Urban Caucus Addresses Cities in an Age of Globalization  
  Justice is Orthodox Theology  
  New Bishops' Coalition  
  Growing Our Economic Justice Network  
  Wealth Building in Communities of Need  
  ENEJ Board Member Recognized for Community Credit Union Work  
  EGR Plans Third World Aid Strategy  
  A Salute to Verna Fausey  
  2003 General Convention  
  2005 Gloria Brown Award
ENEJ Workshops
  Community Investing  
  Worker Justice Update  
  ENEJ Support Grows  
  ENEJ Newsletter  




 

 






 

Resources
 
 NEW!!!   Economic Justice How-To Manual

The Economic Justice How-To Manual has been moved to the Economic Justice Education Units Section.  Click here to download the manual.
The Episcopal Network for Economic Justice - Brochure

....We Believe that the Episcopal Church is called to a ministry of ECONOMIC JUSTICE, which includes but is not limited to,
community investment and empowerment; advocacy for worker justice, including the right to organize; and concerns which address the justice issues in the globalization of the economy

.....We believe that each diocese should be encouraging and supporting local expressions of this ministry. Both the Gospel and Torah call people of faith to practice economic justice and to sustain justice and equity for all members of the community
  • :
    An Alternative for Religious Congregations Seeking a Social as well as a Financial Return.

    The Episcopal Network for Economic Justice,
    September 1999. Order from John Hooper, Economic
    Justice Commission McGehee Fund, 2727 Second Avenue Suite 121, Detroit, MI 48201. 313-831-2157
    Fax: 313-831-2157 e-mail:
















 ENEJ RESOURCES
  • Education Committee:
    Now have available five alternative economic justice training modules. John Hooper, 17427 Quincy, Detroit, MI 48221. 313-964-7305
    e-mail:
  • Alternative Community Investing and Community Loan Funds
    Episcopal Network for Economic Justice
    Sue Lloyd
    1104A Mound Street, Madison, WI 53715. 608-256-7250.
    Fax: 608-256-9991
    e-mail:

    Various resources available through our chairperson, The Rev. Geoffrey Curtiss, and other ENEJ Steering Committee Members listed on our web site under .

  • Jubilee Ministry:
    Has your parish ministry been designated a Jubilee Center by the National Church? Jubilee Centers are eligible for grants through the Episcopal Relief and Development Fund and other valuable support through participation in a national network.

    For more information, contact your diocesan Jubilee Ministry Officer or The Rev. Canon Carmen Guerrero, Office of Jubilee Ministries, Episcopal Church Center, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017.
    Telephone 800-334-7626,
    e-mail:

  • Economic Justice Loan Committee:
    The committee is given stewardship of $7 million to make loans to projects to benefit poor and marginalized people, for such purposes as low cost housing or establishing credit unions. Contact: Harry Van Buren, 504 Orchard Drive, Cedar Falls, IA 50613, Telephone 319-266-4088, email: .

    Wage Campaigns:

    email:

  • Episcopal Relief and Development Fund: Episcopal Church Center, Mary
    Becchi, Deputy Director of Program and Program Planning, 815 Second Avenue, New York, NY 10017, 800-3347626 #6121
    e-mail:
    Grant Deadlines are March 15 and August 15

  • Related Web Sites:
    National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice
    The Witness

 LIVING WAGE/WORKER JUSTICE

Center for Economic and Social Rights
Ann Shutok
(718) 237-9145 x. 13,

The Center for Economic and Social Rights (CESR) was established in 1993 to promote social justice through human rights. In a world where poverty and inequality deprive individuals and entire communities of the opportunity to live in dignity, CESR promotes
the universal right of every human being to health and a healthy environment, housing, education, employment, food, and social security.

We work for a future where all people can enjoy economic security, social equality, cultural expression, and political freedom. CESR advances this vision by connecting local advocacy to international law mechanisms, and by building public constituencies
for human rights.

