2019 Domestic U.S. Workshops
Organizing to Stop Family Separation and Border Militarization
This workshop will be led by experts in the field doing on the ground community organizing with congregations on border issues, immigrants’ rights and the Sanctuary Movement. Workshop leaders will discuss how anti-immigrant and border militarization policies are hurting community members and how to create concrete methodologies to educate and move your congregation on how to engage on this social justice issue. Focus will be given to explore the current crisis of family separation at the border and how congregations can accompany asylum seekers.
Gentrification, Affordable Housing and Eviction: Defining the Impacts on Low Income Communities of Color
Workshop attendees will learn from local DC organizations about the importance of housing, the process of gentrification and how it impacts access to affordable housing and resulting evictions for low income communities of color. Founded in a vision of biblical justice, workshop attendees will also learn new strategies for how to address housing issues in their own communities.
Panelists:
- Shiri Yadlin, Housing Justice Coordinator for Just Homes
- Megan Reif, Fair Housing Legal Fellow for Lawyers Committee for Civil Rights Under Law
- Martin Mellet, VP of Strategic Initiatives for Jubilee Housing
Equip Your Church to Care for Creation: Solar Panel Installation, Worship Resources, Legislative Meetings & More!
Through this workshop, the Climate Witness Project (CWP) staff of the Christian Reformed Church will share the history of the CWP – how we went from 0 to 100 – and equip church members to return to their congregations with the necessary resources to care for creation through advocacy, worship, education, and energy stewardship.
Panelists:
- Cameron Kritikos, Mobilizing and Advocacy Fellow, Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice (Facilitator)
- Andrew Oppong, Christian Reformed Church Office of Social Justice
- Stephan Lutz, World Renew
Taking It to the Streets
Faith leaders/advocates are often called on to get involved in justice issues impacting their communities, often because circumstances demand a response from faith leaders. How can faith leaders move their congregations outside the walls of the church and help mobilize their communities to act? This workshop will equip faith leaders with the tools they need to take their faith to the streets and act on behalf of God’s people.
Panelists:
- Rev. Jennifer Butler, Founding Executive Director & CEO, Faith in Public Life
- Rev. Dr. Cassandra Gould, Executive Director, Missouri Faith Voices & Senior Pastor of Quinn Chapel African Methodist Episcopal Church in Jefferson City, Missouri
The Criminalization of Poverty
James Baldwin wrote, “Anyone who has every struggled with poverty knows how extremely expensive it is to be poor.” For some, the struggle is not only extremely expensive, it is criminal. Systematic decisions to criminalize poverty have helped to make the “land of the free” the incarceration capital of the world. From discipline polices in our nation’s schools to traffic stops on our streets, the criminalization of poverty impacts people of color and racial minorities disproportionally. This panel will discuss some of the means by which our society and legal system participate in this criminalization, and the ways that faith communities can disrupt them.
Panelists
- Bishop Dwayne D. Roster, National Political Director of Faith in Action (formerly the PICO National Network) and Designated Pastor of Faith United Church of Christ (Washington, DC)
- Mr. Camilo Viveiros, Executive Director, The George Wiley Center (Pawtucket, RI) and Chair, Rhode Island Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival