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Government shutdown looms after Trump-backed bill fails; Environmental groups sue CA Air Resources Board over biogas credits; NY elected officials work to electrify municipal buildings; Need a mental health boost? Talking hot dog is here.

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President-elect Trump repeats his threats to jail Jan. 6th committee members, while also putting a stop-gap spending plan in jeopardy. A court removes Fani Willis from Trump's Georgia election interference case. The FAA restricts drones in New Jersey, and a Federal Reserve rate cut shakes markets.

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Rural folks could soon be shut out of loans for natural disasters if Project 2025 has its way, Taos, New Mexico weighs options for its housing shortage, and the top states providing America's Christmas trees revealed.

New "Faithlands" Toolkit Helps Religious Groups Put Land to Good Use

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Thursday, April 29, 2021   

OAKLAND, Calif. -- Religious groups often own large properties but don't have the expertise to make them work for the community. Now, an online tool being released today can help them use the land for the greater good.

The free FaithLands Toolkit from the Agrarian Trust has practical advice and case studies on how to partner with a land trust or farm.

Ariel Luckey, development director for the Sogorea Te' Land Trust in Oakland, works to restore land to indigenous people.

"There's a lot of complicated logistical and political questions about how to best take care of the land," Luckey explained. "How to share it, how to move it. And this toolkit is going to provide a lot of really useful information."

Molly Burhans, founder and executive director of GoodLands, a nonprofit that helps map and evaluate lands owned by the Catholic Church and other groups, said religious groups own more than 8% of habitable land around the world, so their choices have a huge impact.

"Their land can play a key role in the future of humanity for climate change, for environmental stewardship, for food security and migration," Burhans outlined.

Darriel Harris, senior pastor of Newborn Community of Faith Church in Baltimore, said his parishioners cleared the trash off a piece of land in a blighted neighborhood and turned it into an organic farm, called Strength to Love II, in order to create jobs.

"Our faith says that we have to meet the needs of the least of these, meet the needs of the marginalized, and our neighbors needed employment," Harris asserted. "So we created a farm to give employment to people returning from incarceration."

The toolkit also guides groups on ways to promote equity and justice through programs such as community gardens.


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