Our largest programs are the Human Rights in the United States Program, which seeks to end domestic poverty through a rights- based framework. The Human Rights and the Environment Program, which seeks to involve local persons in development decisions that affect their environment and currently focuses on access to water as a basic human right, and the Human Rights and Conflict Program, which advocates peaceful alternatives to war and works to protect economic and social rights for people living in areas affected by war, blockades, sanctions, and post-war relief and reconstruction efforts.

We have also worked to document and advocate against abuses in the domestic sweatshop system as part of our Workers’ Rights Project. Similarly, we carried out a research project examining the violations of the right to a clean environment in communities along the border with Mexico. We are also working issues related to the
right to education, particularly issues of accountability and parental access. We recently published a report on the subject, with close cooperation from the NYU Institute for Education and Social Polic

The following resources are both interfaith sources and community sources for groups and individuals working on the above issues:

Let Justice Roll Down:
American Workers at the New Millennium
A video, made by the Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles, placing the struggle of low wage workers in a larger economic justice perspective, focusing on the struggle of workers in Los Angeles and the response of the interfaith community there. The video is newly available in English and Spanish in a 10 minute version, and also in the original 30 minute version (English only). The 30 min. version has been reproduced twice in response to demand. Also a 46 page printed booklet of the same title, with detailed economic analysis and religious response and resources, published in Dec. 1999 is available (likewise in its third printing).

The Living Wage Movement:
It’s About More Than Just Wages. A short (4p.) introduction to the concept and the significance of the rising living wage movement in the country, with special relevance for the religious community. See The Witness website, , or from Dick Gillett via email.

Related Web Sites
Faith-related:
For looking at action projects for worker justice, (Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice, Los Angeles); (National Interfaith Community for Worker Justice).

Community:
For excellent and up to date analysis on living wage campaigns around the country at the ACORN website, go to . Also for the premier group in the nation for living wage and economic policy advocacy, go to the Los Alliance for a New Economy at .

Economic analysis and up-to-date info:
Economic Policy Institute at and United for a Fair Economy at

For further information, or to order the video or booklet above, contact The Rev. Canon Dick Gillett, e-mail , or telephone, (626) 398-4146, in Los Angeles. Michael Bryant of Fresh Ministries in Jacksonville, Florida is also currently involved in a living wage campaign. Contact him at

 COMMUNITY ORGANIZING FOR SOCIAL AND ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Community Organizing for Social and Economic Justice

Virginia Organizing Project
703 Concord Avenue
Charlottesville, VA 22903-5208
434-984-4655
This statewide project focuses on fair tax policy, living wage, combating racism, environmental protection and other justice issues. Organized into local chapters for action.

Southern Empowerment Project
343 Ellis Avenue
Maryville, TN 37804
865-984-6500

Conducts training on community organizing and grassroots fundraising in the South and Appalachia.

Clergy and Laity United for Economic Justice (CLUE)
545 South Spring Street, Suite 616
Los Angeles, CA 90013
(The Rev. Alexia Salvatierra)
CLUE’s program activities include promoting living wages as public policy, support workers organizing for better wages and working conditions and advocate for a strong safety net for the unemployed and underemployed.

Kentuckians for the Commonwealth
P.O. Box 1450
London, Kentucky 40743
606-878-2161

Promotes fair taxation, living wage, environmental preservation, and other issues through local chapters and statewide lobbying.

Citizen’s Budget Campaign of Western Pennsylvania
The Thomas Merton Center
5125 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15224
(Molly Rush)
412-361-0540

We monitor and influence legislation and public policy that impacts children and families and provide a network for information exchange on children’s issues for individuals and organizations, maintaining local, state and national links for economic social justice. Acting in the belief that children do not come in pieces but in families, communities and churches, we are promote the Campaign and Act to Leave No Child Behind, a comprehensive legislation for children sponsored by the Children’s Defense Fund, the local Citizen’s Budget Campaign, the National Celebration of Children’s Sabbaths and Parenting for Peace.

Southern Appalachian Labor School
PO Box 127
Kincaid, WV 25119

Advocacy for worker justice. Publishes a journal. Welfare rights, black lung and other social, economic, and health issues.

