[Excerpt]

Eddie Anaya, a Catholic lawyer and lifelong resident of a colonia called Las Milpas, got involved as a young man with Valley Interfaith, an affiliate of the West/Southwest Industrial Areas Foundation, because his Mexican immigrant mother, Carmen Anaya, was one of its co-founders. When he was growing up, Anaya said Las Milpas had no water, sewers, street paving or lighting or police force.

Anaya chauffeured his mother around the state and interpreted for her at meetings with other Texas IAF affiliates as they championed 1989 state legislation that provided funding for water and wastewater infrastructure, which Anaya said stimulated other improvements in the community.

In Las Milpas, where the Catholic Church is the center of community life, Anaya said, conversations after Mass shaped a political agenda for the whole community through Valley Interfaith and backed by the Diocese of Brownsville. “ When you organize around Scripture and put it into action, that not only strengthens the community, but also makes people understand the Gospel much better,” said Anaya….

(Photo Credit: Eddie Anaya)

Read more

Last year, at a City-wide Action with over 1,100 members, COPS/Metro came out as the first organized opposition to the use of any public funds for a new downtown stadium for the Spurs, or for the creation of a sports and entertainment district surrounding the area, known as Project Marvel. The project has been negotiated largely behind closed doors and is expected to cost between $3-4 billion with a majority of funding likely from public tax dollars.

Leaders turned up the heat this year, publishing an op-ed, and testifying at an Eastside town hall and again before the Bexar County Commissioners Court. “Our tax money is better spent on what the East Side needs — more green spaces, workforce development and opportunities, and affordable housing and access to healthcare facilities and quality health care,” said Stewart Blanton, speaking on behalf of COPS/Metro.

This month, Bexar County Republican Party precinct chairs passed a resolution denouncing the project, similarly opposing the use of public funding. The resolution states: “Be it resolved, we object to any attempt to relocate the San Antonio Spurs to a new arena developed or renovated by public funds,” it continues. “Be it further resolved, that we object to the wasting of public funds to expand the city’s sports and entertainment industry.”

Read more

After passage of Senate Bill 4, according to Father Michael Forge of Mary Immaculate Catholic Church in Farmers Branch, several undocumented parishioners told him that they felt unsafe going to church or taking their kids to school. One year later, his church, with the Catholic Diocese of Dallas, is making parish identification cards available to his parishioners.

Read more

Since the establishment of the JET Fund in 2009, Texas has invested in nonprofit labor market intermediaries across the state that helped 800+ low-income, nontraditional community college students navigate their way through community college.

The Adult Career Education (ACE) Grant program, the effort's most recent permutation, now faces an uncertain future. In efforts to slash the state budget, Texas legislators are moving to eliminate all "special item" expenditures, including those that pay for special programs at colleges, over and beyond the normal higher education funding formulas.

Read more

Civic academies put together by the El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization (EPISO) and Border Interfaith are drawing upwards of 50 parishioners per session eager to learn how to use their civil rights to protect family members from deportation.

Read more

Following a press conference in which leaders of the Texas IAF Network of Organizations joined the Texas Catholic Conference of Bishops to oppose the anti-sanctuary cities bill, SB4, Fr. Kevin Collins of St. Eugene's de Mazenod Catholic Church and Valley Interfaith in Brownsville had more to say.

"If you cannot trust the police, who can you turn to?" Collins argues that one unintended consequence of SB4 becoming a law is that organized crime will become more powerful if community policing is diminished by lack of trust.

Read more

TMO celebrated its founding members with special guest Daniel Cardinal DiNardo in a celebration dinner designed to highlight the organization's achievements, honor the leaders made those achivements happen and introduce the next generation of leaders. Cardinal DiNardo of the Catholic Diocese of Galveston-Houston praised the work of TMO and the Gulf Coast Leadership Council while challenging TMO to continue its work in the future.

In photo, Cardinal DiNardo stands with past and present leaders of TMO.

Read more

More than 50 COPS / Metro Alliance leaders and allies assembled outside the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) field office in San Antonio A protest the continued detention of thousands of immigrant women and children in Texas. About 2,200 detainees, mostly women and children, are detained in two facilities in Texas -- Dilly and Karnes, some for as long as one year. Protesters brought baby shower balloons, socks and diapers to the ICE office to represent the children held in detention. Leaders from Texas UU Justice Ministry, Interfaith Welcome Coalition, RAICES and the Catholic Legal Immigration Network called on ICE to transfer detainees to family members in the US who can pay for their housing, food and assistance.

Read more

"Richard Halpin with Austin Interfaith chimed in, 'Everybody gets a decrease. And in this day and time for our utility to give everyone a decrease is a major step forward.' Affordability advocates applaud the action as a step in the right direction. Halpin says, 'We at Austin Interfaith are pleased that everyone worked so hard to create a decrease for all Austin ratepayers and particularly for those neighbors who are most at risk.'"

Austin Energy Residential Customers to See Reduced Rates, CBS

Leaders of Austin Interfaith joined a press conference hosted by Councilmember Delia Garza to demand the inclusion of priorities like job training, parks and after-school programming for children.

Said Tom Mendez, "We do not want to hear that the budget is tight -- if it's so tight you should not have given a tax break to the few."

Read more