SWFS Working Group for Social Justice

Advocacy, Organization, Education and Action

The Working Group for Social Justice strives to:

  • Align the WGSJ with the SWFS tradition of social justice.
  • Support and advance SWFS goals set by the Long Range Planning Social Service and Social Action Task Force
  • Engage more members of the SWFS community in social action/social justice.
  • Advocate on social justice issues of interest to SWFS members.
  • Facilitate the creation and implementation of Tikkun Olam task forces that allow SWFS members to take leadership on specific social justice/social action projects they care about.
  • Partner with other SWFS organizations on social justice issues of mutual interest to help strengthen the SWFS Community.
  • Partner other institutions that cross lines of faith to combat injustice and influence the political process.

2008-2009 Initiatives

Yom Kippur Advocacy Letter
Our Yom Kippur advocacy letter was sent to the presidential candidates, Senator John McCain and then Senator Barack Obama, urging that they commit, if elected, to cut domestic hunger in half within two years of inauguration, and lead a global effort to cut world hunger in half by 2015.

Nothing But Nets Campaign
The URJ is committed to provide 50,000 mosquito nets to protect Dafur refugees from malaria. Our goal is one net per SWFS family, i.e. 700 nets to protect 700 families. To date, we have purchased 479 nets—68% of our goal.
Click here for more information or to make a donation and help us reach our goal.

Save the Shelter Initiative
Our greatest victory this year has been a joint effort by the WGSJ, the Shelter Committee, and Rabbi Hirsch to save SWFS’s 30-year-old Next Step Men’s Shelter, indeed all shelters hosted by churches and synagogues. Changes proposed by the NYC Department of Homeless Services (DHS) threatened to force all of the faith-based shelters in NYC to close at the end of this year’s season (June 30, 2009). The Emergency Shelter Network (ESN), which represents all of the faith-based shelters, met several times with DHS to discuss these changes, but was unable to obtain a written commitment to provide the critical services needed for the shelters to remain open. Knowing that time was running out, SWFS hosted a meeting of all the senior clergy from the ESN. This meeting resulted in a letter from the senior clergy to Mayor Bloomberg urgently requesting a meeting. Within 24 hours, the city agreed to meet our needs.

Looking to the Future
As we move into the 2009-2010 year, we are looking at several possible initiatives. Come to our planning meeting on July 7 and let us know what YOU care about. To get involved or for more information, contact Heather Stoltz, Community Service Coordinator, at 212-877-4050 x244 or CommunityService@swfs.org.