Hunger, Housing, and the Third Reconstruction: A Truth Commission in the Capital Region

Start: 2021-12-07 18:00:00 UTC Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)

End: 2021-12-07 20:00:00 UTC Eastern Daylight Time (US & Canada) (GMT-04:00)

This is a virtual event

Join us on December 7th to learn from the plight, fight, and insight of Capital Region community members who are engaged in struggles around food and housing insecurity. In recent years, New York has passed transformative legislation to meet the needs of poor and marginalized communities relating to food and housing. At the same time, the COVID-19 pandemic has exposed and exacerbated the extent of these crises and thrown millions into poverty and precarity.

On December 7th we will gather virtually to hear testimony from directly impacted leaders, learn about ways communities are organizing in response, and build solidarity among the poor and dispossessed.

Co-sponsors (list in formation): Labor-Religion Coalition of NYS, Capital Region Poor People’s Campaign, FOCUS Churches of Albany, Schenectady Community Ministries

Background on Truth Commission Project

In 2017, Labor-Religion Coalition organized a Truth Commission on Poverty in New York State that collected testimony from directly impacted New Yorkers, advocates, direct service providers, faith leaders and policy experts. The Truth Commission showed the prevalence and systemic nature of poverty across our state; the interconnection of struggles around housing, low-wage jobs, systemic racism, food insecurity, and more; and the need for a social movement that unites those most impacted to win transformative change.

Five years later, organizing through the Poor People’s Campaign and other efforts in New York have taken significant steps forward, while at the same time the moral and economic crises of system racism, poverty, militarism and ecological devastation have deepened - especially in the wake of COVID-19. In 2021-2022 Labor-Religion Coalition will hold another series of Truth Commissions to highlight the continuing crisis of poverty, amplify the demands put forward by directly impacted communities, and help connect leaders and groups representing different identities, issues and regions of New York. We know there are many more stories to be told, wisdom to be shared, and leaders to unite as we continue to build a moral fusion movement in New York.