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RISC – One Night for Justice!

RISC’s One Night for Justice – the Nehemiah ACTION

Thursday May 2 – 7:00 Good Shepard Church

Where RISC will address

  • The eviction crisis
  • Richmond students reading to grade level
  • Student trauma training in Chesterfield
  • Updates on the healthcare career pipeline

RISC succeeds because of organized people that work in solidarity with over 20 other faith communities. At the ACTION we ask for clear commitments from local decision makers to enact fair policies.

Join 1200 of our citizens at The Nehemiah ACTION:

May 2 at Good Shepherd Baptist Church, 1127 N. 28th Street in Richmond. Doors open at 6:15. Choir and childcare start at 6:30. Assembly starts promptly at 7:00 and will be over before 8:30. To get your free pass go to: RISCaction2019.eventbrite.com.

See the exciting ACTION video – click here.

Questions? Contact Steve Saltzberg at 804-306-5184, stevesaltzberg@gmail.com

APRIL: Did Ya Know?! by Pat Vaughn

DID YA’ KNOW;

Richmond’s religious leaders agreed that something must be done to refute the Universalist message that was emerging in the fringes of their congregations.   The heretical belief that “all souls would eventually be saved from punishment,” was becoming part of the conversation more frequently within the city’s social gatherings.
On October 24, 1823 an assembly of church delegates met at the Presbyterian Church in Petersburg.  It was decided that Rev. Henry Ruffner would stand before the Synod of Virginia and deliver a message on the doctrine of perpetual punishment of the damned in opposition to the Universalist belief in the ultimate salvation of all souls.  Nathan Pollard, publisher of the Family Visitor, advertised and circulated the sermon in the form of a tract for sale under the title, “A Discourse upon the Duration of Future Punishment.”    Baptist minister, Rev. Henry Keeling used the same subject and text to condemn the unorthodox beliefs in a later publication.  It seems reasonable to presume that in order to inspire this degree of resistance, there must have been a recognizable population of Unitarian and/or Universalist adherents within the city at the time.
Rev. Ruffner’s tract was still in circulation when a Universalist missionary arrived in Richmond early in 1824.  Rev. William Hagadorn believed in the fatherhood of God, the spiritual leadership of Jesus Christ, the authority of the Bible as revealing God’s nature, the just retribution for sin but the final salvation of all souls, and this was the message he brought to his audiences.
Hagadorn was made aware of the Richmond clergy’s condemnation of Universal Salvation; he accepted their challenge and took the podium in the Capitol’s Old House Chamber on a Sunday morning in February 1824 using the same texts referenced by Rev. Ruffner and Rev. Keeling in his rebuttal.  His sermon took the form of a twenty-three page tract; “The Nature and Duration of the Punishment of the Wicked” and appears to be well received.
During this period there was no material support from a General Convention.  A pre-Civil War missionary depended on free-will offerings and the generosity of his audiences.  The fact that Rev. Hagadorn was able to remain in Richmond for six months seems to indicate that his message achieved a measure of positive acceptance, as did Edward Mitchell upon his return to Richmond in 1825, but there is no evidence that neither he nor Hagadorn made any attempt to organize a church.

Pat Vaughn

Ref:   “The Unitarian-Universalist Church of Richmond” published in the Virginia Magazine of History & Biography;
July 1966, vol. 76, No. 3.
Ref:  “The Larger Hope; The First Century of the Universalist Church in America, 170-1870”

 

RISC 90 Second Story – Eviction Crisis

RISC 90 Second Story –

Eviction Crisis

A RISC 90 Second Story is the “elevator speech” about RISC’s work on a specific research issue. Our first two stories were about education. First was the Reading to Grade level efforts with Richmond Public Schools; the second with Chesterfield Public Schools to support Child Trauma training. This week the 90 Second Story is about what RISC is doing on the Eviction crisis in Richmond.

Richmond – Housing and Eviction Crisis

Introduction: Through RISC, we address serious problems in our community and overcome our region’s historic divisions by joining with 21 diverse faith communities.

 

The Problem: The city of Richmond has the second highest eviction rate in the nation! 17 households are evicted every day. Over 40,000 of our residents are affected by eviction annually. The major cause of eviction is the inability to pay a month’s rent when some unexpected problem occurs (e.g., related to jobs, health). We know that stable housing is the bedrock for getting jobs and for students to receive a decent education.

 

The Solution: There are two elements to addressing the problem. The long term solution is to increase the stock of affordable housing units. The short term is to provide resources and support for our citizens facing eviction now! The Mayor’s 2019/20 budget addresses both the long term and short term issues by increasing the Affordable Housing Trust Fund to $2.9M and, for the first time, creating an Eviction Diversion Program funded at $485K.

 

The Obstacle: The mayor is funding these programs as part of an increase in property tax – which is not currently getting the support it needs to pass. Our strategy is to support the increase in the trust fund and the creation of the Eviction Diversion Program independent of the source of revenue (the Richmond budget is about $500,000).

 

The Hero: The EDP will support those in jeopardy of being evicted. The citizens that go through the ordeal of eviction are our heroes as we find ways to better support a stable housing environment in Richmond.

