Fr. Daniel Kelly of St. Joseph Catholic Church and North Texas IAF – in partnership with the Texas Catholic Conference — hosted a press conference at his church announcing a coordinated interfaith effort to place limits on payday and title loan lending.  Says Kelly, “every week another member of my parish tells me a horror story about one of these loans.  They debilitate our families.”

Congregational members and allies were joined by the Catholic Bishops of Texas in the public call for tougher regulations.

With over 400 graduated participants since 2010, Dallas Area Interfaith-established Skill Quest is making a name for itself  through effective long-term job training.  Says columnist Mercedes Olivera, Skill Quest is “doing its share to help reduce Dallas’ poverty rate, one of the highest in the country.”

Skill QUEST Curbs Dallas Poverty by Helping Workers Move Into New Careers, Dallas Morning News

Common Ground leaders from Milwaukee joined up with Dallas Area Interfaith leaders in Arlington, Texas to disrupt a Nationstar Mortgage shareholders meeting; they ultimately succeeded in securing a meeting with Nationstar CEO Jay Bry.

Common Ground leaders are in a two-pronged fight to block the use of taxpayer funds for the construction of a (privately-owned) Bucks stadium AND to secure upwards of $30 million from Nationstar to rehabilitate foreclosed houses and prevent further foreclosures.  When Common Ground asked Dallas Area Interfaith for assistance, DAI leaders gladly joined the fight (see photo above).

Bucks, owned by three New York City billionaires, is courting Milwaukee elected officials to secure millions in taxpayer-funded subsidies for a proposed stadium.  One of the billionaires, Wesley Edens, also owns Nationstar Mortgage, currently responsible for 300 foreclosed properties and 1,600 loans being paid by families in danger of foreclosure in Milwaukee.

Leaders argue that not only do Bucks owners not need taxpayer funding, they do not deserve it, due to their shoddy treatment of families struggling to pay their mortgages and neglect of foreclosed properties which leaders argue contributes to increased blight.

With renewed focus on local and winnable immigration reforms, Dallas Area Interfaith leaders are lending its significant muscle to a push for water breaks for construction workers and enforcement of wage theft laws.

After DAI briefed the Dallas City Council on the need for a rest break ordinance to protect the health of construction workers, the Council took the step of charging the Economic Development Committee to work with stakeholders to craft an ordinance.

Leaders simultaneously initiated a wage theft enforcement strategy with Representative Robert Alonzo, the County Sheriff’s office, County DA and Dallas Police in August, resulting in a commitment to enforce wage theft laws.  DAI is set to provide the District Attorney and police with cases to prosecute and leaders are additionally developing a civic academy strategy to educate victims and perpetrators of wage theft.

[Photo Credit: Workers Defense Project - Dallas]