Texas Impact's Weekly Witness

This week we are talking about all things environment with friend of the program Luke Metzger, Executive Director of Environment Texas. Luke joins us to share the good news from the November elections related to the Centennial Parks Conservation Fund AND the EPA's new rules related to methane emissions. Spoiler: Texas is not handling the rules well, but Luke gives us an update on those rules, sola...

This week, we welcome Texas Impact's Executive Director, Bee Moorhead, for an important and timely conversation about reproductive health. The Texas Medical Board is meeting Thursday, March 21st, and Texas Impact is promoting a sign on letter to ask them to undertake rulemaking to define the exception to the abortion ban related to the life and health of the mother.    In the very short time since...

This week we are wrapping up the primary elections with Texas Impact's Advocacy Director Joshua Houston. We  want to thank everyone who voted, organized your friends and congregations, volunteered for a campaign, or helped work the election. After this election, there is still a lot of work to do and Texas Impact has tools and resources for you, so make sure to check out the Texas Faith Votes page...

This week, we want to share another round of audio from the recent Houston Faith Votes event.  We were honored to have Rep. Ann Johnson and Rep. Jon Rosenthal, two Texas State Representatives from the Houston area, for a conversation on the importance of primary elections, how Texans can best connect with their representatives and talk about how Texans of faith specifically can be effective advoca...

The Texas Impact team has toured the state, talked with, and resourced thousands of Texans of faith in the last two months.   This week, we are going to bring you some of the content from our Houston Faith Votes event earlier this week. We thought you might enjoy the Faith Leader panel featuring  Rev. Dr. Colin Bossen, Senior Minister, First Unitarian Universalist Church, Rabbi Josh Fixler, Associ...

With all the news about immigration and border issues at the national and state level, it's getting hard to keep track of the issue beyond the rhetoric. So, we invited Kristin Etter to the program to help sort things out.  Kristin is the Director of Policy and Legal Services at the Texas Immigration Law Council. Previously, she served as the Special Project Director of Operation Lone Star at Texas...

This week we are bringing even more content from the United Women in Faith Legislative Event while continuing the discussion about reproductive health.   The United Women in Faith welcomed State Representative Donna Howard to talk with them at the Capitol last week. Rep. Howard is a woman of faith herself, and also has a special role as the Chairwoman of the Texas Women's Health Caucus.  We though...

This week we kicked off Texas Impact's event season with an incredible three days with about 250 United Women in Faith at their annual legislative event, and today we are going to bring you a little sample from that event. We start with  Bishop Ruben Saenz, United Methodist Bishop for the North and Central Texas Conferences of the UMC bringing greetings to the United Women in Faith. Following Bish...

This week, we discuss one of the issues that will be driving the conversation this election year, and a corresponding Texas Impact event, as we welcome leaders from Friends Congregational Church in College Station: Sr. Pastor Rev. Dr. Dan De Leon, Cecilia Hawkins, leader of the Justice and Mission Outreach Committee and Kyle Rile, Texas Impact's Houston Civic Engagement and United Church of Christ...

It is COLD outside, but this week's climate conversation will keep us warm as we welcome Susan Alvarez, Director of the Environment and Development Department with the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Susan joins us to talk about the work of the COG to address air quality and how you can get involved in your local community.   Speaking of North Texas, the Texas Impact team will be there...

We are excited to kick off the first episode of the new year with Rev. Angela Williams.  Rev. Williams is the Associate Minister of Missional Engagement at First UMC Dallas and Executive Pastor of St. Paul United Methodist where she helps lead their Justice Builders Program which brings members from both congregations together to work in ministry to positively affect racial justice. Rev. Williams...

This week we welcome back to the program Texas Impact's Advocacy Director, Joshua Houston, to wrap up what is hopefully the last special session of the 88th Texas Legislature for 2023. One of the main issues the legislature has tried to address is public school funding. In a year with an historic budget surplus, the Texas Legislature should have been able to better fund our underfunded public scho...

