Green Sanctuary

We have begun the work to become an accredited Green Sanctuary.

The Green Sanctuary Program provides a path for congregational study, reflection, and action for today’s environmental challenges – including climate change and environmental justice. Successful completion results in Green Sanctuary accreditation: a formal recognition of a congregation’s service and dedication to the Earth.

Green Sanctuary 2030

This is the 7th iteration of the Green Sanctuary Program since it began in 1989. Learn more about Green Sanctuary 2030 vision, mission, and outcomes.

When 2020 became 2021 the Green Sanctuary team created a new name for what had been initially dubbed “GS 2020”. The year 2020 was so tough it is a relief to focus beyond it! And, the new name responds to the 2018 UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report that to prevent increasingly catastrophic and irreversible trends, global net emissions of carbon dioxide need to fall 45% from 2010 levels by 2030.

The new name for what was Green Sanctuary 2020 is now: UUA Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice – A Roadmap for Congregations to Rise to the Crisis.

Each congregation performs a self-assessment, writes a plan, and completes projects across: Environmental Justice / Climate Justice, Worship and Celebration, Religious Education, and Sustainable Living.

The first major step in the process is to create a congregational profile. Our profile was submitted in May of 2021 and was given glowing reviews by the UUA staff. Below is our entire profile as submitted.

All Souls’ Congregational Profile

Congregations who are setting out on the Green Sanctuary/Climate Urgency pathway submit a Congregational Profile as a first step on their journey.  This profile describes the congregation and its interests.  The profile informs the Green Sanctuary Staff and volunteers of your intentions, and allows us to understand the broader context within which you will be approaching this work.  It also provides us with information we use to place your congregation in a cohort of other congregations as you move through the process.  

  1. Name of the Congregation: All Souls Community Church of West Michigan
  2. Address of the Congregation: 2727 Michigan St NE Grand Rapids, MI 49506  
  3. Website of the Congregation: www.AllSoulsCommunity.org
  4. Green Sanctuary point person: Mandy Mynhier ascc.environmentaljustice@gmail.com 616-433-5224
  5. Minister of the Congregation: Colleen Squires  RevColleenSquires@gmail.com  (617) 538-8139
  6. Size of the congregation:    roughly 200 members and friends  
  7. What is your Religious Exploration enrollment?  Children  30    Adults 20
  8. Type of congregation:  urban
  1. Mission Statement

Our Mission Statement: 

Celebrating and Cultivating Community by Liberation and Inspiring the Human Spirit. 

Statement of Purpose:

This church is dedicated to religion but not creed.  It is a liberal religious community of free individuals  of all ages walking together in relationship to one another, to our larger community and to the transcending mystery of the universe.  Our community is based on open communication, democratic process in the capacity for goodness in all people. Our spiritual health and our growth as a church community are intimately connected with the spiritual growth and development of our children.  We pledge to develop our church community, a sense of inquiry, moral character and insight, religious freedom, and helpfulness to humanity- that is, it aims at liberating and cultivating the human spirit. 

 

 

  1. Understanding the Historical Context of our Congregation 

All Souls Community Church of West Michigan (ASCC) was gathered in Grand Rapids, Michigan in the fall of 2001.  It was chartered and became a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association in 2002.  It has grown from an initial group of 25 adults and their children, to a current membership of 159 adults and 56 children (as of April 2021).

All Souls formed itself with a distinct mission- “to liberate and cultivate the human spirit”-and a prospective, prophetic vision “to become the liberal religious voice of West Michigan”

 

 

Pre-history 1870s-2001, Liberal churches, Calvinism and Catholicism

Grand Rapids, Michigan has a long-established reputation as a “City of Churches” extending back into the nineteenth century. West Michigan retains a strong identity as a region dominated by the  Christian Reformed (Calvinist) faith tradition (Dutch)  as well as Roman Catholicism (Polish and Germans).   But Grand Rapids also has a century-long history of progressive liberal worship and fellowship, including a Universalist church and Fountain Street Church. 

