Dear ,

Virginia has an election every year. This year are the federal mid-term congressional elections, which are notoriously low-turnout elections. Next year are our state elections in which every member of the General Assembly will be up for re-election and many will be running in newly drawn districts.  

Now is the time to prepare for engaging your congregation, campus, and community in nonpartisan voter registration and get-out-the vote (GOTV) actions.

Working backwards, the election is November 8. The last day to register to vote in the election is October 22. To ensure you have adequate time for your efforts, you should plan on registering people in September and October and encouraging people to create a plan for getting to the polls or turning in absentee ballots in October and early November. We will be a part of National Voter Registration Day again, which offers lots of resources to support your voter registration plans. This year, it will be observed on September 20.

We encourage you to use the summertime to:  

• Recruit a Civic Engagement Team. Three or four people can do great things. Ten or twelve people can do amazing things. 
  
  
• Create a plan. Do you want to only focus on people within your congregation or campus, or do you want to register and encourage voting among people who live around your congregation or campus? Summer is a great time for planning. 
  
  
• Get data. The most effective voter registration and GOTV plans use data from the public voter files. You don’t have to guess who in your congregation or on your campus is registered. You can get the data to know precisely who are registered voters. You can also get the data on infrequent voters or low-propensity voters (yes, that’s what they are called) to develop plans to vote. VICPP can help you get this data by facilitating a matching of your congregation’s or campus’ data with the voter files. CLICK HERE TO see the VICPP fact sheet on data-driven citizen engagement.
  • It will take a couple of weeks to do this data matching, so you should begin talking with the appropriate decision-makers about using data for nonpartisan civic engagement now.

Thank you for planning now.




Sincerely, 

Kim Bobo 
Executive Director

Help us bring humaneness back to a Virginia community who continues to suffer! The Lawrenceville prison is the state’s only private for-profit prison. It is operated by the GEO group under a fifteen-year contract that ends July of 2023. VICPP has heard terrible things about the lack of food and medical attention for people who are incarcerated, the low pay and terrible working conditions for correctional officers, and the environmental and financial concerns of the community. VICPP has organized a religious fact-finding team to learn about the conditions and what can be done to improve them, and has been invited by the Brunswick NAACP and other community member organizations. 

Join us for our first team meeting on Saturday, July 23 in Lawrenceville, VA 23868, from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. We are organizing carpools from Richmond. Please note that advance registration is required and must be approved. After approval, an email will be sent with more information. If you have any questions, email VICPP Criminal Justice Reform Organizer Salim Khalfani at: salim@virginiainterfaithcenter.org
Click the button below to register!

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. 

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. Add your voice and/or urge the health care professionals you know to add theirs, too! Click the button below to email Dora at: 
dora@virginiainterfaithcenter.org

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! 

Join us at 6 pm on Monday, July 18 for the third film in our series. We will screen “Union Time – Fighting for Workers' Rights,” which tells the story behind the extraordinary 16-year effort to form a union by the workers at the Smithfield Foods plant in North Carolina. The victory at the world’s largest slaughterhouse brought justice and fair working conditions to 5,000 workers, and is one of the most significant wins for organized labor in the 21st century. The film accounts how the community, including people of faith, joined the fight. Following the screening, VICPP Economic Justice Program Manager Jase Hatcher will lead a discussion on our campaign for a paid sick days standard for workers in Virginia.

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 the film.
Click the button below to register for the Film Series!

• Northern Virginia, Monday, July 18, 7:30 p.m. 
  
• New River Valley, Friday, July 29, 12 noon 
  
• Hampton Roads, Tuesday, July 26, 12 noon  
  

Click the button below to check out our upcoming events list on our website for details and links to RSVP or 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 are excited to add to the program a special message from U.S. Senator Mark Warner and keynote remarks by Delegate Michelle Maldonado. We will be joined by Prince William County Board of Supervisors' Margaret Franklin, who represents the Woodbridge district where hate crime incidents have occurred within the past five years. Joining the program will also be representatives from the U.S. Attorney’s Office covering Virginia, the FBI Virginia field office, and the Prince William County Police Department to provide insight on the work of protecting houses of worship against hate crimes and investigating and prosecuting cases that occur.

*PLEASE NOTE that all registrations must be approved in advance of the Monday, August 8 deadline. This event will be held virtually only so register today by clicking the button below!

‘There’s a lot of hate going on right now.’ Local chapters of Virginia Interfaith Center begin monthly gun violence discussion

Henrico Citizen, July 12, 2022

By Katie Castellani

We're of the mindset that everyone could use a chuckle or two, especially after reading the headlines. Do you have a funny post related to one of our justice and equity issue areas that you think fellow Weekly Roundup subscribers would find funny? Keep it tasteful and appropriate, paste it directly into an email (no attachments please), and send it over to VICPP Director of Communications at: ayeshaGT@virginiainterfaithcenter.org
Include your name and location if you'd like a hat tip/shout out!