Jay F. Hein, former director of the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives, is Distinguished Senior Fellow and director of the Program for Faith and Service at Baylor University’s Institute for Studies of Religion in Waco, Texas. The Program for Faith and Service promotes cutting-edge approaches to social problems through faith-based organizations.

Baylor University, a private Baptist university, has an Interdisciplinary Poverty Initiative that focuses on engaging students in the issues of poverty, civic engagement, and social and economic justice. Contact project coordinator Kayla Mize.

The Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy is the state’s oldest faith-based advocacy group and specializes in data analysis, policy research, public education and direct advocacy on a range of issues that address poverty and low-income people. The center is based in Richmond. Contact executive director Kim Bobo through communications director Neill Caldwell.

Harvey Newman is a professor of public administration and urban studies in the Andrew Young School of Policy Studies at Georgia State University. A United Church of Christ minister, he has an extensive background in faith-based nonprofits.

Doug Ammar is executive director of the Georgia Justice Project, which helps poor people accused of crimes rebuild their lives, whether or not they are convicted. Ammar has been part of several symposiums and initiatives on religion and law.

Kristina Scott is executive director of the Alabama Poverty Project, which builds coalitions among religious, business and higher education organizations to work toward eliminating poverty. The project is based in Birmingham.

The Interfaith Federation of Greater Baton Rouge includes Muslims, Jews, Christians, Buddhists and Hindus. The federation works to promote social justice while working together as different faiths. The Rev. Clint Mitchell is president.

Alexie Torres-Fleming is founder and executive director of Youth Ministries for Peace & Justice, which rebuilds neighborhoods by developing leaders among youth to work on community issues, including poverty. It’s based in the Bronx, N.Y. She spoke at the 2009 Mobilization to End Poverty event in Washington, D.C.

Bradley R. Schiller is professor emeritus in the School of Public Affairs at American University in Washington, D.C. His book The Economics of Poverty and Discrimination has been a standard teaching text for two decades.