Episcopal City Mission Blog

Thursday, October 13, 2011

Drawing Democracy Project Release New State Senate and Represenative Maps

Last year Episcopal City Mission gave a grant to support that The Drawing Democracy Project, a state-wide multiracial coalition dedicated to promoting a transparent and accountable redistricting process. After 6 months of hard work by thirteen grantees DDP has released its state senate and state representative maps along with the supporting data sets. The maps show 19 state senate districts that reflect the interests of historically marginalized communities with 5 total majority-minority districts, based on total population. The maps also show 50 newly created state representative districts.

“We believe the state legislature should be as diverse as our state. The fair and easy way to increase the number of legislators of color is to create more districts with a majority of constituents being people of color,” said Malia Lazu, Project Director of the Drawing Democracy Project.

“Through an extensive data analysis and in partnership with the UMass Boston Institute for Asian American Studies, Drawing Democracy created 50 state representative districts that reflect the interests of historically marginalized communities,” Lazu added. “Minorities in the Commonwealth now make up 20 percent of its diversity. There are currently 10 minority-majority state representative seats and 2 minority-majority state senate seats, making up only 5 percent of the elected officials in the State House.”

The Drawing Democracy Project’s maps also include 18 majority-minority districts, based on total population numbers. They also created 19 state senate districts with 5 total majority-minority districts. The organizations worked together to draw lines and maps through an inclusive, community-led, grassroots, non-partisan and non-incumbent process.

“We echo what other organizations from across Massachusetts said to the Joint Committee on Redistricting today,” said Malia Lazu. “We urge lawmakers to draw maps that keep communities whole and give fair and equal voice to African Americans, Latinos and Asian Americans. We applaud the collaborative effort we have fostered and witnessed across the Commonwealth and we look forward to continuing this dialogue with legislators and community organizations in the forthcoming weeks.”

“We have attended many of the public hearings held by the House and Senate Chairs of the Committee on Redistricting and have been pleased with the legislature’s transparent and accountable process,” said Malia Lazu. “We ask legislative leaders for an advance copy of the final redistricting maps, so that we have time to analyze them and offer feedback. As some may recall, the lack of time ten years ago caused serious problems in the community’s ability to respond to proposals.”

This year, Massachusetts is in a unique position with the loss of a congressional seat due to changes in our population. The redistricting process and how it is carried out not only determines a community’s next elected official, but will also shape decisions at the state and neighborhood level for a decade.

About Drawing Democracy Project

The Drawing Democracy Project is a coalition dedicated to promoting a transparent and accountable redistricting process and to empowering communities by creating fair voting districts. The project provides financial and technical support to community-based organizations involved in organizing around redistricting.

Grants were awarded to groups representing people who have historically been underrepresented in the redistricting process, such as low-income individuals, people of color and immigrants. Project grantees located throughout the Commonwealth have been attending public hearings, conducting trainings and meeting with Technical Assistance providers to better understand census and redistricting data. For a list of organizations funded by the project, please visit http://www.accessstrategies.org/programs/drawing-democracy-project.

The project is generously funded by Access Strategies Fund, Barr Foundation, The Boston Foundation, Burgess Urban Fund of the Episcopal City Mission, Haymarket People’s Fund, Herman and Frieda L. Miller Foundation, The Hyams Foundation, New England Blacks in Philanthropy, Roxbury Trust Fund, and Solidago Foundation.

Tuesday, June 21, 2011

Church makes an impact when it takes up community mission, presiding bishop tells ECM gathering


Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori joined 560 Episcopalians in the Diocese of Massachusetts on June 7 to celebrate the work of Episcopal City Mission, encouraging them in her keynote address to both pray and “work like hell” for a world where no one goes hungry, illness is answered with healing and all are free to live in peace. “We live in hope for a world redeemed into that reality and we work at transformation because we are a very long way indeed from seeing it come to fruition,” she said.





Episcopal City Mission (ECM) promotes social and economic justice, with particular emphasis on the urban poor. Its annual dinner event at Boston University showcases the programs and organizations funded through its grant programs and its public policy initiatives, including, this year, an affordable housing project in partnership with the Church of the Holy Spirit in Mattapan, and a letter-writing campaign against the U.S. Bureau of Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s controversial Secure Communities program aimed at deporting criminals who are in this country illegally. Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick had just a few days earlier announced he would not endorse it.


