Looking Back on 2010

Last week, faith community leaders, advocates, service providers and public officials gathered in Boston for the 21st Annual Interfaith Memorial Service for Homeless People, hosted by Church on the Hill. During the interfaith service, which included prayers, reflection and music, the names of people who have died homeless in Massachusetts during the last year were read.

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"No Room in the Inn"

As churches prepare for Christmas this weekend, Christian congregations in Edmonton, Canada, are taking action to support housing solutions to homelessness.

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Building Homes Along the Jericho Road

Are there any architects in your faith community? General contractors? Accountants? Ever thought about how you and members of your faith community might be able to contribute your skills to ending homelessness in Massachusetts?

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Celebrating the Holidays with a Year-Round Commitment to Action

As Hanukkah came to an end this week and Christian congregations are in the midst of Advent, people from a variety of faiths are reflecting on the role of giving in their lives.

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Registration Open for MHSA 2010 Annual Meeting!

Join MHSA member agencies, friends, supporters and public officials as we host our 2010 Annual Meeting.

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A UU Perspective on Faith and Social Action

Lee Paczulla, Social Action Ministries Assistant Coordinator and a Harvard Divinity School student seeking ordination in the Unitarian Universalist tradition, shares her reflections on the role of social action in Unitarian Universalism.

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Rev. Hurmon E. Hamilton, Jr.: "A Surprise Discovery"

Those of you who were able to join us on October 5th for Leading the Way: Ending Homelessness in Boston heard The Reverend Hurmon E. Hamilton, Jr., Senior Pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church USA and the President of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization, give an inspiring talk about his "surprise discovery" that in spite of his already "full plate," God was calling him to work to end homelessness.

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2010 MHSA Young Adult Resource Guide

Faith communities are often the first to know when an individual in their midst is in trouble.

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In Their Own Words: A Forum on Youth Homelessness

Does your faith community have a young adult group or active young adult membership?

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Meet our New Intern, Lee!

We are pleased to welcome Lee Paczulla as our new Social Action Ministries Assistant Coordinator!

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Ballot Questions: No, No, No

This morning, Ending Homelessness in Massachusetts, a blog by the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, published a guest post from Aimee Coolidge, MHSA Member Agency Pine Street Inn’s Director of Community and Government Relations. In this excerpt below, Aimee Coolidge encourages Massachusetts voters to vote No, No, No on the three ballot questions this November.

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Boston Faith Communities, Service Providers, Advocates and City Officials Gather for Leading the Way: Ending Homelessness in Boston

This week, people of faith from across Boston gathered with service providers, advocates and City of Boston officials for Leading the Way: Ending Homelessness in Boston, held at Temple Israel.

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Only One Week Away: RSVP Now for Leading the Way!

Will you join us as part of a growing interfaith movement in Massachusetts committed to creating a society in which no one is without a home?

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"Homes for Our Neighbors"

Today, The Dallas Morning News published "1,000-church group urges acceptance of housing for the homeless," an article by Kim Horner about the Greater Dallas Justice Revival's partnership with the Metro Dallas Homeless Alliance and Dallas Housing Authority.

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"Our Sanctuaries Have Windows": A Reflection from Rabbi Suzanne Singer

In our September 2nd post, we looked at a Taslich ceremony celebrating Rosh HaShanah, the Jewish New Year and the first of the Jewish High Holidays.

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Leading the Way: Speakers Announced!

Don't miss your chance to register for Leading the Way: Ending Homelessness in Boston, a free half-day retreat hosted by Social Action Ministries and the Boston Regional Network, with the support of Episcopal City Mission, One Family Inc. and The Paul and Phyllis Fireman Charitable Foundation.

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Homecoming 2010: Honoring Achievements in Ending Chronic Homelessness

Join the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) as we celebrate Lieutenant Governor Murray’s leadership and recognize significant strides made in housing our poorest neighbors across the Commonwealth.

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Tashlich and Social Action

In our August 20th post, “Religious Services and Social Action,” we began to speak about ways that different denominations and communities connect communal religious practices to social action in their religious services.

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October 5th: Save the Date! Leading the Way: Ending Homelessness in Boston

Leading the Way: Ending Homelessness in Boston

Social Action Ministries and the Boston Regional Network to End Homelessness invite you to join religious and lay leaders from across Boston and across faiths for a free half-day retreat as we commit to work together to end homelessness.

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Religious Services and Social Action

In past posts, we have considered the extent to which faith can or should shape action in the public sphere. This week we’ll consider a related issue—the relationship between social action and communal religious practices.

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Finding Common Ground

In past posts, we have considered the question of the extent to which religious differences can or should affect interfaith social action efforts.

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Resource Update: Housing First 101

As Social Action Ministries supporters advocate for policies that end, rather than simply manage, homelessness, one term that we frequently use is “Housing First.” This week, we’ll point to some resources that are helpful in better understanding this revolutionary strategy for ending homelessness.

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Faith in the Public Sphere: Continuing the Conversation

Our May 13th post posed questions about the role of religious perspectives in the public sphere, identifying two models for interfaith social action efforts—either focusing only on common ground or inviting diverse religious perspectives to inform that common ground publically. This week, we’ll continue that conversation about the role of religion in the public sphere.

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MHSA Social Media Project

Social Action Ministries (SAM) is a program of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA), a statewide advocacy organization dedicated to ending homelessness.

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Faith in Public Life

As part of the Social Action Ministries blog, we will periodically post resources about faith, politics and social action. This week, I invite you to take a look at the Faith in Public Life News Reel.

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Why Housing?

