Dear ,

Virginia is scheduled to get a lot of new federal money from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA) of 2021. Although much of the money is allocated in pre-set categories, such as rental assistance or child care  assistance, there is a large bucket of $4.3 billion dollars that can be spent on one-time projects that will help Virginia recover (it cannot be used for ongoing programs). How to spend these federal dollars will be the focus of the General Assembly Special Session that is scheduled to begin on August 2 and end by August 14. 

  
VICPP is supporting an Equitable Rescue and Recovery Budget that focuses on proposals from nonprofit low-income family advocates. 
Whenever there is money, there will be many ideas on how to use it. VICPP wants to make sure the monies are focused on programs and projects that will serve low-income families and marginalized communities first and foremost. We are working closely with the Virginia Poverty Law Center and other partners to confirm the budget priorities that VICPP will support. We expect to have a document to share by next week’s roundup. If it is available sooner, we will place it on our website under the Policy tab.   

We will also need to prepare for advocacy. Can you: 

• Host an advocacy event (calls, letters or emails) with your congregation either the weekend of July 23-25 or July 30-Aug 1. Let Dora Muhammad know if you can help with this by emailing Dora@virginiainterfaithcenter.org. 
  
  
• Join our social media team and regularly distribute social media posts during the Special Session. Join by emailing AyeshaGT@virginiainterfaithcenter.org.
  
  
• Be a Witness at the Capitol volunteer by being present and helping our staff team at the General Assembly (in-person) between August 2-14. Email me at Kim@virginiainterfaithcenter.org if you can help in this period.  

Thank you for your advocacy.  

Sincerely, 

  
Kim Bobo 

Executive Director

Join us for a screening of four films centered on the issues of our 2022 platform and program. Real stories of people fighting today for better tomorrows that illustrate how the resilience to survive injustices of the past fuels the power to protect the present. Both cultivate hope for a just future. Stay with us for a discussion with special guest advocates and activists in each field to delve into policy solutions for human suffering.

Join us as we take a look at the conditions of Virginia’s supermax prison Red Onion, solitary confinement, and the need to cease the use of isolation. Directed by Kristi Jacobson, the movie was initially inspired by an article on solitary confinement in the New Yorker called “Hellhole,” which describes in vivid detail what happens to the mind when it is deprived of human contact. Immediately following the screening, VICPP Justice Reform Organizer Rev. Jamar A. Boyd, II will facilitate dialogue with Mr. David Smith of the Virginia Coalition on Solitary Confinement.

Register once to get your free Zoom link "movie pass" good for each weekly screening by clicking the "click to register" button below, or by visiting this link:  https://us02web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_yn3Ah2_hRZesu5UgjBPIvQ

Last week, we shared with you here some excerpts of VICPP Executive Director Kim Bobo’s recent keynote address at the James River Chapter summer meeting. She spoke on the topic of the meeting's theme, "Building a Brave, Bold, Beloved Community." We continue in this week's edition with Kim's thoughts on expanding upon VICPP’s three priorities for building the beloved community: 

• "Work on issues that can address/help tackle the structural racism in Virginia. The issues we have prioritized for the next General Assembly do that: 
  
  a.  Requiring paid sick days to help the disproportionately affected women and people of color who are concentrated in low-wage jobs. 
  b.  Removing the farm worker exemption from minimum wage, which is clearly a legacy of slavery when farm workers were slaves. 
  c.  Seeking training for medical personnel on implicit bias so people of color can receive better treatment from healthcare. 
  d.  Creating a pilot housing reparations program. 
  e.  Ending solitary confinement and discriminatory access to pretrial justice and cash bail. 
  All these issues help us seek the beloved community. 
  
  
• Build multiracial relationships and organizations. 
  
  Only 12 percent of congregations nationally are multiracial and most of them are Catholic – White and Latinx, while very few are Black and White. Essentially, our faith communities are segregated. However, tackling racism in Virginia has got to be a multiracial fight, so VICPP has got to build a multiracial organization at every level of the organization. We’ve made great progress at the staff and board level, but our ability to build the beloved community in Virginia depends on our ability to build a strong multiracial organization, and it will be tough. The faith community is segregated and we’re trying to build a multiracial organization anchored in the faith community. We’re pushing to get a statewide racial equity committee to help guide us. We’re trying to build ties between seminary students who mostly attend segregated seminaries. We’re finding ways to partner with organizations who can help.
  
