[Excerpts]

COPS/Metro representatives will be making the rounds with City Council staffers this week, pushing for a rent-control measure to reduce the stress weighing down working families during the COVID-19 outbreak.

With stay-at-home policies shutting down much of our business activity, the biggest victims have been hourly workers, many of whom have been employed in sectors (namely the service industry) where working from home is not an option, and where the money to meet payroll has dried up.

The problem is most acute for undocumented immigrants, whose jobs have been among the first to go, and who don’t have access to the kind of safety-net programs that are temporarily keeping others afloat.

....

[Specifically,] COPS/Metro is proposing an ordinance that would prohibit residential property owners from charging late fees for nonpayment of rent for the duration of the emergency disaster period declared by Gov. Greg Abbott. (The alliance’s draft ordinance would make this policy retroactive to March 13, the date that Abbott issued his initial disaster declaration.) 

[Photo by Bob Owen, San Antonio Express-News]

Garcia: COPS/Metro Proposes Sweeping Late-Fees Protection for Renters, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

[Excerpts]

“It’s a special time with everything that’s happening because of the pandemic, but we have to think of our homes as having converted into our church where the word of God reaches us through the TV and social media,” said Jesus Belmontes, the priest of the San Juan Diego Catholic Parish in Dallas.

....

Belmontes, the Dallas priest, helped organize a drive-thru food distribution with Dallas Area Interfaith the day before Easter and looks forward to seeing some of his church community through car windows. He’ll spend Sunday mostly alone, streaming from an altar where he’d usually lead thousands of congregants for mass...

[Photo Credit: Vernon Bryant, Dallas Morning News]

How Dallas Religious Leaders Are Keeping the Faith Despite Coronavirus-Induced Social Distancing, Dallas Morning News

Limited Seating and Pajama Bottoms: How Texas Churches are Preparing for a Socially Distant Easter, Texas Tribune [pdf]

[Excerpts]

In an effort to assist Story County residents who are not receiving any help during the coronavirus pandemic, multiple organizations led by United Way of Story County have created an emergency fund for immigrants....

St. Cecilia, St. Thomas Aquinas Catholic Church, Ames Interfaith Refugee Alliance, Good Neighbor Emergency Assistance, and AMOS-Ames are among the organizations that are involved....

Although there are many people struggling throughout Story County and Iowa financially due to COVID-19, the industries that immigrants tend to work in have been devastated, said Rick Exner, a volunteer for AMOS.

“It certainly isn’t the case that immigrants are the only people out of work and unable to pay bills, but

with many immigrants involved in those sectors hardest hit — the hospitality industry, service business, for example — the immigrant community is definitely suffering,” Exner said.

The congregation is asking those wishing to donate to send a check with “COVID-19 Fund for Immigrants” on the memo line to St. Cecilia at 2900 Hoover Ave.

[Photo by David Mullen, Ames Tribune]

Local Organizations Partner Up To Create Emergency Fund For Immigrants, Ames Tribune

[Excerpt]

COPS / Metro focuses on arming residents through community organizing, and [Rev. Frédéric] Mizengo has been handed the baton to continue that legacy.

....

When Archbishop Gustavo García-Siller shuttered the archdiocese’s churches in mid-March to help stop the spread of COVID-19, Mizengo began live-streaming a daily Mass on the church’s Facebook page.

He used his iPad and invited a group of about 10 people, including readers and singers, to the church’s 450-seat sanctuary. To a great degree, they’ve practiced social distancing.

Mizengo hasn’t been alone in noticing the number of those watching, which has reached 400 at times.

It’s Holy Week, when church attendance normally rises everywhere, but some worshipers from outside of San Antonio have left comments on the parish’s page, too, and have kept tiny heart and thumbs-up icons floating on the page.

The parish already had seen growth, as Mexican and Mexican Americans from throughout the city heard of Mizengo’s preaching style....

[Photo Credit: John Davenport, San Antonio Express-News]

Ayala: This San Antonio Parish Isn’t Holding Mass, but Worshipers Keep Showing Up Online, San Antonio Express-News [pdf]

[Excerpts]

In an attempt to bridge the gap between renters and landlords, as well as the banks that play a critical role in the housing market, Anderson has joined forces with Coloradans for the Common Good, which describes itself as "a broad-based, non-partisan network of organizations, affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation — the oldest and largest community organizing network, organized for ordinary people to have a powerful voice in the decisions that affect their lives and communities...

