Friday, October 10, 2008
VOICE Public Action is on You Tube!
If you would like to see a brief video capturing the spirit of the VOICE Public Action on October 5th, please visit www.youtube.com/9500Liberty.
VOICE Public Action Makes News in Canada!
Excerpts from an October 7th article by Olivia Ward, Foreign Affairs Reporter, in the Toronto (Canada) Star newspaper:
Dumfries, Va. - The parking lots were overflowing, and the large church hall packed with rapt listeners: women in bright African dress, robed Catholic monks, Hispanic families and white Middle Americans.
Eyes shining with purpose, they were looking for a new world that would bring the power of their faith to the capital of America, and beyond.
But the hundreds of diverse churchgoers and clergy who thronged the spacious First Mount Zion Baptist Church in this historic Virginia town Sunday were a different breed of believer...They had come to found a new activist organization, VOICE - Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement - working against poverty and homelessness in a traditionally wealthy state where both are growing at unsettling rates.
"Our church has (free) dinners once a week," said Cindy Ellmore of the St. Paul Methodist Church, attending with her husband Bill. "But it's getting to the point where the need is so great we can't handle it. We came because something has to be done."...
"We're motivated to live out the gospel in our daily lives," said Tim Devine, a member of the Rising Hope Methodist Church...Added fellow Methodist Jamecia Willis, "you can pray for change but you also have to work for it."...
"Unity is the key to solving these problems," said Arnie Grant, a national staffer of the Chicago-based Industrial Areas Foundation, which helped to launch the interfaith coalition, and builds activist umbrella groups to fight for social and economic rights.
"If you look around you, you'll see that it's not true that Christians can't talk to Muslims and Jews, and blacks, Asians and Latinos can't work together."
In Virginia, he said, "people have been very separate and fragmented,. Now we're building something that cuts across all religions and communities. It's something politicians can't ignore."...
For the full article go to www.thestar.com/article/512899
Dumfries, Va. - The parking lots were overflowing, and the large church hall packed with rapt listeners: women in bright African dress, robed Catholic monks, Hispanic families and white Middle Americans.
Eyes shining with purpose, they were looking for a new world that would bring the power of their faith to the capital of America, and beyond.
But the hundreds of diverse churchgoers and clergy who thronged the spacious First Mount Zion Baptist Church in this historic Virginia town Sunday were a different breed of believer...They had come to found a new activist organization, VOICE - Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement - working against poverty and homelessness in a traditionally wealthy state where both are growing at unsettling rates.
"Our church has (free) dinners once a week," said Cindy Ellmore of the St. Paul Methodist Church, attending with her husband Bill. "But it's getting to the point where the need is so great we can't handle it. We came because something has to be done."...
"We're motivated to live out the gospel in our daily lives," said Tim Devine, a member of the Rising Hope Methodist Church...Added fellow Methodist Jamecia Willis, "you can pray for change but you also have to work for it."...
"Unity is the key to solving these problems," said Arnie Grant, a national staffer of the Chicago-based Industrial Areas Foundation, which helped to launch the interfaith coalition, and builds activist umbrella groups to fight for social and economic rights.
"If you look around you, you'll see that it's not true that Christians can't talk to Muslims and Jews, and blacks, Asians and Latinos can't work together."
In Virginia, he said, "people have been very separate and fragmented,. Now we're building something that cuts across all religions and communities. It's something politicians can't ignore."...
For the full article go to www.thestar.com/article/512899
Monday, October 6, 2008
A Public Action of "First Responders"
On Sunday, October 5th, there was an amazing turnout of over 2,000 fellow Northern Virginians from 40 churches, synagogues, and mosques at First Mount Zion Baptist Church in Dumfries-- including over 275 parishioners of Saint Anthony of Padua -- for the inaugural VOICE Public Action.
This was VOICE's opportunity to introduce itself as a new, organized, committed and long-term force for social justice in Northern Virginia. In his call to action, Fr. Robert Menard of Saint Francis Catholic Church remembered his fellow Franciscan, Fr. Mychal Judge, the fallen New York City Fire Department Chaplain who responded on September 11th. Like Fr. Judge's example, he called us all to work through VOICE to become "First Responders" for social justice!
In introducing itself and clearly demonstrating the commitment each member faith community has to VOICE, VOICE also asked for the personal commitment of political leaders in our area from both major political parties to the first six Actions that the VOICE membership had voted for:
1. Affordable Housing and Homelessness:
a. Preserve existing funding for affordable housing and the homeless and, as the economy improves, seek additional funding.
b. Work to identify public lands that could be available for development of affordable housing and housing for the homeless.
2. Immigration:
a. Work to reduce the backlog in processing of applications for citizenship from Northern Virginians, which is more than twice what it is in other areas of the U.S.
b. Work to increase the number and availability of classes in English as a second language.
3. Access to Healthcare and Mental Health:
a. Secure $98,000 to staff an additional dentist in the Northern Virginia Dental Clinic, one of the few dental resources available for the poor.
b. Work to develop a more comprehensive plan within six months to provide dental services those who cannot afford them.
Present at the meeting and personally responding to these challenges were former Governor and current U.S. Senate candidate Mark Warner, Virginia State Senator and Senate Majority Leader Richard Saslaw, Fairfax County Board Vice Chair Sharon Bulova, Prince William County Board Chair Corey Stewart, Arlington County Board Chair Walter Tejada, and Alexandria Mayor William Euille. Each was also asked to commit to meeting again at the beginning of 2009 to report on the progress toward these goals.
For more information about VOICE, please join us on October 21st at 7:30 pm in the Corpus Christi cafeteria for an evaluation, discussion, and planning session for VOICE.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Saturday Washington Post -- VOICE
A Binding Concern for the Poor
40 N.Va. Congregations Are Forming Interfaith Advocacy Group
By Jacqueline L. Salmon Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, October 4, 2008; Page B09
Nearly 2,000 members of 40 houses of worship in Northern Virginia are expected at a public meeting tomorrow in Dumfries to launch an interfaith organization that will seek commitments from public officials to do more to help the poor in the area.
The organization, Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement, or VOICE, is asking local, state and federal officials to increase funding for affordable housing and health care and to ease the backlog of U.S. citizen applications in Northern Virginia.
With a collective membership of 120,000 people, the congregations making up VOICE could prove to be a potent political force in Northern Virginia. Until now, interfaith efforts there have not been as influential or as diverse as in Maryland or the District.
"I haven't ever seen any organization with the potential of VOICE in terms of actually promoting justice in the area," said the Rev. Gerry Creedon, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Arlington County, who expects to bring about 100 members of his congregation to the gathering.
But the group's list of funding priorities has received a mixed reaction from public officials faced with looming budget deficits.
"I think we're more than fulfilling the goals that they're trying to pursue," said Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. "We had these goals long before the group even got formed, and so we are happy to have them on the scene as allies for what we're already doing."
Corey A. Stewart (R), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, rejected the group's demand that the county spend upward of $20 million on building and preserving affordable housing.
"I'm not going to commit to that -- absolutely not," said Stewart, who nonetheless expects to attend the meeting Sunday. "Instead of focusing on the funding, we have to focus on what the problem is -- which is a surplus of housing on the market" from the epidemic of home foreclosures that have hit Prince William, he said.
Organizers of VOICE said they aren't deterred.
"It's quite obvious that, given our current economic posture, trying to go out with new housing and new construction is not going to wash," said the Rev. Clyde W. Ellis, pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Woodbridge. "But that doesn't mean we have to lose sight of our goal. . . . We're coming back. And when we come back, we want to make sure that we're very sensitive to those priorities of affordable housing."
Northern Virginia clergy launched an effort to put together an interfaith organization in 2005 after watching the success of similar groups elsewhere in the Washington area, including the Washington Interfaith Network and Action in Montgomery, both of which played key roles in winning millions for neighborhood investment and affordable housing.
"As along as we're isolated -- congregation or church or faith community -- we face our own issues without realizing that they're much more universal," said the Rev. Horace "Tuck" Grinnell, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Falls Church and one of the founding clergy members.
VOICE received advice and initial funding from the Industrial Areas Foundation, a Chicago organization that builds activist coalitions from voluntary organizations such as religious congregations, labor unions and immigrant groups. IAF helped found the Washington Interfaith Network and Action in Montgomery.
