Dear ,

In almost every locality in Virginia, the minimum wage does not meet the living wage threshold, and in many localities, it is woefully inadequate. Living wages are defined as the actual wage needed for people in a locality, city, or county to live on. 

Would you like to help encourage businesses in Virginia to pay living wages? Help VICPP grow its Living Wage Certification program. You can: 

• Invite businesses to become certified. Forward the certification link to businesses you know (including nonprofit organizations and congregations) and urge them to become Living Wage Certified: https://www.livingwagevirginia.org/get-certified/  
  
  
• Ask contractors you use to become certified. If your congregation or business or even you personally hire contractors, such as for cleaning services or landscaping, inquire about whether the employers pay living wages. Especially on contracted services, there are huge differences in how workers are paid, with little difference on the rates you are charged. I want to support those businesses that pay living wages and I’m sure you do, too. You won’t know if you don’t ask. Explore if your congregation might decide to “only” use living wage certified employers, and then urge its vendors to get certified. 
  
  
• Join the July 30 Living Wage Certification canvass. On June 25, we had our first Living Wage Certification Summer Canvass Day. I had the pleasure of joining the team in Harrisonburg led by Ramona Sanders. Our next canvass will take place on July 30. You can join a canvass team in Northern Virginia, Charlottesville, Harrisonburg, or Richmond, or host your own in a retail strip near you. We can send you all the materials for hosting your own. Or register HERE to join the canvass in one of the four anchor cities.  

Statewide, we have about 150 certified businesses and we reached out to an additional 100 in last month’s canvass. Can you help us grow the program to 300 certified businesses in Virginia in 2022? 

Thank you.

Sincerely, 


Kim Bobo 
Executive Director

P.S. This weekend is Eid al Adha, one of the holiest Muslim holidays, which celebrates the importance of sacrifice. Food is shared with family and with those in need. We wish our Muslim neighbors a blessed holiday and celebrate the importance of sharing with family and those in need.

Hold the date! Join the Lawrenceville Correctional Center religious fact-finding team meeting on Saturday, July 23 at the Poplar Mount Baptist Church on 6823 Western Mill Road, Lawrenceville, VA 23868. More details will be shared soon. For more information, click the button below to email Salim at: salim@virginiainterfaithcenter.org

Are you a health care professional? Do you know any health care professionals within your congregation or organization? This call to action is for you! The PUSH maternal health coalition will be elevating the voices of health care professionals, particularly OB-GYNs, this summer in our effort to dispel the current discourse in Virginia that racial disparities do not exist in health care to the extent that would warrant prioritizing and addressing them. We are having a statewide call next week, so add your voice and/or urge the health care professionals you know to add theirs, too! Click the button below to email Dora: dora@virginiainterfaithcenter.org

Join a Religious Fact-Finding Delegation on August 11 at Dulles International Airport to learn more about working conditions for airport workers. Approximately 2,000 essential airport workers at IAD (Dulles) and DCA (Reagan National) airports – including wheelchair attendants, baggage handlers, terminal cleaners, cabin cleaners, and non-TSA security – have no paid sick days or employer-provided health insurance. This creates a crisis for the largely Black, brown, and immigrant workers performing critical jobs who must choose between taking care of themselves or their children and getting paid. Workers who go to work sick endanger their co-workers, the public, and passengers. Many workers have lost their lives due to COVID-19 and/or the lack of access to health care.  

VICPP is working with SEIU 32 BJ to get these essential workers the protections they deserve. On August 11 at Dulles International Airport, we will be hosting a religious fact-finding delegation. The delegation will learn directly from impacted workers and make plans for encouraging the Metropolitan Washington Airports Authority to set a standard for how workers at the airport are treated.

Email VICPP Economic Justice Program Manager Jase Hatcher (Jase@virginiainterfaithcenter.org) if you are interested in joining the delegation.

Click the button below to read our Fact Sheet to learn more!

About the above photo: A delegation of VICPP members Hillary Horn and Kay Frances Dolan stand in solidarity with airport workers who are SEIU 32 BJ members (in purple shirts), demanding more equitable working conditions, paid sick leave, and fair wages. This photo was taken at the March 30, 2022 #GoodAirports national day of action, hosted by SEIU 32 BJ, who are also members of the Virginians for Paid Sick Days coalition. 