Central Ohio Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice

One of many ecumenical collaborative efforts between religious and labor groups to promote dignity and economic justice for workers. For a listing in your area contact the National Interfaith Committee for Worker Justice 773-728-8400

Comm-Org: The On-Line Conference On Community Organizing and Development

With origins in a 1994 online seminar on the history of community organizing led at the University of Illinois at Chicago, COMM-ORG has grown into a fine resource for persons interested in the current field (and history) of community organizing, both in the United States, and with an international perspective.

 FOUNDATIONS/FUNDRAISING

The Rev. Geoffrey Curtiss
All Saints Episcopal Church and Day School, Hoboken

John Hooper
Economic Justice Commission / McGehee Fund, Detroit

Maggie Alston Claud
Diocesan Jubilee Officer, Diocese of Connecticut

 ALTERNATIVE INVESTING

Community Credit Unions
Urla Abrigo, Los Angeles
Los Angeles Community Credit Union
Vicky Partin
Chattahoochee Valley
Episcopal Ministries

Community Loan Funds
John Hooper, Detroit

Sue Lloyd, Madison
Telephone: 608-256-7250

Micro Loan Funds
Michael Bryant, Jacksonville
Fresh Ministries, Jacksonville, FL

John Gibbs

 GLOBALIZATION

The protests in Quebec and Europe, Seattle and Washington D.C are strong indications that a huge number of groups with diverse interests are coming together to plan strategies to address unquestionable globalization. One of the goals of ENEJ is to find out what is going on in the Episcopal environment that addresses this issue. Please contact Dick Gillett at if you are involved in globalization efforts.

For worker justice issues visit the website for the National Interfaith Community for Worker Justice (a collaborating organization with ENEJ) at .

Cities in a Globalizing World:
Report on Human Settlements, 2001
344 pages, William Van Vliet, Earthscan, London, 2001, $99.95, $35 (paperback).

Comeback Cities:
A Blueprint for Neighborhood Renewal
Paul S. Grogan and Tony Proscio, Westview Press, Boulder, CO, 2000, 304 pages. $25, $16 (paperback).

The New Globalization:

Reclaiming the Lost Ground of our Christian Social Tradition

Richard W. Gillett

Pilgrim Press (to be published in November 2005)

The State of the World’s Cities:
Report 2001
United Nations Centre for Human Settlement (Habitat), UNCHS, Nairobi, 2001. 125 pages. $16.95. Available online at

Milennium Development Goals / Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation

For information about how your parish or diocese can support the United Nations eight Milenium Development Goals, contact Episcopal Relief and Development and ask for the brochure "The MDGs and You" and the liturature at www.er-d.org/mdg.  See also the resolution adopted by the 2003 General Convention regarding this issue.  The primary resource for infomrmation is Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation at www.e4gr.org.

 URBAN POVERTY / URBAN MINISTRY

The Rev. Earl Kooperkamp . Rev. Kooperkamp is associated with HERE, NY Benefit Assistance Fund, the Greater New York Labor and Religion Coalition and the Diocese of new York Economic Justice Commission.

The Good Society, Part I: Atlanta
Films for the Humanities & Sciences, producer. 1994. 60 minutes. $89.95. (Available from Films for the Humanities & Sciences)

The Good Society, Part II: Los Angeles
Films for the Humanities & Sciences, producer. 1994. 60 minutes. $89.95. (Available from Films for the Humanities & Sciences)

Solving Black Inner-City Poverty
Films for the Humanities & Sciences, producer. 1994. 60 minutes. $89.95. (Available from Films for the Humanities & Sciences)

 ECONOMIC JUSTICE

Episcopal Public Policy Network/Washington Office
For a summary of Episcopal Church teachings on various public policy issues such as living wage, support for working familes, etc. see

Economic Justice Definition
See the website of the Committee for Economic and Social Justice:

Related Websites:

Association for Enterprise Opportunity
Promotes microenterprise development

Committee for Economic and Social Justice

National Committee for Jobs and Income Support
Supports reasonable and just approach to welfare reform, opposes oppressive legislation. Supports greatly increased federal funding for child care. Supports fairness in treatment of eligibility for legal immigrants.

