For Immediate Release: August 4, 2008
Contact: Pastor Ralph Beechum, Greater Denver Metropolitan Ministerial Alliance
Faith-Based Leaders Convene Before Democratic National Convention To Discuss Energy Prices and the Poor
Denver, CO (August 4) -- A group of influential African American faith-based leaders from across the nation are gathering on the eve of the Democratic National Convention to discuss an increasingly hot topic in political circles: how to deal with the disproportionate impact on the poor of rising energy prices.
The "Faith-Based Leadership Summit on Affordable Energy and the Poor" will occur on Saturday, Aug. 23 from 4 - 6 p.m. at the Marriott City Center Hotel, 18th and California Streets, in Denver. The summit is open to invited guests and the news media. It is jointly sponsored by the Greater Denver Metro Ministerial Alliance, the Congress of Racial Equality, the High Impact Leadership Coalition, Brotherhood of Joy, Inc. and Colorado Consumers for Affordable Energy.
Pastor Ralph Beechum, Chair of the Greater Denver Metropolitan Ministerial Alliance and senior pastor at the Brotherhood of Joy church in Aurora, said the Leadership Summit will bring together spiritual leaders from across the nation to wresle with "what some see as an issue that is approaching crisis proportions."
"There is a rapidly growing recognition that low-income families are disproportionately hurt by rising enegy prices," Beechum said. "Faith based leaders across the nation are starting to organize and discuss how to rise to this challenge."
Beechum cited a recent Colorado analysis that showed that while median-income families devote approximately five cents on every dollar of income to energy costs, low-income families must spend 20 cents on the dollar for energy and poor families must devote 50 or more cents on the dollar.
"Regardless of what is causing energy prices to rise, we are beginning to see families have to make terrible choices between food, fuel and medicine," he added. "In some cities, tens of thousands of citizens can't pay their utility bills and are having their power shut off. That elevates this matter to a live-and-death issue."
Guest speakers at the Summit include:
- Roy Innis (D), Chairman, Congress of Racial Equality
Bishop Harry Jackson (D), Chair, High Impact Leadership Coalition
Pastor Ralph Beechum (D), Chair, Denver Ministerial Alliance
Pastor Tyrone Crider (D), Chair, National Pastor’s Network
WY State Senator Bill Vasey (D), Chair, Americans for American Energy
- Bishop Phillip Porter (R), Chair, Colorado Consumers for Affordable Energy
The Summit will go from 4-5:30 p.m. and be followed by a reception from 5:30 to 6:30 p.m.
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