The first  Grand Rapids church to bear the name “ALL SOULS” was a Universalist church founded in 1870 and operating until the 1930s. This first All Souls traced its earliest origins to 1858 with formal reorganization and establishment in 1870.  Its growth in the decades to follow led to the commission of a new church building in 1891 which was  dedicated in 1893. This marked the high point in the history of Universalism in Grand Rapids. The church dissolved in 1939. The building, which is still located on Sheldon Ave. in Grand Rapids, was sold to a Seventh Day Adventist congregation.  When All Souls Community Church of West Michigan formed in 2001, they chose their name to honor and revive the “original” Grand Rapids Universalist church, “ALL SOULS’.

 

Fountain Street Church was established as a Baptist church with a history extending back to the 1870s and has stood out as a liberal church since the 1890s.  The church officially exited the American Baptist Convention in 1960 and remains unaffiliated.  In the 1940s, the church’s minister, Reverend Duncan Littlefair, ordained as a Unitarian Universalist minister, explored bringing the church into the UUA but ultimately preferred that Fountain Street remain independent.  To this day, Fountain Street maintains close connections with Unitarian Universalism, including ministers who have close connection with the UU tradition and musical programming through the UU songbook, Singing the Living Tradition.

 

All Souls Community Church of West Michigan 2001-present

Past is prologue and so the origins of ASCC begins with its prehistory. Fountain Street Church provided a spiritual home for Grand Rapidians drawn to liberal fellowship and social justice.  New developments in the summer of 2001, however, drew individuals and families associated with Fountain Street to begin gathering for “Community in the Park” meetings held outdoors in Grand Rapids city parks. The outdoor church suited the environmental awareness of the fledgling church and metaphors of “Roots and Branches” animated the vision for the church’s organic structure.  

These meetings began on September 9, 2001. Two days later September 11th happened and  this event  galvanized this community to remain strongly committed to their vision. Gatherings carried on until West Michigan weather necessitated finding indoor space for gathering and worship.  The newly formed All Souls found available space to use at Aquinas College from 2002 to 2005, in the Jarecki and Donnelly Centers on campus. 

By 2005, the church found a new home at Congregation Ahavas Israel, a conservative Jewish community.  All Souls celebrated its first service in its new home on September 11, 2005.  The Ahavas synagogue has provided a long-term home for All Souls including the sanctuary, child care facilities, storage and meeting spaces. 

The Reverend Doctor Brent Smith served as All Souls’ first contracted minister from 2002 until 2010.  Rev. Smith had previously served as minister at Fountain Street Church from 1999-2001. 

Reverend Brett Smith was responsible for creating the small group ministry at ASCC, called ROOTS AND BRANCHES.  The purpose of Roots and Branches was to help grow the congregation and help maintain “right relationships”  Small group members actively studied and  shared our faith tradition.  The intimacy of Roots and Branches small groups complimented the public and more formal spiritual character of Sunday worship, giving a breadth of experiential opportunity to create a “community” for members of ASCC. 

In May of 2012, the Reverend Colleen Squires was called to serve as the first settled minister of All Souls.   She continues to lead the congregation (innovatively during the Covid pandemic). She is well respected and well liked in our congregation and the community.  She represents ASCC at a monthly meeting of area ministers.  She has participated for several years in the weekly Grand Rapids Press “Religion” section called “Ethics and Religion Talk” featuring area ministers commenting on religious, social and philosophical questions.  The settling of Rev. Squires as our minister has definitely been a high point in our church giving us stability from which we can anticipate growth and new ventures such as Green Sanctuary. 

 

ASCC TODAY AS A VIBRANT CARING COMMUNITY: 

Regarding our staff, committees and social groups, our building and coming changes

Religious Exploration and New Members

In the few years prior to Covid, ASCC had seen an increase in membership, particularly with young families, which helped make a robust RE program.  We had a part-time RE director on our staff. Unfortunately with Covid, we have had to suspend our children’s program until in-person meetings resume.

Staff

In addition to the Rev. Squires, our staff includes a part-time music director and part-time pianist. Our music director, Dr. Monique Salas, has been leading the adult and children’s choir for several years.  The choirs have had virtual rehearsals and performances despite Covid and have even performed 2 semi-annual cantatas through Zoom, very successfully.  The music program is very popular at ASCC bringing many people together to form a “community”.

