Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Help turn NYC Green

Proposal to Distribute 5,000 CFLs

to Faith-Based Groups in the New York Area


Introduction


GreenFaith proposes to distribute 5,000 CFLs (Compound Fluorescent Lamps) to houses of worship and faith-based groups in the greater New York City area between September 1 and December 31, 2010. The following is a brief review of the methodology GreenFaith proposes, and the initial list of institutions with whom we would work to carry out this effort.


Background


GreenFaith is an interfaith environmental coalition which offers a range of regional and national programs to educate and equip diverse faith-based groups as environmental leaders. For further information, see www.greenfaith.org.


Among a number of programs, GreenFaith has distributed over 65,000 CFLs through urban faith and community based groups in New Jersey since September 2008, and has partnered with over 200 groups to carry out these distributions.


Methods


GreenFaith has an extensive network of contacts and relationships with religious groups in the New York area, and we would work with these groups to distribute 5,000 CFLs between September 1 – December 31, 2010. GreenFaith staff would contact these institutions, and would schedule distribution events at interested sites on a Sunday or other day on which a large percentage of the members of the institution will be gathered for worship, education or fellowship activities. GreenFaith staff would be present at each event, would ensure the proper distribution of CFLs, and could capture e-mail addresses of interested individuals to receive further e-mail follow-up from NYSERDA. GreenFaith would provide NYSERDA with a list of events and contact e-mails for each event in an Excel file. These reports could be provided monthly or quarterly, as desired by NYSERDA.


Contacts


GreenFaith has contacts with the following institutions. We would plan to reach out to them to explore the scheduling of CFL distributions.


Name of Institution

Location

Abyssinian Baptist Church

Harlem

Park Avenue United Methodist Church

Manhattan

The Cathedral of St. John the Divine

Manhattan

St. Xavier Catholic Church

Manhattan

Conservative Synagogue Adath Israel

Bronx

Darul Islah Mosque

Brooklyn

Union Theological Seminary

Manhattan

Jewish Theological Seminary

Manhattan

General Theological Seminary

Manhattan

New York Divinity School

Manhattan

New York Theological Seminary

Manhattan


GreenFaith has a number of additional contacts but believes these are the most strategically useful sites because of their prominence, their role as educators of large numbers of clergy, and their religious diversity.


Conclusion


GreenFaith is experienced in the distribution of CFLs through faith-based institutions and would welcome the opportunity to distribute 5,000 CFLs provided by NYSERDA to New York-area institutions during the fall of 2010.


For further information, please contact GreenFaith’s Executive Director, Fletcher Harper, at 732-565-7740, ext. 301 or at revfharper@greenfaith.org.


Take A Look For Yourself

Invites you to

Get on the Bus for the


Newark Environmental Health and Justice Tour

With Gov. Tom Kean

For

Faith & Community Leaders

GreenFaith’s Advisory Council and Guests


Thursday, Oct. 14

Metropolitan Baptist Church

8:30 a.m. – 12:00 noon

149 Springfield Ave. Newark, NJ 07102


The Tour will feature:


A visit to the Diamond Alkali Superfund Site
and information about efforts to “green” Port Newark

A visit to the Newark incinerator and information
on action to reduce air emissions and mercury pollution

Opportunities to learn how the health of cities
is impacted by the environment

Please RSVP with the enclosed reply card or
by e-mailing Karyn Grunwald at
info@greenfaith.org.

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Picture the Homeless!

As many of you know, our Intro 48 legislation, (http://tinyurl.com/48vacant)which would empower the city to implement an annual city-wide census of all vacant property (public and private) has been (despite its 29 co-sponsors) stalled since it's introduction in February. After numerous conversations with Council personnel and meeting all requests and requirements it has become abundantly clear that *if we don't move, the bill won't move.


*Free Intro 48! *


*City Hall Press Conference*


*Wednesday, the 29th of September at 11am*



At which time we'll feature a number of Intro 48 co-sponsors, including lead sponsor Melissa Mark-Viverito, academic supporters, faith leaders, members and allies who will speak on the need to pass Intro 48! Please do what you can to stimulate your membership to attend this important and critical press
conference. As always with Picture the Homeless, expect a surprise or two!


*Picture the Homeless really needs to see you on September 29th at 11am!*


Finally, be sure to check out our *Vacant NYC* , a dynamic on-line popular solution to the counting of vacant properties. Powered by USHAHIDI, a software pioneered in Kenya, *Vacant NYC* allows people to submit
information onto a map that anyone can easily access and use. So, when you see a vacant building anywhere in the five boroughs, let us know. You can submit a report in one of three ways: By visiting vacantnyc.crowdmap.com, by texting the address/location to 917.412.3064, or by sending it via Twitter
using #housingnotwarehousing or @pthny. That’s right! We’re showing the city how it’s done!!