Clergy and members of Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations in Northern Virginia spent three years networking and sorting through issues they believed most affected low- and middle-income residents. They ultimately focused on immigration, affordable housing and health care and then developed goals within those areas, which they presented to city, county and state leaders and members of Northern Virginia's congressional delegation in a dozen recent meetings.
Public officials who attend tomorrow's event will be asked to commit to working with the group on its goals, the leaders said. Among the leaders expected to attend are former governor Mark Warner (D), who is running for U.S. Senate, state Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax), Alexandria Mayor William D. Euille and Arlington Board Chairman J. Walter Tejada.
"From the elected officials' side," Grinnell said, "they're going to see the birth of an interfaith organization as a huge ally for them if they do the right thing or a huge obstacle if they do the wrong thing."
40 N.Va. Congregations Are Forming Interfaith Advocacy Group
By Jacqueline L. Salmon Washington Post Staff Writer Saturday, October 4, 2008; Page B09
Nearly 2,000 members of 40 houses of worship in Northern Virginia are expected at a public meeting tomorrow in Dumfries to launch an interfaith organization that will seek commitments from public officials to do more to help the poor in the area.
The organization, Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement, or VOICE, is asking local, state and federal officials to increase funding for affordable housing and health care and to ease the backlog of U.S. citizen applications in Northern Virginia.
With a collective membership of 120,000 people, the congregations making up VOICE could prove to be a potent political force in Northern Virginia. Until now, interfaith efforts there have not been as influential or as diverse as in Maryland or the District.
"I haven't ever seen any organization with the potential of VOICE in terms of actually promoting justice in the area," said the Rev. Gerry Creedon, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Arlington County, who expects to bring about 100 members of his congregation to the gathering.
But the group's list of funding priorities has received a mixed reaction from public officials faced with looming budget deficits.
"I think we're more than fulfilling the goals that they're trying to pursue," said Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. "We had these goals long before the group even got formed, and so we are happy to have them on the scene as allies for what we're already doing."
Corey A. Stewart (R), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, rejected the group's demand that the county spend upward of $20 million on building and preserving affordable housing.
"I'm not going to commit to that -- absolutely not," said Stewart, who nonetheless expects to attend the meeting Sunday. "Instead of focusing on the funding, we have to focus on what the problem is -- which is a surplus of housing on the market" from the epidemic of home foreclosures that have hit Prince William, he said.
Organizers of VOICE said they aren't deterred.
"It's quite obvious that, given our current economic posture, trying to go out with new housing and new construction is not going to wash," said the Rev. Clyde W. Ellis, pastor of Mount Olive Baptist Church in Woodbridge. "But that doesn't mean we have to lose sight of our goal. . . . We're coming back. And when we come back, we want to make sure that we're very sensitive to those priorities of affordable housing."
Northern Virginia clergy launched an effort to put together an interfaith organization in 2005 after watching the success of similar groups elsewhere in the Washington area, including the Washington Interfaith Network and Action in Montgomery, both of which played key roles in winning millions for neighborhood investment and affordable housing.
"As along as we're isolated -- congregation or church or faith community -- we face our own issues without realizing that they're much more universal," said the Rev. Horace "Tuck" Grinnell, pastor of St. Anthony of Padua Catholic Church in Falls Church and one of the founding clergy members.
VOICE received advice and initial funding from the Industrial Areas Foundation, a Chicago organization that builds activist coalitions from voluntary organizations such as religious congregations, labor unions and immigrant groups. IAF helped found the Washington Interfaith Network and Action in Montgomery.
Clergy and members of Christian, Jewish and Muslim congregations in Northern Virginia spent three years networking and sorting through issues they believed most affected low- and middle-income residents. They ultimately focused on immigration, affordable housing and health care and then developed goals within those areas, which they presented to city, county and state leaders and members of Northern Virginia's congressional delegation in a dozen recent meetings.
Public officials who attend tomorrow's event will be asked to commit to working with the group on its goals, the leaders said. Among the leaders expected to attend are former governor Mark Warner (D), who is running for U.S. Senate, state Senate Majority Leader Richard L. Saslaw (D-Fairfax), Alexandria Mayor William D. Euille and Arlington Board Chairman J. Walter Tejada.
"From the elected officials' side," Grinnell said, "they're going to see the birth of an interfaith organization as a huge ally for them if they do the right thing or a huge obstacle if they do the wrong thing."
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