2010 East Bay Lenten Caravan Family Conference

Violence and Jobs in the Urban Community Lifelines to Healing Initiative to include Benefit concert, plenary sessions, community organizing training, policy discussions.

Are you ready to put your faith into action? Attend our useful trainings on violence prevention, community development, and youth. This is guaranteed to be a empowering day of education and healing!

More than any other singular issue, urban violence is threatening the ability for families of color to thrive and stabilize.  The nexus of crime, unemployment, substance abuse, incarceration and family fragmentation present an ominous reality to our society in general, and the faith community in particular.  EBLC understands the significant and historical role that faith institutions have played in families of color.

With the profound disparities in health outcomes, academic achievement and economic production, we believe urban violence, and its many antecedents of mass incarceration, unemployment, drug abuse, and fragmented families, coalesce to create the most devastating period of our generation.  For this reason, we believe a new and more focused strategic commitment to community organizing and policy advocacy from congregations in the East Bay is necessary to marshall our resources, our talents and our faith to stem the tide of urban violence, increase employment, and introduce solutions that can be transformed into intelligible public policy initiatives.

We will begin our focused work among the congregations of the East Bay Lenten Caravan and related PICO Network affiliates.  Our target audience will be African-American congregations who have expressed the commitment and desire to engage in a rigorous and focused training module on techniques of community organizing in the PICO model.  We will introduce a framework for understanding the role of faith institutions in the public policy arena and make the argument that our collective power as faith congregations serving in a region characterized by urban violence and rising unemployment presents a profound opportunity for significant policy and advocacy gains.  We will have a special emphasis on men/boys of color, who are willing to bring their experiences and talents to the table to spark an inter-generational dialogue of sharing and learning.  We will engage community organizers of color throughout the PICO Network to engage in this process and offer professional development to build the capacity to make this an issue of national interest.  And finally, we will engage regional elected officials and policy makers with the explicit purpose of charting a pathway towards a local, regional and national policy initiative around addressing urban violence with a particular focus on job creation as a solution.

Please join us Friday, May 14 – Saturday, May 15, 2010.

Registration is FREE, and includes Continental Breakfast & Lunch for all registered participants.  Click here to Register.

Friday night Faith Leaders and Elected Officials Mixer at Youth Uprising, Oakland, CA

• Discussion around violence prevention and policy
• Special Guest speaker, Dr. Joseph Marshall, Street Soldiers
• Convene Clergy and Elected Officials to discuss collaboration
• Provide a cultural celebration event for African-American communities and youth promoting positive expressions of non-violence, faith and unity

Saturday Conference for Training Congregations and Community Members, Allen Temple Family Life Institute, Oakland

• Invited Special Guest Keynote Speakers will include: SF District Attorney Kamala Harris; Bishop Jerry W. Macklin, Glad Tidings COGIC; Dr. Shawn Ginwright, SFSU Professor
• Policy workshops led by PICO organizers; research meetings around public safety and jobs legislation
• Establish 12 month Pastors Cohort to build capacity of clergy to inform ongoing work around violence and healing strategies
• Youth Healing & Peace Concert hosted by J-Red, featuring: Ise Lyfe & R.E.I.G.N