  I’ve been reading the book The Sum of Us, which essentially argues that addressing racism will help all of us. Segregated schools, housing discrimination, and pitting White and Black workers against one another hurts all of us. We would have a better society for all when we address structural racism in Virginia. Building a multiracial organization is not just a good thing to do, it is essential if we want to be effective in building the beloved community. 
  
  
• Engage young people in the work. 
    
  Many of us on this Zoom call today will not see the beloved community in our lifetimes. We’re too old. We have to depend on young people. And we have to make sure all, young and old, are engaged and helping to lead VICPP. VICPP has an amazing base of people who get the importance of VICPP and have been faithful to it for decades. We want to continue tapping the wisdom, talent and passion of our seniors, while also making room for newer, younger leadership.  
  
  Our new, younger staff members are focusing on engaging college students and seminarians. This year, Rev. Jamar A. Boyd, II organized a College Day of Action that drew 65 students from three schools, which we’re expanding next year. We’re adding more young people to the Board. Our new Communications Director is going to move us into digital media in a more serious way. That's just a glimpse of what our staff is up to. We had a VCU marketing class take us on as a project and try to figure out how VICPP should market itself to young people. The marketing class urged VICPP to 'lead with its superpower,' that is, its commitment to inclusion, diversity and equity. Young people want to be a part of this. They want to help build the beloved community. So when we work toward and lead with our commitment to build the beloved community, young people will join us. And, young people are exactly the ones who can help us build the beloved community for the future." 

(Edited for brevity.)

Given the heat waves that have spread across the country recently, you have probably heard about farm worker deaths in the Pacific Northwest region of our continent because of the brutal heat and lack of protections. Many times, even when there are “suggested” safety measures in place, farm workers risk working longer hours out of financial necessity. This crisis highlights the need to make sure farm workers in Virginia are covered by minimum wage and a heat stress safety standard. Join us in the push to protect these essential workers who feed us all! Click the button below to read an article and learn more about the challenges of heat and low wages:

Union calls for 'urgent' farmworker protections during Washington's record heat.
NBC News, June 29, 2021
By Suzanne Gamboa

Over the past several years, we’ve pushed the General Assembly to pass a number of bills to combat wage theft (including the new Overtime law that just went into effect July 1). However, many workers around the Commonwealth are unaware of the new regulations and protections that are available to them. VICPP partnered with the Virginia Employment Lawyers Association (VELA) to create a bilingual accessible website, www.wagetheftva.org, to educate all members of our community, and connect people who have experienced wage theft with lawyers who would be willing to take their cases. Find out more about how you and your congregation can get involved, and spread the word to friends and family about this new resource! Click the graphic above to visit the updated website. Click the button below to email VICPP Faith Organizer Sheila Herlihy at sheila@virginiainterfaithcenter.org with any questions or comments. 

At VICPP, we are looking to involve youth and young adults more in the civic engagement process. We are looking for interested persons to engage with us virtually to help us get out the vote. If interested, or if you have any questions, please reach out to Abby Spencer by emailing her at abby@virginiainterfaithcenter.org or by clicking the button below. 

The VICPP has been blessed with many wonderful volunteers over the years - whom we count on because we have such a small staff.
Social justice is a group activity - we can’t be effective on our own. Volunteer with us today!

There are many ways to volunteer:

• During the General Assembly
• In the civic engagement process
• In your congregation
• In your community
• In Richmond
  
• And much more!

Click the button below to learn more and to register to volunteer and join the VICPP family!

Beginning on July 15, most families (except wealthy ones) who file taxes will automatically receive a monthly child-tax credit ($300 per month for children younger than age six and $250 for children between ages six and 17.) This child tax credit potentially could reduce by 5 million the number of children living in poverty. Our congregation can help make sure that every low-income family with children gets the credit. Families that earn so little that they aren’t required to and do not file a tax return will need to apply to get the funds.

Use this website to check if you are eligible and apply if you are a “non-filer.” Share the website with your friends and neighbors. Click the button below to visit the website at https://www.irs.gov/credits-deductions/advance-child-tax-credit-payments-in-2021.