 

Committees and Social Groups

ASCC has had a Social Justice Committee for several years (currently on hold with Covid) and a new Environmental Justice Committee which formed in January 2019 and meets virtually twice monthly.  A Mindfulness Meditation Group has been meeting monthly for 2 years. Prior to Covid we had an active Mens’ breakfast and Women’s lunch group as well as frequent potlucks after church.  Our minister has engaged us with other social opportunities via Zoom during this pandemic, which have been a way to connect with each other-Coffee Hour, game night, video screenings, karaoke, and open discussion forums.   We currently have one small group/covenant group which meets monthly. 

Our Building and Carbon Footprint

As explained, our congregation rents space from Congregation Ahavas Israel, a Conservative Jewish community.  Because we are renters and not owners of the building we have certain kosher restrictions.  We have limited access to the building besides Sunday morning and 2 evenings a week.  Our minister does not have a “church office” which is less than ideal. We also adhere to the dietary restrictions of Congregation Ahavas (Kosher). This has only on rare occasions been a hindrance to our church program.  We have on occasion coordinated programs with Congregation Ahavas- such as the planting of a “Sacred Garden”- a native plant garden-on the grounds of the church, both congregations working together. 

One of our teens did an  Eagle Scout project which  supported the  Ahavas’ Corners of the Fields Garden by creating an accessible pathway to this produce garden. All produce grown is donated to local food banks, providing fresh produce in otherwise food deserts. Over the years, members of our congregation have also helped with the work of this garden.  

Because we are “renters” we have no control over the carbon footprint of our building.  The synagogue was built in 1971  and is an Energy Star certified building, one of only 100 religious institutions in the country to have been so rated.  This may affect how we will answer the Step 2 question of “calculate your congregation’s carbon footprint”. 

Changes on the Horizon

Recently, there has been a development which may affect our “rental” status.  The Ahavas congregation is dwindling in numbers and feels it is time to give up their large facility to merge with the Reform Jewish community. This will cause us to look elsewhere for our church “home”.  If this happens, we are told we have at least 2 years to make a move. Their decision is forthcoming. We have a Facilities Committee which has started to look at what we would need and how we would raise capital for  such a move.  Green Sanctuary will be part of that process in our quest for staying an eco-friendly congregation. 

  1. History of  Environmental and Social Injustice in Grand Rapids And West Michigan along racial and economic divisions: 

Overview

Grand Rapids, Michigan is a city of about 201,000 residents by US Census Bureau estimate for 2019. Grand Rapids is the county seat of Kent County (population 656,955).  Metro Grand Rapids, a triangle extending out to Holland MI and Muskegon, MI, has a population of 1,059,000.

As a city, we are medium sized and both economically and racially diverse.   All Souls Community Church is located on the NE section of  the city. 

Grand Rapids was chartered in 1838. The first European settlers were French fur traders and Jesuit priests, followed by French, English, German, Polish and Dutch settlers.  Eventually Grand Rapids became home to many other nationalities: African Americans, Latinos and Asians.  Like much of the United States, Grand Rapids has become a home to other people fleeing conflict in their countries-the Vietnamese in the 1970s, the Bosnians in the 1990s, Lost Boys of Sudan, Hmong refugees, and immigrants from the Middle East, Central, South America and Mexico. 

As a group, our Environmental Justice Ministry group studied the environmental and social injustices and the history that contributed to them about three main groups: our Indigenous Community,  the African American Community, and the Latino American Community.

 

 

Indigenous Community

More than 2,000 years ago, the first known Native Americans, the Hopewell culture, occupied the Grand River Valley. The Hopewell were mound builders, constructing great geometric earthworks that served as enclosures, burial places, defensive structures and religious sites. 

The most important and best preserved Hopewell mounds can be found on the banks of the Grand River, SW of the city. These mounds (the Norton Mound Group) are a National Historic Landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places.   Around 1700 A.D., people of the Three Fires, which included the Ottawa (Odawa), the Chippewa (Ojibwa) and Potawatomi tribes, established villages in and around what is now Grand Rapids.  Nineteen Ottawa chiefs once governed the lands along the Grand River from Grand Haven to Lansing.  

