NCC's Partners in Ministry

Throughout its history, the National Council of Churches has fostered working relationships among its member denominations and in joint ventures with local and regional councils of churches and other ecumenical and interfaith organizations.

Now, as part of its 10-year mobilization to address the complex issue of poverty, the NCC is developing alliances with  foundations, think tanks and national non-profit organizations which have expressed interest in collaborating with the NCC on identifying and tackling measurable goals together.   Among the NCC's national partners are:

• Bread for the World:  This is the nation's largest grassroots advocacy network on domestic and international hunger issues.  It does not provide direct relief, but rather conducts nonpartisan research and education on hunger and gives support to congressional legislation to address the root causes of hunger and poverty.

• Call to Renewal:  Led by its convenor Jim Wallis, CTR is working with the NCC Poverty Mobilization under a joint "Covenant to Overcome Poverty."  The Covenant's sponsors agree that "the persistence of widespread poverty in our midst is morally unacceptable."

• Children's Defense Fund:  Led by Marian Wright Edelman, CDF has sounded a call for a national grassroots movement for the nation's children on the magnitude of the Civil Rights movement.  NCC General Secretary Bob Edgar is on the steering committee of CDF's Mobilization to "Leave No Child Behind."

• Families USA:  This non-profit, non-partisan organization works for high-quality, affordable health and long-term care for all Americans, through a grassroots advocates' network of organizations and individuals, and a consumer clearinghouse for up-to-date, reliable information about the health care system.

• Good Schools Pennsylvania: Good Schools Pennsylvania is a statewide non-profit organization working with a coalition of education, religious and civic associations seeking to mobilize parents, students and concerned students to advocate for improved public education. Improved public education must include adequate funding, equitably distributed; quality education principles; and a strong accountability system.

• Habitat for Humanity:  This widely respected organization has embraced a long-term series of joint ventures with NCC to build decent, low-cost housing in communities here and overseas.  Leaders of HFH International  envision a new movement like that to end slavery, with America's churches in the forefront.

• Jewish Council for Public Affairs:  Like the NCC, the JCPA has a vision to end poverty in the United States, including welfare reform that measures success not by how many people are dropped from welfare rolls but by how many are lifted out of poverty.   Find out more about their program at their website.

• National Jobs for All Coalition:  The NJFAC is uniting a diverse group of individuals and organizations through its plan for reducing poverty, Five Years Closer to Economic Justice, centered on a movement for full employment.  The NJFAC supports the NCC's poverty initiative with technical assistance and public outreach.

• National Religious Partnership for the Environment: Believing that poverty and environmental degradation go hand-in-hand, the NCC, the U.S. Catholic Conference, the Coalition on Environment and Jewish Life, and the Evangelical Environmental Network have worked together for more than a decade through NRPE to inititate environmental justice programs.
   

• The Interfaith Broadcasting Commission is a working alliance of the National Council of Churches, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops, and representative groups in the Jewish and Muslim traditions.   Through this alliance, the NCC's member communions participate in the production of an annual series of faith-based television presentations offered to stations affiliated with the ABC, CBS and NBC broadcast networks.

• The National Interfaith Cable Coalition is cooperative venture founded by the NCC and other religious organizations to create the VISN cable network in 1988.  After it merged with the Southern Baptist-sponsored ACTS channel, the combined network was renamed Odyssey.  Today, the coalition is known as Faith and Values Media and serves as a gateway for faith-based programming carried on the Hallmark cable channel. In addition to its cable offerings, the Faith and Values group also features a Web site, FaithStreams.com, where programs and feature materials produced by NCC communions and other religious groups are accessible from anywhere by personal computer.

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