This past month and a half, I have been researching ‘Yes in God’s Backyard” (YIGBY) initiatives throughout the country. YIGBY builds upon the research I did this summer on church congregations using their underutilized land for affordable housing projects, and expands upon the idea of getting faith congregations involved in the fight against the growing affordable housing crisis. The acronym itself is a counter to the popular term “Not in My Backyard” which is commonly used to describe community pushback against affordable housing or other similar projects. Further, YIGBY tackles the reality t ..read more

Grace Randolph has been an intern through InterVarsity for Summer 2023. She is a rising second-year at the University of Richmond, majoring in Journalism. Over the last few months, she’s been able to do a deep-dive on congregations and affordable housing. Check out her thoughts below! The U.S. has a shortage of 7.3 million rental homes affordable and available to renters with low incomes: those whose incomes are at or below the federal poverty guideline or 30% of their area median income, according to the National Low Income Housing Coalition. Extremely low-income renters face shortages in eve ..read more

Aleshia Williams has been an intern through InterVarsity in Summer 2023. She is a rising third-year student at UVA, majoring in African and African American Studies. Over the last few months, she’s been able to engage on many priority VICPP programs. Check out her thoughts below! In 2019, The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy launched #PUSHbiaout, a maternal health campaign to help achieve the goal of eliminating racial disparities in maternal mortality. I have specifically had the opportunity to do further research on the issue and partner with Kathryn Haines, VICPP’s New Health Eq ..read more

Just days ago, on Jan. 30, 2023, 400 Muslims gathered to pray in a mosque in Peshawar, Pakistan, which sits along the border of Afghanistan. Unsuspecting worshipers raised their hands and recited Allahu Akbar, marking the very beginning of the ritual prayer known as Salaah. At that instant, a bomb was detonated. Over 100 people have been slain. Dozens more remain critically injured. The terrorist group Taliban has claimed responsibility.  While grieving after the latest terrorist attack at a mosque full of praying Muslims in the country of my parents’ birth, I placed myself in the shoes o ..read more

In 2020, Delegate Marcia Price (95th District) boldly introduced a resolution in the House of Delegates to establish the observance of July as Maternal Health Awareness Month in Virginia. Responding to the alarming number of cases of preventable pregnancy-associated deaths of Black women in the Hampton Roads region—the highest in the Commonwealth—her voice elevated the maternal health needs that exist outside the delivery room, widening the scope of care and concern beyond the birthing moment. “What we are trying to use July to do is raise awareness about the things that have been proven to be ..read more

Against the backdrop of VICPP team members observing the holiest days of their different faith traditions, VICPP Director of Communications Ayesha Gilani Taylor offers her perspective in a blog post as a Muslim observing Ramadan. Framed by the interfaith aspects of Ramadan, the Holy Quran, and Islam in general, she writes of the significance and history of the holy month, how it relates to other faiths and Scripture, and what it all means to her in her worship and work. “Right now, there are at least 4.3 billion people across this Earth (as recorded in 2020) who identify with a religion that ..read more

We are in the middle of Passion Week, or Holy Week. This is a unique season wherein the three Abrahamic faiths observe one of their most sacred days in their respective traditions. Maundy Thursday heralds the end of Lent, a sundown marks the beginning of Passover while a sunrise marks the celebration of Easter (Resurrection) Sunday, and Ramadan draws close to its end after the Night of Power. Read a joint essay by VICPP Faith Organizer Sheila Herlihy on how she observes Lent, our Communications Director Ayesha Gilani Taylor on how she observes Ramadan, and Engagement Director Dora Muhammad on ..read more

by Dora Muhammad, VICPP Congregation Engagement Director The many hours I spent poring through the seven-volume report of South Africa’s Truth and Reconciliation Commission drew me close to the mind and heart of its chair, Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I was an emerging journalist during my grad studies of international law and human rights at the University of London in 2003, the year that the final two volumes of the Commission’s report were released. The Archbishop’s work was a core case study. He called it an “incubation chamber for national healing, reconciliation and forgiveness.” Between 199 ..read more

On the evening of November 13th, VICPP Board Member Hurunnessa Fariad taught a group of congregants at Adas Israel Congregation in Washington, D.C. an Afghan song. Invited by the synagogue’s music director, Micah Hendler, who accompanied her on the keyboard, she shared a slower and softer version of a song she grew up listening to with her family in Afghanistan. Click the button below to watch the video of their informal but warming performance of “Sultan Qalbam” by Ahmad Zahir to experience how music is a part of Afghan culture and the recent humanitarian events in Afghanistan has ignite ..read more

by Dora Muhammad, VICPP Congregation Engagement Director, Health Equity Program Manager As I worked the polls at Fannie Fitzgerald Elementary School in Prince William County on Election Day yesterday, I reflected on the legacy of the community icon lifted in the building’s name, the uncanny relevance of her work to the election and the future of Virginia. Mrs. Fitzgerald is cherished as one of the Courageous Four—Black teachers assigned to integrate the county’s public school system after the landmark 1954 Brown v Board of Education Supreme Court decision. The policy change fueled the Massive ..read more