After forcing a runoff election in May, 20 DAI leaders each turned out 20 voters, primarily in the Bachman Lake area near San Juan Diego Catholic Church.

Former Mayor Pro Tem Monica Alonzo, who waited until the day before the election to support Dallas Area Interfaith's agenda in support of affordable housing and early childhood education, lost the runoff by 291 votes - the largest margin of three runoff races that day.

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After forcing a runoff election into June, COPS/Metro Alliance leaders organized a second nonpartisan "Get Out The Vote Rally" with over 350 people to reaffirm public commitments made by mayoral and city council candidates. Leaders (again) asked candidates to recommit their support for increased funding for owner-occupied home improvements (described as a way to help long-time residents age-in-place), protections for undocumented immigrants, and a raised living wage standard for municipal workers.

Some candidates agreed to aggressively push the organization's goals. Others remained conspicuously absent.

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One LA leaders celebrated a second election victory for the most vulnerable in Los Angeles County after the March 7 election. Together, with a coalition of other organizations and with the support of County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas, leaders worked to pass Measure H— a quarter cent sales tax to fund critical services for homeless populations as well as homelessness prevention for those at risk.

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Building on a four-year campaign, One LA leaders and their allies shaped, pushed for and passed Measure M to raise $120 Billion for new rail lines, improved bus services, and street and highway projects which will create hundreds of thousands of jobs and make finding and getting to a job easier for working poor families across LA County.

Passing this bond measure required meeting a challenging two-thirds voter threshold for approval. This extraordinary victory took a county-wide education and mobilization of non-traditional allies crossing significant geographic, racial, religious and socioeconomic lines.

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Valley Interfaith leaders are changing hearts and minds about the creation of a health district by knocking on doors and telling their healthcare stories. Catholics and Methodists are uniting, with reverends and veterans, all to make reality a community healthcare system for the Rio Grande Valley.

Says leader Eddie Anaya, "Valley Interfaith has long had a vision of a community ...healthcare system that will take care of the most vulnerable — health care that will serve the uninsured, the elderly, our children and our working families. We believe that an educated vote will result in the passing of Proposition 1."

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"We came. We knocked doors. We registered. We organized." Following months of civic academies, in a long campaign to improve public transit in Los Angeles, while creating local jobs and preserving affordable housing, One LA leaders knocked on doors from South Los Angeles to the San Gabriel Valley to West LA and the San Fernando Valley. Leaders are promoting a "yes" vote on Measure M, a ballot measure that they helped shape, in addition to other Propositions. Additional photos, One LA

150 leaders of Austin Interfaith gathered for an evening delegates assembly that soon transitioned into a nonpartisan accountability assembly with all primary candidates for Travis County Sheriff. Candidates were limited to timed responses to questions about the processing of undocumented immigrants and cooperation with ICE, workforce development for people before release and face-to-face visitation for prisoners. Most candidates responded yes to each of the questions.

Austin Interfaith Calls for Compassion in Sheriff's Race, Time Warner Cable

After 6 Pima Community College campuses and 3 PCC adult learning centers challenged the 30 religious institutions of PCIC to a friendly competition of 'who can sign up the most voters,' Bishop Kicanas responded with a public endorsement of the Pima County bond.

PCIC leaders soon followed up with a civic academy for 40 pastors of 8 denominations, in addition to twenty more scheduled at individual congregations, libraries and community centers. The intent of the civic academies is to educate voters about the potential community benefit of the seven proposed bonds, as well as the costs. This is part of a long running campaign to expand workforce development opportunities offered by JobPath.

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Las Milpas, TX - A culture of disrespect towards Las Milpas residents had become so pervasive that when Valley Interfaith leaders sought funding for a local library last year, the Mayor declared: " is not a Whataburger where you pull up and give your orders....use the school library." The disrespect extended to leaving streets unpaved in the colonia over two decades and turning a blind eye to the 4-hour bus commutes of UT-RGV college students as they trudged on foot over a mile to the nearest stop. Rather than let the City's response deter them, leaders used the disdain to fuel a 7-month electoral brawl including a Get Out The Vote strategy that ultimately replaced the Mayor and deposed dismissive officials.

Valley Interfaith leaders Eddie Anaya, Claudia Garcia, Monse Martinez, and Mauro Hernandez launched a campaign to change the power structure in Pharr, starting with meetings held in homes and at churches. Says Anaya, "We knew, with Valley Interfaith, there was only one way to do this."

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Almost 60 Metro Vancouver Alliance leaders packed a church gym to evaluate how to pass a half cent sales tax to fund improved transit. Leaders argue that better transit is needed to incorporate future demands of the growing (and aging) population, and to contribute to pollution reduction efforts.

Forum on Transit Referendum Looks at Ways to Sell the Yes Vote, News 1130