The purpose of this task force is to involve First Parish members in the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization’s (GBIO) interfaith relationship-building and social justice work and explore the benefits of formal membership in the group. GBIO is a highly successful interfaith organization that fosters internal reflection and discussion at the congregational/faith organization level, builds effective interfaith relationships across its member faith communities and organizes effective collective, multi-racial and multi-ethnic action on social justice issues in the Boston area and statewide. There are currently 50 faith organizations (Catholic, Protestant, UU, Muslim, and Jewish), as well as community organizations, in GBIO, which have had a major impact on issues such as housing, health care and education. For the coming period, it has identified five issue areas: criminal justice reform; public education; gentrification, affordable housing and homelessness; health care cost containment; and gun violence. Congregations or clusters of congregations, that choose to do so, will work in other areas such as climate change, student debt, addiction, recovery and behavioral health reimbursements with an eye towards seeing if they evolve into larger GBIO campaigns.
Contact: Elizabeth Kline – GBIO@firstparishcambridge.org
