Fighting Poverty with Faith

In 2008, Catholic Charities USA, the Jewish Council for Public Affairs, and the National Council of Churches in Christ spearheaded and sponsored Fighting Poverty with Faith, an effort to bring faith-based organizations together to raise awareness about poverty and its reduction and advocate for public policies and legislation to cut poverty in half by 2020. More than 50 national faith-based organizations endorsed the initiative and that year, the coalition held a week-long campaign with summits, social justice workshops, and sermons; mobilized food and clothing drives; and compelled Members of Congress to pledge to halve poverty within a decade. In 2009, the collaborative held a campaign for quality and sustainable employment, in 2010, for human needs, job creation, and social safety net, in 2011, for Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and in 2012, for affordable housing.