The annual meeting drew about 560 ECM supporters.“We know that we were not the only ones organizing opposition to that program, but we are delighted that so many Episcopalians and so many parishes participated in that campaign,” Dr. Ruy Costa, ECM’s executive director, told the crowd. He said that 800 letters from more than 60 parishes helped successfully voice opponents’ concern that flaws in the program would result in overreach and the deportation of persons who are not criminals. Costa also announced a partnership with St. Mary’s Church in Dorchester to expand the reach of its food pantry program and called for volunteers with expertise in food distribution.


Jefferts Schori said these kinds of efforts reflect “the most basic ways that the Christian community has served and empowered God’s people,” describing how Jesus spent much of his public ministry feeding, healing and teaching the crowds that followed him, and how he challenged both political and religious authorities about the injustices that made the rich richer and the poor poorer.
"The last presidential election was not the first time somebody figured out that Jesus was a community organizer,” she said. She devoted much of her 30-minute address to examples from across the Episcopal Church where community organizing is having an impact through creative responses to local hunger, health care, housing and education needs: the Church of St. Paul the Apostle in Savannah, Ga., redeveloping a city block as affordable housing; the St. James’s Family Center in Cathlamet, Wash., taking over management of the county’s domestic violence shelter as a result of its work with parents and children; the Diocese of Arizona offering health care through small community clinics across the border in Mexico; numerous other congregations getting involved in food production and distribution, including one in Smyrna, Tenn., that was revitalized by the arrival of Burmese refugee farmers who transformed church acreage into truck gardens whose vegetables are subscribed before they are even planted. “A church can have a major impact on a city by dreaming big and finding appropriate partners,” she said.


She also cited the Epiphany School in Dorchester and Esperanza Academy in Lawrence in the Diocese of Massachusetts as “revolutionary” tuition-free middle schools serving city youth from economically disadvantaged families, as well as Ecclesia Ministries’ common cathedral ministry of worship with the homeless on Boston Common.“I wonder what would happen if their worship site moved to the steps of the State House? Advocacy for the homeless might become more impassioned,” she said. She voiced particular concern about the vulnerability of the world’s poor to the effects of climate change, describing “blind consumption and thoughtless waste” as “communicable diseases that we human beings are spreading across the globe.”

Resistance to change and lack of hope are the biggest obstacles to transformation, she said.
“We need bold and prophetic voices. We need networks that inspire and organize people,” she said. “There is abundant work to be done and it must always be inspired by that vision of shalom: food and drink for feasting, dignified work and sabbath leisure, none lording it over another, all God’s children living in peace. Pray that it may be so. work like hell to make it so.”




Bishop Barbara C. Harris, retired bishop suffragan of Massachusetts, presented Jefferts Schori with ECM’s Barbara C. Harris Award for Social Justice. Also honored were Allan Rodgers of the Parish of the Epiphany in Winchester for his advocacy on behalf of low-income families, and Bill Haynsworth of All Saints Parish in Brookline for his work to promote affordable housing and his service as ECM board chairman.


- Tracy Sukraw, Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts

Thursday, May 5, 2011

Final Report from Census 2010

During 2010 Episcopal City Mission supported the Massachusetts Census Equity Fund, a program that awarded grants to organizations across the state working to raise participation rates in minority, immigrant, and other "hard to count" communities for the 2010 Census.

ECM was proud to participate in this process and to help ensure that the growing community of immigrants in our state were properly counted in the new census. Recently, members of the Mass Census Equity Fund collaborative met with Census Officials to share their ideas, concerns and suggestions for the 2020 Census.

Community Leaders to Census Officials:

We Can Do Even Better Next Time

Boston, MA -- With data from the 2010 Census still just hitting the news, activists from “hard to count” communities in Massachusetts are already advising Census officials on how to do better next time. Representatives of 23 community organizations met with Census officials last Wednesday and offered an array of recommendations for 2020, including appeals to better accommodate the ethnic and linguistic complexity of Massachusetts.

Among their concerns is the confusing and outdated nature of the racial and ethnic categories on Census forms. Many want the word “Negro” removed from the Census, as it evokes images of segregation and inferiority. Others want easier access to translation assistance and practical help for people with disabilities.

“People were really confused,” said Felipe Zamborlini of the Massachusetts Immigrant and Refugee Advocacy Coalition.

