NYC NEEDS YOUR HOUSE OF WORSHIP TO HELP SHELTER ASYLEES

Since last summer, over 44,000 Asylum Seekers have arrived on their own or been transported to New York City without regard for their wellbeing. Hundreds of asylum seekers continue to arrive each week. The NYC shelter system, hotels and alternative housing sites have been overwhelmed as asylum seekers try to find safe shelter while awaiting immigration court proceedings. While most are single men, single women and families with children are also arriving. Many of these fellow global citizens in crisis have fled unimaginable conditions in their country of origin and then experienced an arduous journey on their way to New York City.

The city has been providing hotels, homeless shelters, and other mass care spaces as housing on a temporary basis. We are proposing to fund congregations, of any faith tradition, to provide temporary small group shelter housing to single adult male and female asylees. The program would provide shelter for the next 12-24 months while all of us continue to call on the state and Federal government to help address this need for more permanent housing.

We are seeking houses of worship that:

-Are located near subway or bus lines.

-Have a 900+ Square Feet space to sleep 19 asylees from approximately 7PM to 7AM - 24/7/365       

-Have space for 19 asylees to be served and sit to eat meals. -

-Will hire or have a security guard.

-Will hire or have a volunteer Shelter Coordinator.

-Will provide all guests with a hot dinner and a hot or cold breakfast.

-Provide access to bathrooms and showers (shower installation grants are being considered in the absence of onsite showers).

-Training/Technical Support as well as Cots/Bedding/Towels & Storage Trunks will be provided.

-Adhere to key NYC building and fire safety code requirements.

In exchange for your hospitality, congregations will be paid a monthly fee - to cover all required operating expenses related to meeting each asylees' basic human needs and to offset space use costs

Click here or the button below if your house of worship will be able to help.

Interfaith Reading and Discussion Group

Faith in Fiction: A Book Group on Religion and Spirituality in Contemporary Literature

Wednesday, March 29: 6:00 - 7:30 PM EST @ Stewart Room - Union Theological Seminary

Please join us for a free book group run by ICNY to inspire conversations about religion and spirituality. Whether you love fiction or are interested in learning more about the ways religion imbues people’s daily lives, this book group is a thoughtful space to gather and have an intentional conversation about the things that matter most.  The book group meets once a month to discuss different works of fiction facilitated by ICNY intern and Union Theological Seminary Master of Divinity candidate Brennan Brink. In March, the group will dig into Franny and Zooey by J.D. Salinger. If you have questions or if you want to register, email Brennan@interfaithcenter.org.

Turbans and Beards, Happiness and Justice: Tapping Sikh Wisdom to Meet Our Challenges

Thursday, March 2: 7:00 PM EST @ Kelly Commons 5C, Manhattan College (3900 Waldo Ave, The Bronx, NY 10463) 

The featured speaker is Dr. Simran Jeet Singh. Dr. Singh is the Executive Director of the Aspen Institute for Religion and Society. He will discuss his book "The Light We Give", a book on the wisdom of Sikhism about overcoming racism and fear through optimism and connection. As turban-wearing Sikhs growing up in Texas, Dr. Singh and his brothers faced racism daily. On the soccer field, on the basketball court, and especially at the airport. Over the years, Dr. Singh learned that the same tradition that caused him to look different had unique wisdom for confronting the challenges of our time.

Click here to see Manhattan College's listing for this event.

Sacred Space: Religion and Cosmic Exploration 

March 2, 16. 23, and April 6: 7:00 PM EST @ Online 

What does religion have to do with space exploration? Quite a lot, actually. In fact, the histories, ideologies, representations and practices of religion are central to the project of imagining and building human space futures. As we venture into space, we will bring religion and religious ideas with us, knowingly or not.

Sacred Space: Religion and Cosmic Exploration is a series of public talks where diverse guests from the space sector and from religious traditions will discuss religion and space exploration - two topics that have been intertwined through human history.

