[Excerpt]

In a 4-3 vote Nov. 6, Mesa City Council approved a controversial plan to buy the Grand Hotel near Main Street and Power Road for emergency transitional housing for vulnerable populations....

A large contingent of people from the Valley Interfaith Project showed support by rising and standing in silence as a leader, Bethany Lambrecht, spoke in favor of the purchase....

Voters in Arizona have the opportunity with Proposition 308 to overturn a law that prevents Dreamers access to in-state tuition at Arizona universities. Rabbi John A. Linder, a clergy leader with Valley Interfaith Project makes the case for in-state tuition for Arizona Dreamers.

[Excerpts]

Prop. 308 would finally let Dreamers — hard-working undocumented young people brought to Arizona from other countries as infants or children through no choice of their own — pay the same in-state tuition rates at Arizona public colleges and universities as their high school peers.

Right now, some 2,000 Dreamers have to pay up to three times as much as their peers. That’s not smart and it’s not right..…

Again, these are OUR kids — Arizona kids. It’s simply not fair that they’ve gone to school all their lives alongside other Arizona kids, under the illusion of fairness, only to find that they’re shut out of an affordable higher education merely because they came here undocumented as children. They had no say in the matter! And yet despite that shaky footing, they’ve proven to be among our state’s finest scholars — and hardest workers.

[Photo courtesy of Rabbi John Linder]

Arizona Interfaith Network (AIN) leveraged a $5 million investment from the state of Arizona to help hundreds of families step into economic security with the expansion of long-term workforce development initiatives JobPath in Pima County and Arizona Career Pathways in Maricopa County.

AIN leaders worked with state legislators to direct $5 million from Arizona’s federal Coronavirus relief funding to expand the program in the wake of the pandemic.  This investment will ensure that low-income families can access high-quality education and training for lower earning families.

The completion rate for Arizona Career Pathways is 90%, the job placement rate is 85%, and the average starting wage is $24.50 per hour.

JobPath is an initiative of Pima County Interfaith and Arizona Career Pathways is a Valley Interfaith Project initiative.

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]

[Excerpts]

Arreola has received some help from Voices United for Life, a pro-life organization. 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 [Project], she said, has "given me a voice."

Advocacy on eviction prevention has become an important part of this work as well. The Archdiocese of Galveston-Houston is affiliated with The Metropolitan Organization, a CCHD-fund grassroots organization that has taken on eviction prevention work since March.

St. John the Baptist Parish in Alvin, Texas, a Metropolitan Organization member, has provided partial rental support for about 30 families in which the primary earner has lost work as industries like construction and landscaping have retrenched under the pandemic.

For months advocates in Dallas have pushed officials to distribute rental assistance funds and expand the Centers for Disease Control moratorium on evictions. Dallas Auxiliary Bishop Greg Kelly has worked with CCHD-funded Dallas Area Interfaith on the effort.

"It's very harmful," Bishop Kelly said of the restrictions on accessing the money. "There's no need for it either. The funds are there."

Josephine Lopez Paul, lead organizer of Dallas Area Interfaith, said work continues on empowering and educating people about eviction prevention in the hope their voices will influence policymakers to better respond to their needs.

[Photo Credit: Lucy Nicholson/Reuters]

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

[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]

“The unwarranted provocation, aided and abetted by fringe group extremists, is an affront to the democratic process," said clergy and religious leaders of the Arizona Interfaith Network.  Prior to the election, they reminded "all citizens that it is important to vote, regardless of your party affiliation, and to vote with confidence."

Arizona Election Updates: More Ballot Results Expected Friday Morning, Arizona Republic [jump to 5:15 update] [pdf]

Letter to the Editor by Pima County Interfaith: Count Every Vote, Arizona Daily Star [pdf]

VIP/AIN Statement Against Unwarranted Electoral Provocation, Valley Interfaith Project

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