This week we welcome Texas Impact's Climate Action Fellow, Becca Edwards, back to the program soon after returning to the U.S. after attending the first half of the United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of Parties (COP) in Dubai. For those following along with the program, we had Becca and our Executive Director Bee Moorhead on the last episode giving a preview of the conference....

This week, we are joined by Texas Impact's Executive Director Bee Moorhead and Climate Action Fellow Becca Edwards to discuss the upcoming COP28. For longtime listeners, you will know that Texas Impact sends a team to attend the United Nations Climate Change Conference or Conference of the Parties. The 28th conference will be from November 30 until December 12 in Dubai.    We know we are not on tr...

This week we are taking a break from legislative goings on for an important conversation with Rev. Deanna Hollas, Coordinator of Gun Violence Prevention Ministries with Presbyterian Peace Fellowship. We will discuss the increased emphasis national denominations are placing on reducing gun violence and how congregations can both act locally and advocate for policy change to reduce gun violence.   ...

This week, the Texas Legislature adjourned the third special session, and almost immediately, the Governor called them back for a fourth 30-day special session focused on public education-specifically trying to divert public dollars to private schools and immigration-related bills.   Thursday, two House Committees met to hear bills, and the Texas Impact team stayed up late to testify and cover the...

This week our focus turns to an issue that has shaken many of our families and communities. We are joined today by Rev. Dr. Sarah Lund, Minister for Disabilities & Mental Health Justice with the United Church of Christ.   Dr. Lund was part of an alliance that partnered with the US Health and Human Services Center for Faith-based and Neighborhood Partnerships on a guide for faith leaders to identif...

This week, we turn our focus back to the special session with a conversation about public school funding with Dr. Chloe Latham Sikes, Deputy Director of Policy with IDRA, the Intercultural Development Research Association. For 50 years, IDRA has focused on equity in the Texas education system, and Chloe brings an important perspective to the public education conversation.    At the time of posting...

This week we welcome Stacey Pogue, Senior Policy Analyst with Every Texan, to the program to talk about healthcare as Texas prepares to roll back covid era policies.   While there are a lot of important issues in the news right now, to the more than 1 million Texans who have lost their healthcare coverage during this "unwinding," healthcare, or the lack thereof is front of mind.    Stacey will hel...

This week Scott talks with Texas Impact's Executive Director Bee Moorhead about the lay of the land in Texas and the role Texans of faith can play in this special session and in this heightened political climate.    There is going to be A LOT of talk in the next few weeks about what quote "religious" people want–and a lot of those voices will be claiming that Texans of faith support vouchers. Our...

This week we are preparing you for two events that should be front of mind this month.  Josh Houston will join us to talk about the special session beginning Monday, October 9. We expect it to focus on public education and proposals relating to diverting public dollars to private schools through vouchers or other equivalent programs. Josh will help us understand what makes special sessions so spec...

This week we are continuing our series to prepare you for a special session of the Texas Legislature focused on public schools and proposals relating to diverting public school funds to private school vouchers. Spoiler: Texas Impact likes public schools.   So, who better to give us the political lay of the land than Texas Impact's outside legislative council, Beaman Floyd? Texas Impact and our mem...

This week we are preparing you for a special session of the Texas Legislature focused on public schools and most likely proposals relating to diverting public school funds to private school vouchers.   Scott sits down with Dr. Scott Sheppard, Superintendent of Huntsville Independent School District, recently named the 2023 Region 6 Superintendent of the Year, who has served districts large and sma...

This week we are recording from University Presbyterian Church in Austin following the Texas Impact fall board meeting. It is always a good day when the Texas Impact board gets together. A room full of Texas faith leaders from various traditions committed to creating a more just and equitable Texas. It can't get better than that right? So, we decided to share some of the fun with you, in a convers...

We saw that y'all loved the first two faith leader panels so much that today we are bringing you the third and final installment. If you missed the first two–first, you should go back and listen to them. These panels of religious leaders were part of Texas Impact's three Houston Faith Votes kick-off events, a partnership between local congregations and organizations in Houston working to increase...