VeNews September 2009

Welcome to VeNews, the newsletter for Vesper Society friends!

Supporting Community Assets: Vesper Society Incubator Fund

In the face of a global economic crisis, the charge found in Micah 6:8, to “do justice, love kindness, and walk humbly with your God,” serves as beacon by which the prophetic voice is safeguarded even in the most challenging times. This spirit, coupled with a desire to expand ties, spark innovation, and continue wise stewardship of resources, inspired us to create the Vesper Society Incubator Fund.

Issued on a by-invitation basis, the Fund’s objectives are to foster creativity of thinking, encourage honest debate that leads to service and action, and support the development of sustainable social change interventions. During its pilot phase, modest awards were given in support of organizations and individuals in the early stage of conceptualizing new projects or re-envisioning established ones.

We are pleased to announce the 2009 recipients of the Vesper Society Incubator Fund:

• The San Francisco Interfaith Council—A new project called, “The Youth Leadership Training and Action Program,” which fosters interfaith leadership development in the Bay Area (Vesper Society Issue Areas: Religious Pluralism, Youth and Trust)
• The Point7Now Interfaith Millennium Development Goals Coalition—A dialogue in Los Angeles that will help shape a national conference on interfaith efforts to eradicate extreme global poverty (Vesper Society Issue Areas: Religious Pluralism, Economic Justice)
• Tadashi Nakamura—A series of screenings of Mr. Nakamura’s documentary film, A Song for Ourselves, followed by intergenerational conversations between established and emerging social activists (Vesper Society Issue Area: Youth and Trust)
• Grupo Betzaida—Research and training activities for a newly formed women’s collective in rural Veracruz, Mexico, that seeks to provide meaningful alternatives to northern migration by local youth (Vesper Society Issue Areas: Economic Justice, Youth and Trust)

Whether working in the Bay Area, Southern California, or Central Mexico, this diverse group is united by a passion for justice and commitment to service. Congratulations to all.

 

Oakland as Lived Day In and Out: The Community Reporting Fellowship at Mills College

An ever-compelling study in contradictions, Oakland, California, is both known and unknowable. Each day, on every street, one encounters stories that uplift as well as dishearten. Ultimately, Oakland is a typical modern American city working to honor a complex history as it strives to create a hope-filled future.

Under the leadership of Holly Kernan, News Director at KALW 91.7 FM and Director of the Public Interest Reporting Program at Mills College (PIRP), two PIRP students joined forces with two teenagers at Oakland-based Youth Uprising with the goal of giving voice to stories that reveal Oakland’s true heart. This cohort comprises the inaugural class of the Community Reporting Fellowship at Mills College, which provided Mills students with an opportunity to stretch their journalism skills by mentoring young people interested in radio production. Simultaneously, the budding reporters from Youth Uprising were given the chance to learn the process by which radio stories are discovered, prepared, and disseminated.

The Fellows, along with editor Marina Castro, have created a six-part series, “The Fault Lines Project: Living with Violence in Oakland,” which debuts on September 10, 2009, at 5:00 pm, on public radio station KALW (shows on September 10 and 17 will be followed by a panel discussion). According to Kernan, “the stories are raw and real. They don’t shy away from the enormous difficulties faced by Oakland residents, but they don’t portray people as helpless victims either. In the face of numerous challenges, listeners will hear voices of hope and moments of heart-breaking humanity. It’s the Oakland most never see, but is lived day in and out. All of the students who contributed to this work should be proud.”

The intergenerational nature of the project coupled with the use of media to tell stories that emerge “from the ground up” give the Community Reporting Fellowship its distinctive character. It is this same character that caught the attention of Vesper Society, and compelled us to provide support through our Youth and Trust issue area, which aims to create and sustain opportunities for youth to be engaged, responsible participants in their communities. This sentiment is reflected by Darrell Armstead, a Fellow from Youth Uprising. When talking about the cycle of violence and mistrust that exists in Oakland, Armstead remarked, “It’s us killing us. You gotta take the baby step [to create lasting social change]. Life itself is not about revenge.” To hear The Fault Lines Project, visit www.crosscurrentsradio.org.

 

Weaving Dialogue and Action: Interfaith Conversations at the University of San Francisco’s Lane Center and ALOUD at Central Library in Los Angeles

“. . . all we humans can do is be grateful for the opportunity to hear God’s call and ask for the strength to answer it.”

—Eboo Patel, Founder, Interfaith Youth Core
referring to Dorothy Day’s timeless vision

Vesper Society has a long and storied interfaith history. We have convened conferences and seminars, hosted workshops and roundtables. Like other organizations, we grapple with creating substantive ways to connect dialogue to action. This process is best served by being open, intentional, and collaborative. To that end, we added two new partners to our efforts: The Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Thought at the University of San Francisco and ALOUD at Central Library in Los Angeles.

Programs with The Joan and Ralph Lane Center for Catholic Studies and Thought at the University of San Francisco
In January, we co-hosted a series of programs, including a spirited dialogue with Eboo Patel, Interfaith Youth Core founder and member of President Obama’s Advisory Council to the Office of Faith Based and Neighborhood Partnerships (view Patel’s talk). This event went on to become the impetus for The San Francisco Interfaith Council’s new Youth Leadership Training and Action Program, in which students from diverse faith traditions work together to address extreme poverty globally and homelessness locally. Similarly, the 2nd Annual Religious Leaders Luncheon, held at USF in April 2009, became a “feeder event” for a national conference on global poverty to be held in 2010. Both of these programs are examples of the interplay between dialogue and action, the fruits of which will continue to develop for years to come.

Programs with ALOUD at Central Library in Los Angeles
In October 2009, ALOUD at Central Library in Los Angeles and Vesper Society will present two programs that speak to interfaith dialogue and cooperation on an international level. On October 20, Father Patrick Desbois converses with Louise Steinman, ALOUD curator. Father Desbois, president of the Yahad-In Unum Association (“together” in Hebrew and Latin), has devoted his life to confronting anti-Semitism and furthering Catholic-Jewish understanding around the world. The French priest and his team are combing the Ukrainian countryside in an effort to locate every mass grave and site at which Jews were killed during the Holocaust. When talking about his life’s work, Father Desbois emphasizes that it is more than preserving history. It is about memory and meaning, reconciliation and forgiveness. He says that, ultimately, the source of his passion is min hashamayin, Hebrew meaning “from heaven,” which “inspires us to build what is written in Genesis.”

On October 28, we will co-present a program featuring Irene Zubaida Khan, the first woman, first Asian, and first Muslim to serve as the Secretary General of Amnesty International. Ms. Khan will join actor and activist, Mike Farrell, in a conversation exploring the rights of the extreme poor. Their discussion will include the role of laity and clergy as partners in the work of tackling issues at the forefront of Amnesty International’s agenda: the complex nature of contemporary human rights violations, the challenging developments in the wake of the September 11th attacks, and the protection of women’s rights.

Both programs are free and open to the public; however, reservations are required. For details, visit www.ALOUD.org.