On Thursday, March 15, COLORS Restaurant will host the fourth ¡Build Bridges Not Walls! — a collaborative benefit series to raise funds and awareness about parallel struggles for justice. The evening will begin with a screening of the documentary FRESH at 7pm, followed by a discussion led by food justice activists Karen Washington and Eric Weltman and music by jazz maestros Eve Silber and Ben Barson.

The cover charge for the event is a donation, and a sliding scale of $2 to $20 is suggested. Proceeds will go to support the Black Urban Growers and NY Faith & Justice’s Farm Bill Working Group, both of whom are working to involve grassroots community voices in food justice reform.

This gathering will mark the fourth in a series entitled ¡Build Bridges Not Walls! which was launched by COLORS  in collaboration with several artists and organizers. “Our goal is to harness the unifying power of music and artistic expression to create solidarity, raise awareness, and generate funds for these two related struggles,” said Juan Carlos Ruiz of COLORS, which is a worker-owned cooperative dedicated to ethical eating. “We need to come together to strengthen our struggles for justice.”  More at: http://www.colors-newyork.com/

The event is also cosponsored by the 4th Street Food Co-op, Oxfam Action Corps NYC, Food & Water Watch, and Trinity Grace Church – East Village.

Food and drink will be available for purchase. COLORS Restaurant uses local ingredients and trains local employees in collective entrepreneurship to create an eclectic menu and communal dining experience that provides excellently and ethically prepared meals. The gathering runs from 9pm to midnight and is located at 417 Lafayette Street, accessible via the 6 train to Astor Place or the R to 8th St-NYU.

More information on the film, speakers, performers and sponsors:
FRESH is a feature documentary film by Ana Sofia Joanes that celebrates the food architects around the country who are boldly reinventing our food system with sustainable agriculture initiatives. More than a movie, FRESH is a gateway to action. It offers tangible actions that individuals and communities can take to become active participants in this exciting, vibrant, and fast-growing movement — as energetic as planting urban gardens and creating warm composts from food waste, and as simple as buying locally-grown products and preserving or freezing seasonal produce to eat later in the year. More at freshthemovie.com

The Black Urban Growers (BUGs) works to build networks and community support for growers in both urban and rural settings. Through education and advocacy around food and farm issues, we nurture collective black leadership to ensure we have a seat at the table. In October 2011, BUGS hosted the second annual Black Farmers and Urban Gardeners Conference, which drew more than 300 attendees to the Hostos Community College in the Bronx to explore the theme “health, wealth and justice.” More at blackfarmersconf.org

The NY Faith & Justice Farm Bill Working Group is a collaborative effort to educate faith communities and the general public about how the 2012 Food & Farm Bill could end hunger, promote healthy diets, heal the environment, support family farms and support living wage jobs in the food system. They helped organize a conference at Riverside Church this fall that drew more than 150 participants. They are currently asking groups to endorse a set of principles that has been developed by the NYC Food and Farm Bill Working group to build support for essential reforms. More at foodbillnyc.wikispaces.com

Eve Silber is a jazz singer and guitarist who carries out her love affair with the American Songbook in a swinging fashion and with the joy of the traditional jazz era. A long time resident of the West Village, Eve is a teacher of voice and guitar (student of Dave Van Ronk) as well as an educator in the field of theatre-ineducation (student of Augusto Boal). Since September 2011 she has been actively engaged in the OCCUPY movement on Alliance Building and Community Affairs, as well as facilitating theatre-based workshops. Eve
can be found in performance every Wednesday at the legendary Arthur’s Tavern, New York City’s longest running jazz club. More at myspace.com/evesilber

