WASHINGTON (RNS) Clergy and activists from 30 states are pushing for federal stimulus funds to be used for public transit projects that are primarily used by minorities, women and the poor.
“I believe we have a command, a mission, from each other and from God, to take advantage of this moment, to create a new reality in our nation where no one’s left behind,” said the Rev. Paul Slack, pastor of New Creation Church in Brooklyn Park, Minn., and a community activist, at a conference here Tuesday (March 10).
The conference, sponsored by the St. Louis-based Transportation Equity Network, called for stimulus funds to be directed toward projects in economically distressed areas to provide jobs and needed funds for public transit.
Lee Gaddies, a member of the MOSES Transportation Taskforce in Southeastern Michigan and co-chair of the conference, said cutbacks in local transit budgets can isolate poor residents from jobs. Gaddies said two-thirds of public transit users earn low incomes, and 55 percent are minorities.
Organizers urged Washington to copy a hiring model used in Missouri that directs 30 percent of transit-related projects to poor people, minorities or women.
Diverse workforces help better represent the users of transit systems, said Julie Cunningham, president of the Conference of Minority Transportation Officials.
The Rev. Michael Brooks, pastor of the Zion Grove Baptist Church in Kansas City, Mo., and the co-chair of the Clergy Caucus for the Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity, said people of faith can help advocate for the voiceless.
“We’ve got to keep shedding light in those dark places,” Brooks said. “We’ve got to be honest with ourselves and talk about the fact that it is racism; it is sexism.”