Portuguese speakers, in particular, did not know how to check the ethnic designations on the forms, said Helena Marques of the Immigrants Assistance Center in New Bedford. “We are Latin but we are not Latino.” Some members of her community also needed questionnaires in Portuguese, which were not readily available, she said.

Clifton Braithwaite, a representative of the Boston NAACP, said even the use of the word “Black” is confusing. “A lot of newcomers come in and don’t want to be recognized as ‘Black Americans.’” The form should say “Black,” then give people options to select their nation of origin or ethnicity, he said.

Braithwaite is an example of someone who might have had trouble filling out a Census form. He was born in Lynn, MA, but his father is from Venezuela and his mother was born in Barbados and grew up in Trinidad. He is dark-skinned but it took some time before he self- identified as a “Black American.”

The U.S. Census Bureau engaged in an unprecedented partnership with community organizations last year to get a better head count among low-income people, immigrants and people of color. Distrust of government, language barriers, and frequent changes in address have long presented road blocks to full participation in the Census.

In Massachusetts, the bureau’s efforts to boost participation were augmented by 30 organizations that received $500,000 in grants and resources from the Massachusetts Census Equity Fund, a partnership of 12 charitable foundations led by Access Strategies Fund. Civic leaders care about the numbers because they influence the redistricting of state and federal legislative districts. Census numbers also play a role in determining how much federal money flows to cities and towns for vital public services.

Participating organizations sponsored door-knocking events, radio talk shows, and creative activities such as a “March to the Mailbox” to get people to complete the forms.

The results of their work were apparent in the “mail-back participation rates” reported by the Census Bureau recently and compared against 2000. The state saw an increase in participation of 1 percentage point overall, but in some hard-to-count census tracts where the organizations worked the increases were higher – about 3 to 5 percentage points.

Representatives of the groups asked Census officials if they could have a continuing role in shaping activities in the months ahead.

Among their concerns:

· Activists in urban areas would like prisoners counted in cities where they live, not in prisons where they are housed temporarily.

· Activists in rural areas want questionnaires mailed to post office boxes, where many people receive their mail.

· There is widespread concern about the challenges faced by people with language barriers and disabilities. The Census Bureau set up numerous “Questionnaire Assistance Centers” in 2010 to provide one-on-one assistance. Yet, some of these centers were not accessible to people with disabilities and some were staffed by people who did not speak the languages of those they were there to help.

· Community leaders expressed interest in shaping decisions about the racial and ethnic designations on the forms and getting rid of the word “Negro.” Their goals are to avoid confusion next time and to capture more detailed data on their communities.

The discussion between the two groups on Wednesday was more than a polite exchange of ideas. The U.S. Census begins planning the decennial headcount many years before it is actually conducted. Moreover, the bureau collects information from U.S. households on an ongoing basis through the American Community Survey, which is sent to a sampling of households and asks for more detailed data.

Decision making for the Census goes through a lengthy and complex process within the federal government, involving both the Census Bureau and the Office of Management and Budget. Any changes in questions or wording are considered several years in advance and must be submitted to Congress before they become official. Nonprofit groups want to know key planning deadlines well in advance to ensure input from communities before the next census is taken.

For more information or quotes from community leaders, go to http://www.accessstrategies.org/wp-content/uploads/Census-meeting-Contact-List.docx. Photos are also available. For information about the project overall, contact Kelly Bates, Executive Director of Access Strategies Fund, 617-494-0715 x201. The community groups and regional Census officials were brought together with the support of the Massachusetts Census Equity Fund. For a list of the funded community groups, an evaluation of the project and a list of funders who participated, go to www.accessstrategies.org/programs/massachusetts-census-equity-fund.

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Palm Sunday Reflection on Immigrants and Immigration Reform

Episcopal City Mission recently awarded a grant to the Massachusetts Council of Churches(MCC) for their advocacy work on issues relating to immigrants and immigration policy. A strong partner to ECM, MCC and its' membership are a key ally in our work to raise awareness about the rights of undocumented citizens of Massachusetts and the United States.

Laura Everett, Associate Director of the Mass Council recently preached the following sermon at Kings Chapel on Palm Sunday, April 10, 2011:

The hand of the Lord came upon me, and he brought me out by the spirit of the Lord and set me down in the middle of a valley; it was full of bones. He led me all around them; there were very many lying in the valley, and they were very dry. He said to me, “Mortal, can these bones live?” I answered, “O Lord God, you know.” Then he said to me, “Prophesy to these bones, and say to them: O dry bones, hear the word of the Lord. Thus says the Lord to these dry bones: I will cause breath to enter you, and you shall live. I will lay sinew on you, and will cause flesh to come upon you, and cover you with skin, and put breath in you, and you shall live; and you shall know that I am the Lord.”

