The Episcopal Ecological Network (EpEN)

Economic Justice for and with Lower Income People

Proposed Resolution for the
76^th General Convention of the Episcopal Church, USA, July 2009

Resolution C035: Economic Justice for and with Lower Income People

Resolved, the House of ___________ concurring, That the 76^th General Convention affirm and adopt the following as the policy and program for Economic Justice of The Episcopal Church during the next six years:

• Each Episcopal congregation shall know where the marginalized of their community live and work, shall have a relationship with one or more poor families in their community, knowing people by their names, and shall form a local partnership with an agency that is working with low income people.
• Episcopal congregations shall continue to engage in the traditional acts of mercy in which many congregations and Jubilee Centers participate: food pantries, clothes closets, soup kitchens, homeless shelters, and other opportunities for low income people.
• The Episcopal Church, its dioceses and congregations shall continue advocacy by the Church and its congregations (in concert with the Episcopal Public Policy Network) for legislation which provides adequate levels of support and opportunities for low income people.
• The Episcopal dioceses and congregations shall promote and participate in church-based community organizing whereby people of the local community exercise the power of numbers and conviction to bring their needs to the attention and effective action of elected officials and governmental bodies.
• The Episcopal Church, its dioceses and its congregations shall support and participate in various models through which low income people and their co-workers can take control of their own lives and meet their own needs: models like community development corporations, housing corporations and co-ops, and small business development.
• The Episcopal Church at every level shall be encouraged to make loans and deposits at a level of one to ten percent of its financial assets to community development financial institutions (community loan funds, community development banks and credit unions, and micro-loan business funds) to support local community development, and, where helpful and necessary, to create such a financial institution themselves.
• The Episcopal Church shall develop at the national level a community development loan fund which is open to deposits from Episcopal dioceses, congregations, organizations, and members with a goal of becoming a $24 million fund that will support the "community-controlled economic development programs of the disadvantaged"(quoted from the Economic Justice Resolution of the 1988 General Convention).
• The Episcopal Church at the national level shall fund the Episcopal Network for Economic Justice at a level of $100,000 per year for the coming triennium so that it can continue and increase its mission of supporting and assisting economic justice work at every level of the Church;

and be it further

Resolved, That the General Convention request the Joint Standing Committee on Program, Budget and Finance to consider a budget allocation of $300,000 for the implementation of this resolution.

Proposer: Diocese of Los Angeles

This resolution did not pass.

The EpEN is a national network of active lay and clergy persons within the Episcopal Church, USA, who share a common concern for the environment and a common belief in the presence of God in all Creation and who work to make these concerns and beliefs known throughout all Provinces and Dioceses within the church. Members come from around the Episcopal Church USA. The activities of the EpEN are focused on the areas of Reflection, Education, and Action. 

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