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 and for the latest updates.

Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice invite you to...

Food | Faith | Health

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.

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? The ideology of individualism. What I do only matters to me. I gotta get mine? 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? By the way, if you missed yesterday's press conference call in support of the Park51 community center and mosque, you can click here to listen to the audio taped press call with national security experts and faith leaders. 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! Join the Story! There are lots of ways you can join the story! Intern with us! We are now accepting applications for Fall 2010 - Spring 2011! Volunteer your expertise or resources! Check out the Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice or theConversations for Change Host an Immigration Reform House Party Become a Financial Partner with the movement! 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. ***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. 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 continued prayers and partnership and don't forget to follow us on , , the nyfj blog or the nyfj calendar for up to the minute action alerts, program changes, and details. Living the Story, Lisa Sharon Harper Co-founder and Executive Director New York Faith & Justice