Accomplishments and Plans of
The San Francisco Interfaith Council
2013/2014

The San Francisco Interfaith Council's (SFIC) mission is to "Celebrate our diverse faiths and spiritual traditions, bring people together to build understanding, and serve our community."

 

We count as our constituents the 800 congregations in the City and County of San Francisco, their respective judicatories, sectarian educational and healthcare institutions, as well as the faith-based social service agencies that provide the social safety net for our most vulnerable residents.

 

The SFIC is increasingly seen by civic leaders and the public as the "go-to" organization to contact to mobilize the religious communities of our city.  Further, congregations and faith-based agencies look to the SFIC for resources, referral and representation.  Building on our 2012-2013 accomplishments, we have strengthened our relationships with key civic and NGO agencies that will enable us to enhance our core missions of congregation-based work in homelessness and disaster preparedness. 

 

We bring the religious community together to address areas of need and efforts they cannot undertake alone. 

 

Ongoing Programs
  • On the second Thursday of each month the SFIC hosts an Interfaith Breakfast that brings together nearly 100 religious leaders to network, share a meal, hear a speaker and an individual's faith journey.  Speakers from a variety of City Departments, civic agencies, NGO's and philanthropic programs are invited to share their important work, engage faith communities to help spread the word as well as offer volunteer opportunities for congregants and congregation programs.
  • For a quarter of a century the SFIC has hosted and coordinated the City's Interfaith Winter Shelter. This effort provides dinner, breakfast and a safe, warm overnight rest for up to 100 homeless men each night. Four host congregations, 40 meal providing congregations, staff provided by Episcopal Community Services and the Night Ministry, along with help from the City's Human Services Agency enables the Shelter to operate between the Sunday before Thanksgiving through the end of February. 
  • Each year the SFIC hosts a walk for hunger around Lake Merced. This past year the SFIC Board decided that proceeds from the walk be dedicated to helping defray the rising cost of operating the Interfaith Winter Shelter. This year's WinterFaith Shelter Walk was held on April 21, 2013, and raised over $16,000.00 for the shelter. Picture perfect weather, 18 teams, 120 walkers and over 25 volunteers contributed to the success of the day!
  • Our major event of the year is the SFIC Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Prayer Breakfast, attended by 400 people on the Tuesday before Thanksgiving Day.  Each year we shine the spotlight on a contribution of the faith community to the life of San Francisco. This past year we were pleased to recognize and honor congregations and California Interfaith Power and Light for their exemplary work in environmental preservation and "greening." As well, we honored Congregation Emanuel's retiring Rabbi Stephen Pearce for his pioneering work on the environment and Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi for her 25 years representing our district in the United States Congress. In the coming year we will shine a spotlight on congregations and agencies assisting current and returning veterans and their families in the challenges they face transitioning to life in our City.
  • Each year, the SFIC sponsors San Francisco's only Interfaith Thanksgiving Day Service, bringing together faith leaders and congregants from the rich diversity of our City for prayer and thanksgiving.  The 8th Annual Interfaith Thanksgiving Service was hosted last year at the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Pacific Heights.  At that service an offering is collected to offset the rising cost of the SF Interfaith Winter Shelter.  This year's host will be the Buddhist Church of San Francisco.
  • What is quickly becoming a San Francisco tradition, for the third year in a row, the SFIC assumed primary responsibility for organizing the City's annual Martin Luther King, Jr. observance. Our role is to coordinate the annual March over the Lefty O'Doul Bridge, which brings together "freedom riders" from the South Bay as well as those who gather from the City at the Cal-Trans Terminal. This "March" to the Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Memorial at Yerba Buena Gardens pays tribute to and is symbolic of the crossing made by Dr. King over the "Edmund Pettis Bridge."   Upon arrival at YBG, the estimated 10,000 attendees are led by the SFIC in a moving Interfaith Service. Key civic and noted dignitaries are in attendance. This year's dual observance paid tribute to the 2nd Inauguration of President Barack Obama and four living Bay Area civil rights activists.
  • Interfaith harmony begins with mutual understanding and respect among faiths. Each year the SFIC produces a calendar that lists religious holidays of the major world religions. The calendar is providing usefulness in scheduling being done by the San Francisco Unified School District, the Schools of the SF Archdiocese, various agencies of City government and the Consular Corps. This invaluable resource has sensitized these agencies and organizations to important religious observances and helped them avoid potential conflicts when scheduling events.
  • For the past three years the SFIC has assumed the role of "convener" of the CEO's of the ten major faith-based social service agencies to address issues of common concerns. The SFIC has provided these important leaders not only an arena for professional collaboration, but also, in the midst of this era of major budget cuts, facilitated a united voice to call attention to the impact such cuts will have on their clients.

