By Matt Phillips
SDUN Reporter
An alliance of San Diego faith congregations, including two from Uptown, will gather Sunday, March 9 at University City United Church to discuss unmet community needs and to establish a clear directive for addressing those needs in 2014.
The San Diego Circle of Faith Communities is an effort to unify voices from local churches across the city. It’s a partnership between local congregations and Justice Overcoming Boundaries, a local, inter-faith, though primarily Christian-based nonprofit that focuses on developing community leaders and fostering civic engagement.
Members include The Swedenborgian Church of San Diego in University Heights and Our Savior’s Lutheran Church in North Park. Other members are Agape House in College Area, Clairemont Lutheran and University City United Church.
The Rev. Jonathan Mitchell, who leads the congregation at The Swedenborgian Church of San Diego, said addressing community concerns is part of a biblical tradition. That work includes, as it did during the Civil Rights Movement, establishing a dialog with policy makers.
“I think there’s a call to work at the level of public policy,” Mitchell said. “From a faith perspective, from a moral perspective and from a perspective of spiritual values.”
Community members from across the city are invited to attend the assembly. Through a process of dialog and voting, Mitchell said, the assembly will decide on three initial issues for city residents to address. The alliance will then form task forces for each issue and, from there, pursue action in the coming months.
Erin Tsurumoto Grassi, a community organizer with Justice Overcoming Boundaries, said a series of meetings, so far, have shown residents concerned with, among other things, social mobility, youth engagement and job training opportunities. Issues, she said, that affect residents across the city.
“It’s the struggle that a lot of San Diegans are facing — from the middle class on down,” said Tsurumoto Grassi.
At a Feb. 12 meeting at the Swedenborgian Church & Hall in University Heights, a gathering of less than 10 Uptown residents discussed, among many other issues, lack of affordable housing for seniors, pedestrian and cyclist safety and homelessness. That meeting was open to the public and was held to establish and refine discussion topics for the March 9 Issue Assembly.
The key moving forward, according to Tsurumoto Grassi, is that whichever three issues emerge from the March 9 assembly, they must be concrete and narrow enough for the city and its residents to tackle. They should also be short-term and winnable, she said.
Mitchell also said specificity is an important element for inciting positive change.
“You have to get very specific on changes in policy that will influence peoples’ lives in a concrete way,” he said.
AT A GLANCE
WHAT: San Diego Circle of Faith Communities Issue Assembly
WHEN: 3:30 p.m to 6 p.m. Sunday, March 9
WHERE: University City United Church, 2877 Governor Drive, San Diego
CONTACT: Erin Tsurumoto Grassi at [email protected]
