Its stated mission is "to increase access to health care, improve public schools, make neighborhoods safer, build affordable housing, redevelop communities and revitalize democracy.
[5][6][7] Faith in Action was founded in 1972 by Fr John Baumann, SJ, as the Pacific Institute for Community Organization (PICO), headquartered in Oakland, California.
[8] Following a staff retreat in 1984, Faith in Action shifted to a congregation-based model based in part on the experience of COPS, a federation in San Antonio, Texas developed by Alinsky's Industrial Areas Foundation.
[11] PICO's New Voices Campaign, launched in 2004, seeks to help low-income communities have an impact at the national level on such issues as immigration reform, health care, education, and rebuilding the Gulf Coast in the wake of Hurricane Katrina.
[12] In October 2008, PICO announced plans for a mid-November meeting in Washington, D.C., in which its affiliates would lobby Congress, the United States Treasury Department, and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation to help people keep their homes when facing foreclosure.