honor to serve,” Livingston said in a letter to NCC President Kathryn Lohre and NCC Transitional General Secretary Peg Birk.

“Michael has been an invaluable addition to the public witness work that we have done on behalf of vulnerable populations,” said Cassandra Carmichael, Director of the NCC Washington Office. “I know that his passion and expertise will be a continued blessing for those living in poverty as he transitions to his new role with Interfaith Worker Justice.”

“I have been especially blessed by the work of our Poverty Initiative and the effort to lift the concerns of the most vulnerable among us in the halls of power and in the hearts of the people of our member communions,” Livingston said. “I pray this work will continue and be strengthened as a priority of the Council.”

As director of the Poverty Initiative, Livingston worked on many fronts to keep the issue of poverty before the public.

In July 2011, he was one of a dozen leaders from the faith community who were arrested for kneeling to pray in the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol to call attention to Congressional efforts to slash the budgets of essential poverty programs.

“Congress is paralyzed by toxic partisan politics while people suffer,” Livingston said at the time. “Our elected officials are protecting corporations and wealthy individuals while shredding the safety net for millions of the most vulnerable people in our nation and abroad. Our faith won’t allow us to passively watch this travesty unfold. We’ve written letters, talked with and prayed for our elected officials, and prayed together daily in interreligious community. Today, we ‘offer our bodies as a living sacrifice’ to say to congress ‘Raise revenue, protect the vulnerable and those living in poverty.’”

Last March Livingston joined farm workers in a Lenten fast in Florida to put pressure on the Publix corporation to join the Fair Food Campaign to raise the wages of the workers and to dramatically improve deplorable working conditions in the fields.

“I do not regard this fast as a hardship on my part,” Livingston said in a message to NCC communions and congregations. “By God’s grace I can offer the luxury of my time to brothers and sisters whose humanity I value as much as my own. I count it a privilege, as the season of Lent begins, to, as Paul asks of us in Romans 12:1: ‘present your bodies as a living sacrifice, holy and acceptable to God, which is your spiritual worship.’”

Livingston, who also served as executive director of the International Council of Community Churches, served the NCC as a board member, officer and staff for nearly twelve years.

As NCC President from 2006 to 2007, Livingston traveled to the Middle East and other world trouble spots to represent the council’s witness for peace and justice. Last May, he represented the National Council of Churches on an interfaith delegation to Vietnam to study the residual effects of the defoliant Agent Orange used by U.S. forces during the Vietnam War.

Livingston served as President-Elect of the NCC from 2004 until the end of 2005 and he has been a member of the NCC’s Governing Board and General Assembly since 1999. In 2003 he was a member of the NCC’s Peace Delegation to Paris that attempted to delay or prevent the war in Iraq.

Livingston was ordained in the Presbyterian Church (USA) on July 27, 1975 and he has been a member of the New Brunswick, N.J., Presbytery since 1985. He was pastor of Presbyterian churches in Los Angeles and New York until 1985 when he returned to his alma mater, Princeton Theological Seminary, as director of admissions and later as campus pastor and director of the chapel.

He served from 1999 to 2010 as executive director of the International Council of Community Churches, headquartered in Frankfort, Ill. The ICCC describes itself as a “fellowship of ecumenically-minded, freedom-loving churches cooperating in fulfilling the mission of the Church in the world.”

Like many members of Baby Boom generation, Livingston entered college with a desire to serve people in a just cause. He earned a Bachelor’s degree in sociology at the University of California at Los Angeles in 1971 before switching his emphasis to theology at the Princeton seminary. He earned a master of divinity degree in 1974 and a masters in theology in Pastoral Care and Counseling that was awarded in 1991.

His other ecumenical responsibilities have included the U.S. Conference of the World Council of Churches, the editorial board of Liberation and Unity, the National Workshop on Christian Unity, and the Presbyterian General Assembly Special Committee on Churches of Christ Uniting, which he chaired. For fourteen years he served as the editor of Liberation and Unity, a Lenten guide for meditation and study jointly sponsored by the COCU and the AME, AMEZ, and CME churches.

See www.nccendpoverty.org  

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Since its founding in 1950, the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the USA has been the leading force for shared ecumenical witness among Christians in the United States. The NCC’s 37 member communions — from a wide spectrum of Protestant, Anglican, Orthodox, Evangelical, historic African American and Living Peace churches — include 40 million persons in more than 100,000 local congregations in communities across the nation.

