In March 2007, frustrated with the Illinois legislature’s inability to address our state’s structural deficit in order to adequately support vital public services, Community Renewal Society moved to organize a response from faith leaders that urged the state to commit to the changes needed to bring fiscal integrity to Illinois. Under the banner of Faith Leaders for Fiscal Integrity, 24 heads of Illinois’ diverse religious communities urged the Illinois General Assembly to bring about fundamental change in the way state government is funded.

Faith Leaders for Fiscal Integrity is an interfaith coalition of Illinois faith leaders, all of whom acknowledge that social and economic progress in Illinois - schools that work for all children, adequate and affordable healthcare, transportation and other services - will not happen unless the state’s finances are in order and its funding priorities shifted.

On May 31, 2007, the faith leaders, joined by state senators The Reverend James T. Meeks and David Koehler, held a press conference in Springfield to discuss the importance of fiscal reform to promptly address unequal opportunities in Illinois’ schools. The faith leaders consider the inequity and inadequacy in education spending to be a moral issue and urged the state to act.