Today's guest is Denise Collazo, chief of staff for Faith in Action, an American faith-based community working to reduce racial and economic inequality.

Facts

Denise Collazo has 25 years of experience in the US social justice field

She believes that this moment in our history requires that we all operate at maximum creativity. And that we all show up as our most courageous selves.

Faith in Action is a network consisting of 54 local and state federations in 21 U.S. states.

Together, the organizations in Faith in Action work with thousands of people of faith and moral courage

Faith in Action believes that despite our differences, we can become a new people

They work to reform immigration, the economy and the criminal justice system as part of the journey of becoming new people.

She’s convinced that two of the most important factors to unleashing our creativity are to create environments where people are free to speak their truth and they are free to take risks and fail. Often, women of color are not offered the psychological safety in male-dominated or White-dominated spaces to show up as their full selves.

In 2018, Denise led Faith in Action’s Together We Vote program which was the largest non-partisan, volunteer-led voter engagement program in the US.

During that election, FiA made structural changes in states across the country. These are aimed to increase wages, improve access to employment and make the justice system fairer. The drivers and strategists for the Together We Vote Program were women from communities across the country who invested time, talent and resources to reach out to people and encourage them to vote.

Faith in Action held over 829,000 conversations with voters of colour who are traditionally ignored by candidates and campaigns.

Quotes

"There's been a lot of backlash to the positive changes that came out of the 1960s. So now, in this country we're seeing almost like a pendulum swing the other direction. It's leading to things like food stamps being cut, basic healthcare services for senior citizens, pregnant moms."

"We just passed a major tax reform. [It's] designed to make everybody think 'great, my taxes are gonna go down'. But the truth is that for most middle-class folks, their taxes will go up. For the people of the very, very top, their taxes will go way, way down."

"We work across these racial differences, towards a common goal. And what we've seen is that we're much more powerful when we do that (...). When you're in close proximity with others, and you tell your story, and they empathetically hear your story, that's when relationships get built."

"Your voice matter. Your vote matters. we're here as volunteers. We're here as Faith in Action to encourage you, and give you all the tools that you might need to be able to participate."

Links

https://www.FaithInAction.org

https://www.facebook.com/FIAnational/

http://www.linkedin.com/in/denisecollazo

https://twitter.com/FIAnational/

https://www.instagram.com/FIAnational/