Clergy And Laity United For Economic Justice Los Angeles

Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice brings together faith leaders and community members across religions and regions to accompany low-wage workers, immigrants, and communities of color in their struggles to go from surviving to thriving in OC's economy.

CLUE educates, organizes, and mobilizes faith communities in strategic campaigns to win living wages, safe workplaces, affordable healthcare, and more. CLUE offers courage and encouragement to marginalized communities to persist in struggles until justice is won.

The civil rights movement of the 1960s showed how faith communities can impact movements for justice, and how critical their involvement can be.

Indeed, CLUE was founded by civil rights leader Rev. James M. Lawson and others to bring faith communities together to win living wages and benefits here in Southern California.

In 1996, local clergy and faith-rooted allies convinced a decisive majority of Los Angeles City Council members to support a living-wage law so that it was veto-proof despite opposition of the mayor at the time, Richard Riordan.

When the value of an organized, connected, interfaith movement for justice was demonstrated, a conversation began among these leaders with a view to creating a faith-based nonprofit to organize the faith community to speak out for workers’ justice claims.

Rev. Lawson brought together clergy and community leaders across beliefs and industries to build an organized, connected, interfaith movement for justice. Among these letters were Revs. Dick Gillett and Marty Coleman (Episcopal), and Rabbis Leonard Beerman and Neil Comess-Daniels; social justice advocacy organizations like the Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy (LAANE); and unions representing hotel and restaurant workers and other low-wage service employees across California.

CLUE established a more formal Orange County presence in 2010, with clergy like Rev. Dr. Sarah Halverson-Cano (UCC), Father Arturo Ferreras-Querijero (Ecumenical), Rabbi Steven Einstein (Jewish), and Rev. Samuel Pullen. They began to develop relationships with faith leaders, community organizations, and public servants to build a region-specific movement for justice.

Over the course of our history we have evolved in the way way work. Acknowledging that injustice is intersectional -- low-wage workers are often women, members of communities of color, and immigrants -- our work takes place in coalition with immigrants’ rights and racial justice groups, as well as unions and other community groups. But it is always grounded in faith and nonviolence.

CLUE’s network has supported campaigns that have brought dignity, justice, and better working conditions to more than 10,000 OC workers in the last two years. It helped win panic buttons and other worker protections in Irvine hotels; living wages and more affordable healthcare in Fountain Valley Regional Hospital; and cleaner air and protective equipment for sheet metal workers at Santa Ana's Kingspan Light + Air fabrication plant.

CLUE supported community-led campaigns for Little Arabia designation, police oversight in Santa Ana, and much more. CLUE collaborates with more than a dozen community-based organizations including ACLU SoCal, American Friends Service Committee, Arab American Civic Council
Chispa OC, Muslim Anti-Racism Collaborative, OC Rapid Response Network, Peace and Justice Law Center, Stop the Musick Coalition,
and many others.

CLUE is accompanying immigrants in their struggles for dignity and a voice in their communities through work with Santa Ana Families for Fair Elections (SAFFE). And CLUE leads an interfaith network for racial justice aimed at correcting centuries of injustice for our Black siblings by supporting recommendations from California's 2022 Reparations Task Force.

CLUE now has 1000+ network members tracking CLUE-associated campaigns; 400+ active constituents in the past three years; 200 active Clueistas (clergy, laity, and partners) in the last year; and 49 active congregations in OC, incl. Muslim, Jewish, Sikh, Buddhist, and Christian communities.

At CLUE we believe:
- People have the right to reach their full potential
- Every human being is equal, unique, and of infinite worth
- Low wage workers deserve power
- All people are part of one spiritual family and all religions believe in justice
- Transformation happens through one-on-one relationships
- Collaborative ventures are better than solitary efforts
- In non-violence, human dignity, justice, diversity, inclusion, and equity

Our values call us to intimate solidarity with low-wage workers and members of marginalized communities. The work is demanding and resource intensive. The RAND Corporation recently reported that a worker must earn $64,000/year to afford a basic one-bedroom apartment in the Los Angeles area. These days, the cost of living in OC is as high as Los Angeles. Yet starting organizers at CLUE earn just $50,000.

While these wages are not as low as poverty-wage-earning workers, we must make it possible for our workers to pay their expenses without drawing on savings.

Here are our financial needs:
- Compensate team members with actual living wages - $50,000 gap in OC
- Grow Racial Justice/Immigration Programs in OC - $75,000

Specifically:
- $5,000 helps retain community organizers deepening relationships with movement members
- $2,500 funds seven one-on-one meetings with prospective faith/community leaders
- $1,000 funds meet-and-prays with workers engaged in campaigns for justice
- $750 helps underwrite a prophetic action on the streets or in City Hall

All areas of Orange County