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A new effort in the San Joaquin Valley is bringing together residents, educators, faith groups, and civic leaders to address the region’s most pressing issues.

More than 700 people filled an auditorium at Fresno State on May 3 for a “founding convention” of the newly created organization called United San Joaquin.

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State officials estimate 27,000 people lost their SNAP benefits for food stamps on May 1 due to new work or volunteer requirements, and churches and non-profits are rushing to help people get food or obtain food stamps….

“It’s like our churches are the first stop of the social safety net. Children’s directors, Sunday school teachers, they’re being asked, ‘where do I go get insurance right now? How do I fill out this paperwork? Where do I go for a pantry? They’re becoming the navigators of a system that doesn’t feel like it’s very deep right now, so we’ve been working really hard on sharing information across congregations,” said Rae Lathrop, director of Justice and Community Development for the Desert Southwest Conference of the United Methodist Church. Lathrop also represents organization Nevadans For the Common Good. 

At the urging of the Inland Communities Organizing Network (ICON), Pomona Mayor Tim Sandoval organized a public hearing with over 100 people to allow residents to testify on their experiences with detainments and encounters with federal immigration agents.

Responding to declining school enrollment, pervasive fear, and what one ICON leader described as "a crisis of disappearing families," this was the second public hearing emerging from One LA's award-winning freedom school strategy.

A Mid-Iowa Organizing Strategy (AMOS) is at the center of a major milestone for housing in Des Moines: the first two permanently affordable homes have now been built in Des Moines' South Side.

After Calgary City Council voted to repeal rezoning without a replacement plan, the Calgary Alliance for the Common Good (CACG) organized a press conference with a coalition of 11 organizations representing tens of thousands of community members, urging leaders to advance clear, responsible solutions to the city’s growing housing crisis.

After hearing from parents struggling to afford child care and congregations closing infant and toddler programs due to soaring costs, Dallas Areas Interfaith (DAI) leaders began organizing for a solution.

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 10th, the St. Timothy’s Parish community came together for a ribbon-cutting to celebrate a hard-won milestone: the opening of the new “All Wheels” skate park, made possible by years of persistence and sustained effort from St. Timothy’s parishioners and COPS/Metro leaders. 

Benavides Park was an unsafe vacant lot, becoming one of the first issues St. Timothy’s Parish organized around in the early days of COPS/Metro. Parishioners went to the Parks and Recreation Department and secured the bond money needed to clear the land and build the first iteration of the park. When progress on the park stalled, the community refused to ease up on the pressure, and it was finally opened in the late 1970s. Originally called St. Timothy’s Park, it was renamed in 1984 in honor of Fr. Albert Benavides, COPS/Metro founding leader and the beloved Pastor of St. Timothy’s, after his passing. 

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Deacon Judy Eighmy stood in front of the podium at the Phoenix City Council chambers on March 25, looked directly at council members, and cited the shortest verse in the Bible: John 11:35,“Jesus wept.”

Eighmy, a leader with the Valley Interfaith Project (VIP), was one of dozens of Arizonans who showed up that day to implore the city to do more to protect immigrants in the face of President Donald Trump’s mass deportation agenda. As Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents target Arizona grandmothers, mothers, and other longtime residents, Eighmy delivered a moving testimony, using scripture to defend immigrants from what she called the “trauma” imposed on them by ICE.

In response to widespread power loss during extreme weather events like Hurricane Beryl, The Metropolitan Organization (TMO) secured $250,000 to construct Houston’s first Community Lighthouse at New Pleasant Grove Baptist Church.

The project comes after repeated outages left millions without reliable access to electricity, exposing gaps in disaster preparedness—particularly in neighborhoods already facing longstanding infrastructure challenges.

When the City of Flagstaff began developing its Regional Plan 2045, city leaders turned to the Northern Arizona Interfaith Council (NAIC) to ensure the process included meaningful public engagement. 

Drawing on relationships with more than 20 institutions across Flagstaff, NAIC organized a broad effort to bring community experiences into the planning process. Through house meetings and civic academies, leaders gathered input directly from residents, naming the challenges that come with rapid growth, increased tourism, economic transitions, and climate change.