The People of the Three Fires called themselves the Anishinaabek- “The Original People”.  As accomplished hunters, fishermen, gatherers and farmers, they found everything they needed to thrive in the abundant natural resources of this region. 

Their earliest  encounters with Europeans were with French voyageurs, who traded kettles, guns and cloth for furs from the Native Americans.  For the most part, the traders treated the Indians well, often marrying indigenous women.  English settlers followed, building settlements and taking land from the native inhabitants.  The English saw the indigenous people as an obstacle to their plans of building a new nation.  This led to two treaties which essentially deeded most of Michigan to the US government through the The Chicago Treaty of 1821 and the Treaty of Washington in 1836.  Native Americans were promised monetary compensation, sometimes over a 20 year period and given land to form reservations. 

Meanwhile, many native peoples living east of the Mississippi River were removed forcibly by the United States government as a result of the 1830 Indian Removal Act.  This affected mainly the Potawatomi tribes in Michigan and many other tribes in the southeastern United States. Entire tribes were sometimes marched to Oklahoma and Kansas, a travesty long remembered as the “Trail of Tears”.  

One of the most damaging pieces of local indigenous history was the government run “Indian Residential Schools.”  In Michigan, indigenous children were sent by force of the US government to Mount Pleasant Indian School.  The school operated from 1893 to 1933, and “educated to extinction” hundreds of Ojibwa, Chippeway, Ottawa and Potawatomi children each year. There was an attempt to erase the cultural identities of these children and assimilate them into white culture.  Their heads were shaven, they were physically punished for speaking their languages and separated for months and years from their families.  The school operated in a militaristic fashion with a regimented schedule every day of the week.  The government forced families to send their Indigenous children from throughout the state of Michigan to the Mount Pleasant school, which also had children from several other states.

As a result of boarding schools, entire generations were unable to pass on their native languages, leaving entire generations searching for cultural identity.  Locally, there are about a dozen Potawatomi first language speakers, all elderly.  There are only another dozen who have learned Potawatomi as a second language, most are not fluent.

Indigenous Community Today

According to Michigan.gov, “Michigan is home to a total of twelve federally-acknowledged Indian tribes that enjoy a special status under federal law and treaties”. Their tribal governments provide a wide array of services to their members including lawmaking, tribal police, court systems(where appropriate), health and education services, and more. Many of the tribal lands(reservations) are in the northern lower peninsula and upper peninsulamichigan.gov  (Tribal Governments). The tribe which we may be most familiar with is the Gun Lake Tribe, Match-e-be-nash-she-wish band of Pottawatomi Indians.  They are the owners of the Gun Lake Casino in Wayland, MI, south of Grand Rapids. The Casino is run by a commercial enterprise, but tribal members benefit from the proceeds. 

We know that environmental impacts on this community have impacted their traditional basketmakers due to the loss of the Black Ash trees due to the invasive species, the Emerald Ash Borer. This loss is another example of a loss of cultural identity for this community due to the actions of others. Robin Wall Kimmerer mentions a local family of basketmakers in her book Braiding Sweetgrass.  While written just a few years ago, this traditional basket-making is difficult to sustain without the necessary trees.

In Grand Rapids, members of the Anishinaabek People, have celebrated their heritage every Labor Day weekend for the past 39 years with a 3 day Pow Wow, in Riverside Park.  The Pow Wow is open to the public. Dancing, food, and a market are all part of the celebration. 

 

Indigenous Community Highlights

  • “Anishinabek: The People of This Place” at Grand Rapids Public Museum presents rare and fascinating artifacts handed down through generations of the original Ottawa, Potawatomi and Chippewa people of West Michigan.
  • Ah-Nab-Awen Park in downtown Grand Rapids contains a bronze marker commemorating the people of the Three Fires, and three large, grassy mounds symbolizing the Hopewell Indian mounds.
  • The Grand Valley American Indian Lodge has hosted a traditional pow wow on the banks of the Grand River for more than 50 Labor Day weekends – and counting.
  • Every June, the Three Fires Traditional Pow Wow celebrates the unity of the Three Fires people through traditional dancing, music, crafts and more.
  • A bronze statue of Nawquageezhig, aka Chief Noonday, greets visitors to the downtown campus of Grand Valley State University – just as this Potawatomi chief welcomed early traders and settlers to the area.
  • Longtime Grand Rapids activist Levi Rickert launched the online Native News Network in 2011, offering stories about Native Americans and analysis of mainstream issues from a Native-American perspective.
  • Newcomers: The People of This Place is a permanent exhibition at Grand Rapids Public Museum that tells the stories of 45 of these groups who settled here after the original inhabitants, the Anishinabek Indians. Source: Experience GR 2021

