Faith in Action Alabama (FIAAL)

Background and History

Faith in Action Alabama is designated by the Internal Revenue Service as a 501(c)(3) tax-exempt charitable organization. It is part of the Faith in Action national federation of state and local affiliates. Faith in Action (formerly the PICO National Network) is a national network of left-leaning faith-based community organizations in the United States. The national organization was founded in 1972, changed its name from PICO in 2018, and is headquartered in Oakland, California, with additional offices in San Diego and Washington, D.C. ^{4 2}

The group operates several organizing “hubs” around Alabama focused on local activity in Birmingham, Mobile, Montgomery, and Huntsville. ⁵

Activities

Faith in Action Alabama highlights three program areas: “Universal Community Safety” (gun-violence initiatives), “Equal Access to Liberty” (criminal-justice organizing), and “Inclusive Democracy” (voter-rights restoration). The group organizes meetings, trainings, and public actions intended to influence local officials and state policy, and it actively solicits volunteers and donations to sustain organizing campaigns. ⁶

Through its Peacemakers campaign and related community-violence-intervention advocacy, Faith in Action Alabama convenes annual vigils and engages city officials to support non-police law enforcement interventions. In 2020, the national Faith in Action network announced $100,000 in Everytown for Gun Safety Support Fund funding to support Birmingham-based Peacemakers’ work. An organizer for the campaign stated that the funds would be used to “continue to advocate for the City of Birmingham to properly fund and implement an anti-gun violence street outreach strategy based on proven nationally program methods.” ^{6 7}

Although organized through congregations, FIAAL’s positions align with left-of-center priorities—expanding legal support for the indigent, supporting “community-violence-intervention” models, particularly within hospitals, and restoring voting rights for people with felony convictions. The group’s 2022 policy agenda supported several left-of-center and far-left positions, including the elimination of cash bail, increasing top state and local tax rates, Medicaid expansion, and universal free community college. ^{5 8}

Funding

In 2024, the Ford Foundation approved a $150,000 grant to Faith in Action Alabama for “Core support for faith-based racial and economic justice organizing and civic engagement efforts in Mobile, Huntsville, and other parts of Alabama.” The Community Foundation of Greater Birmingham also reported a $90,000 grant to the organization in 2021. ^{3 9}

Leadership

Daniel Schwartz is the executive director of Faith in Action Alabama. Schwartz was previously the executive director of the Micah Project, a New Orleans affiliate of the PICO National Network, later renamed Faith in Action, and was a community organizer for Communities Creating Opportunity, a Kansas City-based affiliate of PICO/Faith in Action. The board of the group includes clergy from Baptist, African Methodist Episcopal (AME), Christian Methodist Episcopal (CME), and Catholic institutions. ^{10 11 4 12}