Cooperation
Times
Volume 14, No. 1 ~
Jan.-Feb. 2000
Jim Wallis to speak on Economic Inequality at King Celebration
Keep Affordable Housing for Kansans - Volunteer Service Options
Jim
Wallis to speak on Economic Inequality at King Celebration
Whose Dream Is It?, Topeka's Martin Luther King coalition, is bringing nationally known preacher, author, and activist, Jim Wallis to town to speak at "Topeka's Seventh Annual Community Celebration of the Birthday of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr." The Celebration, for all Topekans—all Kansans—will take place, Monday evening, January 17, 7:00 p.m., at Grace Episcopal Cathedral, 701 SW 8th. (See Announcement on page 3.) Wallis will challenge Topekans of faith to overcome poverty and revitalize our politics with his message "The Least of These." The public is also invited to a free (donations requested) soup supper at the Cathedral starting at 6:00.
Whose Dream Is It? is expanding the annual Celebration this year in cooperation with Kansans Respond to include a late afternoon, 4:45 p.m., rally that Monday, January 17, at the State Capitol's south steps to call attention to the needs of the poor and working poor and to recognize those who work for solutions. Julie Russell, Kansans Respond Chair, will be completing her walk from Kansas City at the public rally. Following the rally, at 5:30, participants are encouraged to walk in procession from the Capitol to Grace Cathedral (four blocks) for the soup supper and Celebration.
The Whose Dream Is It? Coalition, which includes the CENTER, is made up of "religious and community leaders committed to facing the challenge of living and promoting the dream of Dr. King among all faiths and all people."
Jim Wallis, from Washington, D.C., is Editor-in-Chief of Sojourners, a magazine reporting and analyzing the intersection of American faith, politics, and culture. Sojourners was founded in 1971 and currently reaches a readership of approximately 80,000 people.
Wallis is also the convener of Call to Renewal, a new national federation of churches and faith-based organizations working to overcome poverty and revitalize American politics. It brings together people from African-American, Evangelical, Catholic, Pentecostal and mainline Protestant churches to work on poverty and welfare reform. Under Wallis’ leadership, Call to Renewal has convened three Christian Roundtables on Poverty and Welfare Reform and most recently held a highly successful "National Summit on the Churches and Welfare Reform," bringing together 500 faith-based organizations from hundreds of churches and groups in 40 states.
He spent the 1998-99 academic year as a Fellow at the Center For The Study Of Values In Public Life at Harvard Divinity School. In that capacity, he lectured at the Divinity School, Kennedy School of Government, and around the University on faith and politics, ethics and public life, the churches and welfare reform, and economic inequality as a religious issue. In the fall semester of 1999, he taught a course on "Faith, Politics, and Society" at the Kennedy School of Government.
Wallis is the author of numerous books, including The Call To Conversion; The Soul Of Politics: A Practical and Prophetic Vision for Change; and Who Speaks For God? A New Politics of Compassion, Community, and Civility. He is currently completing a new book, Faith Works, to be published by Random House this spring.
His columns have appeared in hundreds of newspapers and magazines, including the Washington Post, Los Angeles Times, Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, USA Today and Newsweek. He is a regular con-tributor to MSNBC On-line on ethics and public life. Articles about his work have appeared in scores of pub-lications including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times Magazine, and Washington Post. Time magazine has named him one of "50 Faces For America’s Future." He regularly offers commentaries for television and radio, including National Public Radio.
Wallis travels extensively in the United States and internationally in his work of speaking, preaching, debating, teaching, leading seminars and retreats, and organizing. In the last two years he has led more than 200 town meetings, bringing together pastors, civic and business leaders, and elected officials in the cause of social justice and a more value-centered politics. His pursuit of peace has taken him to South Africa, Central America, northern Ireland, and the Middle East, as well as to gang peace summits in urban America.
Jim Wallis, 51, was raised in a Mid-western evangelical family. As a teenager he began questioning racial segregation in his church and community, which led him into the black churches and neighborhoods of inner-city Detroit. Involvement in the civil rights movement and protesting the war in Vietnam shaped his student years.
At Trinity Evangelical Divinity School in Deerfield, Illinois, Jim and several other students started a magazine and community with a Christian commitment to social justice. In 1975, the Sojourners Community moved to Washington D.C. where the magazine and community have been ever since. For Sojourners, there is a direct link between strong biblical faith and active social engagement, theology and action, spirituality and politics. Wallis is the husband of Joy Carroll Wallis, and the father of Luke. He makes his home in the inner-city of Washington D.C.
As we enter the 21st century, four Kansans on death row in the El Dorado Correctional Facility await execution. Meanwhile the Legislature is preparing to debate two significant proposals. One would expand the number of crimes that would be death eligible. Another would abolish the death penalty entirely.
