A Call for Advocates: Changing the Public Discourse about Homelessness

In our May 16 blog post “Love in the Long-Term: Community Service and Systemic Change,” we reflected on a challenge that communities of faith and ethical commitment face when engaging in social action efforts—the challenge of approaching these efforts both with love and a critical eye toward what steps we must take to implement long-term solutions.

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Jewish Homelessness in History: What It Teaches Us Now

This week, Joshua Stanton, Founding co-Editor of the Journal of Inter-Religious Dialogue, reflects on how the Jewish historical experience of homelessness informs his understanding of housing as a fundamental human need.

I first saw a Judería when walking in the streets of Segovia, a small Spanish city just a couple of hours outside of Madrid. Though not a Jewish “ghetto” in being so tightly sealed as the Jewish areas of Venice or Rome, it delimited the section of the city in which Jews could settle.

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Honoree Spotlight: Worcester & Mayor O'Brien

This is the final installment of an ongoing spotlight series on honorees of the upcoming spring event of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA), Home For Good: Solutions Start Here. Each year MHSA honors people and agencies making outstanding contributions to ending homelessness in Massachusetts. If you’d like to meet the honorees in person and support the MHSA mission, click here for tickets to the event.

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Home Again: Only a Home Ends Homelessness

This is the second installment of an ongoing spotlight series on honorees of the upcoming spring event of the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA): Home For Good: Solutions Start Here. Each year MHSA honors people and agencies making outstanding contributions to ending homelessness in Massachusetts. For more information about Home for Good click here.

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MHSA Honoree Spotlight: John Rosenthal

For the next three weeks, the Massachusetts Housing and Shelter Alliance (MHSA) will profile on its blog the honorees of the upcoming MHSA spring event Home For Good: Solutions Start Here. We'll share these profiles with you here on the SAM blog as well. Each year MHSA honors people and agencies in our community who have made outstanding contributions to ending homelessness. Click here for more information about this event.

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A Call to Action: Interfaith Support for Housing First for Families

On Wednesday, March 2, faith community representatives, service providers and advocates gathered at University Lutheran Church in Cambridge for A Call to Action: Interfaith Support for Housing First for Families.

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Support the Housing First Movement for Families

In past blog posts, we have examined the importance of housing as a solution to homelessness for unaccompanied adults. In this week's guest post, Emily Cohen of One Family, Inc. calls for support for the Patrick-Murray Administration's proposal to address family homelessness in Massachusetts through a greater emphasis on housing solutions.

Click here to read this blog post on the new SAM blog at socialactionma.wordpress.com. 

Why We Engage in Compassionate Action

Sarah Lipton, Boston Shambhala Publicity Manager, shares her reflections about the relationship between the center's meditation practice and dedication to compassionate social action:

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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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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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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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