At the 2003 annual assembly of the Episcopal Urban Caucus, ENEJ presented three workshops to help equip attendees for the work of economic justice. The three well attended workshops were Worker Justice, Wealth Creation and Economic Justice Education.

The Worker Justice workshop is detailed in a separate article. The Wealth Creation: A Start to Breaking the Cycle of Poverty workshop was led by ENEJ Steering Committee member, Michael Bryant of Jacksonville, Florida and representatives of ShoreBank of Chicago, a leader in community revitalization lending.

Topics of the workshop included community redevelopment, microenterprise development, individual development accounts (IDAs) and financial literacy training. The recent growth in microenterprise organizations was described as an encouraging sign of wealth creation in many communities. Similarly, the combination of financial literacy training and matched savings in IDA programs is stimulating persons within 200% of poverty income to begin creating wealth for the first time. For more information about the workshop topics, email Michael Bryant at Freshmin4@aol.com. For more information about the activities of ShoreBank, email Verna Barton at vernabarton@sbk.com.

ENEJ President Emeritus, John Hooper led the workshop on Economic Justice Education and detailed the education modules that have been developed for ENEJ by United for a Fair Economy of Boston. These materials are designed to be used in congregations and other group settings and training is available for leaders interesting in making their community more aware of economic justice issues. Email John Hooper at mcfundjh@winstarmail.com for more details.