VICPP's Beyond Birth social media awareness campaign launched this month in recognition of Virginia’s observance of July as Maternal Health Awareness Month. You can't make this up. Black women die three to four times more than white women giving birth. Studies have shown one causation is implicit bias in maternal health care. It's not just "in the minds" of Black women. In 2020, Virginia’s legislature designated July as Maternal Health Awareness Month. Join VICPP on our social media platforms and re-share our posts on yours, as we focus throughout the month to increase understanding of the issues around maternal health and mortality, and the reasons why we are pushing for a licensing criterion of implicit (unconscious) bias training for health care professionals who have interaction with patients of color. Read more in our latest blog, Beyond Birth.

Be sure to check out and share our PSA (public service announcement) video series about the Principles of Health Care and Ethics in Vaccination! The short videos are focused on the principles of ethics in health care as part of our initiative to build vaccine equity during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond. They directly confront the connection between the medical community's history of harm towards people of color and trust in our delivery of health care. The JAB Initiative is a project of VICPP that was made possible by a grant from Community Catalyst as part of its national Vaccine Equity and Access Program, funded by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) Foundation. For more information, visit VICPP's JAB Initiative Resources webpage at: virginiainterfaithcenter.org/health-equity/jab-initiative

Click the button below or the graphic above to watch the video series playlist! 

VICPP's July Film Series continues with a focus on implicit bias in maternal health care. The work of the Black Women’s Health Imperative, founded in 1983 to remove the barriers to the wellness of Black women, will be the focus of our second documentary in our Film Series. Join us on Monday, July 11 at 6 p.m. to screen “In Sickness and In Health: Overcoming Bias with the Black Women’s Health Imperative.” Immediately following, BWHI’s Director of Maternal and Child Health Dr. Kanika Harris will join VICPP Health Equity Program Manager Dora Muhammad for a deep dive into the issue.

Register once for a Zoom link to use every Monday in July for this virtual film discussion series as we focus on priorities for our 2023 policy platform and programming. Use this easy to remember, shorter link for sharing this event with your community: www.tinyurl.com/vicpp2022films

Click the image above to watch the trailer for In Sickness and In Health: Overcoming Bias with the Black Women’s Health Imperative. Click the button below to register for the Film Series!

• Greater Prince William, Tuesday, July 12, 6pm 
  
• Northern Virginia, Monday, July 18, 7:30pm 
  
• New River Valley, Friday, July 29, 12pm 
  
• Hampton Roads – Mark your calendars for the last week of July, TBD 

Check out our upcoming events list on our website for details and links to RSVP or register. 

There is a shortage of affordable housing all over the commonwealth of Virginia, and many congregations are working to change that. Join us for a webinar on July 14 to hear from congregations and nonprofits on how they have built affordable housing, as well as other ways to collaborate and support people in need. Want more details? Click the button below to register! 

On the 5th anniversary of the attacks in Charlottesville, VICPP invites you to join us for a community symposium to culminate our “Together in Faith” project in partnership with the Prince William County Police Department. We’ll hear from federal, state, and local agencies working on hate crime prevention and prosecution, local and state elected officials, and a wonderful spectrum of faith leaders in Prince William County. Space is limited for in-person participation and we are working on making this a hybrid event where you can tune in virtually via Zoom from across Virginia. Add your name to the participant interest list for in-person or virtual attendance by clicking the button below.

Youngkin reacts to health commissioner's comments on racism in public health

13 News Now, June 20, 2022

By Sarah Hammond

Excerpt:

"Virginia Health Advocacy Organizations also condemned Greene’s remarks in the article. 

"The American Cancer Society, Federation of Virginia Food Banks, The Commonwealth Institute for Fiscal Analysis and the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy are just a few of the organizations that signed the letter that said in part, “We call on state officials to strongly support the ongoing efforts of the public service employees leading work in Virginia’s Department of Health to address the impacts of racism on the health of our friends and neighbors.”