Working to ‘build a blessed city’ here
Name of congregation: Interfaith Assembly on Homelessness and Housing
Religious affiliation: Multifaith Spiritual leader: Marc Greenberg, founder and executive director. Address and neighborhood: 48 St. Mark’s Place, Manhattan Years in present location: Nearly three years. Size and character of congregation: “The Interfaith family, in addition to our institutional members, has over 1,000 formerly homeless people who have graduated from our Life Skills-Empowerment Programs. Our board of directors and office staff include formerly homeless program graduates who work alongside of student interns and other staff. Our community has the nearly 100 members who volunteer each year to work one to one with program participants,” Greenberg said. Scheduled service: “Every other Monday night, graduates from our Life-Skills Empowerment programs meet to share a meal, provide mutual support and schedule presentations where they share their stories of recov- ery from homelessness with congregations, schools and community groups. this has been done on over 1,000 occasions since 1990,” he said.
“For the past 27 years, the Assembly sponsors an Annual Interfaith Convocation and overnight City Hall vigil for housing justice. The next one will be Thursday at St. Peter’s Church, 22 Barclay St. The song ‘From a Distance’ will be performed by its composer, singer/songwriter Julie Gold.” What makes the congregation special: “The diversity of our members. What united us is our commitment to stand with those who are still homeless and work to create a city that is there for people in need of affordable housing no matter where their mission to end homelessness takes them,” he said. Most-prized possession: “The Life-Skills Empowerment program model that Interfaith Assembly developed in 1990 in partnership with New York Catholic Charities,” he said. Biggest wish-list item: “When we see the impact that our programs can have on someone who is homeless, our wish to develop the capacity to share our program model more broadly, particularly to see it used to serve those who have experienced domestic violence, have been incarcerated and veterans who have become homeless,” he said. Biggest issue: “The Assembly works to ‘build a blessed city’ by advocating for needed public policies. This year, our biggest concern is the loss to our city’s homeless population of the ‘Advantage’ rental subsidy program for families and single adults seeking to leave the shelter system,” he said.