This past Wednesday our Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty in Rhode Island gathered for our 6th Annual "Fighting Poverty With Faith" Conference.  A clear consensus among us all, clarified and beautifully expressed by our keynote speaker, Sister Simone Campbell of "Nuns on the Bus", is that wishing, complaining, even sermonizing isn't enough.  We must act.

In that spirit, I bring you two resources.  The first is an introduction to being a proactive citizen:  how to communicate with your elected leaders to tell them what you want them to vote for.  The second is a link to the legislative agenda set by the Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty in Rhode Island.  We hope very much that you will use these materials to convey your concern for Rhode Island's most vulnerable residents and encourage our elected officials to fulfill their responsibilities as the elected officials of all Rhode Islanders.

1: Familiarize yourself with the bills being proposed in the General Assembly (The Rhode Island State Senate and the Rhode Island House of Representatives.  Look below for an introduction to the issues and legislation of highest priority this year to the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty

2: Decide whether you want to a> phone your legislators, b> send a letter to your legislators, c> send an e-mail to your legislators.  We recommend you contact your State Senator and Representatives and the President of the Senate and the Speaker of the House.  Click here to find out who all those people are and how to contact them.

3: Relax!  You don’t have to be an expert on these bills in order to voice your opinion (there are experts on these bills working in the Coalition and in our related organizations who know the issues in depth.  Click here for links to their websites).  You are a tax-paying, vote-bearing citizen voicing your opinion.  Yours is the most important voice.

4: Make those calls!  Send those letters!  Send those e-mails!  All you need to say is: 

1. I am a constituent of yours.
   
2. I am contacting you to tell you that I am in favor of the [fill in the name of the bill, not the number!].
   
3. Thank you for your service and thank you for taking this communication into account as you decide how to vote.
   
4. If you want more information on this legislation, please contact the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty. (www.endpovertyri.org)

I was listening to a TED talk recently, given by Facebook CEO Sheryl Sandberg.  You may have heard about her book about women in leadership, Lean In and about her "Ban Bossy" campaign.  No small wonder that I'm interested in the leadership philosophy and wisdom of a successful female leader....  One of the points Ms. Sandberg makes is that men have no problem giving themselves credit for their success and that women are much more self-deprecating.  A man's message might be:  "Yes, I'm great and I accomplished this task."  A woman's message might be: "Yes, we did great work together to accomplish this task."  The difference might not be in the actual work of leadership exercised by the male or female leader, but in the way each leader describes, and ascribes, his or her success.

All of this was still percolating in my mind as I tracked, with great interest, President Barack Obama's visit to Pope Francis this week.   This visit was of particular interest to me because I have such deep admiration for Pope Francis.  I share the same points of disagreement with the pontiff that President Obama has expressed: contraception, abortion and the consequences of these policies as they affect the health care options of employees of the Catholic Church in the United States.  But there are so many ways in which I admire Pope Francis:  There seems to be no factoring of political (even church-related political) consequences when Pope Francis speaks.  He speaks out, and follows through with his actions, because there are truths that need to be aired.  His humility is inspiring because it is integral to his being.  There is no other way for him to be.

President Obama gave an interview on CBS after his visit with the pope.  Commenting on the experience of standing in Pope Francis' presence, President Obama observed:  "...nothing is more powerful than someone who lives out his convictions."  This was a perceptive remark that I appreciate very much, for I, too, hold deep respect for those who move through this world guided humbly by their ideological convictions.  And I find that the most powerfully impressive people are the most soft-spoken and yes, Sheryl Sandberg, the most self-deprecating.  The message that reaches the deepest into the consciousnesses of those around us is: "it's not about me."

Perhaps President Obama and Pope Francis are admirably in touch with their feminine sides . . . but I find myself drawn to the leadership of those who are guided by that which is greater than human scope and who have the strength and self-confidence to acknowledge that our greatest attainments are never reached in a vacuum of our own effort and vision.

