On May 24, 2011, the Full Employment Council (FEC) awarded MORE2 the Outstanding Community Partner Award.
At the 24th “Jobs in the Business Sector” Luncheon, Clyde McQueen remarked that MORE2 was on the forefront of calling for social justice in the metro area.
We recalled the early days of MORE2 when Clyde spoke out at a community meeting, characterizing our work, “Nothing much was happening until these pastors came along.”

Rev. Bob Hill (Community Christian Church), who did the invocation at the lunch, stated (quoting Marge Piercy), “‘The pitcher longs for water to carry/and a person for work that is real’–MORE2 congregations came together because of a longing for justice in our bistate, metro region.  This award is an honor to all of those in our congregations who have the courage to act for justice.”
Present to receive the award were Rev Hill, Rev. Michael Brooks (Zion Grove Missionary Baptist Church) and Mary Lim-Lampe. 

Congratulations to all the members of the MORE2 congregations! 

EPA RELOCATION RESOLUTION

WHEREAS:

The Metro Organization for Racial and Economic Equity (MORE²) is a community of congregations working together to improve access to opportunity, health and quality education for people throughout greater Kansas City.

MORE² has successfully advanced significant public policy initiatives to secure jobs for people of color and people with low incomes in construction trades, funding for public transportation and equitable tax policy.

MORE² is concerned that relocation of the Environmental Protection Agency Region 7 office and its 600 jobs from Kansas City, Kansas in Wyandotte County to Lenexa, Kansas in Johnson County will put the poor and vulnerable at risk.

• This move will relocate good paying jobs in one of the most economically challenged communities in the state to one of the most affluent counties in the United States;
• This move will locate a federal building to an area that is served by commuter transit lines, which are not required to be compliant with the Americans with Disabilities Act of 2008;
• This move will relocate 600 jobs from an area currently well-served by public transportation to an area only minimally served by transit, limiting transportation options for EPA workers;
• This move will divide EPA offices and laboratories resulting in increased traffic and environmental impacts in both counties; and
• Finally this move does not appear to be consistent with current administration policies to locate federal facilities in urban core locations.

THEREFORE:

MORE² opposes the relocation of the EPA Region 7 office and its 600 jobs from Kansas City, Kansas in Wyandotte County to Lenexa, Kansas in Johnson County.

Click here to sign a petition to stop the move:

http://www.wycokck.org/form.aspx?ekfrm=28985

Tune into Religion on the Line on Sunday mornings, 6:00 – 8:00 am, KCMO, AM band 710. Call in to join topical conversations with Co-Hosts Senior Rabbi Zedek, Emanuel Congregation, Chicago; Rev. Dr. Robert L. Hill, Senior Minister, Community Christian Church, Kansas City, MO; and Dr. John Purk, Diocese of Kansas City-St. Joseph.