Jacqueline Shea Murphy is an assistant professor of dance at the University of California, Riverside. In 2004, she helped mount a program at the university called “Red Rhythms” on American Indian spirituality through dance.

The Center for Law and Social Policy is based in Washington, D.C., and works to improve the lives of low-income families; see its poverty page. Tom Salyers is the director of communications.

Kristen Johnson Ingram is the author of Beyond Words: 15 Ways of Doing Prayer. She explores the way nonverbal acts like listening to music or taking a walk can be performed as prayer. She is a preacher in the Episcopal Church and lives in Springfield, Ore.

The Center for Community Change is a grassroots organization in Washington, D.C., that helps empower low-income people to improve their communities and public policies. Contact through communications director Donna de la Cruz.

The Rev. Patricia D. Brown is director of Spiritworks, a nonprofit, online resource for the exploration of Judeo-Christian spirituality. She is the author of Paths to Prayer: Finding Your Own Way to the Presence of God. She is based in Pittsburgh.

The Rural Policy Research Institute is at the University of Missouri-Columbia and Oregon State University. Charles W. Fluharty, research professor at the Truman School of Public Affairs at the University of Missouri, is director. He has a degree from Yale Divinity School.

The National Poverty Center is at the University of Michigan at Ann Arbor. The chair of the steering committee is Sandra Danziger, professor of social work in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.

The National Center for Children in Poverty is at Columbia University in New York City. Renée Wilson-Simmons is director.

The Michigan Program on Poverty and Social Welfare Policy is at the University of Michigan. Its director is Sandra K. Danziger, professor in the School of Social Work and research professor in the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy.