Episcopal Church report addresses U.S. poverty with model for development initiatives

A groundbreaking report released on March 12 calls on The Episcopal Church to address the issues and concerns of the poor in the United States, focusing initially on the needs of Native American communities through its proposed "Model for Domestic Poverty Alleviation."

The report, titled Faith in the Balance: A Call to Action, is based on the outcomes of the 2008 Presiding Bishop's Summit on Domestic Poverty. The innovative model outlined in the report will work in tandem with the Episcopal Church's global poverty initiatives of the United Nations Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).

"The Episcopal Church focus on the Millennium Development Goals has raised consciousness in our own faith communities and the broader culture about the need to address abject poverty in developing nations," explained Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori. "This work has increased mission fervor and deepened spirituality. We need to bring the same passion, organization, and accountability to our work on domestic poverty – in the poorest regions of the United States. Social statistics and the conditions of life are quite similar in the poorest areas, both in the U.S. and abroad, but the MDGs are addressed solely to poverty in the developing world. We need to use both lenses (international and domestic; distance and near vision) to see the least among us and around us."

http://www.episcopal-life.org/79901_105850_ENG_HTM.htm