Featured speakers include: 

Former NASA Chief Historian Roger Launius

Soviet historian Victoria Smolkin

Islamic ethicist Zahra Ayubi

Buddhist scholar Daniel Capper

Afrofuturist Curator Ingrid LaFleur

Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg

Indigenous Geographer Deondre Smiles

Vatican Astronomer Guy Consolmagno

Feminist ecotheologian Catherine Keller, and

Cosmologist Paul Davies

Click here to register and learn more about the webinars

Women's History Month

Values in Innovation: Women's Engagement in Reimagining Digital Technologies

Tuesday, March 7: 1:00 - 3:00 PM EST @ 866 UN Plaza, Suite 120 & on Zoom

The Baha’i International Community invites reflections on this statement titled, “Values in Innovation: Women’s Engagement in Reimagining Digital Technologies”. This hybrid dialogue is in recognition of the 67th Session of the Commission on the Status of Women.

This event aims to engage participants in conversation and facilitate their reactions to the themes of the statement, particularly around the role of digital technology in amplifying human capacity and connecting communities.

Read the statement here: 

Click here or the button below to register. 

Housing & Immigration

2023 New York State Ecumenical and Interfaith Advocacy Day

Monday & Tuesday, March 20-21: Westminster Presbyterian Church and NYS Capitol 

Unfortunately, due to the inclement weather forecast for Albany this coming Monday and Tuesday and out of an abundance of caution. NYSCC has decided to postpone the NYS Council of Churches Ecumenical and Interfaith Advocacy Day until Monday March 20th from 6:00 p.m.- 8:00 pm and Tuesday March 21st from 9:00am-4:00 pm.

The Council of Churches is preparing its 2023 legislative ask to help congregations advocate for a wide variety of state legislation which will impact their members and the communities they serve. In developing our ask, we have been conducting public policy seminars which can viewed by clicking here.

While all the issues are important, this year, the Council will highlight from our comprehensive legislative ask two issues, immigration and housing, which will form the basis for our legislative visits on Advocacy Day. We anticipate in 2023 that an enormous focus for the governor and the legislature will be on addressing the affordable housing crisis. Moreover, with the lifting of title 42 and the influx of immigrants across the state, the issue of immigration will be front and center on the political stage.

To learn more about the schedule or to register, click here or the button below.

The Journey of the Sarajevo Haggadah: A Story of Interfaith Collaboration and Human Coexistence 

Monday, March 20: 5:00 -6:30 PM EST @ Teachers College, Columbia University              (Milbank Chapel in the Zankel Building - 525 W 120th St, New York, NY 10027)

Join The International Lab for Research and Leadership in Interfaith Collaboration and Coexistence. As they present the story of the Sarajevo Haggadah, one of the oldest Sephardic Haggadahs in the world, originating in Barcelona ca. 1350. They discuss the journey of its safety by courageous individuals of different faiths through amazing acts of courage, compassion, and collaboration. See how this story applies in today's world to prevent hate through understanding and recognition of common human values. At this special event, a rare copy of The Sarajevo Haggadah will be on display.

The evening will feature a special panel, moderated by Dr. Amra Sabic-El-Rayess, with experts engaging in meaningful dialogue on the transformative power of interfaith collaboration, coexistence, and leadership, all of which are foundational ideas of The Interfaith Lab.

Click here or the button below to learn more and to register.

Campaign to Close Rikers Island

Rally for a Close Rikers Budget

Thursday, March 23: 9:00 - 10:00 AM EST @ Tweed Courthouse Steps (52 Chambers StNew York, NY 10007)

Join us ahead of the City Council Criminal Justice Committee's Preliminary Budget hearing to insist on a budget that supports the closure of Rikers by moving resources from the bloated Department of Correction to crucial community needs.

New York City runs the most richly funded (and richly staffed) jail system in the country while consistently delivering the worst results. And yet this year the Mayor has proposed increasing the Department Of Correction’s budget while cutting funding for housing, healthcare, education, employment, and youth services. Elected leaders must utilize this year's budget process to correct this injustice by investing in community resources to improve safety and reduce incarceration, not more DOC budget bloat.

Read more about DOC's budget, and how it can be reinvested in our communities.

Click here or the button below to register and learn more.