A Binding Concern for the Poor

Nearly 2,000 members of 40 houses of worship in Northern Virginia are expected at a public meeting tomorrow in Dumfries to launch an interfaith organization that will seek commitments from public officials to do more to help the poor in the area.

The organization, Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement, or VOICE, is asking local, state and federal officials to increase funding for affordable housing and health care and to ease the backlog of U.S. citizen applications in Northern Virginia.

With a collective membership of 120,000 people, the congregations making up VOICE could prove to be a potent political force in Northern Virginia. Until now, interfaith efforts there have not been as influential or as diverse as in Maryland or the District.

"I haven't ever seen any organization with the potential of VOICE in terms of actually promoting justice in the area," said the Rev. Gerry Creedon, pastor of St. Charles Borromeo Catholic Church in Arlington County, who expects to bring about 100 members of his congregation to the gathering.

But the group's list of funding priorities has received a mixed reaction from public officials faced with looming budget deficits.

"I think we're more than fulfilling the goals that they're trying to pursue," said Gerald E. Connolly (D), chairman of the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors. "We had these goals long before the group even got formed, and so we are happy to have them on the scene as allies for what we're already doing."

Corey A. Stewart (R), chairman of the Prince William Board of County Supervisors, rejected the group's demand that the county spend upward of $20 million on building and preserving affordable housing.

"I'm not going to commit to that -- absolutely not," said Stewart, who nonetheless expects to attend the meeting Sunday. "Instead of focusing on the funding, we have to focus on what the problem is -- which is a surplus of housing on the market" from the epidemic of home foreclosures that have hit Prince William, he said.

Organizers of VOICE said they aren't deterred.