What is CLOUT?
Citizens of Louisville Organized & United Together (CLOUT) is an organization of religious congregations and groups which are working together to solve critical community problems. We are not a service provider, but a grassroots, direct action, multi-issue organization, which has come together to be a powerful force for improving the quality of life in our communities.
Presently, 21 congregations & groups with over 16,000 members are members of CLOUT. We come from all parts of Louisville Metro, and we represent a diverse mix of black, white, and Hispanic persons, coming from different religious traditions.
What is CLOUT’s Mission?
CLOUT’s mission is to build the power of religious congregations to solve community problems by holding systems accountable.
What is CLOUT’s Vision?
CLOUT’s vision is a city of justice where its systems assure that all people are treated fairly.
Our vision is based on numerous scriptures, but particularly Micah 6:8 and Matthew 23:23-24, which state that God requires us to do three basic things: “do justice, love kindness (mercy), and walk humbly with God (faithfulness).” Our congregations do a good job of reminding us to be faithful and providing us opportunities to do so. For example, we gather weekly for worship, teaching, etc. Also, many of our congregations do a good job of showing mercy by providing services like tutoring and food pantries to assist the victims of injustice. Unfortunately, our congregations generally do a poor job of meeting the requirement to hold political and economic systems accountable for justice.
As we understand it, to do justice requires having enough power to hold these systems accountable. We learn from the biblical leader Nehemiah’s calling of a great assembly of people to bring charges against the unfair nobles and officials (Neh. 5:1-13) that there is power in numbers. However, no single congregation has enough people power to hold systems accountable for justice. So, we build our power by bringing together congregations across the city, and together we exercise our power by engaging thousands of people in the process of holding these systems accountable, especially through our annual Nehemiah Action Assembly, which has become the largest gathering of citizens to deal with critical community problems in the Louisville community each year.
A Statement of CLOUT’s Faith:
A CALL TO HOPE: EMPOWERING GOD’S PEOPLE
Citizens of Louisville Organized & United Together (CLOUT) is a grassroots coalition of diverse religious congregations and neighborhood groups, which are situated in low- to moderate-income communities in Louisville & Jefferson County, Kentucky. We have come together to form a powerful vehicle for positive change, through empowering ourselves to negotiate with the powers-that-be on the issues and interests of our communities. We have been given the biblical vision of what a just society should look like, and have concluded that such a vision can only be achieved through a united effort. CLOUT is dedicated to the building of people power, so that we can work to improve the quality of our own lives and those of our neighbors. In uniting together, we commit ourselves to announce the Good News in a way that gives spiritual and physical renewal to our communities; in a way that affects lives, effects change, and sustains hope.
We are a People of Hope, coming from communities that have often lacked hope. We are committed to the renewing of hope in each of our member congregations, and in each of our neighborhoods. As we join together, we give thanks that we have journeyed thus far, and we pledge ourselves to continue to be a People of Hope—hope for a future in a place that always honors the dignity of each and every person as one created in the image of God.
What we see in our metropolitan area is alarming: violence, drug addiction, social and economic divisions, racial tension, family destruction. As we have looked deeper into ourselves and our communities, we have come to know the anger that we feel in the face of injustice, and we can acknowledge, express, and use such anger. We will not shrink away from our call to address the injustices in our society, because “God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but a spirit of power and love and self-control” (II Tim. 1:7).
We are a coalition of congregations and groups that have commonly shared values. We believe that our God calls us all to act in the world in a way that embodies God’s own passion for love and justice. The prophetic tradition in the Hebrew scriptures calls us to raise up the social needs and injustices of our communities, and not merely to treat the symptoms, but to take the kind of action that will transform our communities. Therefore, we will focus on core issues and root causes of problems, not superficial solutions. We have organized to restore dignity, wholeness, unity, and harmony to our community.
We regard our gifts and talents as being on loan from God. So we pledge ourselves to call forth and use the leadership gifts and talents within our own congregations and groups. We will strengthen the public witness of our members through leadership training, competent research, and networking among our congregations for effective outreach and action.
With God’s power to guide us, we have discovered our own power as an organization. But we are also aware that there are other powers among us; those that can hurt and hinder, rather than help. Injustice can be found in powerful social institutions. We need to act as an effective counterbalance to the misuse of power by these institutions. Likewise, we need to be vigilant, and examine ourselves continually, so that we do not fall into the same trap. We believe that power without compassion is tyranny; but compassion without power is helplessness.
We know that we must take responsibility for our future. Our God often called very “ordinary” men and women to act on God’s Word. Such “ordinary” people can establish justice in our time and build a strong and compassionate city.
What sustains us as a group is that we have learned that, despite our diversity of color, creed, and economic status, what unifies us is greater than what separates us. Social barriers, prejudices, and stereotypes are being replaced by mutual respect, shared leadership, and a new and greater appreciation of our individual gifts and traditions. This unity in our diversity is a powerful tool with which to work for justice, celebrate our common worship and our passion for God’s Word, and act out our love for our neighbors.
As an organization, we have decided to “choose life, not death,” and “blessings, not curses,” as Moses did (Deut. 30:19). At times we will “build and plant,” but at other times we will have to “uproot and pull down,” as God called Jeremiah to do (Jer. 1:10). We wish for our “elders to dream dreams, and our youth to see visions,” as did Joel (Joel 2:28). We wish to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with our God,” as Micah said God requires (Micah 6:8). We want to “preach the Good News whether the time is right or not, to convince, to reproach, and to encourage,” as did Paul (II Tim. 4:2). God’s reign is “already, but not yet” in our time. Our task is to “be witnesses” of the vision of God’s reign in our congregations and our communities today.
We are a People of Hope, called by God to empower God’s people in our time; to be a people of justice and love and peace. May God “who has begun the good work in us bring it to fulfillment!” (Phil. 1:6)