There you have it for now. Please, let’s stand together in support of Intro 48 on the 29th !!

BYOC!



NY Faith & Justice will be a featured cause!
@BYOC (aka "Bring Your Own Cause"),
a competitive fundraiser

Please come out and support us as we pitch The Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit to a room full of professionals who are ready to give. Folks will vote for their favorite cause by text. The winning cause will receive all the funds raised that night! 

Here are all the details (just in case you can't see the cool flier above)

BYOC!
(aka Bring Your Own Cause!)
THIS Thursday, September 23
7-10pm
Delancey Lounge Rooftop
168 Delancey Street (Delancey and Clinton Street)

Please come and bring friends! The more the merrier. Tweet it using the #BYOC hash tag!

For more info, contact Stephen at stickner@nyfaithjustice.org. And check out Follow us on Twitter and
Find us on Facebook for the latest updates.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice invite you to...

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Breakfast @ 8:30am | Program @ 9-11am

The Riverside Church (Assembly Hall)

490 Riverside Drive, New York, NY.

(Enter on Claremont, btwn 120th and 121st)


Imagine…

200-300 community members, faith

leaders, advocates, and government

representatives gathered to

collectively address key food and

health disparities threatening the

most under-resourced areas of our

city.

Imagine…

A 2-day Summit leading to the

establishment of working groups to

implement participants’ top 3-5

strategic priorities over the next year.


Imagine…

October 29- 30, 2010 "Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit", convened by the Faith

Leaders for Environmental Justice at The Riverside Church in New York City.

Dr. Nick Freudenberg (CUNY Hunter College, Distinguished Professor and Director of the

Department of Public Health) will share his findings in recent study of New York City food

policies and their connection with public health crises in the poorest neighborhoods of

our city. Learn more about the Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Summit, why it’s

needed, how it will work, and how your congregation can get involved!

To RSVP contact Sarah Sayeed at ssayeed@interfaithcenter.org or call 212-870-3519.

Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice is a diverse collaborative network of faith leaders

committed to making deep impact on issues of environmental justice in New York City through

coordinated collective action.


Mobilizing Hope

NY Faith & Justice, The Micah Institute, & Union Theological Seminary invite you to:

Mobilizing Hope:
Adam Russel Taylor on Continuing the Work of Martin Luther King, Jr. Today

Friday, Sept. 17th
4:00pm
Union Theological Seminary
3041 Broadway @ 121st St.
NY, NY 10027

Martin Luther King Jr. read the words of the apostle Paul to the church in Rome--"Be transformed by the renewing of your mind"--as a call not to retreat from the world but to lead the world into the kingdom of God, where peace and justice reign. In King's day the presenting problem was entrenched racism; the movement of God was a revolution in civil rights and human dignity. Now Adam Taylor draws insights from that movement to the present, where the burden of the world is different but the need is the same. See what today's transformed nonconformists are doing at home and abroad to keep in step with the God of justice and love, and find ways you can join the new nonconformists in an activism of hope.

Adam Taylor is currently serving as a White House Fellow in the White House Office of Cabinet Affairs and Public Engagement. He was formerly the Senior Political Director at Sojourners where he was responsible for leading the organization's advocacy, coalition building, and constituency outreach. He has also served as the executive director of Global Justice, an organization that educates and mobilizes students around global human rights and economic justice. Before co-founding Global Justice, he worked as an Associate at the Harvard University Carr Center for Human Rights and as an Urban Fellow in the Department of Housing Preservation and Development in New York City. Taylor is an ordained Associate Minister at the First Baptist Church in Washington, D.C. and is married to Sharee Mckenzie Taylor.

You're Invited!!!

The Prophet Micah reminds us we are to act justly, love mercy and walk humbly with our God.


On 20-22 September, New York will host 190 international leaders during the United Nations Summit on the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (http://www.un.org/en/mdg/summit2010/). These leaders will make decisions on global poverty which will affect a billion people. The 8 MDGs, agreed by Member States of the United Nations, (http://micahchallenge.us/about/millennium-goals.html) concern hunger, education, gender equity, child health, maternal health, diseases, environmental sustainability and global partnerships and aim to halve world poverty by 2015.


To pray for decisions that reflect God’s values, Micah Challenge is organizing a prayer service on 20 September, which will proclaim God’s priorities of mercy and justice in our needy world. Please join us at the service to add your voice to end poverty, with others, as we live the Micah challenge.


The service on 20 September is one of several opportunities to lift up your voice with the poor. Micah Challenge (www.micahchallenge.us) has proclaimed 10.10.10 as a day of prayer and reflection, which, it is hoped, will be followed by 100 million people in 40 countries. It is also a day of action to send your handprint to elected officials to seal your promise to reduce poverty. Work with your church to register for 10.10.10 on the Micah Challenge website and download the toolkit.