African American Community

One of the ways that our Environmental Justice Ministry did research to answer question 10, was to form a small group to read the book “A City Within a City”, by Todd Robinson.  The book centers around 3 main problems on the issue of racism in Grand Rapids: employment, housing and school.  The author also talks about Jim Crow practices of segregation in Grand Rapids including segregation in theaters, restaurants, and hospitals.  Several of us viewed a Zoom book talk with the author provided by the local library. Another member visited the newly formed local Grand Rapids African American Museum to learn more. 

History of African American employment in Grand Rapids

African Americans lived as “free men” in Michigan as early as 1846. Two distinct periods of population growth were from 1910 to 1940 and post WW2, known as the Great Migrations.  African Americans came north to escape the Jim Crow laws of the south, expecting better opportunities in jobs, housing and education.  Unfortunately all three of these objectives were denied them by the white citizens of our city during that time.  Employment available to African Americans consisted mostly of low paying and menial jobs such as janitors and maids.  In the 1930s, the 2 largest industries in Grand Rapids, General Motors and Kelvinator, had closed door policies, discriminating against blacks.  FDR pushed for fair employment earlier, but only after WW2 and the creation of the Michigan Fair Employment Practices Commission in 1955, did opportunities open up for minorities.  

Redlining in the greater Grand Rapids area

Prior to the 2nd Great Migration, post WW2, there were few African Americans in the city (2% in 1930).  Although there was discrimination, there was still integration in some neighborhoods and schools.  The problem became worse as the African American population grew with a need for more housing.   FDR’s New Deal which created new housing across the nation did little to help African Americans. 

With the New Deal in 1934, the Federal Housing Administration(FHA) was created, stimulating new housing with federal loans.  The FHA used Residential Security Maps to determine which areas of the city were least risky to build new housing. These maps were drawn by local Home Owners Loan Corporations(local businessmen who had self interest to maintain segregation).  The Residential Security Maps divided the city into “zones”.  The best zones  were determined to be  desirable and safe(devoid of negroes) and were labeled “A”.  The worst zones, characterized by detrimental influence and undesirable populations, were  labeled “D”.

African Americans were blocked from buying in the better A zones by realtors, banks, and white owners who refused to sell.  Thus, most African Americans had to live in the D zones.  If they wanted to buy a house in the D zone, they were denied FHA backed home mortgages and home insurance (because the FHA wanted to invest in the least risky zones).   The housing itself was old, dilapidated, and sometimes condemned. 

As the African American population grew, there was less housing available, and no new houses were built in the D zone. The term “redlining” didn’t describe just one area in the city but several areas that consisted of older neighborhoods with crumbling infrastructures, including schools, and overcrowded neighborhoods. 

The Federal Fair Housing Act of 1968 opened the housing market slowly to minorities.  Still today the area known as the “inner city”, which was a large part of the D zones, has a population of 51% African Americans, 27% Latinos, and 14% whites. This area generally has higher crime, poorer and overcrowded schools, and more poverty .(rapidgrowthmedia.com)

Grand Rapids experienced “white flight” after WW2.  The city put more money into the “suburbs” (fringes of the city then-such as Burton Heights and Alger Heights).   We saw new schools, roads, tax incentives to businesses, and a highway system cutting through the center of the city. All the while, the city was ignoring the infrastructure of the “inner city”. This led to a clear disparity in the school systems. 

The Impact of Redlining on Education

In one elementary school district, Campeau schools, the student population went from 27% African American in 1947 to 74% AA in 1960.  White families moved to the suburbs to attend all-white schools in new less crowded buildings. The inner city schools had fewer resources, larger class sizes, and fewer HS graduates. 

