During the January 17, 2024, Day of All People, the CEO and President of the Richmond Memorial Health Foundation, Reginald E. Gordon, spoke to hundreds gathered about the need to be poverty abolitionists, echoing the call to action of Princeton sociologist Dr. Matthew Desmond.  Among the hundreds of volunteers preparing to lobby lawmakers was Anne Murphy, a Catholic retiree and resident of Northern Virginia.  In this conversation, she describes why she has attended these annual lobbying events with the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy.  Over the decades, the gathering has become a reunion as well as an opportunity to build relationships with diverse members of the faith community. This is why pressing for structural change goes hand in hand with her charity work. For Murphy, the process of creating change requires resilience and a belief that the incremental change is making a difference in people's lives.

Anne Murphy has been a long-time Catholic activist for social justice.

The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy bill tracker can be found here.

You can also read their fact sheet on Limiting Attack Dogs in Prisons.

Limiting Attack Dogs in Prisons
Courtesy VICPP

This week's closing music, New Hope, by Audiobinger, is 
used under a Creative Commons By Attribution 4.0 license.

All additional music by Blue Dot Sessions.

Remixes by Dissimilation Heavy Industries.