DAI Leverages $10 Million in County Coronavirus Relief for Housing Assistance and Small Business Aid
[Translated excerpt below]
"It's a good start", said Josephine López Paul, organizer with Dallas Area Interfaith, a nonprofit organization that helped create the County housing assistance program.
"It's a down payment towards a major issue in our county."
Ian Mattingly, president-elect of the Apartment Association of Greater Dallas, noted industry analyst estimates that 15% of county renters will not be able to pay rent this month.
[Photo Credit: Ashley Landis, Dallas Al Día]
Dallas County Will Launch Housing, Business Assistance Programs With $10 Million in Federal Money, Dallas Morning News
Dallas: Condado Aprueba $10 Millones Para Apoyar Vivienda y Pequeños Negocios, Dallas Al Día
DAI Zeroes In On Economic Impact of COVID-19 in North Texas
[Excerpt]
While health and government officials work to manage the outbreak, families are struggling to pay bills and buy groceries.
Josephine Lopez Paul, the lead organizer for the Dallas Area Interfaith, a coalition of nonprofits and religious organizations that advocates for low-income families, said local, state and federal policymakers need to spend this month thinking about how to reshape the economy.
Lopez Paul said she hopes officials find a way to mitigate debt families may build as they continue to stay unable to work.
“This is going to be a depression,” she said. “This is the fastest economic decline we’ve seen in modern history. We’re not going to flip a switch one day and everyone go back to work. Some folks are never going to be able to recover from this.”
[Photo Credit: Smiley N. Pool, Dallas Morning News]
April Will Be a Make-or-Break Month for North Texas in Coronavirus Fight, Dallas Morning News [pdf]
DAI & Texas IAF Successfully Push for Utility Relief
“With so much anxiety in the air over the coronavirus, these measures will free many of our brothers and sisters from additional anxieties over the basic necessities of life.” -- Gregory Kelly, Auxiliary Bishop of the Catholic Diocese of Dallas
Prior to and in the Texas Public Utilities Commission (PUC) meeting, Dallas Area Interfaith and Texas IAF clergy called on the PUC to create assistance programs and halt cutoffs for customers impacted by the economic and health impacts of the COVID-19 crisis. At the meeting the PUC voted to create the “COVID-19 Electricity Relief Program” providing financial assistance and halting service disconnections for low-income and unemployed customers in deregulated markets such as Dallas, Houston, and Round Rock
PUC Chair DeAnn T. Walker recognized the work of the Texas IAF organizations in advocating for families across the state.
6 million Texans live in the areas impact by the measures enacted by PUC. Texas IAF leaders plan to work with PUC to extend and potentially expand these protections and assistance programs as long as the COVID-19 crisis continues.
Texas Regulators Vote to Ban Residential Utility Shut-Offs During Pandemic While Buoying Companies, Texas Tribune [pdf]
Statement by Rev. Miles Brandon, St. Julian of Norwich Episcopal Church, Central TX Interfaith
Statement by Bryan Lopez, Assumption Catholic Church in Houston, TMO
Texas IAF Letter to the Public Utilities Commission
DAI Leaders Testify in Support of Transparent and Fair Redistricting
Dallas Area interfaith (DAI) leaders Debra Levy (Temple Shalom) and Deborah Smith (Christian Chapel CME) delivered essential citizen input to the Texas House of Representatives Redistricting Committee in order to promote fair and transparent redistricting in 2021.
Representing 40 institutions and 90,000 families, both leaders attested to specific ways current gerrymandering negatively impacts their communities and the democratic process. Deborah Levy testified that while her work in DAI centers around developing leadership capacity for civic engagement, without equal representation in her district, the barrier to impact the electoral process is artificially high. Leaders also argued that slicing up major metro areas into districts not only dilutes citizen representation, it makes negotiating common interests across multiple municipal and utility district lines more challenging.
