The Cooperative Baptist Fellowship (CBF) enters the courts to advance its predatory lending advocacy. Founded in 1991, CBF recently “….requested to join litigation to defend…” the most recent payday lending rule that the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) issued in October 2017. The litigation request responds to two payday lending associations suit against the CFPB. […]
Ecumenical Poverty Initiative Joins Local and National Organizations to Oppose Tax Cuts, “Round 2”
Ecumenical Poverty Initiative and a diverse coalition of state and national organizations join Americans for Tax Fairness opposing the most recent tax cut proposal. The proposed cuts equal $2.8 trillion dollars over the next ten years. We oppose these cuts because they reward wealthy persons and large corporations at the expense of low income and […]
EPI Endorses the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival
Ecumenical Poverty Initiative is proud to announce that we have endorsed the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. In state capitols and Washington, D.C., policies that promote systemic racism, poverty, the war economy, and ecological devastation are threatening our democracy and decaying our national morality. We refuse to be silent in the face […]
Committing to the Common Good: The Faith Community’s Role in Addressing Predatory Lending
This article has been adapted from a reflection by Reverend Ebony Grisom at a Faith for Just Lending convening in January. Faith for Just Lending is a national coalition of faith-based institutions working to end predatory payday lending. Learn more about how predatory payday lending harms families and communities here. I’ve been reading Nehemiah for the past […]
EPI Joins Circle of Protection in Opposing Proposed Federal Budget
Washington, D.C., June 21, 2017–Christian leaders from across the theological and political spectrum, including Ecumenical Poverty Initiative Director Rev. Dr. Leslie Copeland-Tune, today expressed opposition to federal budget cuts that would harm people living in hunger and poverty. Their statement represents the first broad-based, ecumenical response to the ongoing budget debates since the inauguration of President […]
EPI Opposes American Health Care Act
Washington, D.C., March 21, 2017 — The Ecumenical Poverty Initiative has released a statement opposing the American Health Care Act noting the devastating impact the bill, as written, would have on the poor and most vulnerable in our nation. The AHCA, which would replace the Affordable Care Act, eliminates the Medicaid expansion, ends the […]
EPI and Other Christian Groups Release Statement on President-Elect Trump’s Policy Agenda and Nominees
The Ecumenical Poverty Initiative joined the National Council of Churches USA, Conference of National Black Churches and Samuel DeWitt Proctor Conference in urging President-Elect Donald Trump to, “to take seriously his responsibility to bring our nation together and to heed the oath he will take to preserve, protect and defend America.” According to the statement, […]
Post-Election Statement
The Ecumenical Poverty Initiative is dedicated to fight for justice for those who are the most economically disadvantaged and vulnerable in our nation. The results of the 2016 election are a reminder of the work that lies ahead for us as we endeavor to end the scandal of poverty in the United States, particularly the […]
A Hope-Filled Prayer for the Poor on the Eve of Election Day 2016
Offered by Rev. Dr. Leslie Copeland-Tune, EPI Director Gracious and Merciful God, Our Creator, Sustainer and Redeemer, On this eve of Election Day in the United States, we lift up those living in poverty before You for whom the outcome of this election will make a real difference. So often those living in poverty are treated […]
Faith Leaders Urge CFPB to Strengthen Final Rule Against Predatory Lending
The Ecumenical Poverty Initiative (EPI) was joined by more than 20 faith partners from national denominations, state ecumenical bodies and individual faith and church leaders, representing millions of Christians in the U.S., to urge the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to issue a strong rule against the predatory practices of payday and auto title lenders. Predatory lenders use […]