NCC News contact:  Philip E. Jenks, 646-853-4212 (cell), pjenks@ncccusa.org

Interfaith Community Builds and Blesses Home in Pinellas, FL

In preparation for the Fighting Poverty with Faith mobilization of 2012, we’re collecting stories about ways the faith community is active in creating Affordable Housing for All. Send your stories to info@nccendpoverty.org

Here is a story Shared by Barbara Inman, President/CEO of Habitat for Humanity Pinellas County

This past year, Habitat for Humanity Pinellas County had a home that was built by a combination of Muslims, Christians, and Jews. This was unprecedented in our history and the final home blessing, with all faiths contributing their prayer of blessing on the home, was incredibly moving. When we bless a home here in our Habitat affiliate, all present touch the house as it is being blessed. I watched in amazement as each faith took the microphone for his/her blessing, another minister made sure that they were touching the home and then laid his/her other hand on the shoulder of the minister doing the blessing.

It really was a beautiful event.

***

Habitat Pinellas “Interfaith House” Faith Leaders

Pastor Donna Oberkreser, Central Christian Church, Robert Reeves, Habitat Pinellas, Vice President of Homeowner Services, Cedaizha and Tiffani Miller, Ula Armashi and Anas AlGhazzi, the Islamic Center of Pinellas County, and  Andrea Mason and Rabbi Daniel Treiser of the Temple B’nai Israel. The three congregations were the sponsors of the Miller family’s house, providing financial and volunteer support for the construction of the home.

Interfaith handshake

From left: Ula Armashi and Anas AlGhazzi, of the Islamic Center of Pinellas County  and Rabbi Daniel Treiser of the Temple B’nai Israel

Habitat Pinellas “Interfaith House” Blessing

Cedaizha, 10, and her mother, Tiffani Miller close their eyes during all four blessings bestowed on their new house during the Habitat Pinellas dedication ceremony on Sunday, January 8^th in the Stevens Creek subdivision in Clearwater. To the right of Tiffani is her mother and Habitat Pinellas CEO/President Barbara Inman.  It is a Habitat custom that during the blessing, all present touch the walls of the house. Blessings were given by Pastor Donna Oberkreser, Central Christian Church, Rabbi Daniel Treiser, Temple B’nai Israel and Anas AlGhazzi, the Islamic Center of Pinellas County.  Tiffani’s pastor, Rev. Bernard Smith of St. James AME Church, also delivered a blessing.

Why Food Stamps Matter: A Profile of Vernell Livingston

By Rev. Michael Livingston, Director, NCC Poverty Initiative

Vernell Livingston thanks God for getting up every morning “with a portion of good health.” She’s had the blessings of marriage and motherhood and she is in good health, though she is a diabetic, as she lives a life of modest contentment as a senior citizen.

Mrs. Livingston participated in the Food Stamp Challenge that launched the Fighting Poverty With Faith Mobilization last fall responding graciously to our invitation to her to guide congressional legislators on Capitol Hill and religious leaders on a shopping trip on the weekly allotment given to SNAP recipients ($31.50). The coincidence of our last names (we are not related) created a bond between us and she welcomed an opportunity to share more of her story.

The second eldest of 12 siblings, Mrs. Livingston has had a life of hard work for very little compensation. She was picking cotton and tobacco in South Carolina alongside her sharecropping father when she was 12 years old. She never went to college, indeed, she wasn’t able to finish high school so that she could help the family make ends meet and assist her mother with the raising of their large clan.

When her father suffered a stroke, her fate was sealed. She did back breaking work as a day laborer picking cotton and was exposed to toxic chemicals picking tobacco until she was eighteen or nineteen years old. The young Vernell moved north to Washington, DC with an aunt and cared for the aunt’s son for a few years before returning to South Carolina where she married a logger and gave birth to a daughter.

In the following years she worked several extremely low-paying jobs and after returning to Washington DC she spent most of her adult years working as a maid in the hotel industry.

Her last eight years working were as a floor manager for a motel chain. Chronic knee pain led to a full disability and eventually to two knee replacement operations on the same knee. She received disability checks until she began receiving Social Security benefits in 1991. In all her working years she never had an employer supplied pension plan and her low wages insured that her Social Security benefits would be meager.

When I asked Mrs. Livingston how much her monthly Social Security checks amounted to, she lowered her head sheepishly, paused, and said, “Reverend Livingston, I get $885 a month.”