 

 

Special Programs
  • When the San Francisco Municipal Transit Agency proposed metered parking on Sundays, The SFIC was called upon to rally the interfaith community in opposition to the measure. Speaking out at SFMTA hearings, in direct conversations with its director, to the print, radio, television and online media and through consultations with public officials, the SFIC sought and seeks to sensitize those in decision-making authority to the adverse impact such a measure will have upon congregations who are not only struggling to exist, but give back so much to the City.
  • In August 2012 the American Freedom Defense Initiative (AFDI) began running inflammatory anti-Muslim ads on SFMTA buses. The SFMTA and SF Human Rights Commission invited the SFIC to deliberations on how the agency should respond to the ads as well as to give input on the greater issues of First Amendment Rights v. Hate Speech.
  • For almost a year the SFIC has been working with the Mayor's Office of Violence Prevention Services to engage key faith leaders in vulnerable neighborhoods to participate in the City's Crisis Response Network.  Entitled "Faith Based Responders Call to Organize," this effort is part of the City's "Interrupt, Predict and Organize (IPO) for a Safer San Francisco." Our work thus far has been focused on the Bayview Hunters Point, Western Addition and Mission neighbor-hoods. In addition to providing a key pastoral presence at the time of a homicide for both victims' families and affected neighborhood residents, this effort has significantly enabled the SFIC to broaden its constituency in those vulnerable neighborhoods.
  • In the aftermath of the Sandy Hook Elementary School massacre, the SFIC entered into collaboration with Christine Pelosi of Democracy Partners and others on an art project entitled, "Building Bridges to Reduce Gun Violence." The project will use a multimedia as well as physical exhibit, containing photos as well as stories of those whose lives have been impacted by gun violence, to channel personal tragedy into public action. The exhibit is scheduled to be displayed online and in public space during the season of Thanksgiving through Martin Luther King, Jr. day.
  • On April 23, 2013, partnering with the United Way of the Bay Area, Jewish Community Relations Council and Providence Baptist Church, the SFIC co-sponsored a highly successful "Interfaith Poverty Summit." Attended by key stakeholders, the program attracted panelists whose presentations sought to engage interfaith attendees to compliment their existing work to sustain those living in poverty with a broader serious plan of action to engage political leaders to reduce the homeless and working poor population in our City and region.
  • Partnering with the Mayor's Office of Housing, Opportunity, Partnerships & Engagement (HOPE), on May 16, 2013, the SFIC hosted a well attended and highly successful training for congregation leaders entitled, "Responding to the Homeless on our Doorsteps." At the convening, which took place at St. Mary's Cathedral, the audience heard from key leaders of City homeless programs and received important resource and referral material. The SF Chronicle covered the event and featured an article the following morning in the City Insider column. Numerous attendees subsequently favorably commented on how the materials were helpful in coming to immediate aid of those in need.
  • Recipient of a generous grant from the One Nation Bay Area Fund (a collaboration of The SF Foundation, Marin Community Foundation, Silicon Valley Foundation, Asia Pacific Foundation and Russell Foundation), the SFIC has and continues to host a series of dinners at various faith based venues to sensitize non-Muslims to the challenges faced by American Muslims. The first series examined the issues of education, racial profiling, gender equality and immigration as they impact Muslims. The upcoming series will examine observant v. nominal adherents; media influence on public perception of religion; and the relevance of religion in secular society.
  • In 2010 the SFIC and United Religions Initiative (URI), standing in solidarity with our Muslim neighbors, partnered to disseminate a toolkit URI developed for faith communities to speak out against the rising tide of Islamophobia. Today, Islamophobia, anti-Semitism, anti-immigrant bias and bullying have significantly increased. They are becoming institutionalized through aggressively hostile talk radio, bus ads, billboards, cyber bullying and acts of violence. To follow up, the SFIC & URI are offering a new and improved resource for the "Talking Back to Hate" campaign, called, "URI Toolkit: Positive Actions in Response to Hate Speech."
  • For the past several years SFIC Executive Director Michael Pappas has attended a quarterly convening of a select group of faith leaders who meet with regional officials of the US Department of Homeland Security's Immigration Customs Enforcement (ICE) Agency. The purpose of these meetings is to sensitize ICE officials to the adverse circumstances and oftentimes abuses faced by detained immigrants. In addition those officials inform faith attendees of changes in policy and enforcement practices.
  • Following up on the highly successful collaboration of the SFIC and SF Opera's convening of the 10th Anniversary Observance of the 9/11 Terrorist Attacks on the United States, the SF Opera invited the SFIC to gather theologians of different faiths to discuss a specially commissioned opera "The Gospel of Mary Magdalene," which premiered in San Francisco on June 19, 2013. The purpose of the conversation was two-fold: To exchange thoughts with the opera's Composer Mark Adamo and SF Opera General Director David Gockley about reaction to the work of art as well as to generate a conversation in the City about the person of Mary Magdalene.

Because of the important stakeholder role the SFIC plays in these many arenas, the SFIC has been invited to take a place at many tables. SFIC Executive Director Michael Pappas currently brings the SFIC's voice and presence to those tables through his membership on the SF Human Rights Commission; the SF Disaster Council; American Red Cross Bay Area Chapter Board of Directors; URI Global Council Trustees; URI North America Region Leadership Council; and The San Francisco Foundation FAITHS Program Advisory Board.

 

This narrative represents only a part of our work.  We have been able to do all this with just two full time staff persons, our Executive Director, Michael Pappas, administrative assistant, Cynthia Zamboukos, who recently joined our staff, an intern from the Pacific Lutheran Theological Seminary, the tireless volunteer efforts of our Past Chair, Rita R. Semel, and others.

 

The funding provided by congregations, judicatories, agencies, individuals and foundations has made these important achievements possible.