Covenant to Overcome Poverty

The persistence of widespread poverty in our midst is morally unacceptable. Just as some of our religious forbears decided to no longer accept slavery or segregation, we decide to no longer accept poverty and its disproportionate impact on people of color. In the biblical tradition, we covenant together in a Call to Renewal. By entering this Covenant, we commit ourselves to:

1. Prioritize people who are poor—both in our personal, family, and vocational lives and in our congregational and organizational practices—through prayer and dedication of our time and resources.

2. Decide our financial choices in ways that promote economic opportunity and justice for those in poverty.

3. Evaluate public policies and political candidates by how they impact people who are poor.

4. Challenge racism, dismantle the structures of racial injustice and white privilege still present, and seek reconciliation among all groups in our society.

5. Nurture the bonds of family and community and protect the dignity of each person.

6. Organize across barriers of race, denomination, and social boundaries in common commitment and action to overcome poverty in our own communities, our nation, and our world.

Your signature shows you endorse the Call to Renewal’s Covenant to Overcome Poverty and are willing to put your faith into action. Call to Renewal hopes to enlist a million signers—people of faith who want to put poverty on the national agenda.

Please ask your friends, family members, and coworkers to join with you in signing this Covenant. Get their signatures and information, then fax or mail the completed form to us. For more copies, photocopy this blank form or contact us.

Signature Name (print) Street Address E-mail Address