Contact: Venita Griffin, Community Renewal Communications, 312-673-3836, vgriffin@crs-ucc.org

CHICAGO, May 11 /Standard Newswire/ -- Twenty-four heads of Illinois' diverse religious communities have signed a letter urging lawmakers to bring fiscal integrity and responsibility to state government during the 2007 spring legislative session. The letter was distributed to the entire Illinois General Assembly and their aides.

This initiative marks the broadest statement yet of faith leaders regarding the state's ongoing fiscal and budget crisis and steps that must be taken to divert insolvency.

Under the banner "Faith Leaders for Fiscal Integrity," the religious leaders joined together to put a moral voice to the state's current fiscal crisis that jeopardizes not just low-income families, but also the middle class and services such as mass transit and road construction that under gird our state's economy.

"Unequal funding for education denies children in communities across the state the opportunity to reach their full potential," said Rev. Calvin S. Morris, Ph.D., executive director, Community Renewal Society. "It is well past the hour when the state must assume its fair share of funding quality, adequate public education. Our future economic health depends on it." Community Renewal Society, a progressive, faith-based organization that works to eliminate race and class barriers, worked with faith leaders to prepare the statement.

While the letter does not endorse any specific legislation, it calls for structural tax reform that is fair and sustainable and adequately supports state services.

"As a state, we no longer have the option of employing short-term budgetary gimmicks that only mask the deep problems that we are called to solve," said the Reverend Larry Greenfield, Ph.D., Executive Minister of the American Baptist Churches of Greater Chicago. "We are at a point where broad-based fundamental change is necessary in how we raise revenue, and we must do so in ways that do not overly-burden those least able to pay," added Greenfield.

Founded in 1882, Community Renewal informs, organizes and trains both communities and individuals to advocate for social and economic justice. Fusing investigative journalism with action, Community Renewal also publishes two award-winning newsmagazines: Catalyst Chicago, an independent publication created to document, analyze, and support improvement efforts in Chicago's public schools and The Chicago Reporter, an investigative publication that identifies, analyzes, and reports on the social, economic, and political issues of metropolitan Chicago with a focus on race and poverty.