As part of an effort to raise the funds required to build power, and have some fun at the same time, leaders of Colorado IAF, in partnership with the owner of the Clocktower Cabaret in Denver, brought the play, Red Hot Patriot: The Kick Ass Wit of Molly Ivins to Denver for three nights. All proceeds of the Sunday night show were earmarked for the CO-IAF effort raising over $3,000.

With Louisiana as the state with the third highest number of poor people, many of them working full-time, Northern & Central Louisiana Interfaith leaders are devising new ways to tackle poverty. Says Pastor Clayton Moore, "If you work, how is it that you're poor?"

NCLI leaders have launched Another Chance to Succeed (ACTS), modeling itself on Project QUEST in San Antonio and NOVA in Monroe, Louisiana. The goal is to train adults into higher wage jobs of at least $15 / hour. ACTS is targeting January 2017 as its start-up date.

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Over 500 local residents attended PCICEO's accountability assembly to challenge candidates for county and state office to support "Education and Economic Success for All." Republican and Democratic candidates for four Arizona legislative districts and two county districts were challenged to a series of specific questions around key priorities of the organization. Issues covered include: education, hunger, SPICE (synthetic marijuana), JobPath workforce development funding, affordable housing and the impact of a $58 million bond for Amphi Unified School District.

The most electric story came from a woman whose son is addicted to a synthetic compound, SPICE. Leaders challenged legislators to change the laws to "get this stuff out of the stores and smoke shops... out of the hands of our children and neighbors!"

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The media ritual of the exit interview in which a journalist sits down for reflective conversation with a public figure leaving office or moving away shouldn't be confined only to elected officials or CEOs.

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Naming "seven hidden risks" that public funding of a new Adelson-backed Raiders' stadium would bring to taxpayers, leaders of Nevadans for the Common Good publicly voiced their opposition to the plan with a well-attended press conference. Read below for full coverage:

Opponents of Adelson-Backed Stadium Get Little Attention in Adelson-Owned Newspaper, Las Vegas Tribune

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Just days before Congress adjourns for October recess, the word among lobbyists was that a proposal for flood recovery funding for Louisiana would not even get a vote for inclusion in the continuing resolution (short term budget). It was the last opportunity to secure funding for flood recovery before the lame duck session.

Then, according to Together Baton Rouge (TBR), sister IAF organizations across the country began contacting their congressional representatives and senators urging them to support the funding package — across partisan lines. Together Baton Rouge posted a video that, in less than one day, was viewed 55,000 times as leaders quickly spread its message urging people to contact their congressional representatives.

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With three asthmatic children in the family, Patricia Vega (in photo above) was constantly on the lookout for mold. "Every time we move, we think it gets better, but it does not." Realizing that the Dallas housing code enforcement offered no protections, she, with a group of women from San Juan Diego Catholic Church, enlisted the support of Dallas Area Interfaith (DAI) to change the law.

In a little over a year of public action, DAI church leaders confronted landlords, secured the support of allies, negotiated with adversaries, and ultimately changed the housing code of Dallas in a fundamental way. Says Heather Way, a professor at University of Texas School of Law who specializes in affordable housing law, "These reforms are much needed and should have a big impact on protecting the health and safety of Dallas's most vulnerable." FOX News calls the code the "toughest landlord rules in the state." Said former code enforcement prosecutor, Councilmember Adam McGough, "this is unprecedented."

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Since July 31 at St. Brigid Catholic Church, One LA has been conducting non-partisan voter education and voter turnout for the upcoming November elections, targeting precincts around state and local ballot initiatives.

Training has focused on developing leadership skills, building core teams, and the basics of four important ballot initiatives: LA County Measure M (transportation bond) and California State Propositions 55, 57, and 62 related to a tax extension for education & healthcare, and measures related to criminal sentencing and repeal of the death penalty.

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Days before Congress adjourns for October recess, the word among lobbyists was that a proposal for flood recovery funding for Louisiana would not even get a vote for inclusion in the continuing resolution (short term budget).

Then, according to Together Baton Rouge, sister IAF organizations across the country began contacting their congressional representatives and senators urging them to support the funding package -- even across partisan lines. Together Baton Rouge posted a video that, in less than one day, was viewed 55,000 times as leaders quickly spread its message urging people to contact their congressional representatives. TBR additionally credits the Louisiana Governor and congressional delegation for "working tirelessly across party lines to make the case for flood recovery."

48 hours after the funding was declared dead on arrival, the Senate Majority leader Mitch McConnell, threw his full support behind the funding and announced it would receive a vote.

At stake is tens of thousands of homes and potential foreclosures.

U.S. Senate Leaders Propose $500M 'Down Payment' on Louisiana Flood Relief, The Advocate

Great Flood of 2016 and What We Need to Rebuild, Together Baton Rouge

Looking for a way to create a "tighter fit between the life of faith and public life," the Very Reverend W. Mark Richardson of the Church Divinity School of the Pacific (CDSP) in Berkeley turned to the Industrial Areas Foundation to help train its seminarians.

Says Rev. Susanna Singer, "Bishops were saying increasingly that community organizing is a good thing." The creation faith, she argues, is about God's vision of flourishing for humanity and the cosmos. "It means that the body of Christ, which is us now, has got to get out there now and be involved in the communities in which we live because that's where God's dream is going to come true."

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