National Community Capital Association
A resource for all types of alternative investing funds.

Alternative Investing

The Rev. Geoffrey Curtiss is Immediate Past President of ENEJ and our liaison to the Economic Justice Loan Fund of the national church. He is rector of All Saints, Hoboken.

John Hooper, a seasoned advocate for economic justice is retired from the Economic Justice Commission / McGehee Fund in the Diocese of Michigan (now the Michigan McGehee Interfaith Loan Fund). .

Sue Lloyd, ENEJ Education Co-Chair, has extensive experience in alternative community investment models and economic justice loan funds.

Sabbath Economics Collaborative
The SEC is a national, membership-based network that facilitates cooperation and communication among theologians, economists and activists who are exploring contemporary issues of faith and economic justice.

 CHILDREN'S ISSUES

Wanda Guthrie
Stand for Children/Roots of Promise
The Thomas Morton Center
5125 Penn Avenue
Pittsburgh, PA 15224
(412) 361-3022

We monitor and influence legislation and public policy that impacts children and families and provide a network for information exchange on children's issues for individuals and organizations, maintaining local, state and national links for economic social justice. Acting in the belief that children do not come in pieces but in families, communities and churches, we are promote the Campaign and Act to Leave No Child Behind, a comprehensive legislation for children sponsored by the Children's Defense Fund, the local Citizen's Budget Campaign, the National Celebration of Children's Sabbaths and Parenting for Peace.

 ALTERNATIVE ECONOMICS TRAINING

The ENEJ has contracted with United for a Fair Economy in Boston to develop educational units for use in our parishes and other locales. The following are the titles of each unit:
1) A Christian Response to Economic Inequality      completed
2) Our Personal Relationship to Money      completed
3) Why the Economy Isn’t Working for Workers      completed
4) The Global Economy      completed
5) Analyzing the Local Economy      completed
6) Alternative Economics
7) Our Churches and Our Money
8) Welfare Reform: What’s Fair?

The first five units are completed. Unit 7 will be done soon.

United for a Fair Economy is prepared to offer training sessions to prepare people to teach these units. The ENEJ hopes to have these sessions offered regionally in the Episcopal Church, with regional sponsorship. Local sponsors can invite people from diocesan economic justice ministries, jubilee centers, parish education programs, and other interested folks. When enough people have been trained around the country, the Church will be in the position to do its own training.

For more information on this program, please call John Hooper in Detroit at 313/964-7305 or fax to 313/962-7313 or e-mail to .

 ENEJ Committees

Executive Committee
The Ven. Michael Kendall, President
Telephone: (212) 316-7432
Email:

Advocacy Committee
Dianne Aid
Telephone: (206) 244-6481
Email:

Capacity Building Committee
Lucinda Keils
Telephone: (313) 964-7305
Email:

Communications Committee
Michael Bryant
Telephone: 904-355-0000 ext. 110
Email

Urla Gomes-Price
Telephone: 213-482-2040 ext. 255
Email:

Education Committee
John Hooper
Telephone: 313-964-7305
Email:

Sue Lloyd
Telephone: (608) 256-7250
Email:

Organizing and Empowerment Committee
Michael Bryant
Telephone: 904-355-0000 ext. 110
Email

 DEBT RELIEF FOR POOR COUNTRIES

Jubilee USA Network

202-783-3566

 CORPORATE RESPONSIBILITY

Environmental News Network

 THEOLOGY OF WORK

A 50-page position paper on the theology of work has been prepared for the Episcopal Church by the Theology of Work Task Force of the Diocese of Southern Ohio. For an e-mail copy, contact .

 FAIR WAGES

The General Convention of 2000, reaffirming a similar resolution in 1997, passsed resolution A081, titled Poverty: National Support for the Implementation of a Just Wage. It urged bishops and leaders within their dioceses “actively to support the ongoing implementation of a living wage within the institutions of the church…and continue to advocate the passage of living wage ordinances at all government levels.”

