Editorial: Work to Watch: ‘Opportunity St. Paul’

Students from Amherst H. Wilder Foundation’s Youth Leadership Initiative speak to Opportunity Saint Paul volunteers

By PIONEER PRESS EDITORIAL BOARD | Pioneer Press

As we consider complex community problems and responses to them on these pages, we look for converging lines of thought.

They are laid out clearly and connected compellingly in Opportunity St. Paul, which aims to marshal the efforts of people of faith to address poverty in our community.

The effort — said to be the first-of-its kind — is the work of the nonprofit Interfaith Action of Greater St. Paul, which evolved a few years ago as the St. Paul Council of Churches sought to broaden its scope beyond exclusively Christian congregations.

Laying out the problem, the project notes “a state of emergency” in our community: poverty-level incomes, low academic achievement and racial disparities that are destructive to individuals, families and communities.

At the same time, St. Paul is “rich with people who are searching to find a way to make a real difference,” says a paper that outlines Opportunity St. Paul.

The work connects the community problems with people who want to help address them, matching members of a volunteer corps — interfaith, multiracial, inter-generational and willing to work one shift a week — with nonprofit partner organizations that need their help.

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Read the full article on the Pioneer Press’s website here.

To learn more about Opportunity Saint Paul, please contact:

Zac Poxleitner
Director, Opportunity Saint Paul
651-789-3860
zpoxleitner@interfaithaction.org