PCIC Stands with Bus Riders Union at City Hall & Wins
PCIC clergy and leaders piled into City Hall to deliver a letter signed by 50 clergy requesting that the City not raise fares for low-income bus riders. The City Manager had proposed that Tucson double the fares of low-income people in addition to increasing all fares across the board. Bus riders and PCIC leaders filled the room while 60 listened from outside...
Concrete Example of Religious Leaders Standing Up for the Poor, Voces de Casa Maria
Tucson Drops Plan to Raise Bus Fares, Arizona Daily Star
Yesterday Clergy and PCIC Leaders Stood With Bus Riders at City Hall, PCIC
Photos of PCIC in action, PCIC Facebook Album
April 21, 2014
JobPath Designed as Bridge Out of Poverty
"About 20 years ago, hoping to encourage citizens to become active in the community, members of the religious institutions of the Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC), spent a Sunday afternoon knocking on 10,000 doors, asking residents for their specific concerns..."
PCIC leaders heard the stories of families, researched ways to address the need for good-paying jobs and created JobPath to provide financially-assisted education, hands-on guidance during the academic career and assistance with job placement upon graduation.
Fast forward to the present and Jobpath now "takes students making $7,000 without benefits and catapults them into $40,000-a-year positions with full benefits." JobPath is one of 10 West / Southwest IAF labor market intermediaries transforming local labor markets and improving peoples' lives.
Brad Stoup & Alice Weekly: For 15 Years, JobPath Has Been a Bridge Out of Poverty, Arizona Daily Star
April 16, 2014
PCIC Out-Organizes Opposition: Makes County "Immigrant Welcoming"
Even with a Board that included a Supervisor elected by the Tea Party, PCIC leaders leveraged a unanimous vote (5-0) in support of a resolution making Pima an "immigrant welcoming county."
Bud Foster of KOLD-TV reports that half the speakers were against the resolution. However, he notes, "the opponents were not organized like the supporters were. Most of this crowd ere from the Pima County Interfaith Council." In photo, PCIC leaders pre-meet before filing into the boardroom. Fr. Tom Tureman of Most Holy Trinity Catholic Church and Rev. Randy Mayer of Good Shepherd of United Church of Christ spoke on behalf of the organization.
Over the last year, leaders of the Pima County Interfaith Council (PCIC) crafted the resolution, taking into account the concerns of their institutional base and those of Supervisors. This is part of a state-wide strategy to demonstrate a constituency in Arizona that supports federal immigration reform.
County Officially Adopts "Immigrant-Welcoming" Designation, Arizona Daily Star
Pima County Becomes Immigrant Welcoming Community, KOLD-TV
PCIC Photo Gallery
February 12, 2014
PCIC Calls on AZ Corporate Commission to Approve Electricity Plan
"Existing programs that save Tucson Electric Power customers money on their energy bills will be cut significantly. That's the bottom line reached at the end of the March 16 Arizona Corporation Commission public hearing....
The story: TEP must meet the Arizona Energy Efficiency Standards unanimously adopted by the ACC and overwhelmingly supported by small businesses, organizational leaders and citizens throughout Arizona."
ACC Should Stop Stalling and Approve TEP Energy-Efficiency Plan, Arizona Daily Star
March 16, 2012