....

“Even during normal times, it’s not unusual for someone to spend 50% to 60% of their monthly income on housing. But now, that’s untenable,” said the Rev. John Anderson of Trinity Presbyterian Church in Arvada.

“In 2008, taxpayers bailed out financial institutions,” Anderson said. “So banks are in a strong enough position today to help take the lead on this solution. And if landlords were given help with their mortgages, then they also ought to — in return — help their tenants.” He added that he hoped landlords and banks would contact the coalition, Coloradans for the Common Good, but that there was no active effort to push for an executive order or legislation to mandate the group’s goals...

[Photo by twinsterphoto]

Faith-labor coalition calls for keeping people housed during pandemic, CP Colorado Politics [pdf]

Covid-19 Colorado rent crisis: Landlords says they're victims, too, Westword [pdf]

With the coronavirus transforming the way religious congregations operate all over Texas, Central Texas Interfaith has been at the forefront of efforts in Waco and McLennan County to bring together congregational leaders and help them navigate Stay-at-Home orders.  

Town Hall Held with Faith Leaders, CBS-KWTX [pdf]

[Excerpts]

[Photo Credit: Chris Landsberger, The Oklahoman]

Coronavirus in Oklahoma: Clergy Urge Governor to Protect Grocery Workers, The Oklahoman

WTOS & Llano Estacado Alliance for Democracy (LEAD) clergy and leaders succeeded in getting City of Lubbock Utilities to halt robocalls to residents.  The automated calls were causing "fear and anxiety that utilities would be shut off," even after the emergency declaration was put into place.

[Photo Credit: AP Graphics]

City of Lubbock Utility Robocalls to Stop, KCBD News [pdf]

After 100 clergy from Valley Interfaith Project and other congregations across the state called on the Governor to issue a Stay-at-Home order in Arizona, the governor responded with an urging to “Stay Home, Stay Healthy, Stay Connected.”  However, within hours, clergy pointed out that:

"the order still loosely defines essential businesses as golf courses, nail salons and gun shops. These employees would have to continue reporting to work, catering to non-essential needs, at great risk of contracting the virus and spreading it to others. That’s in no one’s interest....

We know how to revive an economy, but not a lost human life.... 

So, we, as clergy leaders of Valley Interfaith Project, ask our state leaders to reassess what we deem absolutely essential and to protect us all. There’s still time for improvements to this order that would diminish the spread of this epidemic.

Within days, the Governor narrowed the definition of what would be considered "essential" and VIP leaders turned their attention to the public, urging communities to comply. 

[Photo Credit: Cliff Hawkins, Getty Images via Arizona Mirror] 

Ducey Backtracks on Barbers, Salons Being 'Essential' Amid Covid-19, AZ Mirror

COVID-19 Demands We All Make Sacrifices for the Common Welfare, Jewish News [pdf]

COVID-19 Demands That We All Make Sacrifices for the Common Welfare, Arizona Mirror [pdf]

Ducey Orders Arizonians to Stay Home Except for 'Essential Activities' Due to Coronavirus, Arizona Daily Star [pdf][pdf]

Arizona Mayors to Gov. Ducey: Issue a Shelter-In-Place Order, AZ Family [pdf]

[Excerpt]

While health and government officials work to manage the outbreak, families are struggling to pay bills and buy groceries.

Josephine Lopez Paul, the lead organizer for the Dallas Area Interfaith, a coalition of nonprofits and religious organizations that advocates for low-income families, said local, state and federal policymakers need to spend this month thinking about how to reshape the economy.

Lopez Paul said she hopes officials find a way to mitigate debt families may build as they continue to stay unable to work.

“This is going to be a depression,” she said. “This is the fastest economic decline we’ve seen in modern history. We’re not going to flip a switch one day and everyone go back to work. Some folks are never going to be able to recover from this.”

[Photo Credit: Smiley N. Pool, Dallas Morning News]

April Will Be a Make-or-Break Month for North Texas in Coronavirus Fight, Dallas Morning News [pdf][pdf]