Benjamin Barson is a baritone saxophonist, writer, producer, and activist. A New York City resident, he works daily to build a revolutionary Left culture that places the intrinsic value of the Earth at its center, as well as overthrowing the triple specters of white supremacy, Imperialism, and patriarchy. Currently he is working on a revival of the work of activist-musician Calvin Massey, an overlooked 1960s African-American composer who worked with the Black Panther Party as well as John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, and a whole generation of leading activists and musicians. He is a member of the revolutionary collective Scientific Soul Sessions, and its sister project, Ecosocialist Horizons. More at ecosocialisthorizons.com

Karen Washington is a lifelong New York City resident who has been a community activist since 1985. As a City Farms Trainer, she helped people all over the city grow more food and build healthier neighborhoods, and as a member of the La Familia Verde Garden Coalition, she launched a City Farms Market, bringing garden grown and farm fresh vegetables to her neighbors. Her motto is: “you can’t say you’ve made it, if the people around you are still struggling; I am because we are.” A lifelong New York City resident, Karen graduated from Hunter College with honors in physical therapy in 1977 with BS degree magna cum laude, and received her Masters degree from NYU in occupational biomechanics and ergonomics in 1981. More at justfood.org/aboutus/just-food-board

Eric Weltman is Senior Organizer for Food & Water Watch in New York. He has over 20 years of experience leading social justice campaigns and building progressive power. He has taught urban politics at Suffolk University and written for such publications as The American Prospect, In These Times, Dollars & Sense. A native of New Jersey, Eric graduated from University of Michigan and earned an MA in Urban & Environmental Policy from Tufts. Taken from foodandwaterwatch.org/about/who-we-are/

4th Street Food Co-op is a member-owned and -operated food coop in New York City’s East Village. It is open to the public, and focuses on offering locally grown, organic and ethically produced products. More at 4thstreetfoodcoop.org

Oxfam Action Corps NYC is a part of the Oxfam America Action Corps, a group of dedicated volunteers working across the country to mobilize public support for policies to end poverty and hunger. They are currently promoting Oxfam’s GROW food justice campaign. More at www.oxfamactioncorpsnyc.org

Food & Water Watch is a non-profit organization that advocates for common sense policies that will result in healthy, safe food and access to safe and affordable drinking water. More at foodandwaterwatch.org/about

Trinity Grace Church–East Village is a part of the Trinity Grace network of neighborhood churches in New York. Together, they work for the common good and renewal of our city. More at trinitygraceeastvillage.com

Contact Kelly Moltzen at kmoltzen (at) institute2000 (dot) org or (212) 633-0800 ext. 1328 to get involved.

This event will highlight the crucial role of the faith community in the food justice movement and the potential to reform local and national food policy.
Come and learn about the Farm Bill and how it affects the choices you make about the food you consume, your community, farmers, food workers, the environment and your health.
Panelists will include faith and food justice advocates who will discuss and share insights on:
I. Faces of the Food System
II. Solutions for Change

For program details, please go to www.theriversidechurchny.org
Please RSVP and register (at no charge) if you will attend this event at http://faithandfoodjustice2011.eventbrite.com/

Speakers include:
Wenonah Hauter, Executive Director of Food & Water Watch
Rev. Derrick Boykin, Associate for African American Leadership-Bread for the World
Rev. Richard Witt, Exec Director, Rural Migrant Ministry
Bill Ayers, Co-Founder and Executive Director, WHY Hunger
Karen Washington, President of NYC Community Garden Coalition
Abby Youngblood, Fresh Food For All Program Director-Just Food
Mark Dunlea, Hunger Action Network of NYS
Ana Aguirre, Exec. Director United Community Centers/ East New York Farms
Rabbi Kurland, Director of Educational Resources PURSUE/AJWS
Lisa Sharon Harper, Director of Mobilizing at Sojourners and former Exec. Director New York Faith and Justice
Rev. Coleman, Riverside Church

Sponsored by the Food Justice Initiative of the Riverside Church in the City of New York in collaboration with Faith Leaders For Environmental Justice. Co-Sponsors: New York Faith and Justice, Food & Water Watch, Hunger Action Network of New York State, Bread for the World, Bronx Health REACH, American Jewish World Service, Pursue: Action for a Just World, and WhyHunger

It seems to me that now is God’s time to seek food justice in New York City.  Now is the time to help people of faith and other community members to understand that not only are there social structures that make it difficult for people in low-income neighborhoods to find and afford healthy food, but there are also opportunities for faith-based communities to address this injustice  (Fred Bahnson, a previous IATP Food and Society Policy Fellow, wrote about this for Sojourners in 2009).  

