Interfaith group voices civic needs - Oakland Tribune

SOME believe only an act of God can get Democrats and Republicansto join forces these days.

From Daly City to Sunnyvale, 28 congregations are working on it.

Peninsula Interfaith Action, a network of faith-basedorganizations, unites Baptists, Catholics, Episcopalians, Jews andothers to lobby for affordable housing, health insurance and otherissues affecting low-income families.

'We're nonpartisan; we'll work with any government officialinterested in our issues,' said Dan Packard, PIA community organizer.'There's support on both sides of the aisle for creating newhomeownership opportunities and expanding health care for children.'

PIA also participates in statewide and national campaigns throughits parent organization, the Pacific Institute for CommunityOrganizing. Last month, 3,000 members packed a Sacramento meeting todemand health coverage for every California child, regardless ofimmigration status.

On Monday, the Rev. Jim Keck, of the Congregational Church of SanMateo, and eight other PIA representatives will meet in Washington,D.C., with 300 PICO clergy and community leaders. Together, theyspeak for

1 million families in 15 states -- and they plan to make thosevoices heard on Capitol Hill.

'This is not some inappropriate mixing of religion and politics,'Keck said. 'This is about the wholeness and health of the entirecommunity of God.'

Addressing his parish Sunday morning, he preached: 'A nation canbe judged by how well it attends to its weakest, most vulnerablemembers. A nation that doesn't is no nation. It's just a land of dog-eating dogs.'

Faith-based outreach

Although PIA is a faith-based organization, not every memberbelongs to a church, mosque, synagogue or temple.

Burlingame realtor Karyl Eldridge got involved five years agothrough her desire to 'help ordinary people dealing with skyrocketinghome prices.' She participates in PIA activities through theCongregational Church of San Mateo because that's where her friendsworship, but she is not a church-goer.

'I'm not part of an organized religion, but I share a lot of thefaith perspectives, about the fact that we're all in this together,along with the basic belief in the dignity of all human beings,' shesaid.

PIA's message may be non-sectarian, but leaders insist there arepractical reasons to empower communities of faith, rather thansecular places also affected by gaps in housing and health care, suchas schools and hospitals.

'People in my church who have come from Mexico don't trustprograms in the U.S.,' said Irais Bazan, community health advocatewith the Ravenswood Family Health Center, a nonprofit clinic in EastPalo Alto. 'They think they're going to get in trouble. When you talkto them at church, they have more trust. They know I wouldn't lie tothem.'

Alvin Spencer, an East Palo Alto community organizer with PIA,adamantly agrees.

'There's a fear factor with a lot of the issues we fight for,' hesaid. 'Through PIA, in their churches, we get people to open up.'

Saving themselves

In addition to their moral and ethical values, congregationleaders also have another motive for working with PIA: self-preservation.

'A lot of churches are losing members because they couldn't affordto stay in the community,' Spencer said. 'Families are beingseparated, their faith ties have been broken. People who are thesouls of the community are finding themselves outpriced. It weakensthe church.'

Spencer's church, Faith Missionary Baptist, helped his family findan affordable home in East Palo Alto five years ago. Others have notbeen so lucky.

'That really hurts me, to see people who I pray with -- trying tomake this community better -- not afford to live in this communityanymore,' he said. 'People who live here who have faith values and adesire to live here are being forced out.'

Since forming in 1997, PIA's accomplishments range from informingfamilies about San Mateo County's health insurance coverage for allchildren, to lobbying city officials to protect and expand affordablehousing.

Packard hopes to recruit more congregations to PIA's roster thisyear. Cultural and language barriers have made it difficult toinclude the Pacific Islander community, which is now a PIA priority,he said.

Rather than expand across the county, Packard thinks PIA's effortsare better spent adding more congregations in the existing cities,representing a range of faiths.

'We don't want to be a mile wide and an inch deep,' he said. 'Wewant to have a strong local base so we can do things like prayervigils in East Palo Alto for a supermarket.'

National stage

From May 23 to May 25, the PICO National Network will meet withcongressional representatives to secure bipartisan support onhomeownership opportunities for working people and health coveragefor children.

Before joining PICO in Washington, D.C., PIA leaders will discussthe national policies that most concern San Mateo and Santa Claracounty residents at 7 p.m. tonight at Faith Missionary BaptistChurch, 835 Runnymede St., East Palo Alto.

For more information, call (650) 592-9181 or visitwww.piapico.org.

Staff writer Nicole Neroulias can be reached at (650) 306-2427 ornneroulias@sanmateocountytimes.com.