During Saturday’s ECS-NJ’s Summit on Building and Equipping the Beloved Community, the most recent grant recipients will be announced. This will bring ECS-NJ grants to more than $300,000 serving the poor, unhoused, food-insecure, and marginalized in the less than two years since the organization was founded by the Diocese of New Jersey.
The main event for the day—to be held online via Zoom will be a special presentation:
“Housing in New Jersey: A Gospel Justice Issue”
with Rev. Eric Dobson, Deputy Director, Fair Share Housing Center
The ECS-NJ Advisory Council will share the recipients of the recent cycle of ECS-NJ Grants, and keynote speaker Rev. Eric Dobson will provide an interactive presentation on housing availability and justice.
Saturday, October 15
10 a.m.–12 p.m.
On Zoom
Register Now
Join us for an engaging forum grounded in scripture that will educate, inspire, and energize all participants for active engagement in the work of building and equipping the “Beloved Community” by addressing poverty and injustice.
This two-hour summit will look at housing as an issue of Gospel justice and equip participants to contribute to the creation and provision of affordable housing. Through this Summit participants will:
- understand how Gospel Justice applies to fair housing,
- reflect on what needs to change to make housing affordable for all, and
- consider how to use their networks to advocate for affordable housing.
About Rev. Eric Dobson
Rev. Eric Dobson is Fair Share Housing Center’s Deputy Director. Eric joined Fair Share Housing Center’s as Director of Community Engagement in 2012 and is an ordained minister, a community organizer, outreach specialist and social entrepreneur. He holds a B.A. from Temple University in Religion. He has extensive experience working with diverse audiences and communities and specializes in interfaith outreach. Eric is the Co-Founder of Open Communities LLC, a racial integration consultant firm that works to resolve simple and complex conflicts of race, ethnicity and socio- economics. He also founded a non-profit focused on youth development and education, Planting Seeds of Hope, and in 2008 served as the Pennsylvania Clergy Outreach Director for the Obama Campaign.
In a recent editorial (NJ Star Ledger guest column April 29, 2022) Rev. Dobson states, “Housing is a human right, and access to safe, secure and affordable housing is inextricably tied to health, education, wealth, and other measures of success.”
The mission of the semi-annual Summit on Building and Equipping the Beloved Community is to provide a safe and accessible space where issues related to social justice and the elimination of poverty in the state of New Jersey and beyond can be seriously and respectfully considered. We believe that a network of parishioners, concerned citizens and religious and civic leaders meeting together and sharing ideas, information and best practices will have a positive impact. The creation of compassionate communities where God’s vision of justice, peace and love, which enhance the dignity, health and well-being of all people, can become a reality.
Episcopal Community Services of the Diocese of New Jersey (ECS-NJ)
Episcopal Community Services of the Diocese of New Jersey (ECS-NJ) focuses on proactively addressing human needs, such as food and shelter, and relentlessly working against both social and racial injustice.
