Welcome! Thank you for visiting our website! Ecumenical Poverty Initiative educates, trains, and mobilizes the faith community to speak and act to end the scandal of poverty in the United States, and advocates on Capitol Hill. This is a monumental task, and we do it with faithful partners like you.

The United State of America enjoys tremendous wealth, yet millions of people live in poverty. The 2016 Census records the official poverty rate as 12.7%. That percentage represents approximately 43.1 million persons. Meanwhile, the poverty rate climbs to 14% when using the supplemental poverty measure. Nearly 41 million people live below the federal poverty line. These numbers increase when we consider the number of persons who live “paycheck-to-paycheck”. EPI is an endorsing partner of the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival, whose extensive poverty analysis found that 140 million people are either poor or low-income. As Christians, we cannot sit idly and accept these statistics while predatory polices leave our brothers and sisters languishing in one of the richest nations in the world. Scripture calls us to care for “the least of these” (Matthew 25:35-40), defend the rights of the poor and needy (Proverbs 31:9), and to seek justice (Isaiah 1:17). Systemic poverty, racism, and other oppressions impede human flourishing. EPI works while we pray for a more equitable society for all of God’s Children. We believe that our work to end poverty is ministry in the public square that empowers our partners to advocate, and agitate, for justice.

Ecumenical Poverty Initiative’s partners include denominations and state councils of churches. We work with individual churches, clergy, faith-based organizations, and people of faith across the country to fulfill our call to care for the poor, the sick, the vulnerable, and those relegated to the margins of the halls of power. Our coalition partners include community and interfaith partners who share our mandate to end poverty. We welcome the opportunity to discuss ways that we could work together towards this common good. Find out more about how you can support our efforts here. Please send us any questions, comments, or invite us into your fight against poverty. You can reach us at info@faithendpoverty.org. Follow us on Facebook and Twitter at @faithendpoverty. We look forward to hearing from you.

Grace and Peace,
Rev. Ebony J. Grisom