Missouri Faith Voices is organized into chapters. Local chapters are responsible for discerning the root causes of pain in their communities and engaging a multi-faith, multi-racial coalition of congregations in their work.
Chapters across the state bring their relationships and power together to address statewide issues as Missouri Faith Voices
Columbia,MO
Faith Voices of Columbia, in response to our common calling to love our neighbors, works to foster interfaith cooperation to address the root causes of injustice in our community and to advance racial equity and economic dignity.
Faith Voices of Columbia is a multi-faith effort that:
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Promotes relationships of understanding, cooperation, and respect across religious and political divides;
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Fosters a sense of connection and common concern among Columbia’s people of faith;
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Develops the capacity of our congregations to jointly respond to moral issues;
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Helps people of faith live out their values more fully;
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Engages in compassionate action for the fair and equal treatment of all persons
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Gives voice with those who are being forgotten by our society.
Faith Voices of Columbia works through congregations, a clergy table, and specific teams of clergy and lay leaders to address the roots causes of pain in our community and build a powerful moral narrative that puts the issues of dignity and racial equity at the center of public life.
Our Clergy Table meets every first Thursday 11:30a-1:30p.
Our current teams are:
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Poverty
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Predatory Lending
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Sanctuary Network
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Policing
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Healthcare
Why We Organize
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In 2013, the median household income in Ward 1 of Columbia was $18,838– 44% of the median household income in Columbia overall. This level of inequality is immoral.
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According to the 2011-2015 American Community Survey, the poverty rate in Columbia is 24.9%, higher than the average poverty rate in Missouri of 15.6%.
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34.2% of African-Americans in Columbia live in poverty.
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The poverty level wage for an adult with 2 children in Columbia is $9.69/hour–the living wage according to MIT is $24.64/hour.
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In 2016, 45% of students in Columbia Public Schools are on free or reduced lunch.
Jefferson City ,MO
Faith Voices for Jefferson City is a grassroots faith-based organization formed to improve the quality of life in Jefferson City and throughout Missouri. Our Vision for Jefferson City and beyond is for economic dignity, racial equality, fair access to opportunities and inter-faith cooperation for all. We seek to work toward this vision through prophetic voice, faith community cooperation, leadership development, issue education and collective action to positively impact life in Jefferson City and our State.
Our core values include:
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Transformation – the need for people of faith to lead in the overcoming of barriers and the transformation of unjust systems within our society.
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Diversity – the belief that everyone has a story and that all stories have value within our racial, ethnic, religious and economic diversity.
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Community – the conviction that our faith can bring us together rather than divide us, and the belief that our varied faith traditions inform and inspire us to make our community a better place to live.
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Common Good – the importance of working together through government, business, faith communities and non-profits to improve society.
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Respect – a commitment to respect all others, listening to one another as we share our concerns and learn from one another.
We seek to live out these core values through discovering, developing and directing the power of people of faith to build a better quality of life in Jefferson City and beyond. We are a cooperative, interfaith, non-partisan organization seeking to transform our community by confronting the systemic barriers that keep working families, the poor, those with disabilities and others from reaching their full God-given potential.
Southwest,MO
Faith Voices Southwest Missouri is a grassroots faith-based organization formed to improve the quality of life in the Springfield area and throughout Missouri. Our Vision for Springfield and beyond is for economic dignity, racial equality, fair access to opportunities and inter-faith cooperation for all. We seek to work toward this vision through prophetic voice, faith community cooperation, leadership development, issue education and collective action to positively impact life in Springfield and our State.
Why We Organize
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http://www.ozarksfirst.com/news/missourians-protest-health-care-vote/707014745
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In 2015 Springfield was designated by the Department of Housing and Urban Development as a severe fiscal distress city. Springfield is the only metro area in the state with that designation, outpacing Kansas City, St. Louis and the other five metro areas.
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The average hourly wage in Springfield is 20 percent below the national average: https://www.bls.gov/regions/mountainplains/newsrelease/occupationalemploymentandwages_springfieldmo.htm
Springfield’s free and reduced lunch rate is 55 percent. In many neighborhoods, it is 80 percent: https://www.springfieldmo.gov/DocumentCenter/Home/View/17056
St. Louis,MO
The 2014 police killing of Michael Brown, Jr. an unarmed black teenager in Ferguson illuminated the racial disparities that have been the cornerstone of life in Missouri since the Missouri Compromise allowed the State to be admitted to the Union as a slave state in 1821.
In addition to St. Louis City the Greater St. Louis area includes 90 other municipalities that comprise St. Louis County.
The Report of the Ferguson Commission highlights many of those disparities.
The report includes the following statistics that inform our mission to work toward racial justice:
Between 2003 and 2012 the number of residents in St. Louis County living below the poverty line has increased by 53%.
In 2012 17% of children in St. Louis County lived below the poverty line and 41% of all children in St. Louis City lived below the poverty line.
The Commission also cites evidence of the effects that racial disparities have on life expectancy. Using statistics from a report compiled by Washington University professor Jason Purnell,For The Sake of All” it it compares life in a predominantly Black zipcode in St. Louis City, 63106 with life in a predominantly white zipcode 10 miles away in 63105 located in the City of Clayton located in St. Louis County.
Life expectancy in the City zipcode is age 67 compared to age 85 in Clayton.
Why We Organize
The August 9, 2014 killing of Michael Brown, an unarmed teenager in Ferguson, MO a municipality a couple of miles outside of St. Louis City illuminated the historic racial inequities that have been the fiber of life in Missouri since its inception as a slave state. In addition to St. Louis City the St. Louis metro area is comprised of 90 municipalities.
The Movement that was rebirthed in the streets of Ferguson led to discovery of how the municipal court system was steeped in racist practices and targeted African Americans.
In the same fashion using information lcited in For the Sake of All, The Ferguson Commission Report cites life disparities between residents of St. Louis City in the 63105 zip code and residents of St. Louis County in the 63105 zip code. In the inner city zip code the average life expectancy is age 67 and in the suburban zip code it’s 85.
The Ferguson Report provides the following statistics.
Between 2000 and 2013 federal poverty line in St. Louis’ suburbs grew by 53 percent (The Met Center, 2015).
In 2012, 17.8 percent of all children in St. Louis County and 41.7 percent of all children in St. Louis city lived below the poverty line (Anne E. Cayce Foundation).
Kansas City, MO
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