I cannot say precisely how she felt, but any and all shame should be the province of a society that has not taken good care of those who have labored long and hard and been denied access to opportunities by familial necessity and the structural inequalities, racial and economic, so prevalent in our society.

Mrs. Livingston, many years a widow now, lives on $885 a month plus what she receives in SNAP benefits (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). Those benefits were cut, without explanation, from about $200 per month at the end of 2011 to $33 a month in January of this year.

Before the cut in SNAP benefits she had an annual income of $13,020; her income in 2012, after the cut, will be just over $11,000. She pays $181 a month in rent in a government subsidized senior housing complex and has a car note. After rent and car expenses, Vernell has about $500 per month for everything else. SNAP is a lifeline. She’s thankful for what she has so far received and worried about the recent cut and the awful possibility that more cuts could be coming.

The NCC’s Poverty Initiative works with other ecumenical and interfaith partners to ensure that programs that are lifelines for vulnerable people like Vernell Livingston. We are working to make certain people like Vernell are not further victimized as a result of the critical budget and tax decisions that will be made in the months to come and especially in the “Lame Duck” session of congress at the end of this year.

Your support for our work, your work really, is essential to the witness of people of faith in the 37 member communions of the National Council of Churches.

I wrote earlier that I was not related to Mrs. Livingston, though we share the same last name. To tell the whole truth, we are related, to each other and to you, through our belonging to the human family. We are all God’s family, make in God’s image, each one of us. I hope you will remember Vernell Livingston in your prayers and in your giving. (Click here to make a contribution to the Poverty Initiative of the NCC.)

Fighting Poverty with Faith is an annual mobilization of faith communities across the United States in common actions against poverty. Co-chaired by the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, Catholic Charities, and the National Council of Churches, the mission of Fighting Poverty with Faith is to educate the public and build political will to participate in the goal to cut U.S. poverty in half from 2010-2020.

Click here to sign up for more information and get involved in the Nov. 18-28, 2012 mobilization.

When Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets

Recommended by: Rev. John Mueller, Trinity UMC, Springfield, MA

When Heart Turns Rock Solid: The Lives of Three Puerto Rican Brothers On and Off the Streets, by Timothy Black.

This book is an ethnographic study, and tries to honestly present the stories of the lives of three brothers and their families in Springfield, MA. It is a powerful work.

It was especially interesting to me because it is about life in our church’s city. I have thought about having a book study through the congregation on it, but the language is a little harsh at times. I still may though, because it is an important work.

If you’ve read this book or you want to, comment on our blog to start a discussion, or tweet us @NCCEndPoverty

Former NCC Intern Youngest Delegate to Democratic National Convention

Former NCC Poverty Initiative intern Kevin Bloomfield is a rising sophomore at Ohio State University. He will also be the youngest delegate at the Democratic National Convention in North Carolina.

We were extremely fortunate to have Kevin in our office. No joke, he found the NCC internship opportunity through a mis-clicked link on Wikipedia and thought it looked interesting! Kevin said of the experience, he was “glad for the opportunity to advocate for those in society who have no expensive lobbyists, yet need their voices heard the most.”

Before coming to our office, Kevin worked for offices of state representatives and a Republican congressman. Democrat or Republican, we are proud of Kevin for his continued commitment to public service and civic engagement.

Here’s a short interview with Kevin:

Why is it important to you to be engaged in the election, and what role, in particular, do youth have in the upcoming election?

All elections have consequences. It is important for me to be active in this election because I support the initiatives President Obama has passed through Congress and the policy programs he still hopes to pass in the next four years. Youth should be active in all elections. While I am a Democrat I would love to have youth be active Republicans and Democrats, because only through active political participation will the concerns of young Americans be listened to.

What did you learn while working with the NCC Poverty Initiative that influences the way you look at poverty issues and the way they are playing out in national politics?

I learned that in each statistic lies hundreds, if not thousands, of individual stories. Thinking about SNAP appropriations in dollar terms is very dry and sterile. I learned to think in terms of the untold numbers of real Americans affected by policy decisions and how important it is to assist them in climbing out of poverty.

What is your hope for the NCC and the Faithful Budget interfaith community during this election season?

My hope for the NCC and the Faithful Budget community is for realistic budgetary alternatives to be proposed that tackle America’s fiscal problems while protecting our social safety net and ensuring that the less-fortunate in America are not penalized for the actions of others.

Equal Voice Convening 2012

This July, the National Council of Churches Poverty Initiative staff will get a chance to build community and share ideas with a diverse group of faith, education, human and civil rights, environmental justice, worker justice, and child advocacy leaders from across the United States.

