Last week 10 churches, community groups and schools from Aurora attended the first meet-and-greet of the Faith and Justice Alliance for the Homeless, a new group mobilized by CCH’s Statewide Network.
The Faith and Justice Alliance seeks to impact root causes of homelessness in Aurora through education and advocacy.
The group is organized by Jim Picchetti, organizer of CCH’s 9-city Statewide Network, and Barb Thurlby, director of volunteers at Aurora’s Hesed House, an emergency and transitional homeless shelter. Since May, they’ve met monthly with members of Holy Spirit Catholic Community and Our Lady of Good Counsel to organize the new alliance.
As one of its first initiatives, the group plans to collect 1,000 letters of support at local churches, schools, and civic groups urging Gov. Pat Quinn to restore $3 million in state grants from program serving homeless students. Last school year, 51,638 homeless students were identified in Illinois. Outside of Chicago, Aurora’s Kane County has the state’s fifth largest enrollment of homeless students, 694.
Participating in the Nov. 12 Alliance meeting were:
Calvary Episcopal Church Batavia
Alpha Missionary Baptist Church
Calvary Church of Naperville
Our Lady of Good Counsel
Holy Spirit Catholic Community Church
St. Charles Episcopal Church
Chicago Church of Christ
St. Katherine Drexel & LaSalle Manor Retreat Center
Knights of Columbus
Oswego East High School
To join or get more information on the Faith and Justice Alliance for the Homeless, contact Jim Picchetti at (312) 641-4140 ext. 234 or jpicchetti@chicagohomeless.org