On the Road to Justice: Building Power, Uplifting Voices

Dear friend,

The Kairos Center’s national organizing tour is in full swing! This week, we’re on the ground in Pennsylvania—connecting with communities in Philadelphia, Harrisburg, and Lancaster to build collective power and uplift the voices of the poor and dispossessed. Next stop: Georgia and Massachusetts!

(Photos from the tour stop at the CUNY Center for Place, Culture, and Politics)

Whether on the road or online, the work continues to grow, and so does the movement to end poverty. This week’s newsletter is full of updates highlighting the #PowerOfThePoor, essential resources, and opportunities to plug in.

In This Issue:
🚨 The Faithful Fight Toolkit

✊ The Apache Stronghold
📅 Upcoming events & actions
✨ New tour stops in GA & MA!
🙏 Freedom Church of the Poor’s current season
📰 Latest in news & media

You only get what you’re organized to take,

The Kairos Center

Introducing: The Faithful Fight Toolkit

Across the country, faith communities are rising to meet urgent needs—rooted in history, grounded in shared stories, and learning from one another as they organize boldly for a just and liberated future. A powerful new resource, The Faithful Fight Toolkit: Providing and Advocating for Mutual Aid—authored by our Director of Policy & Research, Shailly Gupta Barnes, in collaboration with Protect Democracy—is a testament to this growing movement. This toolkit offers practical tools and deep insights for congregations and grassroots groups ready to turn care into collective power.

Helping faith communities transform mutual aid and community care into collective power is a timely and necessary response to religious nationalism. It is a reclamation of faith as a force for justice.

Support the Apache Stronghold

On Sunday, May 4, members of the San Carlos Apache Tribe started their 80-mile sacred run to protest a mining operation from being built on sacred grounds. On Wednesday, May 7, the Apache Stronghold Sacred Run will reach the district courthouse and will ask the district court to stop the government from issuing the environmental document until after the Supreme Court completes its review. They are calling on people across the country to support and join the Apache Stronghold in prayer.

Tuesday, May 13th, 2pm ET: Luke 10 Congregations!

Earlier this year, Showing Up for Racial Justice (SURJ) and the Kairos Center launched Luke 10 Congregations: Equipping Churches to Do Justice. We’re excited to announce applications are now open for the next round, beginning in September!

Join us for an informational session!

• Tuesday 5/13 @ 2pm ET Join this Information Session

• Future sessions: Thursday 5/29 @ 7pm ET, Friday 6/6 @ 2pm ET

May 2025: New Massachusetts Tour Stops Announced!

(Photo of the latest tour stop at the Free Library of Philadelphia)

Rev. Liz Theoharis, Noam Sandweiss-Back, and Kairos staff are headed to Georgia and Massachusetts in the next few weeks! Each stop is designed to build deep community relationships and organize for long-term change.

Freedom Church of the Poor: Gather with Us every Sunday & Wednesday

In the days after Easter the early Jesus community (followers of the way) were scattered and under constant threat from the violence and oppression of empire. They were also liberated. Liberated by the truth of what they were up against - a dehumanizing system of domination that hoarded wealth and sought to control God for their individual interests. And liberated by the vision of a God that left no one out, that promised abundant life for all. In this season of Days of Liberation we continue the fight to realize that world. We invite you to gather with your movement family for spiritual and political community every Sunday at 6pm and again on Wednesdays at 6pm for Biblical/textual reflection.

Listen: New Podcast Episode

Catch our latest conversation on organizing to end poverty with the Friday Power Lunch Podcast.

AZ Central: Federal court to hear Apache Stronghold plea to halt a land swap for Oak Flat copper mine

The U.S. District Court in Phoenix will hear arguments May 7 as grassroots group Apache Stronghold seeks to temporarily block the Trump administration from clearing the way to transfer ownership of Oak Flat, a site considered sacred to Apache and other Native peoples, to a British-Australian mining firm.