There are opportunities to speak up and proclaim that everyone deserves access to fresh, healthy food, and that everyone deserves to know how to prepare these foods so that they can make healthy meals for themselves and their families.  There are opportunities to learn how to develop relationships with local corner store owners and let them know that their community wants healthy food.  There are opportunities to tell elected officials who care about their constituents’ health, what policies and legislation would help make communities healthier. And there are ways to bring knowledge about nutrition, cooking, and the food system to people who have never been exposed to this information.

We have a New York State Senator, Gustavo Rivera from District 33 in the Bronx, who recently launched the Bronx CAN (Changing Attitudes Now) Health Initiative.  The next Bronx CAN event, which will focus on nutrition, will be held on Saturday, July 16, 2011, at the Kingsbridge Heights Community Center (3101 Kingsbridge Terrace in the Bronx) from 1:30-3:30pm.  Just yesterday, Bronx Health REACH’s new website launched, which has a great deal of information on its programs and downloadable resources on nutrition, diabetes, and health disparities.  Bronx Health REACH’s new national faith-based health website  also launched.

AND the Mayor’s Office of Long-Term Planning and Sustainability launched Change By Us – NYC, an online social networking platform for civic engagement!  Right now Faith Leaders for Environmental Justice has two pages on this new site for its food justice working groups, Business Outreach and Food and Voter Education.   The Business Outreach working group is focusing on raising awareness about the NYC Department of Health’s Adopt a Bodega toolkit, and providing some technical expertise as to how to go about making corner stores healthier.  The Food and Voter Education working group (in collaboration with Bronx Health REACH) seeks to educate faith communities, schools, and community groups about how to access fresh food; connect people with information about nutrition and how to prepare healthy meals; educate faith communities, schools, and community groups about legislative issues affecting NYC’s food system; and educate elected officials about the food system and public health, and communicate with them about food-related legislative issues.

The other working groups include: Community Engagement, Incentives to Purchase Healthy Foods, and the Food and Farm Bill.  The Community Engagement working group is trying to foster more involvement in community gardens.  The Incentives to Purchase Healthy Foods working group is getting ready to survey members of faith-based organizations about awareness of and ability to purchase healthy foods, so as to make informed recommendations to elected officials.  And the Food and Farm Bill working group is focused on developing materials to educate faith communities and the general public about what the Farm Bill is, how it affects all of us, and how we can work together to advocate for the 2012 Farm Bill to include legislation that benefits the health of people and the environment.

As you can see,  the food justice working groups are working on bringing a wealth of information and opportunities to the forefront so that it is easily accessible for all.  We invite you to join us during this exciting time as we seek to bring God’s kingdom to earth and ensure that everyone has access to food which will nourish their bodies and their souls – the same fresh, minimally processed food which supports the health of not just people , but the planet.  With this in mind, here is some information about upcoming meetings of the food justice working groups:

The Food and Voter Education working group will be collaborating with the Food and Farm Bill working group to create educational materials about the Farm Bill, and will be having its next meeting on Thursday, July 14th from 6:30-8:30pm at Judson Memorial Church (234 Thompson St. in Manhattan). 

The Business Outreach working group will be having its next meeting on Tuesday, July 19th from 6:00-8:00pm, also at Judson.

We hope you can join us!