So I prophesied as I had been commanded; and as I prophesied suddenly there was a noise, a rattling, and the bones came together, bone to its bone. I looked and there were sinews on them, and flesh had come upon them, and skin had covered them; but there was no breath in them. Then he said to me, “Prophesy to the breath, prophesy, mortal, and say to the breath: ‘Thus says the Lord God: Come from the four winds, O breath, and breathe upon these slain, that they may live.” I prophesied as he commanded me, and the breath came into them, and they lived, and stood on their feet, a vast multitude.”

Then he said to me, “Mortal, these bones are the whole house of Israel. They say, ‘Our bones are dried up, and our hope is lost; we are cut off completely.’ Therefore prophesy, and say to them, Thus says the Lord God; I am going to open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people; and I will bring you back to the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord, when I open your graves, and bring you up from your graves, O my people. I will put my spirit within you, and you shall live, and I will place you on your own soil; then you shall know that I, the Lord, have spoken and will act, says the Lord.”

Reverend Clergy, dear members of King’s Chapel, visitors and wanderers, it is a joy to be with you this morning. I bring you blessings and greetings in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. The Massachusetts Council of Churches is made up of 17 different protestant and orthodox denominations including the Council of Christians Churches within the Unitarian Universalist Association. For your support through the Council and through this congregation directly, thank you for your prayers, your time and your commitment... (for the full sermon visit click here)

Tuesday, March 29, 2011

ECM Partners with the Drawing Democracy Project

This year Massachusetts is in a unique position. We will lose a congressional seat due to changes in our population. How the redistricting process is carried out not only determines a community’s next elected official, but will shape decisions at the state and neighborhood level for a decade. It is imperative that all Massachusetts residents have a voice in determining how they will be represented.

The goal of the Drawing Democracy Project is to:
  • To promote a transparent and accountable redistricting process
  • To empower communities by creating fair voting district
ECM along with 10 other partners and funders recently awarded 13 grants for training, technical support, and community organizing to achieve these goals.

Click here for a list of grantees.

To learn more about the Drawing Democracy Project please visit the website of Access Strategies our partner in this project.

Monday, March 21, 2011

ECM supports Mass Rental Voucher Program

Continuing in the work to end homelessness in Massachusetts, ECM has again joined the Housing Solutions Campaign to support the Massachusetts Rental Voucher Program (MRVP). This program provides low income families, elders and people with disabilities with assistance in paying rent. ECM has supported this program since its inception and will continue to do so until we see an end to the homeless crisis in this state.

The current request for this year's budget is for $38.2 million for the program. This funding will preserve the current 5,000 households that are utilizing a voucher to remain housed. If we were to lose some of these vouchers, we would see another spike in homelessness, something that the state can not afford and we can not morally stand for.

Currently the state is housing over 6,000 homeless families and individuals in shelters and motels, and the numbers are continuing to rise. The average cost of an MRVP is $600 per month while the average cost of shelter is $3,000 per month! We know that these families and individuals want to be in their own homes, rather than in a shelter, and we believe it is our moral obligation to support programs that will keep them there. Please support us in this work.

To learn more about MRVP and to see a list of supporting organizations click here.

Thursday, March 3, 2011

ECM, along with 21 other organizations, support's Governor Patrick's plan to end family homelessness with the Housing First Movement.

In our continued efforts to end family homelessness, ECM joined forces with 21 organizations to support the Administration's Emergency Assistance Reform for the Housing First Movement.

The current system is not working and significant changes are needed to end family homelessness in the Commonwealth. This new Housing First Response Plan is a step in the right direction!

The reform plan reduces the emphasis on motels and shelters and increases investment in flexible housing assistance. This proposal would decrease reliance on shelters and increase families' access to flexible homelessness prevention and housing stabilization resources.

We need to keep families in their homes. We need to stop the madness of spending $160 million on non-housing solutions (hotels/motels).

We recognize that not every provision of the plan will satisfy all stakeholders but are confident we can improve the plan to allow for regional flexibility for the housing assistance cap, customizing housing assistance and stabilization services, and supporting interim housing placements.

We are also confident that the legislative and administrative process will be flexible enough to allow for thoughtful changes and not hinder final passage of the Administration's plan.

