Mary Jo Bane is Thornton Bradshaw Professor of Public Policy and Management at Harvard University and co-coordinator of the Program on Religion and Public Life.  She is co-author of Lifting Up the Poor: A Dialogue on Religion, Poverty & Welfare Reform. A former assistant secretary for children and families at the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, her […]

Randy Albelda, professor of economics and senior research fellow at the University of Massachusetts’ Center for Social Policy, is an expert on poverty, particularly regarding families and women.

J. Lawrence Aber is professor of applied psychology and public policy at New York University in New York City. He is an expert on child development and social policy who researches the effect of poverty and violence on children. He is also former director of the National Center for Children in Poverty.

The Center for American Progress is a nonpartisan institute that promotes freedom and justice in a wide variety of issues. Daniella Gibbs Leger is the executive vice president of communications and strategy.

Sharon Soneff is an artist and blogger and the co-author of Faith Books and Spiritual Journaling: Expressions of Faith Through Art. She lives in San Clemente, Calif.

Banafsheh Sayyad is a dancer and choreographer, performing contemporary mystical Persian dance. Sayyad has said that she approaches dance as prayer. She is based in San Diego.

Jane Rickenbaugh teaches sacred dance at Trinity Episcopal Cathedral in Portland, Ore.

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.

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.