I am impressed by another quality shared by President Obama and Pope Francis, which was also shared by Nelson Mandela.  I wrote about Mr. Mandela a few months ago and remarked on his extraordinary capacity to focus on the qualities of the human being and the nuances of the issue before him without pre-judgment or bias.  I had a sense of the exercise of humility and perspective at work in the meeting between President Obama and Pope Francis:  the whole world knew about every issue on which these leaders disagree, substantive issues.  And yet, both leaders seemed to approach the opportunity of their discourse not to convince the other of the error of his ways, but rather to explore the possibilities of advancing their shared visions and goals.  

I don't think that the words "humility" and "leadership" are often appear in combination . . . except, perhaps, as conflicting dynamics.   That is definitely worth re-thinking.  I'm all for "leaning in" when the opportunity arises to take on a substantive leadership task...as long as that opportunity is embraced with humility.  That leads us to powerful leadership.

January 8th 2014:  100 Rhode Island faith leaders and social justice activists gathered in the rotunda of the State house.  The Co-Chair of the Rhode Island Interfaith Coalition to Reduce Poverty, Maxine Richman, connected our contemporary efforts with those of President Johnson 50 years ago to the day:  
"The Food stamp Act, Head Start, Medicare, Medicaid, Community Action programs, VISTA and  The Job Corps  were some of the historic legislation  created as a response to the War on Poverty
With these important programs still in place today, our interfaith coalition asks:
How can it be that 50 years later, here in RI, 13.7% of our residents, 19.5% of our children  and 9.2% of our seniors live in poverty?
How can it be that nearly 180,00 Rhode Islanders  depend upon SNAP or food stamps to supplement their nourishment and that the General Assembly ‘s community grant to The RI Food bank has been reduced by half since 2008 ?
How can it be that 6000 people waited in line, some all through the night, to put their names on a waiting list for affordable housing in East Providence. and that it could take years before they would be called for an apartment?
How can it be that 370 Head Start slots in RI for low income preschoolers were cut due to the sequester, when early childhood education is imperative to help lift these children out of poverty?"

How can it be?  
As I read President Johnson's State of the Union Address and I contemplated the questions posed by Maxine Richman on behalf of our Rhode Island Coalition to Reduce Poverty, I was struck by the overlap between President Johnson's agenda and the legislative agenda advanced by our Coalition for the Rhode Island General Assembly's new legislative session:

President Johnson wrote of the pressing need for "better schools, better health, and better homes, and better training, and better job opportunities.  Our Coalition Legislative Agenda, circulated at the Statehouse this past Wednesday states:
All Rhode Islanders have a warm place to live, food on the table and adequate health care:

• Affordable Housing and Just Cause (eviction). (RI Coalition for the Homeless)
  
• State appropriate for the RI Food Bank  (RI Community Food Bank) 
  
• Affordable health insurance for seniors (Senior Agenda)
  

  If you work you should not be poor:

•  Increase the minimum wage and the state Earned Income Tax Credit (EPI)
  
•  Reform Pay Day lending (Pay Day Lending Coalition)
  
• Allow working parents who can’t afford child care to keep their child care assistance as  income rises. Provide child care assistance to parents who want to go to job training. (EPI and RI Kids Count)
  
• Allow parents with limited literacy and/or English language skills who receive RI Works cash assistance to gain the skills they need to be successful in the workforce by lifting the 6 month limit on work-readiness programs targeted to this population. (EPI and RI Kids Count)  
  

Education, healthcare, housing, job training . . . 50 years after President Johnson's declaration of war, these battlegrounds are still hotbeds of contention.  50 years after President Johnson's compassionate acknowledgement of Americans "living on the outskirts of hope"  we are still pulling together as faith communities united in the determination to instill hope.

The biblical book of Mishlei/Proverbs teaches:  "One who oppresses the poor disdains their Maker;
whoever is gracious to the needy honors God." (Proverbs 14:31)

This is a call to both compassion and action.  Perhaps 50 years is not long enough to win such a war . . . but we are not allowed to lose heart, for so many are depending on this war being won.  God-willing it won't take yet another 50 years.  For the honor of God, for the sake of our own humanity, let us advance on these battlefields, let us urge our legislators to move forward . . . . because it is the right thing to do.

