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.

Click here to read the rest of this post on the new SAM blog, socialactionma.wordpress.com.

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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. 

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

"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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.

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

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.”

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

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.

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

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.

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