SUPPORT THE HOUSING FIRST MOVEMENT so we can End Family Homelessness!

For more information, read the Emergency Assistance Reform Fact Sheet

Wednesday, January 19, 2011

BUF Awards 2010 Grants

Episcopal City Mission grants fuel social justice work in Massachusetts

[Episcopal News Service] Episcopal City Mission in the Diocese of Massachusetts on Jan. 11 gathered a roomful of community organizers representing some of the state's most ethnically diverse and economically hardest-hit cities --Lawrence, Lowell, Lynn, Fall River, Brockton -- and gave out 17 checks totaling $200,000 to fuel their efforts against social injustices this year.

"Because of this support we are able to accomplish so much," Delia Vega of grant-recipient EPOCA said as the event got underway. EPOCA -- Ex-Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement -- is a Worcester-based group that Episcopal City Mission (ECM) has supported through its Burgess Urban Fund for several years.

"Our mission is to create equal opportunities for people with criminal records, people who have paid their debt to society," Vega said.
"The people we work with and for are people who don't have a voice," added her EPOCA colleague, Joseph Yandle. "What this grant means to us? We wouldn't be able to do the work we do without it," he said.

They were joined by advocates for low-income tenants and vulnerable senior citizens in Boston, Latin American workers from New Bedford fighting unfair labor practices and Essex County faith leaders organized around poverty and other community issues on the North Shore, among others.
The 17 recipients were chosen from among 40 organizations vying for this year's grants.

ECM's Burgess Urban Fund supports community organizing primarily in the areas of affordable housing, workers' rights and employment access.

"The Burgess Urban Fund recognizes that community organizing is an important process that develops power and capacity in solidarity with those in need," ECM's executive director, Ruy Costa, told the gathering.

Janine Carreiro of Brockton Interfaith Community (BIC), another of the grant recipients, credited ECM for bringing together like-purposed organizations.

"The funding is very helpful, obviously, but this also gives us the opportunity to be in the same room with others who are key players. It's a chance to engage with new people who can become allies in the future," she said.

BIC is working on a number of fronts this year, she said, including housing foreclosures, teaching staff diversification in the public schools and trying to implement a gang-violence ceasefire in Brockton.

"The needs are many and the work is worthy, though not often accomplished in the short term," explained the Rev. Edward W. Rodman, who chairs the Burgess Urban Fund Committee. He helped establish the fund in 1976 in honor of the late Rt. Rev. John M. Burgess, the 12th bishop of Massachusetts and the Episcopal Church's first African-American diocesan bishop. Over its 30-plus years, the fund has granted more than $6 million to hundreds of organizations.

"The challenge, especially in economic times such as these, is to find the balance between continuing to support organizations that are in it for the long haul and identifying new groups focusing on new needs that deserve support," Rodman said.

Organizations receiving Burgess Urban Fund grants were:

  • Boston Tenant Coalition
  • Boston Workers Alliance
  • Bread and Roses Housing, Lawrence
  • Brockton Interfaith Community
  • Centro Comunitario de Trabajadores, New Bedford
  • Coalition Against Poverty, New Bedford
  • Essex County Community Association
  • Ex-Prisoners Organizing for Community Advancement, Worcester
  • Massachusetts Alliance of HUD Tenants, Jamaica Plain
  • Massachusetts Senior Action Council, Boston
  • Merrimack Valley Project, Lawrence
  • Metropolitan Interfaith Congregations Action for Hope, Framingham
    One Lowell
  • Student Immigrant Movement, Boston
  • Union of Minority Neighborhoods, Jamaica Plain
  • United Interfaith Action, Fall River
  • The Worker Center for Economic Justice, Lynn

-- Tracy J. Sukraw is director of communications for the Diocese of Massachusetts.

Monday, January 10, 2011

From a shelter to a place called home - The Boston Globe

ECM is excited to hear about recent changes at Pine Street Inn.
They are truly leading the way in shifting the approach from an emergency shelter based solution to long term housing solutions. Programs like these are helping to end the crisis of homelessness that we face in Boston and across Massachusetts. ECM supports Pine Street in these innovative changes and their housing first approach to homelessness.

From a shelter to a place called home - The Boston Globe

Save the Date: Annual Meeting June 7, 2011

Keynote speaker The Most Rev. Katharine Jefferts Schori, Presiding Bishop the Episcopal Church

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