Thanksgiving is a holiday almost everyone loves:  A day to gather family and friends, enjoy a turkey feast, watch a little football, relax . . . .  Thanksgiving is the great equalizer in America:  Jews and Christians and Muslims and Buddhists and the most secular among us all gather to count our blessings and appreciate the plenty so accessible to all of us.

Well . . . not all of us.    

On the eve of Thanksgiving, please read with care and take to heart the following article by Rabbi Steven Gutow of the Jewish Center for Public Affairs:

Huff Post Politics:  Americans Are Falling Off the Food Cliff -- We Can Stop the Pain
Posted: 11/16/2013 1:20 pm

This week, just days before Thanksgiving, lines at food banks will be growing. This is not unexpected. In fact, unbelievable as this may sound, this was scheduled. On November 1, 47 million Americans on SNAP (formerly food stamps) began receiving fewer benefits thanks to the expiration of funding from the 2009 stimulus. For a family of four, that reduction comes out to about $36 less for food for the month. Which brings us to this week; when those suddenly reduced grocery budgets begin to run out.

Congress saw this coming. We knew that even as food prices were increasing, working families, the unemployed, children, the disabled, and seniors would start to receive less assistance and problems with increased hunger in America would ensue. But not only were we allowed to go over the food cliff, Congress is actually debating even more cuts to SNAP. The Senate Farm Bill includes a $4.1 billion cut - almost equal to the $5 billion cut this month - and the House is making the Senate look like a humanitarian body by proposing a cut of $39 billion, eight times more devastating to the poor than the already problematic Senate proposal.

What made the fall from the food cliff even more painful is that we have been pushing our most vulnerable towards the edge for months. In March, the sequester went into effect, slashing nutrition assistance to low-income women and children, limiting the capacity of food banks, and cutting Meals on Wheels deliveries to homebound seniors. Not to mention cuts to Head Start and LIHEAP, the energy assistance program that had alleviated the need for families to choose between paying their heating bills and buying food. But that pain of the sequester was quickly forgotten because last month's government shutdown caused even more harm by diminishing these services even more. No doubt, 2013 has been a difficult year. And things are not looking better in 2014 as the next round of sequestration cuts goes into effect in January.

Bit by bit we are tearing holes in the fabric of our national human needs programs, and I fear the repercussions not only for those who need our assistance and protection, but for our nation. With one in seven Americans facing hunger, we went over the food cliff this month. Before that, the costs of disagreements that led to the government shutdown and sequestration were felt most by those with the least.

This week, as the food banks around the country work to meet the planned food cliff, we must acknowledge the choices we are making. Private charity is a noble but insufficient substitute. According to the New York City Coalition Against Hunger, the estimated dollar value of all food distributed by U.S. charities this year is $5 billion, the same amount as the cut that took effect this month.

However, we are still able to change our course. Instead of demonizing and punishing those who need support in this season of plenty and thanksgiving, let us unmask the face of hunger in the United States and dedicate ourselves to overcoming it. The truth is, over half of those who benefit from SNAP are children and seniors. For unemployed adults, SNAP serves as support to help them through difficult times with more than half of enrollees leaving the program within a year, most of whom are only on the program for 10 months or less. Instead of taking away food from those in need, we should strengthen this program which feeds families, helps children do well in school, and supports the most vulnerable.

With each cut, our country pushes more Americans down the food cliff. How long until we stop noticing the fall? This Thanksgiving, as many of us sit at our tables for an annual feast, more of our fellow Americans will have less to eat. With this stark reality we must choose a different path. Now is the opportunity. As they actively negotiate a Farm Bill, Members of Congress, acting on our behalf, should open their hearts and offer an outstretched hand to those who have fallen over the food cliff. Simply, there should be no more cuts to SNAP.

Rabbi Steve Gutow is the President of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs. For more information and updates, visit here and follow @theJCPA on Twitter.