The reason? Together, we desire to sustain a deeper, wider, stronger movement that lifts up the voices of U.S. families so they are heeded in the public arena. 

Too often, in a political system too easily corrupted by big money, a government that is supposed to be “by and for the people” becomes neither. Many of God’s people suffer in an increasingly unequal society where those who Jesus called “the least of these” are the last considered in public policy-making.  What matters most deeply to ordinary people – resources to heal from illness, support for affordable shelter, or access to nourishing food – is cavalierly ignored by too many policymakers.

The purpose of the Equal Voice Network is to change that reality. For many years, the foundation that makes our work possible – The Marguerite Casey Foundation – has listened to the constituents of its grantee organizations in town hall meetings and online forums. Now, we will use the information and our collective resources to create the deep changes our country needs.

In July, we will put our heads together with others to figure out how. Among the groups we will meet are: Progressive Technology Project, Greater Birmingham Ministries, Federation of Child Care Centers of Alabama, Bay Area Equal Voice Caucus, Mississippi Immigrant Rights Alliance, SouthWest Organizing Project, Isaiah Institute, Diné Citizens Against Ruining our Environment, Mississippi Workers Center for Human Rights, Leadership Center for the Common Good, Asian Pacific Environmental Network, Arkansas Public Policy Panel, Equal Voice Network – Southern California, Kentuckians for the Commonwealth, Labor Community Strategy Center, United Congress of Community and Religious Organizations, Statewide Organizing for Community eMpowerment, Citizens for a Better Greenville, Florida New Majority, Florida Immigrant Coalition, Hispanic Interest Coalition of Alabama, Arizona Center for Empowerment, Centro Binacional para el Desarrollo IndÍgena Oaxaqueño, Georgia Strategic Alliance for New Directions and Unified Policies (STAND-UP), One Voice Louisiana, Equal Voice Network – Rio Grande Valley, Parent Voices, Action Now, Environmental Health Coalition, La Unión del Pueblo Entero, Strategic Concepts in Organizing and Policy Education (SCOPE).

We look forward to sharing live updates from the gathering in Los Angeles in July.

Response to Congressman Paul Ryan & All Who Say Faith Plays a Role in Budget Decisions

For Immediate Release:
April 10, 2012
Statement from the Faithful Budget Campaign in response to
Congressman Paul Ryan and others who have framed the ongoing budget/deficit debate as a faithful/moral issue

WASHINGTON – In an interview released Tuesday by the Christian Broadcasting Network, U.S. Representative Paul Ryan (R-WI) told CBN’s David Brody that his Catholic faith played a large role in the drafting of his budget proposal that passed the House by a party line vote last month. Congressman Ryan is the latest member of Congress, including Democratic Reps. James Clyburn and Jan Schakowsky, to claim a faith-based/moral responsibility or lack thereof in supporting or opposing the budget.

As members of Congress from both parties are drawing a connection between the House-passed budget and faith, the Faithful Budget Campaign, a coalition comprising the nation’s largest and most prominent Jewish, Christian and Muslim denominations as well as other faith-based institutions are continuing its efforts to encourage the adoption of the “Faithful Budget,” a set of comprehensive and compassionate budget priorities that makes balanced investments into the country’s needs and priorities. The Faithful Budget
can be read in its entirety at, http://faithfulbudget.org/files/2012/03/Priorities-for-a-Faithful-Budget.pdf.

In response to the increase in religious comments surrounding the budget/deficit debate, the Faithful Budget campaign released the following statement: “As communities of faith we have long believed that the budget is a moral document and we judge each proposal not by the arbitrary fiscal support it provides, but rather by the
human impact it holds. A Faithful Budget protects the common good, values every individual and lifts the burden on the poor. In light of all the religious comments around the budget debate, we hope members of Congress will look at the Faithful Budget and make an honest effort to build a more just society and a healthier world.”

Additional details about the Faithful Budget Campaign can be found at www.faithfulbudget.org.

Christian, Jewish and Muslim institutions and other faith-based organizations united by shared beliefs to lift up the nation’s most vulnerable are mobilizing across the country to impact the national budget dialogue by demonstrating that America is a better nation when we follow our faiths’ imperatives to promote the general welfare of all individuals.
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Media Contact: Adam Muhlendorf, Rabinowitz/Dorf Communications
adam@rabinowitz-dorf.com; (202) 265-3000 (o); (202) 641-6216 (c)