Arguing that "the scope and price tag of this particular deal make it different than other day-to-day decisions," COPS / Metro Alliance leaders descended on City Hall to protest the speed and nature of the proposed $3.4 Billion contract that would pipe in 16 billion gallons of water into the city, and raise prices by 16%.

Specifically leaders asked for attentiveness to the pricing scheme for lower income utility users. "With those big rate increases we think those at the bottom of the income scale should be helped," said COPS METRO Alliance leader Mike Phillips. "If somebody were to go of out their tier they would immediately be hit with the first level tier payments. We want to see the payment tiers reworked."

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Hundreds of TMO leaders packed into Immaculate Conception Catholic Church to tell officials that De Zavala Elementary School students deserve to be protected from packs of stray dogs roaming the campus. 300 leaders explained that the issue emerged in a 'house meeting' campaign in which small groups of people gathered to share their concerns.

Multiple residents told stories about family members getting bitten by dogs on the streets; stories of increased crime were shared as well. TMO convened the assembly to engage their City Councilmember Robert Gallegos and State Senator Sylvia Garcia on these issues.

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COPS / Metro Alliance leaders visually illustrated the implications of a new City rule with a gagged leader standing on the steps of City Hall. Rosa Araujo-Iracheta of St. Philip of Jesus Catholic Church detailed what the new rules would entail, exclaiming "For some agencies, this blackout period has been in effect since March...That's over five months of being shut out!"

A new San Antonio city rule prohibiting non-profits from talking to City Councilmembers about the budget prompted the press conference. Leaders pointed out that the new rule amounted to a gag order, as it applied even to nonprofits not requesting City funds for themselves.

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Victorious from a January move to limit payday lending profitability in El Paso, leaders of Border Interfaith and El Paso Interreligious Sponsoring Organization (EPISO) are setting their sights on statewide legislation.

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About 100 gathered for a civic academy organized by Austin Interfaith leaders from the Equal Justice Center and Congregational Church of Austin; guests from San Antonio RAICES and the UT Austin Longhorn Institute for Latin American Studies explained the dangers children are fleeing and the legal and political challenges they face today. Two Central American youth who had recently arrived shared powerful testimonies about what they fled.

Two months prior, Austin Interfaith issued a call to action after a public presentation at the Travis County Commissioners Court. Since then, the City of Austin unanimously passed a resolution "welcoming" the children to Austin and ordering City staff to identify unused resources for them.

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Carolyn Watson, Chase Bank VP of Corporate Responsibility, announced the award of $100K to Capital IDEA-Houston at a meeting of the Houston Community College Board of Trustees. Capital IDEA-Houston, established by leaders of TMO as a labor market intermediary, pulls working students out of poverty wage jobs and into living wage careers starting at upwards of $30,000 per year plus benefits. TMO (The Metropolitan Organization) built the political will to establish the training program to bridge the wage gap between industry needs and the skills base of the city.

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Almost 200 COPS / Metro Alliance leaders from twenty-nine institutions spent a Sunday afternoon examining the state of wages in San Antonio — and found that state sorely lacking!

A diverse mix of congregational members from Catholic, Unitarian, Lutheran, and Baptist denominations, as well as unions, public schools and colleges, gathered to study the City of San Antonio's proposed budget, its impact on the local economy and how it may fund better wages for working families.

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Asserting that anyone under 18 years must have an attorney and should never be subjected to expedited processing, hundreds of bishops and clergy from every major religious denomination in Texas denounced proposed changes to the Trafficking Victims Act of 2008 and called on the White House for a better approach to the humanitarian crisis at the border.

In El Paso, San Antonio, Houston, Austin, Fort Worth and Dallas, religious leaders preached about the crisis at the border, organized relief efforts and held press conferences reminding the White House and Congress of the Judeo-Christian admonishment for nations to "show kindness and mercy to one another, not oppress the widow, the fatherless, the sojourner or the poor (Zechariah 7:9-10)."

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With 52 thousands of Central American children currently detained at the Texas-Mexico border, religious leaders of Allied Communities of Tarrant (ACT) banded together to call on their Congressional representatives to protect all the legal protections made available for such kids in 2008.

One parishioner, Lorena Hattarki, shared her story as a young girl fleeing cartel violence in Colombia decades prior: "My experience was very different... When I got off the plane, no one was there to say, 'Get out. Go back.'"

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Clergy and leadership from Methodist, Presbyterian, Episcopal, Lutheran, Catholic and Muslim congregations of COPS / Metro delivered a joint statement calling on the President and Congress to demonstrate hospitality to children arriving on the border from Central America.

"Don't send them back as if they were animals," argued Fr. Walter D'Heedene of Sacred Heart Catholic Church. Speakers underscored that each child should have an attorney, get thorough processing (accorded in the 2008 Wilberforce Act) and have more exposure to vetted religious and social service organizations so that they do not become isolated.

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