NETWORK is a national Catholic social justice organization that promotes economic justice at the federal level. Sister Simone Campbell is executive director. You can also email specific staff members through the website.

The Coalition for the Homeless implements programs to help end mass homelessness in New York City. According to their website, they provide services to more than 3,500 homeless people in New York each day.

John Iceland is professor of sociology and demography at Penn State University. He is the author of Poverty in America: A Handbook and has authored numerous papers and reports on poverty patterns, causes and measurement.

Lisa Sharon Harper is co-founder of New York Faith & Justice, a network of churches, organizations and individuals that work to end poverty and poverty-related violence in New York City.

Arm in Arm, the Crisis Ministry of Princeton and Trenton, N.J., sponsors “Community Action Poverty Simulations,” in which people of different faiths learn what it is like to live in poverty. The organization targets hunger, homelessness and poverty with a variety of programs.

Heather Larkin is an assistant professor in the school of social welfare at the State University of New York in Albany. She has done research on the impact that childhood neglect and abuse has had on homeless people in Albany and Petaluma, Calif.

Jan G. Linn is author of Big Christianity: What’s Right with the Religious Left (Westminster John Knox, 2006) and a co-pastor of Spirit of Joy Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) in Minneapolis. A former college and seminary professor, Linn calls himself a “recovering fundamentalist” who wants to reclaim the idea of Christianity as generous, or liberal, and tolerant.

Stephen Wizner is William O. Douglas Clinical Professor of Law and Supervising Attorney at Yale Law School in New Haven, Conn. One of his areas of expertise is poverty law, and he has participated in conferences on law and religion.

Sister Joan Chittister, a Benedictine nun, lecturer and writer, has been especially active on peace issues. She was a guest on an April 16 Meet the Press panel about faith and politics.