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FAITH IN ACTION
(AT A GLANCE): Faith in Action strives to understand and address root causes of what we witness in our charitable ministries of the congregation. By affecting policy changes at the local and regional level, emphasizing affordable housing and social services, we hope to live closer into the reign of God as much as we can in our present context. |
GET INVOLVED:
For more information or to get involved, please connect with the church office and they’ll connect you with a committee member. |
About Faith in Action
Faith in Action, a ministry of St. Andrew's Episcopal Church, Encinitas, strives to understand and address root causes of what we witness in our charitable ministries of the congregation. We work with a professional organizer, Judah Coker, through the San Diego Organizing Project to help guide us in our efforts to change our world effectively. By affecting policy changes at the local and regional level, emphasizing affordable housing and social services, we hope to live closer into the reign of God as much as we can in our present context. Community organizing, the chief tool we use to accomplish our goals, places an emphasis on building relational power to further changes in public policy.
That relational power is based in personal experience and trust built with those often considered “powerless” in our society. This is not always an easy thing, but it does reconnect us to the most basic mission of Jesus: who and where are the marginalized people of the community, how do we best treat them with dignity and speak and act authentically to their basic but overlooked needs?
Through research and interviews with key stakeholders, Faith in Action takes on three issues we believe will produce tangible results for our vulnerable neighbors. We focus on Affordable Housing, and Community Education and Outreach, and Neighborhood Services, through separate working groups. September onwards we will be having a general meeting via Zoom at 2PM on the first Tuesday of every month for broader coordination.
Affordable Housing (2nd Tuesdays at 2 pm) is an issue that touches nearly every family in the United States, and it is a well-documented fact that minimum wage earners can no longer afford a one-bedroom rent in 95% of counties in our nation, and nowhere can minimum wage afford a two-bedroom. In Encinitas, local politics make this issue a polarizing one. Regardless, there are still solutions and room for affordable units, and we are fully aware that this is a San Diego county and state-wide issue.
Community Education & Outreach (3rd Tuesdays at 2 pm) focuses on making the stories, statistics, and solutions to Affordable Housing and our local dearth of mental health services a more nuanced and understandable point of emphasis for our fellow citizens and elected representatives. By making the stories of the marginalized heard and lifting the most affected as leaders, we hope to the move the needle on this consequential issue.
Neighborhood Services (4th Tuesdays at 2 pm) focuses on bringing in county and regional mental health and other supportive services that are so lacking in North County Coastal San Diego. This will also inform the purposes and services of the Neighborhood Center that is being constructed at St. Andrew’s. The Neighborhood Center itself was an idea born out of Faith in Action in response to this issue, though that now will become its own ministry which we hope to add to over time.
If any of these speak to you, please connect with the church office and they’ll connect you with a committee member.
That relational power is based in personal experience and trust built with those often considered “powerless” in our society. This is not always an easy thing, but it does reconnect us to the most basic mission of Jesus: who and where are the marginalized people of the community, how do we best treat them with dignity and speak and act authentically to their basic but overlooked needs?
Through research and interviews with key stakeholders, Faith in Action takes on three issues we believe will produce tangible results for our vulnerable neighbors. We focus on Affordable Housing, and Community Education and Outreach, and Neighborhood Services, through separate working groups. September onwards we will be having a general meeting via Zoom at 2PM on the first Tuesday of every month for broader coordination.
Affordable Housing (2nd Tuesdays at 2 pm) is an issue that touches nearly every family in the United States, and it is a well-documented fact that minimum wage earners can no longer afford a one-bedroom rent in 95% of counties in our nation, and nowhere can minimum wage afford a two-bedroom. In Encinitas, local politics make this issue a polarizing one. Regardless, there are still solutions and room for affordable units, and we are fully aware that this is a San Diego county and state-wide issue.
Community Education & Outreach (3rd Tuesdays at 2 pm) focuses on making the stories, statistics, and solutions to Affordable Housing and our local dearth of mental health services a more nuanced and understandable point of emphasis for our fellow citizens and elected representatives. By making the stories of the marginalized heard and lifting the most affected as leaders, we hope to the move the needle on this consequential issue.
Neighborhood Services (4th Tuesdays at 2 pm) focuses on bringing in county and regional mental health and other supportive services that are so lacking in North County Coastal San Diego. This will also inform the purposes and services of the Neighborhood Center that is being constructed at St. Andrew’s. The Neighborhood Center itself was an idea born out of Faith in Action in response to this issue, though that now will become its own ministry which we hope to add to over time.
If any of these speak to you, please connect with the church office and they’ll connect you with a committee member.