Nancy Banks is the Executive Director of the UU Mass Action Network, a network of Unitarian Universalist (UU) churches and fellowships. The mission of the UU Mass Action Network is “to mobilize Unitarian Universalists individually and congregationally to take action in support of Unitarian Universalist principles for a more just, equitable and compassionate Commonwealth.” This week, Nancy Banks shares with us the background behind her organization’s commitment to ending homelessness.

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News Update: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness

This week, on June 22, Executive Director of the United States Interagency Council on Homelessness (USICH) Barbara Poppe and the lead Cabinet secretaries from the USICH submitted to President Obama and Congress Opening Doors: Federal Strategic Plan to Prevent and End Homelessness.

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Call to Action: Help Prevent Devastating Cuts to the Massachusetts Budget!

Social Action Ministries is dedicated to engaging faith communities across Massachusetts in efforts to end homelessness, including legislative advocacy. Today we'd like to share an advocacy alert with you and ask you to take action now to prevent significant cuts to the Massachusetts State Budget.

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Politics and the Pulpit: Carter Lindberg on Martin Luther

The relationship between religion and politics in the United States is at times a contentious issue. One only needs to examine the Internal Revenue Service regulations on tax-exempt organizations and political activity to see that for religious leaders, deciding how or whether to address social and political issues from the pulpit may not be a simple task.

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Keys Cure Homelessness

Social Action Ministries is a program of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance, a statewide advocacy organization dedicated to ending homelessness. Click here to watch community leaders share why they support ending homelessness. Many thanks to Chris Goff for producing this video!

Compassion and World Religions

This week, on May 24, The New York Times published an opinion piece by Tenzin Gyatso, the 14th Dalai Lama, entitled “Many Faiths, One Truth.”

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Rabbi Jill Jacobs and Tikkun Olam

As an interfaith initiative, Social Action Ministries recognizes that people come to the work of ending homelessness with a variety of ways of understanding the relationship between faith and social action. This week we will look at a Jewish concept that has made its way beyond solely Jewish circles: the concept of tikkun olam.




Rabbi Jill Jacobs speaks about tikkun olam (posted by JInsider)


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Religious Perspectives in the Public Sphere

In our reflection last week, we ended with two questions that centered on a basic theme: the relationship between prayerful trust in God and interfaith social action efforts.

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“Pray Hard and Work Hard”: Dr. Ron Sider’s Call to Action

Last week, we turned to the insights of Dr. Ruy Costa of Episcopal City Mission in order to consider the relationship between scripture and social change. Today we turn to an article from someone who also finds a call to justice in the Christian scriptures: Dr. Ronald J. Sider.

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"You Always Have the Poor with You": Scripture and Social Change

After one of my first letters to the editor on behalf of Social Action Ministries in support of Housing First and ending homelessness was published in an out-of-state newspaper, I took the opportunity to read the comments posted online underneath my contribution.

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Housing and Human Dignity

Last week, we began to reflect upon a shift from emergency responses to permanent solutions—a shift that is rooted in the conviction that we cannot in good conscience allow homeless shelters or the streets to be considered acceptable “housing” for any members of our society.

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Shifting from Emergency Responses to Permanent Solutions

Social Action Ministries (SAM) is dedicated to a single mission: engaging faith communities in efforts to end homelessness. For many people of faith who have participated in SAM throughout the years, this is an idea that makes sense: we need to respect the human dignity of our most vulnerable neighbors by finding ways to end their homelessness.

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Dr. King's Easter Message

On April 4, 2010, many Christians celebrated Easter, the Christian holy day marking the resurrection of Jesus. In a CNN opinion piece, Eddie S. Glaude, Jr., chair of the Center for African-American Studies and the William S. Tod Professor of Religion and African-American Studies at Princeton University, notes that this year the anniversary of the death of Martin Luther King, Jr., coincided with Easter.

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Tikkun Olam: A Reflection from an Interfaith Forum in Waltham, MA

On March 25, 2010, members of faith communities, service providers, and others concerned about the issue of homelessness gathered in Waltham, MA, for “An Interfaith Call to Action: Community Forum on Housing and Homelessness.”

During the opening prayers, Susan Landau, Brandeis University Class of 2010 and entering rabbinical student, shared this reflection about the call in Judaism to build a world in which everyone has food and a home.

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Welcome to the Social Action Ministries Blog!

Welcome to the Social Action Ministries blog! We are excited to have you join us as we work together to end homelessness.

Social Action Ministries (SAM) was founded in 1976 by clergy and lay leaders in Boston who recognized the growing numbers of homeless individuals who were coming to the very doorsteps of their congregations. Over the next decades, SAM played a key role in the development of homeless services and advocacy to end homelessness. Now a program of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA), SAM encourages the involvement of all faiths in a singular mission: ending homelessness.

As part of a growing movement across Massachusetts to focus on permanent solutions to homelessness, SAM is not alone in its vision for a society in which no one is without a home. Faith communities bring a number of unique gifts to this movement, including a moral voice that, when combined with critical thinking and evidence-based solutions, have the potential to help change the way that we address homelessness here in Massachusetts.

As we take action together to end homelessness, this blog will provide a space for us to share reflections about the relationship between faith and social action. We’ll highlight news articles about religion and politics, provide updates about faith communities’ efforts to address homelessness, and invite guest bloggers to share their perspectives about the variety of ways that their religious backgrounds have shaped their understandings of social justice. We are excited to hear your voices and your stories, so we hope that you will contribute reflections, articles, and links by contacting Caitlin Golden at cgolden@mhsa.net.

Thank you for all that you do to end homelessness. We look forward to hearing from you!