In the Diocese of Los Angeles (whose delegation initiated both resolutions) we have actively pushed for parishes and missions to bring their own employees into compliance with a “living wage” standard, which we derive from the annually updated wage levels stipulated by the City of Los Angeles for those companies and organizations which come under the living wage ordinance the City passed in 1997. That level is $7.99/hr if the company has a health plan for its employees, or $9.24/hr if it does not. (It just went slightly higher for its annual cost of living adjustment.) We say further, in the spirit of that ordinance that churches should apply these wage levels to part time as well as full time employees. We also recognize that in some cases of hardship there will be exceptions; our diocesan resolution (we did one in the diocese before the national church did theirs) is like the national one, not binding.

It is important to notes that such wage levels, even if adopted, are far from adequate. A number of studies have concluded that the recommended wage level that would, for example, lift a family of four out of poverty in the U.S. would be about double the federal MINIMUM wage of $5.15/hr, and more. That minimum, even in the poorest state in the union is pathetically inadequate in an economy which has seen the poorer sectors lose ground in the 1990s.

Finally, as the General Convention resolutions called for, the living wage movement nationally is taking off. As in other newspapers, so USA Today published a Page 1 story July 23 titled Living Wage Movement Takes Root Across Nation. More than 80 communities across the country have now passed such ordinances, with dozens more pending.

If you would like more information on this issue and how churches have responded, I’ll be glad to supply you with it, plus encouragement.

(The Rev. Canon) Dick Gillett
Minister for Social Justice
Episcopal Diocese of Los Angeles

 ADVOCACY
  • Episcopal Public Policy Network/Washington Office
    The Office of Government Relations, located on Capitol Hill, brings the policies of the Episcopal Church before our nation's lawmakers. The Episcopal Public Policy Network (EPPN) is a grassroots organization of active Episcopalians throughout the United States who call.

Every Voice Network (EVN) is a web-based ministry informing, supporting, and uniting progressive Anglicans engaged in peace and justice work. Our mission is to provide a comprehensive, collaborative, and sophisticated communications infrastructure for progressive congregations, advocacy groups, and individuals within and beyond the Episcopal Church. EVN combines superlative journalism, on-line discussions, curriculum, and movement building educational and advocacy events to create a widely accessible vehicle for the sharing of information, resources, and technology.

WEALTH BUILDING

Congregations Building Community

A Member of the PICO (Pacific Institute for Community Organization) network, this organization is concerned with the treatment of the residents of manufactured home communities. An effort is currently underway to organize a group of manufactured home community residents to buy the park in which they live. For more information about the manufactured home community, its residents and their plans, see www.peoples-homes.com. For information regarding CBC and PICO, see .

Michael Bryant is the Director of Urban Ministries at Fresh Ministries in Jacksonville, Florida. Active in a number of community revitalization initiatives, Michael was one of the founders of the Jacksonville affiliate of Habitat for Humanity which has become the largest in the United States. He is also a founding board member of the local affordable housing partnership and the First Coast Micro Loan Fund. He is also on the steering committee for the Living Wage campaign and the developer of an inner city business incubator. He also has a significant background in historic preservation and commercial revitalization.

General Resources

     Micro Enterprise
          Michael Byrant
         John Gibbs

     Affordable Housing
          Michael Bryant

     Credit Union (CDFIs)
          Urla Abrigo

     Individual Development Accounts (IDAs)
          Michael Bryant
          Urla Abrigo

Community Development Corporations and Housing

Bethel New Life, Inc.
4950 W. Thomas
Chicago, IL 60651
773-473-7870
Focuses on sustainable comprehensive community development. This project operates in an Empowerment Zone and is involved in housing development, a small business development center, child development center, and a cultural and performing arts center among other projects.

St. Edward’s Redevelopment Corporation
605 South Michigan Avenue
Chicago, IL 60637
(The Rev. Dr. Richard L. Tolliver)

Beaver Street Enterprise Center
1225 West Beaver Street
Jacksonville, FL 32209
(Jackie Perry, Manager)
904-265-4700
This small business incubator is a project of FreshMinistries of Jacksonville, Florida.