Remember how in 1994, Kansans were assured that judicial proceedings abuse would not be tolerated if capital punishment was reestablished? Well, look again. Already racial discrimination is ostensibly present. Kansas prosecutors are predictably offering plea bargains to white defendants while persons of color are systematically brought to trial without a similar offer being made. One defendant on death row is certifiably schizophrenic. Sequestered jurors in another capital case were illegally subjected to pressure including Biblical passages being used as persuasive arguments to sentence a defendant to death.
The Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty invites all members and friends of The Topeka Center for Peace and Justice to join in a campaign to voice opposition to Kansas executions. On the enclosed pink insert you will find information inviting your participation in the Not In My Name Project. Simply sign the form letter where noted and return it to the listed address. Better yet, duplicate it and get signatures from friends, church members, coworkers, etc. and return all the letters altogether.
The goal is to collect 10,000 signatures from across Kansas. It's time the Legislature, Governor and media hear that Kansans want effective solutions to crime, not retribution.
For more information call the Coalition hotline at 785-232-2272.
(Bill Lucero is the State Coordinator of Murder Victims Families for Reconciliation and a board member of the Kansas Coalition Against the Death Penalty.)
The Coalition for Workers' Rights, Social Justice and Economic Fairness presents its annual
Rally and Lobby Day
February 24, 11:00 a.m.
On the Capitol South Steps
Featuring Thomas Buffenbarger, international president, International Association of Machinists, and William McNary, national president, U.S. Action
Hear two national leaders express the concerns of this broad based coalition, including the Topeka Center for Peace and Justice, that seeks common ground in the pursuit of economic and social justice. This year's emphasis is on the need for a living wage in Kansas. The Coalition educates, organizes and mobilizes on issues that will improve the working and living conditions for all men, women, and children that live in Kansas. For more information, call 785-232-4388.
Keep
Affordable Housing for Kansans - Volunteer Service Options
by Curtis Brown
Housing & Credit Counseling, Inc.'s (HCCI) Outreach and Technical Assistance Grant (OTAG) program allows its housing counselors and Volunteers In Service To America (VISTA) to work with residents across the state who are facing the expiration of their Project Based Section 8 housing contracts. OTAG staff work directly with residents, management companies, communities, owners, and U.S. Housing and Urban Development (HUD) to ensure that input is received from all interested people regarding the condition of the building and the renewal of the building’s housing contract. OTAG staff work with residents and communities to ensure that they are able to provide informed and structured feedback to HUD. The focus of the OTAG program is to maintain an already limited supply of affordable housing options for residents of Kansas. This is accomplished through education and community training about programs and options available to those residents.
HCCI has applied for three VISTA positions to serve these housing communities across the state beginning March 3. The VISTA positions are full-time for a minimum of one year and will be based in Topeka. VISTA volunteers receive training in Austin, Texas, on the history of HUD programs and organizational techniques that will be used throughout the year. The Corporation for National Service provides VISTA volunteers with a living allowance and health insurance. Childcare assistance is offered if income guidelines are met. At the end of the first year of service, VISTA volunteers are eligible to receive an education award of $4,800 that can be applied to past or future student loans, or used directly at the educational institution of their choice.
HCCI is a nonprofit agency that facilitates adequate, safe, affordable, and equitable housing situations for all people especially those of low and moderate incomes. HCCI offers tenant/landlord counseling, homebuyer counseling, money management counseling, and default mortgage counseling to local areas as well as statewide. Its OTAG program is funding with a grant from HUD.
If you are interested in learning more about HCCI’s services, the OTAG program, or serving for a year as a VISTA, please contact Curtis Brown at 785-234-0217 Ext. 323. You may also mail or drop off a letter of interest at the HCCI main office, 1195 SW Buchanan, Suite 101, Topeka, Kansas 66604.
(Curtis Brown is the OTAG Manager and a Housing Counselor at Housing & Credit Counseling Inc.)
Thank You for Your 1999 Support!
The CENTER’s current fundraising drive (starting in May) is the major effort in the CENTER’s fundraising year. It will finance the bulk of the work planned for 2000. The goal of the drive is to invite all to consider becoming Supporters of the CENTER with a pledge of contributing $10 per month (or $120 for the year).
The overall support of the CENTER’s work also comes from Members (those who contribute $25 or more), Sustainers ($150-499) and Patrons ($500 or more). The number of Supporters, Sustainers and Patrons, all major donors, has grown during the last several years to now include 121 peace and justice advocates! Their donations, plus those of 237 Members goes to further the CENTER’s growing work for peace and justice in the Topeka community and in the world. Contributions from all, at whatever level is most welcome!
The CENTER’s Board of Directors thanks all who have contributed to this work! (The major donors for 1999 were recognized in the last issue of COOPERATION TIMES.) A special thank you for providing the CENTER’s ongoing office space goes to the members of Central Congregational Church and their pastor, The Rev. Kathy Timpany!