The Pennsylvania Interfaith Impact Network (PIIN) is a network of congregations and organizations in Southwestern Pennsylvania committed to drawing together people of faith to act powerfully on local and regional issues of justice and fairness. Through the processes of community-building, working with politicians and policy makers, direct action, and negotiation, we transform our communities.

PIIN is also an affiliate of the Gamaliel Network, a international network of more than 60 local and regional congregation-based organizing groups.

Vision and Values

PIIN is a vehicle for people of faith from the Pittsburgh and the region to come together, express the deepest values of their traditions and affect systemic change on commonly held issues of injustice, disparity, and discrimination. We know that positive social change in society has always come from organized people in some form, and that the organized faith community has often formed the backbone of the most powerful social movements in this country (such as the Civil Rights Movement.)

We also recognize that our current society does not reflect our shared faith values, as too many of our families lack living wage jobs, quality public education, and a healthy, safe environment and neighborhood. We believe our shared faith values call us to act together as agents of change in order to create a more just world. We celebrate the power of working together as a diverse coalition of many backgrounds and faith traditions: We are better together.

How We Work

PIIN currently has more than 40 member institutions. Our spiritual leaders and members of our congregations are the decision makers on the PIIN board and collectively set the agenda for the organization. Through face-to-face conversation within our congregations and communities, we identify and select the issues PIIN addresses. We analyze the power dynamics around an issue, develop a local, regional, or statewide strategy, and work with politicians and policy makers to create the policy changes we need to transform our communities. In this way, community residents and people of faith own the organizing process, participating together in the public arena to influence decisions that affect their lives and their communities. Learn more about our current campaigns.

PIIN’s Spiritual Leaders Caucus

The Spiritual Leaders Caucus is a gathered community of interfaith clergy and leaders within PIIN whose purpose is to:

• Inform, guide, strengthen and powerfully participate in the work of PIIN, drawing from the wealth of our diverse faith traditions
• Provide peer support, guidance, and accountability for faith leaders as they build power in their congregations and communities
• Build relationships with interested leaders and introduce them to the organization, its work, and what PIIN offers to and expects from member leaders and congregations
• Train and mentor leaders as they deepen their commitment to changing the balance of power for real justice in our communities

Our vision is that a  broad spectrum of workers, youth, parents, grandparents, activists, poets, priests, and politicians, from the meek to the mighty, would see that the people of faith and spiritual leaders that are PIIN are a powerful force for real justice in Southwestern PA.

To learn more about the Spiritual Leaders Caucus and PIIN, please contact the Spiritual Leaders Caucus Chair, Rev. David Swanson, Pastor of Pittsburgh Mennonite Church: dave@pittsburghmennonite.org.

Regional Expansion

From its inception, PIIN was conceived as a regional organization. In its first decade, most PIIN congregations were urban and PIIN issues were primarily those impacting the urban poor and working class. PIIN will continue to grow its base in Pittsburgh and the first ring suburbs and focus its energy on the issues facing its core populations. At the same time, a Regional Expansion Team of clergy leaders is focused on bringing on board new congregations from suburban Allegheny County. Our goal is to build a strong base in all parts of the county as well as adjacent counties. If PIIN and its partners are to fundamentally improve the situation of our congregations and communities, we will need a base that can influence decisions in the county, the region, and the state.