In 1968, in an attempt to integrate schools through busing, Grand Rapids closed a mainly African American High School (South High) and bused students to a new spacious school, Union High School, without any groundwork among students and staff to smooth the transition. The results were disastrous, resulting in violence and discrimination of the new African American students. 

Some Grand Rapids schools remain segregated in part due to parents and students preferring neighborhood schools (which are sometimes inferior).  But for the past few decades, School of Choice, magnet schools, and charter schools have given opportunity to inner city students who have the resources (parent support, busing, and community support). High School  graduation rates for the district (Grand Rapids Public Schools) have steadily improved from 2012 (44.56%) to 2019 (76.20%). (grps.org)

The lasting impacts of educational segregation remain and touch many of the young members of our congregation who attend school districts with a lack of diversity, in largely white communities.

Beginnings of Change

In 1967, riots erupted in these neighborhoods, just as they did in African American enclaves across the country.  It was a wake-up call to the city, forcing the majority white population to confront the inhumanity of racial discrimination and segregation.  In response, Grand Rapids elected its first African American city commissioner, Lyman Parks, in 1968.  In 1971, Parks was voted in as the city’s first African American mayor. Since then, the African American community has become more tightly woven into the fabric of the city while still maintaining its own unique identity.  According to the 2010 census, one out of every five Grand Rapids residents is an African American, and one in every seven area businesses is owned by an African American. 

Impact of History on Now

There still exists much disparity between the inner city residents in their schools, housing, neighborhoods, food deserts, and those same places in the surrounding areas which are more integrated or mostly white.  Grand Rapids also saw riots in 2020 in reaction to the police killing of several African Americans across the nation but again not to the extent seen in other large cities.

But as the nation moves forward to push for equality for black and brown people, Grand Rapids too, has shown some improvement.  Many grass root organizations have sprung up in the Black community, on the heels of the long-established Grand Rapids Urban League and Grand Rapids NAACP.  For the Black community, efforts are centered around churches and neighborhood centers.  One such center, Baxter Community Center, offers food support, tutoring, counseling, daycare, advocacy, and medical treatment. 

African American Community Highlights (Current) 

  • Rosa Parks Circle, downtown’s unique combination of park, sculpture, amphitheater, and ice-skating rink, is fronted by a statue of the Civil Rights pioneer.  This is the location of our congregation’s monthly Black Lives Matter Vigil which we have held for the past five years.
  • The Grand Rapids Times, published since 1957, is one of several media organizations serving the African-American community.
  • This “City of Churches” boasts a variety of predominately African-American churches across different denominations.
  • The Grand Rapids African American Health Institute promotes health care parity through advocacy, education and research.
  • Native son Marvin Sapp conducts a Grammy-winning gospel singing career while serving as founder and senior pastor at Lighthouse Full Life Center Church in Grand Rapids.
  • Popular community festivals include Soul of the City and Taste of Soul.

Downtown Grand Rapids Inc. (DGRI) and GR Walks today released a self-guided walking tour of black history in Downtown Grand Rapids.  Our group will explore these opportunities as ways to learn more about this history.  Some of the members of our group have also visited the Grand Rapids African American Museum.

Latino American Community

The fastest growing ethnic group in our city is the Latino population- mainly from Mexico (68%) followed by Puerto Ricans (8%). In the July 2019, the US census estimate, the population of Grand Rapids was 201,000 with white-only being 59%, Blacks 18.6%, and Latino 16%.  Some residents responded as being of 2 races giving a less definite picture. 

Latinos came to western Michigan in the latter half of the 20th century to harvest the fruit and vegetable crops.  They “settled in” for the economic and educational advantages for their children.  More recently we, like the rest of the country, have seen more immigrants from Central America, Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador, in particular, fleeing dangerous situations and seeking political asylum. 

Housing

Most Latino immigrants initially settled in the SW and SE parts of Grand Rapids, where the poorest housing and most dangerous environmental conditions exist.  These areas are mostly populated by both African Americans and Latinos.  A study from the University of Michigan in 2006, looked at the “hot spots” in residential neighborhoods in Michigan where inhabitants were most at risk for disease related to environmental factors: pollution of water, air, soil by industry, and waste treatment centers.  5 of the top 10 sites in Michigan were in Grand Rapids.  As expected all 5 are home to the most disadvantaged groups, mostly Black and Latino residents in the SW and SE parts of the city. 