Here is the updated contact information for the working group leaders:

Business Outreach – Anne Heartness hca234@yahoo.com

Community Engagement – Eugena Simpson eugenasimpson@yahoo.com

Food and Farm Bill - Ryan Brown brownry35@yahoo.com

Food and Voter Education – Kelly Moltzen kmoltzen@institute2000.org

Incentives to Purchase Healthy Foods – Jaime Gutierrez jgutierrez01@nyam.org

This past weekend, New York Immigration Coalition (NYIC) participated in an immigration forum hosted by Congresswoman Yvette Clarke with special guest Congressman Luis Gutierrez where the Pen Campaign was a HUGE HIT! Check out pictures from the event here.  Nearly every person in the room signed a letter to the President.  The excitement about the campaign was phenomenal!!  Now, it is time to build on that momentum for the NYIC Day of Action.

As part of a National Day of Action organized by FIRM, a number of states across the country are also hosting events urging President Obama to take action to STOP UNJUST DEPORTATIONS!

Will you participate, too?

NYIC will join the National Day of Action by sponsoring a blitz across New York to promote its Pen Campaign!  They will also launch our blog!

Here’s how you can get involved:

1. Spend one hour collecting signed Pen Campaign letters at a location in New York (click here to download 1. Info Sheet, 2. Letter to Obama)
2. Sponsor the Pen Campaign and Spread the word!!! www.pencampaign.com

Please contact Emily at immigrationintern2@thenyic.org this week to let NYIC know if you will be participating so they can include your organization in their press materials. NY Faith & Justice signed up! Join us!

The beginning part of the meeting will feature an overview of the Farm Bill from national experts Tom Forster (professor of food policy at New School and former policy director of the Community Food Security Coalition) and Fern Gale Estrow (Founder of FGE Food & Nutrition Team)  along with Mark Dunlea of the Hunger Action Network of New York State.

We would like to invite other members of NY Faith and Justice to attend this educational forum.

The second part of the meeting will feature next steps for the committee, such as developing educational materials on the farm bill for the faith community and making plans for a fall conference /forum.

Paper and memories splayed across the floor of our office, it was holy ground. We were both kind of speechless. Each sheet rife with over-sized scribbling was evidence of the movement of God among us years ago…movement that laid the ground work for our action and impact today.

Five years ago, this month, I met four strangers who changed my life … and the rest is history.

Scanning the notes I was struck once again: poverty must end.

Last month I flew to Nashville, TN to sit down with Tony Campolo on the set of his new TV show Red Letter Christians. We talked about poverty, environmental justice, and the Ryan Plan.

On the flight back I sat next to a trucker with a cowboy hat. We’ll call him Ed. Ed shared how he was pulled from his rig one day a few years ago and beaten almost to death by a gang of teens. He lost his job and with that his health insurance.

He and his wife would have been destitute if it weren’t for his disability benefit, which took two years to kick in.  Ed knows he will eventually lose one leg from the injuries sustained that fateful day. To stave off depression he visits a hospital for child burn victims each year; spending a week each time. He just wants to make sure they know they’re loved.

We talked about Rep Paul Ryan’s Plan to end Medicare. This white trucker with a cowboy hat sighed deep: “I don’t understand them,” Ed said.

Together we considered what life without a safety net would be like for him and all the most vulnerable people in our nation, whose lives teeter one pay check, one job loss, one medical diagnosis, one tragic accident from financial ruin, if the Ryan Plan passed.

With ideological battles threatening the most vulnerable in states across the nation the fight to protect the poor is serious. In response, I have accepted an invitation to move to Washington DC to serve as Sojourners’ new national Director of Mobilizing. I’m excited and honored to join Jim Wallis and his awesome team in the effort to mobilize networks of faith leaders to form circles of protection for the poor in cities across the nation. I am full of vision for this national fight to end poverty, protect the environment, and end the wars that suck resources from domestic anti-poverty programs every single day.

The work of New York Faith & Justice is also needed now more than ever and it will continue!

