Valley Interfaith Project (VIP) leaders, with the Daughters of Charity Sisters at St. Vincent de Paul Catholic Church and School have begun knocking on doors and talking about the vaccine with residents around St. Vincent de Paul Church to ensure that all residents have the opportunity to get vaccinated.

[Photo Credit: Univision]

Invitan a la Comunidad a Vacunarse Contra el Coronavirus este 5 de Mayo en el Condado Maricopa, Univision [Video]

Mere months after Arizona citizens voted to significantly expand funding for public schools through passage of Proposition 208, state legislators crafted a new tax loophole for the wealthiest Arizonans to allow them to shield earnings that would have been taxable, including capital gains and investment income.

When Arizona Interfaith Network leader Fr. Hunter Ruffin attempted to testify about the consequences of this proposed loophole in a public committee hearing, state legislators strongly reacted, going so far as to cut short testimony and forbid mention of Prop 208 going forward.

In a Capitol Times Op-Ed, leaders from Arizona Interfaith Network and nonprofit group 'Stand for Children' detail what happened.

Lawmakers Resort to Tricks, Bullying to Undo Prop 208, Arizona Capitol Times [pdf]

[Excerpts]

Officials with PXU announced on Thursday that they have partnered with the Maricopa County Public Health Department to provide vaccines to school employees.

...

The county is also partnering with home health associations to get vaccines out to homebound seniors. As for public outreach, the county is getting help from the Valley Interfaith Project. Church of the Epiphany – Tempe is one of several congregations that spreads the word about COVID vaccines to everyone in earshot.

The church will start offering drive-up testing on Monday, and Ruffin hopes to host a vaccination POD at the church once the shots are available to the general public. It’s just another example of the enormous amount of public-private teamwork required to get everyone inoculated.

[Photo Credit: KPHO/KTVK Broadcasting Corporation]

Phoenix Union High School District Campuses to Become Vaccination Sites for Educators, AZFamily.com [pdf]

Hundreds of thousands of Arizonans are in danger of losing their homes when the CDC eviction moratorium ends December 31st. Leaders and clergy of the Arizona Interfaith Network are now calling on Governor Ducey and state elected leaders for a moratorium on evictions.

"This is not just a public health issue, this is a moral issue," Rabbi John Linder declared.

Episcopal Bishop Jennifer Reddall affirmed, "We aren't set up to handle hundreds of thousands of homeless people." She and Linder are leading the network’s call on Gov. Ducey to enact a statewide eviction moratorium as the pandemic continues its surge across Arizona.

...

And in December, she joined online house meetings organized by the Valley Interfaith Project, a onetime Catholic Campaign for Human Development-funded organization that now advocates for people facing eviction during the pandemic.

Valley Interfaith, she said, has "given me a voice."

Arreola is among thousands of people nationwide who have turned to parishes, Catholic Charities agencies and Catholic-affiliated nonprofits for assistance to stave off eviction. The number of people seeking financial assistance and emotional support is staggering, Catholic officials nationwide told Catholic News Service

[Maricopa County constable evicts a family from their home in blurred out photo above. Credit: John Moore, Getty Images]

Nearly A Quarter Million Arizonans Could Be Evicted In January. Religious Leaders Want Ducey To Do Something About It, NPR/KJZZ [pdf]

With Evictions Looming, Agencies Furiously Work to Keep Families Housed, Angelus News [pdf]

Audio: Opening | Testimony by Rabbi John Linder | Testimony by Bishop Jennifer Reddall

[Excerpts]

Thousands of Arizonans could lose their homes in January after the CDC’s eviction moratorium expires at the end of the year. Rabbi John Linder with the Arizona Interfaith Network, along with leaders from the local Episcopal, Catholic and Presbyterian community, called on Gov. Ducey and the state’s elected leaders to impose an eviction moratorium in Arizona.

"This is not just a public health issue, this is a moral issue," Linder said. "So we gather today as leaders of communities of faith to call on our elected officials to meet the gravity of the moment. If a vaccine can be created in record time, we can work collectively to keep the most vulnerable in their homes."

At the beginning of the year, there were about 7,500 people experiencing homelessness in Maricopa County, and public, private and faith-based homeless service resources were already strained. Reverend Jennifer Reddall, the Episcopal bishop of Arizona and member of the Valley Interfaith Project, says the religious community is not equipped to handle a six-figure surge of newly homeless individuals. She led the Interfaith network’s plea to Gov. Ducey to impose another eviction moratorium as the pandemic continues to tear through Arizona.

Linder said it's entirely within the governor's power to take proactive action to solve this crisis.

“It’s not as though resources are not available," he said. "Resources are available, it’s a matter of political will now. We’re not going to be passive here. This is a crisis as every story has made clear."

Nearly A Quarter Million Arizonans Could Be Evicted In January. Religious Leaders Want Ducey To Do Something About It., NPR/KJZZ [pdf]

Audio Clips from NPR/KJZZ Story:

Opening

Testimony by Rabbi John Linder

Testimony by Bishop Jennifer Reddall  

Through an intense mobilization campaign that engaged voters across the state, Valley Interfaith Project, with Pima County Interfaith, Northern Arizona Interfaith Council and a coalition of education allies, leveraged passage of Prop 208 which will restore millions of dollars to K-12 education funding.

