CEE’s Senior Fellow on Environmental Justice and Civic Engagement, Catherine Coleman Flowers, was among those interviewed by PBS for The Story of American Poverty.
More than 18 million Americans live in “extreme poverty,” according to a report from the United Nations, which ranked poverty in the U.S. alongside some of the poorest areas in the world. The UN Special Rapporteur for Extreme Poverty paid a visit to the U.S. last year, drawing worldwide attention to his findings. NewsHour Weekend Special Correspondent Simon Ostrovsky followed in his footsteps to report from Lowndes County, Alabama. This is part of an ongoing series of reports called “Chasing the Dream,” which reports on poverty and opportunity in America, and is supported in part by the Pulitzer Center on Crisis Reporting.
The Poor People’s Moral Action Congress was held at Trinity Washington University from June 17-19, 2019, by the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. Nearly one thousand poor people, moral leaders, activists, and advocates from over 40 states across the country convened in Washington, D.C., for three days to strategize, learn, and build power together.
During the Congress, the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival launched the Poor People’s Moral Budget that shows concretely how to enact the demands of the Campaign. We held a Forum with 2020 Presidential Candidates when poor people from across the country will ask questions about the issues that impact their lives and we will hold a hearing from those most impacted by systemic racism, poverty, ecological devastation, militarism, and the distorted moral narrative of Christian nationalism who are coming together to organize a movement.
On the second day of Congress, participants joined workshops or longer tracks to learn how and why we are building a moral fusion movement.
Karenna discusses her efforts through the work of the Center for Earth Ethics to reframe climate change as a moral and spiritual issue and engage faith-based leaders to help fix it as well as the personal stories that inspired her to this work.
BEYOND RELIGION took place June 8-9, 2019 at the National Press Club in downtown Washington, D.C.
The Pulitzer Center serves to highlight journalism focused on the most pressing issues of our time. Their reporting and outreach on religion is supported by the Henry Luce Foundation. Additional related reporting and outreach is supported by Humanity United (Peace and Conflict), the MacArthur Foundation, Omidyar Network (Property Rights), The Rockefeller Foundation, and individual donors dedicated to raising awareness of critical global issues.
CEE Original Caretaker’s Program Director, Mindahi C Bastida Munoz (center right in photo above) joined long standing colleagues to honor the important work of crisis reporting. (left to right) Co-Founder and Director of the Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University, Jhon Grim; Panel Moderator and Co-Director, Forum on Religion and Ecology at Yale University, Mary Evelyn Tucker; filmmaker, lawyer and storyteller, Kalyanee Mam; Mindahi and First Nations Radio founder, Tiokasin Ghosthorse.