• This Fall NY Faith & Justice will convene four days of Faith-Rooted Organizing Training in partnership with churches and organizations across New York City!
• This Fall the Food, Faith, and Health Disparities Working Groups will launch several city-wide initiatives to engage faith communities in the broad fight for food justice.
• January ’12 NY Faith & Justice church partners are planning to bring me back to conduct The NYC Shalom Pilgrimage, a one-week training in Transformational Civic Engagement for pastors and their leadership teams!

God moved in amazing ways in the first five years. Now we see God preparing the way for NY Faith & Justice to make deeper impact over the next five! “Greater things have yet to come! Greater things have still to be done in this city!”

*** You can help NY Faith & Justice do greater things for the next five years! Take a moment right now and consider becoming a member, a patron, or an organizational partner with New York Faith & Justice! ***

On a personal note: “Thank you.” Your support, encouragement, and partnership over the last five years made it possible for me and the NY Faith & Justice team to follow Christ, united the church, and work toward the end of poverty in our city. Your words, actions, and shared resources made every event, every meeting, every partnership we forged possible. Because of you, our eyes have seen glory!

To show our appreciation, we would like to invite you to our 5-Year Celebration and sending ceremony for me. We will also enjoy a staged reading of my one-act play, Catch.

The NY Faith & Justice board, staff, interns, and volunteers thank you for your prayers and partnership for five more years of wonder!
Don’t forget to follow nyfj on  , , and on the new nyfj website and blog for up to the minute action alerts, program changes, and details.

In Faith & Justice,

invites you to

NYC Faith-Rooted Organizing Training

September 16-19
Tentatively @ Judson Memorial Church
55 Washington Square South
New York, NY 10012

Click here to register now!

Cost: $25

Come experience this four-day training on how to address injustice in our city and our world in a way that draws power from the roots of our faith. Faith-rooted organizing is bringing people together to create change in a way that is shaped and guided in every way by the deepest beliefs of our faith. It is not “faith-based” organizing which focuses simply on organizing people of faith. Instead, faith-rooted organizing draws from the real power of our faith to enable people of faith, all faiths, to contribute their unique gifts to the broader movement for social and economic justice.

The Trainers

Rev. Alexia Salvatierra is the founding director of FaithRooted.org. 2005-2011 Rev. Salvatierra served as the executive director of C.L.U.E. (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice), an organization of religious leaders in four cities in California (San Fransisco, Los Angeles, Orange County, and San Diego). C.L.U.E. supports low-wage workers in their struggle for a living wage, health insurance, fair working conditions and a voice in the decisions that affect them.

Lisa Sharon Harper is the director of Mobilizing for Sojourners in Washington, DC.. From 2006-2011 Ms. Harper served as the founding executive director of NY Faith & Justice, a movement of congregations, advocates, government representatives, and individuals committed to ending poverty in New York through spiritual formation, education, and direct advocacy.

Co-sponsored by

Judson Memorial Church, Bread for the World, Bronx Health REACH, Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies, Habitat for Humanity, Metro Hope Church, Micah Institute, New York Faith and Justice, Sojourners, Trinity Grace Church, and We ACT for Environmental Justice

invite you to

A Staged Reading of…

Catch
A Play in One Act
by Lisa Sharon Harper

Directed by SC2

THIS Wednesday, June 22, 2011
@ 7:00pm

Reception to Celebrate 5 Years of NY Faith & Justice
and to Thank and Send Executive Director Lisa Sharon Harper will follow @ 8:30pm.

@ The Riverside Church in New York
490 Riverside Drive, Room 10T
(enter through 91 Claremont Avenue entrance)
New York, NY 10027

Grandpa Joe summons his son and grandson to his bedside in a maximum security prison hospice center. He wants to give them something–something that will stop the cycle of brokenness from attacking another generation.

Click Here to Reserve Tickets

CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW! ONLY 50 BUCKS!