[Excerpts from Jewish News below]

“Quality education is at the core of who the Jewish people are and how we have survived for thousands of years,” said Rabbi John Linder of Temple Solel, a member of the Arizona Interfaith Network Clergy Caucus. “And we look at quality education as reflecting the common good of the community.”

AIN was among five organizations that worked for the last four years to pass the Invest in Ed initiative. Other coalition organizations include the Arizona Center for Economic Progress, the Arizona Education Association, Children’s Action Alliance and Stand for Children.

Arizona has among the lowest spending per student on K-12 education in the country, and the state cut funding further during the 2008 recession. Proponents argue that over a decade later, it’s time for the state to restore what was lost.

“It’s doing the right thing, because it’s getting us closer ... to that budget we had before they cut everything,” said Kim Klett, Holocaust literature and AP English teacher at Dobson High School in Mesa. She is also on the board of directors of Phoenix Holocaust Association. “They took so much and it was never restored, and so it’s going to be able to restore a lot of those things that we had before.”

Pervasive spending cuts and low education funding have led teachers like Klett to spend their own money or hold fundraisers to purchase school supplies, such as a set of books for her classroom.

“We put in a lot of hours outside of our school day, and I just feel like fundraising for materials that you need in your classroom should not be one of those other things that we have to do,” Klett said, “and yet we do it all the time.”

To Linder, the Invest in Ed initiative represents a welcome change for education funding in Arizona.

“Things that we value, we invest in,” Linder said. “And the reality in Arizona is that our state has simply failed to keep up with basic needs and providing a competitive livelihood for teachers and keeping class sizes manageable.”

Proposition 208 creates a new revenue stream for Arizona public schools by imposing an income tax increase of 3.5% on individuals earning more than $250,000 and married couples earning more than $500,000.

...

“Our public system is teetering because teachers can’t afford to stay in the teaching field or they choose to go to another state because they’re simply not valued here, and there are thousands of classrooms without a qualified teacher,” Linder said. “That should not be acceptable to the state of Arizona.”

Invest in Education Initiative Passes, Injects New Funds into Arizona Schools, Jewish News [pdf]

Historic Win as Arizona Voters Say Yes to Propostion 8, Invest in Education [pdf]

Kim Crecca, VIP leader and coordinator of the Episcopal Diocese of Arizona's prison ministry program, commends the department for testing all inmates in the state in a short period of time, but says "There's no plan in place for continued testing...so, somebody who tested negative, you know, a week ago, could be positive today based on something somebody brought in from the outside." (Arizona Republic)

Inside an Outbreak: How Tucson Prison's Whetstone Unit Became a COVID-19 Hotspot, Arizona Republic

After COVID-19 Cases Spike in Tucson Prison Unit, Advocates Demand Action to Spare Inmates, AZ Central

[Excerpts]

Voting is now underway at a torrid pace, and soon we will know the much-anticipated results of our pending election. Still, we hear misguided threats and attempts to cast doubt on the election process and how well ballots will be counted.

As faith leaders of the Arizona Interfaith Network who lead congregations that claim active members of all political persuasions, we want to remind all citizens that it is important to vote, regardless of your party affiliation, and to vote with confidence.

We are impressed with both the safeguards and security measures they have put in place, especially provisions for voting during the pandemic. This includes hiring and training additional poll workers, securing safe locations for voting, and preparing for the early tabulation of mail-in ballots, currently underway.

Cooperation of citizens, candidates, and parties is crucial. We implore everyone, whatever your political leaning, to trust the process. Attempts to harass, intimidate, or otherwise suppress the vote of fellow citizens will not be tolerated. These would be an affront to the rule of law, and we will be among the first to denounce such behaviors.

[Photo Credit: Ross D. Franklin/Arizona Capitol Times]

Vote With Confidence-Arizona Runs Election Well, Arizona Capitol Times [pdf]

[Photo Credit: Kelly Presnell, Arizona Daily Star]

Tucson Prison Inmates Say Close Conditions, Slow Test Results Spread COVID-19, Arizona Daily Star [pdf]

[Excerpt]

Maricopa County Supervisor Bill Gates joined VIP’s Leaders Assembly on July 22 ...for a public strategy to accelerate COVID-19 Testing and Contact Tracing. VIP Leaders taught the crucial strategy needed to suppress the coronavirus and engender the trust required to open the economy and schools. With emphasis on Testing, Tracing and Supported Isolation (TTSI), the strategy is based on conversations with Danielle Allen, lead author of the Harvard report, Roadmap to Pandemic Resilience (link to the study). VIP Congregations have stepped up in support of this strategy, offering their facilities as trusted sites for testing centers and the commitment to recruit individuals from the community to be trained as contact tracers.

The urgency of this moment was clearly demonstrated with stories: from frontline workers about how COVID-19 has overtaken all aspects of healthcare to a mother’s concern for loved ones in prison, where only minimal protections have been offered as the virus spreads throughout the facility.

150 VIP Leaders Assemble Online with Supervisor Bill Gates to Discuss COVID-19 Strategies, Valley Interfaith Project