RI faith leaders urge legislative action against poverty
PROVIDENCE − Standing at a lectern in the rotunda of the cavernous State House, the archdeacon of the Episcopal Diocese of Rhode Island repeated a question she'd asked a second-grade class assigned a project on how to help the less fortunate.
"How can we make this better?"
"Their minds were spinning, of course ... 'Let's sell lemonade. Let's have a car wash. ... All the money we make, we'll give it to those who need it'."
"I love second-graders," said Archdeacon Grace Swinski, before winding back to the central theme of her keynote speech at the 15th annual vigil by the RI Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty at the State House, in the opening days of each legislative session.
"We need to help any way we can ... the people who were until recently sleeping in the front of this building because of the lack of shelters and affordable housing in this state," she said.
"The people who [have] been going hungry ... The people who do not have insurance or enough resources for mental-health services ... The people who have come here from other countries to make Rhode Island their home and to keep their families safe are not able to find adequate housing, job training and a realistic and affordable pathway to citizenship."
"Here is the $610-million budget surplus question − how can all these people be best served?"
Wednesday's vigil was a chance for the Interfaith Coalition to draw attention to its 2023 legislative priorities, including "immigrants rights ... a more just tax structure to build revenue for needed programs and services ... [and] more low-income housing and [protections] from evictions and utility cutoffs." And more.
"Amen, amen" rang out from the crowd of spiritual leaders and poverty-fighters gathered at the State House for the annual start-of-session reminder to top state officials and legislators − who were named one at a time − of the responsibility they carry to help the most unfortunate.
Many carried signs that said: "The war on the poor is immoral" and "A poverty wage is violence."
"Can we be real for a second?" Rabbi Barry Dolinger of the Congregation Beth Sholom asked those gathered.
"There are a lot of powerful groups who have ... lobbyists, and those people, all the other days of the year, receive a very open welcome. Their wishes get prioritized and everyone else's dreams and ambitions are uphill battles to fight for for years."
Recalling the 500-plus people believed to be living unhoused in Rhode Island during the early weeks of December, all the children in "inadequate schools [with] toxic settings and absent teachers, you are their lobbyists."
"All the mothers who can't afford to take [time off] to care for their children. ... And the list goes on," he said. "You are their lobbyist."
"So often we are weak and judge negatively those people in need, blaming them for circumstances that are really the result of systems that benefit all of us ... So let us bless these legislators who have pure hearts and holy souls to welcome you, the ultimate lobbyist ... to Capitol Hill."
Several dozen people took part in the event, which began with welcoming remarks by Lt. Gov. Sabina Matos and the majority leaders in the House and Senate, Christopher Blazejewski, D-Providence, and Ryan Pearson, D-Cumberland.
Matos promised to "redouble my commitment to building affordable housing" and put her weight behind a reintroduced version of a "Fair Chance in Housing Act ... to give people, a second chance ... no matter their past."
The legislation introduced by Rep. June Speakman, D-Warren, sought to limit the use of criminal records and credit reports in denying housing to applicants, spelled out fines for failure to comply and required that notice of denials be sent to the prospective tenants, including "a copy of all information that the housing provider relied upon in considering the applicant, including criminal records."
In his turn at the microphone, Blazejewski voiced his own commitment to helping the "most vulnerable in our society," promoting and "making sure that people have the education that they need at an early stage."
"That's an important role the state plays and we take that very seriously," Blazejewski said.
Pearson said lawmakers' first job this year is to look back at what they set in motion last session "and then figure out our path going forward ... so we are on a path to a $15-an-hour minimum age. We have expanded assistance for child care [for] working families ... and we've made historic investments in housing ... and we are looking forward to having those units built."
This article originally appeared on The Providence Journal: Faith leaders urge legislative action against poverty