Latino families are some of the hardest working people in our city.  Often 2 or 3 people in any household are employed. They work mostly in industry (40%), service (27%), and farming (9.4%).   Still, of the city’s 41,000 citizens living in poverty, 20% are Latino (20% Black and 40% white).  Many Latino families still support their relatives living in Mexico or other countries, often sending 9-10% of their pre-tax salaries back home. 

COVID-19

Looking across the ethnic groups who have suffered the most from environmental injustice, it is clear that in Grand Rapids, African American and Latino  communities are most often the victims.  They also have the worst health outcomes.  This became apparent in 2020 with the COVID-19 pandemic when a disproportionate number of African Americans and Latinos contracted and succumbed to the disease. This has been explained by various factors such as underlying health problems and lack of accessible health care, but also overcrowded housing and employment as front-line workers who have more exposure to Covid than those who are working from home. 

Continuing Research of the Group

As we submit our profile, one area we are continuing to research is the various grass-root organizations, city and county initiatives, environmental action groups, and other religious groups who are working on the issue of environmental injustice. Much has been addressed, and some groups have shown good outcomes.  It is apparent that there continue to be problems, and the solutions won’t come quickly.  We are confident there will be a place for us to put our efforts, joining forces with existing groups. 

Some of our references

  • A City Within a City by Todd Robinson
  • African Americans in the Furniture City by Randell Jelks
  • US Census Bureau and datausa.io
  • “The Impact of Latino Immigrants in Grand Rapids Urban Development -a Social Capital Approach” paper by Marcelo E. Siles of MSU
  • “Mexican Grand Rapids”, publication with Dehlia Fernandez MSU- “Religious Identity within the GR Latino Community”
  1. Reflect on why the congregation is pursuing Green Sanctuary accreditation or re-accreditation. What is motivating you to undertake this comprehensive program   Congregations pursuing re-accreditation should include reflection on their initial accreditation and how re-accreditation will build and extend the work accomplished in that process. 

Educating the congregation to impact climate change through small actions/ importance of the work (contribution to reducing impacts of climate change)/ faith in action/ importance of being known as a green sanctuary/ awareness among broader community/can we tie in new building selection?

We are a small congregation, but our vision is global. We see all too clearly what is happening to our precious surroundings, but what can we do? We can take one step at a time and make sure that our meeting place is doing no harm, promoting positive practices, and setting an example for our young people to take care of our environment.

Our congregation rents the building space from Congregation Ahavas Israel (Jewish Orthdox). 

We are involved in many social justice outlets in giving support to the community, including support of Black Lives Matter for the past five years.  In 2019, we began exploration in Environmental Justice with the assistance of a student minister, Kristy Stuart.  Kristy helped us begin the journey by reading the book Justice on Earth and then leading the UUA course, Our Place in the Web of Life.  This group sparked the passion of several members of our congregation who began to meet to plan events for everyone at All Souls and ultimately developed into our Environmental Justice Ministry team.  Although we just got started in early 2020 offering activities to our congregation before COVID hit, we persevered through the pandemic and began meeting monthly on Zoom to plan presentations.  We also provided monthly Zoom opportunities for our congregation.  In addition to our Zoom activities, our group embarked on an interfaith journey with the congregation where we rent space.  All Souls and Ahavas Israel teamed up to plan and install a Sacred Grounds garden through the National Wildlife Federation, all while following COVID guidelines, socially distanced and masked.

Presentations we have provided to All Souls to date:

 

 

Why now Green Sanctuary?

You may ask why at a time of such uncertainty are we applying to engage in the Green Sanctuary process?  We would say that right now we have the energy and the interest. What is happening politically in our country, environmentally, socially in the world has GALVANIZED us to seek a way to address environmental injustice as we are capable.  We hope to establish an environmental and climate change consciousness that we can carry with us as individuals and as a congregation for the rest of our lives.  By applying the tenets of the 7th principle and Green Sanctuary we hope to bring Environmental Justice awareness to our RE program, our worship, and to actions and campaigns which we plan to enact.