Lisa Pansza and Laura Garcia, "two participants of Project Quest, Inc., a local non-profit that provides education and workforce training, recently won top awards at a statewide vocational nursing contest. The two winners "have demonstrated through their achievements both their individual commitment as well as the value of this program in generating highly skilled workers from within our local community," said Dave Marttala, Project Quest's executive director."

Project QUEST is a community-based workforce development program created in 1992 through collaborative relationships initiated by Communities Organized for Public Service (COPS) / Metro Alliance, the San Antonio business community leadership, employers of high-skill workers and other private and public entities.

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"The first-ever Las Vegas Valley Community Convention for the Common Good aimed to teach, to inspire and to harness the power of faith to better Southern Nevadans' quality of life.

The Tuesday evening event at the University of Nevada, Las Vegas student center ballroom drew more than 1,500 people - UNLV President Neal Smatresk noted that it was the "most full I have ever seen this room" - interested in organizing a broad-based, interdenominational effort to address social problems facing the valley...."

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"'Jobs in the middle-skill and high-skill categories will become increasingly difficult to fill because of demographic changes, structural change in the economy and divergent skill distribution,' the report said. "Iowa's labor force is expected to grow more slowly at the same time that baby boomers will be retiring."

The statistics are compelling for Reed, who is participating in Project Iowa, a central Iowa faith-based initiative designed to help unemployed or under-employed Iowans train for high-demand jobs...."

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"Valley Interfaith held its first ever accountability session in Pueblo del Palmas, north of Penitas, on Thursday evening. Over 50 colonia residents attended to ask questions of the two candidates running for Texas House District 35, Oscar Longoria and Gus Ruiz. Valley Interfaith leaders said they intend to build civic engagement in the community."

 

"On the evening of April 25, more than 250 parishioners from Sacred Heart in the west side of San Antonio stood in thunderous support of SAPD Chief William McManus after he vowed to "fight crime, not chase immigrants!" He then asked the assembly to work with him, because SAPD wants "to be part of this community, not apart from it." McManus' commitments came in response to various gut-wrenching stories of residents who live in fear—fear of criminals and of law enforcement—but are determined to do something about it....

As energizing as the West side gathering was, what made it truly remarkable was that it emerged from hundreds of similar stories shared during "house meetings," or small group conversations, organized by Sacred Heart and COPS/Metro during Lent. Parishioners met in the church hall after Masses, knocked on doors around the neighborhood for six straight Saturdays, and hosted neighbors in their homes to understand the pressures on the families and to find people willing to act. Weeks of training, conversations, deliberation and preparation came before the meeting with Chief McManus...."

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"Earlier this year, a faith-based political-action group began putting pressure on Phoenix officials to reinstate some services after noting there was no additional funding planned for after-school programs in the initial version of the city's budget proposal.

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"On April 29th, Austin Interfaith held the largest assembly in the city with 500+ organization members at Mount Olive Baptist Church; the church is located in Precinct 124 in East Austin. Early voter turnout increased by 65% compared to 2011 council election turnout and by 9:30pm Saturday night had recorded an 85% increase over final election day turnout from 2011. These increases in raw numbers of voters were the result of coordinated efforts by Austin Interfaith member congregations in East Austin. Efforts included pulpit announcements to vote in congregations, GOTV walks held by 24 leaders over two weekends and phone banking involving a team of 9 additional leaders from downtown congregations..."

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"About 450 people gathered Sunday at St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church to listen to candidates vying to represent Precincts 1 and 3 on County Commissioners Court, Districts 75 and 77 in the Texas House of Representatives, and the 16th and 23rd Congressional Districts in the U.S. House of Representatives.

The event was organized by El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization, a non-partisan group..."

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"Jerry Jones wants a decent place to take his wife to eat where they live in south Jackson. Bill Osborne, a retiree, says abandoned homes are ruining Jackson neighborhoods and wants to work on revitalizing them. They were among small groups of 10 at a church in south Jackson last week where they were asked to name the one thing they'd be willing to do to improve Jackson....

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"The archdiocesan Office of Life, Justice and Peace in partnership with Sacred Heart Church, Catholic Relief Services, Mexican American Catholic College and COPS / Metro, celebrated a Mass for Justice on April 25 renewing their commitment in raising awareness of the impact of Arizona immigration law SB1070....

After mass, Sacred Heart Parish sponsored an assembly on immigration to highlight the impact of anti-immigrant laws on families that create fear, vulnerable citizens and concerns of violations of human rights."

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