Hope and youth gather in April 10 rally for justice, equality

This post was contributed by Micah Intern Caroline Hunter.

On April 10, 2010, the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts had no class. Or at least it didn’t see class.

Or race, gender or sexual orientation.

The Diocese hosted the culmination of Hope in Action, its campaign to engage youth in working for economic justice in Boston, on April 10. Several hundred people gathered in front of Trinity Cathedral in Copley Square for the event, which included a discussion of how to use the campaign’s resources; live music performed by a group of the Diomass Interns; and a speech given by community organizing veteran and lecturer in Public Policy at the John F. Kennedy School of Government, Marshall Ganz.

Although hispanic, black, asian, white, straight, gay, poor, wealthy, young, old, religiously active, atheist, New-England-native and many-other-locale-hailing individuals were present, these distinctions paled next to the passion for economic justice exhibited by the group as a whole.

At the event, teams from seven churches and universities around Boston committed and decided how to apply 1% of their time and/or money this year to social justice projects of their choice.

Examples of 1% commitment projects to be launched are: renewing the library of the Blackstone Elementary School in Dorchester, advocating for education reform in the Boston Public Schools,  and mentoring Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender youth in Waltham.

The Hope in Action campaign is part of a pilot youth and social action initiative in the Episcopal church called the Relational Evangelism Pilot Project.  One young adult Relational Evangelist from each of the seven project sites has recruited a leadership team in which they practice ongoing discernment about their values and goals as a group.  April 10 represented the intersection of the campaign’s different threads of justice work. For more about the event, see this article about Hope in Action on the Episcopal Diocese of Massachusetts website.