As we celebrate Martin Luther King Day, it is important to reflect on King’s concept of the Beloved Community. In summarizing the efforts of the Civil Rights Movement, King stated, “Our goal is to create a beloved community and 
this will require a qualitative change in our souls as well as a quantitative change in our lives.” King envisioned a Beloved Community that was non-discriminatory, equitable, sensitive, and compassionate.

If King could observe America today he would be disappointed with the state of this nation. King would be disappointed that we have lost thousands of lives and spent over a trillion dollars in the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He would not buy the argument that either war was necessary. At the heart of the Occupy Wall Street protests are the staggering disparities between the rich and the poor in this country. The top one percent of Americans own approximately 40 percent of the nation’s wealth. King would adamantly agree that the top one percent should not live at the expense of the 99 percent. (Renford Reese, San Bernardino Sun, posted January 12, 2012)

American life is built on the faith that many people can rise from humble origins to economic heights. But many researchers have reached a conclusion that turns conventional wisdom on its head: Americans enjoy less economic mobility than their peers in Canada and much of Western Europe. ”It’s becoming conventional wisdom that the U.S. does not have as much mobility as most other advanced countries,” said Isabel V. Sawhill, an economist at the Brookings Institution. ”I don’t think you’ll find too many people who will argue with that.”

One reason for the mobility gap may be the depth of American poverty, which leaves poor children starting especially far behind. Another may be the unusually large premiums that American employers pay for college degrees. Since children generally follow their parents’ educational trajectory, that premium increases the importance of family background and stymies people with less schooling.  (Jason DeParle, New York Times, published January 5, 2012)

But King would be disappointed in our failure to provide quality education in our urban schools. He would also be disappointed in our biased and hyper-punitive criminal justice system.

At the height of the Civil Rights Movement King was hated by many in this country. They thought he was a rabble-rousing socialist who was cancerous to America. People hated King for trying to do the right thing—for trying to hold this nation accountable for living up to the egalitarian spirit of the Constitution. People hated King and could not explain why. He only became an icon of peace and racial reconciliation over a decade after his assassination.

We should use King’s holiday to deeply reflect on our role in embracing a non-discriminatory, equitable, sensitive, and more compassionate society. In legislative assemblies, schools, and in the workplace, we should embrace behavior that would make King proud, not disappointed. In our private and public lives we should strive to embrace his Beloved Community. (Renford Reese, San Bernardino Sun, posted January 12, 2012)

This blog entry directly excerpts text from two articles posted online by Renford Reese (San Bernardino Sun, posted January 12, 2012) and Jason DeParle (New York Times, published January 5, 2012)

On Friday, January 20^th the Carson Faith & Community Based Funding & Resource Seminar will host a free seminar for faith-based organizations.

Some of the topics covered include:

• Endowment, Federal State and Local Grants
• Forming Separate For-Profit or Non-Profit Organizations
• Separating Church and State
• Developing Affordable Housing
• Using Federal Employment Tax Credits

Location

Juanita Millender-McDonald Carson Community Center

801 East Carson Street

Carson, CA 90745

Time/Schedule

9:00 a.m. – 4:00 p.m.

(check-in at 8:30 a.m.)

Registration

There is no cost to attend but you do need to register. Click here to register or call 888-847-9652.

Sponsors

This event is sponsored by Jerome E. Horton, Chair of the Board of Equalization. Co-sponsors include the Carson City Council, United Job Creation Council, Korean Churches for Community Development, Chinese for Christ and Chinese for Christ Calvin Chao Theological Seminary.

Congratulations to members and supporters of La Plaza United Methodist Church for waging a successful campaign and negotiating a tentative deal that could allow the church to stay in its historic El Pueblo home for up to 30 more years!

The City of Los Angeles and the church have been at an impasse for five years, since the church’s 1956 lease agreement expired. A 2006 proposal from the city would have charged the church $14,000 per month to rent the structure in which it has been serving the community since 1916. The new deal would charge the church $663 per month for 80 hours of monthly use. The church is required to create a museum and continue to provide community services to all visitors, whether long-term members, tourists or local residents as part of the 15-year deal, which includes an option for another 15 years.