Event: Service of Worship, Prayer and Action

Date: Monday, September 20, 2010

Time: 7:00pm to 9:00pm

Location: The Salvation Army,

221 East 52nd Street, NY,

NY 10022, USA


Information: Jason@micahchallenge.us


Organized by: Micah Challenge, supported by Metro Hope Church, Salvation Army International Social Justice Commission, NY Faith & Justice, Sojourners, Micah Institute, NYC churches.



Stand for Freedom!


On Friday, September 10th, NY Faith & Justice along with other New Yorker's from all faith's, cultures, and backgrounds will gather together to stand for equality, diversity and religious freedom and the rights for Muslim American's to build a Community Center at 51 Park Place. Please join us!

What: Candelight Vigil
Time: 7:15pm (sundown)
Where: Meet at the corner of Church Street & Park Place
What to Bring: Bring a candle and American Flag but NO signs. Please wear white in peace and solidarity.

Thursday, September 2, 2010

Betraying the Age...

Join the Story!
(w/ special appeal)
Dear NY Faith & Justice Friends and Family,

For the past two months, we have shared the stories of people who make up New York Faith & Justice. They are members, board members, partners, and friends. They are pastors, organizers, and ordinary people committed to an extra-ordinary vision...



Thank you to all who shared their stories. You have enriched our lives and challenged us with your faith.



Thank you to all who read the stories. More than any other NY Faith & Justice web-based campaign, this one struck a nerve. We hope you were inspired. We hope it moved you to look for ways to engage in your neighborhood, in your community, in your city. More than that, we hope you caught a glimpse of the vision.



Think of the most vulnerable among us--the ones Jesus calls "the least of these." The single mother, the child without resources, the immigrant within our borders... What have you learned about the core lies our age tells us about the least of these? Remember the lies?


  1. The ideology of individualism. What I do only matters to me. I gotta get mine?
  2. Money = God. It demands that we sacrifice certain people on its altar.


Here's another core lie our Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice team discerned during a recent meeting:



3. I buy therefore I am.


And here's another core lie of our age discerned by a national gathering of Christian faith-rooted organizers during a recent gathering in Los Angeles:


4. "The other" is a threat to our well-being.



What is the truth? What could it look like to betray the age's lies with truth in your life, in your neighborhood, in your city.



What truth would God tell--what structures would God change to help "make things right" for children living under the threat of diabetes, heart disease, obesity, and asthma because of environmental injustice in their neighborhoods... for children like my niece, Luna?



What systems would God change to help "make things right" so that communities could thrive and children in the South Bronx, Harlem, Central Brooklyn and South Queens could play freely in the streets with no fear of criminals or cops? So, that Conversations for Change are no longer necessary!



What policies would God craft to help "make things right" for immigrants within our boarders. How would God handle the balance between law and grace?



And what about "the mosque" and religious freedom? How would God lead us to treat our neighbors?


Many of you wrote to me over the past two months saying: "Please don't stop sending the stories! They're so inspiring." We won't. We will continue to live and tell our stories of everyday people exercising seeds of faith to move mountains in the city. And we want you to join the story!


SpecialAppeal

Join the Story!



Our goal was to raise $25,000 in new and renewed members and financial partnerships to help make our work possible. We're still tallying the pledges and gifts. So far, you have given about $13,700 in memberships, pledges, and donation of services.



It's not too late for you to join the story. Please consider digging deep to help us reach our goal. Your generous gift would help us secure an office space and would lay the foundation for all of our work throughout the next year.



Betray the age! Contribute just $25, $50, $100, $300, $500, $1000 or more to the work of NY Faith & Justice.

Click here to contribute now.



NYFJ T-Shirt Male***All who give just $10/mth or more through automatic electronic payments will receive a complimentary NY Faith & Justice T-Shirt!
Don't forget to use the "Designation" box on the online giving page to indicate your size and let us know if you want a male or female cut.

NOTE: T-Shirts will be mailed out throughout the month of September.

NYFJ T-Shirt Female



NOTE: If you prefer not to give online you can send checks made payable to "FCNY/NY Faith & Justice" to:


NY Faith & Justice
c/o Partnership
475 Riverside Drive, Suite 500
New York, NY 10115



Thank you for your contin
ued prayers and partnership and don't forget to follow us on Follow us on Twitter , Find us on Facebook, the nyfj blog or the nyfj calendar for up to the minute action alerts, program changes, and details.

Living the Story,
Lisa

Lisa Sharon Harper
Co-founder and Executive Director
New York Faith & Justice