BUILD (Baltimoreans United in Leadership Development)
2114-1 N. Charles St.
Baltimore, MD   21212
(410) 528-0305 / (410) 528-0316
BUILD's purpose is to organize poor, working poor and middle-income families for change.  BUILD finds and trains leaders who identify pressing issues facing their communities.  BUILD addresses those issues through disciplined organized action that is non-violent and non-partisan.

 

The Clearfork Collaborative and Institute
Rt. 1, Box 281
Clairfield, TN 37715
423-784-6832
(Marie Cirillo Marie@jellico.com)
Operates the Model Valley Development Corporation, Woodland Community Development Corporation (housing), and Woodland Community Land Trust among other projects.

Episcopal Housing Corporation
4 East University Parkway

Baltimore, MD   21218
410 366-6200
(Daniel McCarthy, Executive Director)
This organization, supported by the Diocese of Maryland, is active in a variety of housing ministries in Baltimore's inner city and other parts of the diocese.

Episcopal Housing Ministry
St. Michael’s Episcopal Church
Raleigh, NC.
919-884-0110
(Robert Henley)
This ministry has built and opened at least 364 affordable housing units in the Raleigh-Rocky Mount area.

Appalachian Center for Economic Networks
94 North Columbus Road
Athens, Ohio 45701
(June Holly) email:
740-593-5451
Small business incubator in southeastern Ohio. Focuses on the production of unique local products.

Naugatuck Valley Project
26 Ludlow St.

Waterbury, CT  06710

(203) 574-2410 Fax: (203) 574-3545

E-mail:

While brownfields are a relevant issue in the Naugatuck Valley area, NVP is involved in other activities as well.  Founded 13 years ago as a joint undertaking of the Catholic Archdiocese of Hartford, the Episcopal Diocese of Connecticut, the Connecticut Conference of the United Church of Christ, the United Auto Workers and the Connecticut Citizen's Actions Group, NVP's accomplishments include creation of Valley Care Cooperative, which provides home health-care to shut-ins; the development of over 100 units of affordable housing in Waterbury; the formation of tenant organizations in run-down private and public housing complexes in Naugatuck, Ansonia and Waterbury; and the organization of three successful employee buy-outs of factories threatened with closings.

Community Credit Unions

Chattahoochee Valley Episcopal Ministries
PO Box 5811
Columbus, Georgia 31906
(Vicki Partin)
706-327-0400

Episcopal Community Federal Credit Union
Po Box 513873
Los Angeles, CA 90051
(Urla Abrigo)
213-482-2040 #254

FreshMinistries, Inc.
1131 North Laura Street
Jacksonville, Florida 32206
904-355-0000
(Edye McCown edye@freshministries.org)
Comprehensive community development in inner city Jacksonville. Operates a small business incubator, does housing development and other projects.

Center for Community Self-Help
5308 Fairmead Cr.
Raleigh, NC 27613
919-841-0982
(The Rev. Lois Boney )
“I would like to introduce the center for Community Self-help in Durham, NC, to your website readers. Self-Help is one of the nations largest and strongest community development corporations, helping low-income, female, rural, and minority families access credit for homeownership and business ownership. All deposits to out federally insured credit union go toward home lending for families who cannot access traditional sources of credit. As a non-profit, all of our assets are returned to the “pot” for more lending. We are 99% loaned out and are in need of new depositors, who will benefit from our highly competitive rates. We would like to reach economic justice-minded folks who want an excellent return on their deposit while making a real difference in the lives of low-income families. You are welcome to call me at Self-Help at 919-956-4462 for more information.” Lois

Church of Our Saviour Community Development Corporation
65 East Hollister Street
Cincinnati, OH 45219
(Mother Paula Jackson)
513-241-1870

Smart Money Community Services
1731 Vine Street
Cincinnati, Ohio 45210
(Darrick Dansby )
513 241-7266
A non-profit agency which provides financial services for the poor and works closely with a credit union which it recruited to enter an inner city neighborhood with no banking services.

 
 
Last Update January, 2007