The La Plaza Initiative is directed by Urban Foundation staff member Leonora Barrόn, who has worked with La Plaza Church members, the Bishop of the California-Pacific United Methodist Conference, Olvera Street Merchants, an interfaith clergy group and elected officials, to appeal to El Pueblo City staff and the El Pueblo Commission for over a year to help create a fair lease that would allow La Plaza UMC to continue over 100 years of outreach to the poor in this historic neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Special thanks to Councilmember José Huizar for shepherding this issue through the Los Angeles City Council. While the new lease deal must still be formally approved by the City Council and the El Pueblo Commission Councilman Huizar said that he hopes to see the deal completed by November of 2011.

To learn more about this story, see this report on ABC news.

On Wednesday, August 17^th join supporters of La Plaza United Methodist Church who will meet at the church at 8:30 AM to march to Los Angeles City Hall to appeal to the City Council for a fair lease to allow the church to continue holding services and delivering social services to the community. (See www.saveolvera.com)

La Plaza UMC is located on Olvera Street, and is one of the historic structures maintained by El Pueblo de Los Angeles Historical Monument, a department of the City of Los Angeles. The church has offered to pay a flat fee per month that doubles the current rate the church is paying to the city. Instead, the El Pueblo Administration wants to charge the church on a per hour basis that discourages the delivery of social services for the poor, which La Plaza has offered on Olvera Street since 1916.

In the summer of 2010, church members were ordered to vacate La Plaza UMC so that the City could correct earthquake damage and make other repair to the church building. The understanding was that the congregation would return to its church building thereafter. The repairs were completed, but abruptly, just prior to the church’s rededication ceremony in November of 2010, City staff changed the locks and the pastor was physically removed from the church while preparing for the big re-opening event.

Through our La Plaza Initiative, the Urban Foundation has worked with La Plaza Church members, the Bishop of the Methodist Conference, Olvera Street Merchants and elected officials, to appeal to El Pueblo City staff and the El Pueblo Commission to give the congregation keys and an equitable and fair lease to continue over one hundred years of social service outreach activities supporting the poor in this historic neighborhood of Los Angeles.

Developers along with willing and compliant City bureaucrats are waging a campaign to discredit Olvera Street Merchants and oust non profits. The La Plaza Methodist Church is their first non profit target!

To learn more, go to www.saveolvera.com

A new book by Claremont School of Theology professor, Dr. Helene Slessarev-Jamir, has just been released by New York University Press. Prophetic Activism: Progressive Religious Justice Movements in Contemporary America is being called the first broad comparative examination of progressive religious activism in the United States. It offers readers a deeper understanding of the richness and diversity of contemporary religious justice movements through five case studies of justice movements that have their roots in progressive interpretations of Scripture: congregational community organizing, worker justice, immigrant rights work, peace-making and reconciliation, and global anti-poverty and debt relief.

Helene Slessarev-Jamir is the Mildred M. Hutchinson Professor of Urban Ministries, a position the Urban Foundation helps endow at the Claremont School of Theology. To order or learn more about Prophetic Activism, click here.

Check out this profile from the Los Angeles Daily News of one of the Urban Foundation’s grantee organizations, North Valley Caring Services.  Sepulveda United Methodist Church launched NVCS in the early 1970s as a soup kitchen for homeless people and the organization has expanded to offer classes in literacy, early childhood education, and parenting for low-income families in the area, as well as continuing to feed and clothe the homeless.  To learn more about how NVCS works with low-income residents in the North Hills community in the San Fernando Valley, visit their website, www.nvcsinc.org.

The board of directors of the Los Angeles United Methodist urban Foundation would like to thank everyone who came out to support us on Thursday, November 18^th at the GRAMMY Museum in downtown L.A. for our 2010 Awards Celebration. We had a great time honoring the life and work of Bishop Mary Ann Swenson, the Presiding Bishop of the United Methodist Church in the Los Angeles Area with our Urban Shepherd Award, and we also recognized the inspirational leadership of Ms. Anne Hawthorne, who received our Hutchinson-Green Award for her work with the Kid City South Park program.

Special appreciation goes to our sponsors:

Silver Sponsor:

Office of Urban Ministry California Pacific Conference of the United Methodist Church

Bronze Sponsors:

Asian Pacific American Legal Center

Byron and Deanne Hayes

United Methodist Ministry Los Angeles District

In Kind Sponsors:

Kenny Sabet, United Valet Parking

Jennifer Lynch, STAPLES Center Foundation

To see pictures from the evening and to get a look at our program, check out this slideshow.

Also, if you weren’t able to make the event but still want to make a contribution, click here to make an easy online donation through our secure server. We are grateful for all contributions that help us continue to support faith-based community building throughout urban Los Angeles.