 

The Resolution: Our Eviction Research Team will be vigilant meeting with all the City Council members and the mayor.  Together, with the power of over 1,000 people, we will once again gather this year to ask for an effective solution to Richmond’s eviction crisis by funding the Affordable Housing Trust Fund and the Eviction Diversion Program that are in the Mayor’s budget.

RISC 90 Second Story – Chesterfield Schools

RISC 90 Second Story – Chesterfield Schools

 

A RISC 90 Second Story is the RISC “elevator speech” about RISC’s efforts on a specific research issue. Last week the 90 Second Story was about the Reading to Grade level efforts with Richmond Public Schools. This week’s 90 Second Story is about the Child Trauma training efforts with Chesterfield Public Schools. Next week the 90 Second Story will be about what RISC is doing on the Eviction crisis in Richmond.

 

Chesterfield – Student Trauma

Introduction: Through RISC, we address serious problems in our community and overcome our region’s historic divisions by joining with 21 diverse congregations.

 

The Problem: In Chesterfield County Public Schools, our children were suffering from high rates of school suspensions, and impacted by the suicides of 3 students in 2016. The suspensions were highest in students of color and with handicaps. We also saw behavior issues and mental health issues on the rise that may be the result of traumatic experiences.

 

The Solution: School staff and teachers can be trained to recognize child trauma using nationally-recognized program ACE Interface. This program could be provided for free for all Chesterfield schools through the Virginia Dept. of Behavioral Health.

 

The Obstacle: Leaders in Chesterfield schools made a commitment to train 100% of staff members with ACE Interface, but they have not followed through on their commitment. School officials are buying into the myth of scarcity, that they don’t have the resources to efficiently train every staff member.

 

The Hero: We believe that by partnering with well-known organizations in our community that are already providing trauma response training, Chesterfield can take advantage of the abundance of resources in our region and offer an effective, efficient training to every staff member. This will have an immense impact on the well-being and safety of our students and teachers. Our children, who are our heroes, are depending on us to stand together for this solution. Together, with the power of over 1,000 people, we will once again gather this year to ask for an effective response to trauma in our schools.

 

The Resolution: We are following up on Chesterfield Schools’ commitments and requesting details on the current training as well as next steps. We are determined to ensure that teachers get the trauma-informed care training that they need so students feel safe and ready to learn!

 

Conclusion: I’m part of RISC because our children need our commitments to justice…Each of us can help win justice by bringing at least 3 people to the Action on May 2nd, 7pm at Good Shepherd Baptist Church so we can stand together against injustice.

RISC: 90 Second Story – Richmond Schools

RISC 90 Second Story – Richmond Schools

 

A RISC 90 Second Story is the RISC “elevator speech” about RISC’s efforts on a specific research issue. This week the 90 Second Story is about the Reading to Grade level efforts with Richmond Public Schools. Next week’s 90 Second Story will be about the Child Trauma training efforts with Chesterfield Public Schools. The following week the 90 Second Story will be about what RISC is doing on the Eviction crisis in Richmond.

RPS – Reading to Grade Level

Introduction: Through RISC, we address serious problems in our community and overcome our region’s historic divisions by joining with 21 diverse congregations.

 

The Problem: There are over 10,000 students in Richmond Public Schools who are not reading at grade level.  This is 42%!

 

The Solution: Through research and conversations with experts, we identified a program called Reading Mastery with proven success in getting kids to read.

 

The Obstacles: There has been a mindset from school officials that students come to school unprepared to learn, which they do not see as their problem. Another obstacle can be the concern among principals and teachers of implementing a new curriculum.

 

The Hero: Since 2014, RISC has been working to get HCPS and RPS to pilot Reading Mastery in just one school. We believe every child can learn given the appropriate resources and support.  Heroes include the RPS students that are now beginning the process of learning to read to grade level.

 

The Resolution: RPS has piloted Reading Mastery in eight schools and seems committed to learning from the experiences of Baltimore and other school systems that have had success with Reading Mastery. Together, with the power of over 1,000 people, on May 2 we will once again gather this year to be sure that the RPS implementation has adequate fidelity and support.

 

Conclusion: I’m part of RISC, because RISC gets things done.  RISC demands justice, and we are stronger when we join together to make a difference. Each of us helps win these victories by bringing 3 or more people to the Action on May 2 and showing up at research meetings and events so we can stand together against injustice.  That’s why each of our commitments are so important.

 

MARCH: Did Ya Know?! by Pat Vaughn

By definition, “a pamphlet is an unbound publication that is not a periodical and contains no fewer than 5 and no more than 48 pages, exclusive of any cover.”   Pamphlets were introduced as a means to circulate a large variety of topics and they share one distinctive characteristic; to provide explanation.  They were written to underscore a specific position and the reasons why the position was taken.
Martin Luther became known as one of the earliest and most effective pamphleteers during the Protestant Reformation Period.  Inspired by the 16th century’s religious controversies, Luther used hem as a means to enflame popular opinion against the Pope and the Roman Catholic Church.
In England, propagandists played an important role in the Anglican and Puritan religious debates and the promotion of political agendas that divided the King and Parliament during and after the 17th century Civil Wars.
18th century America pamphleteers were influenced by the English stylistic modes of irony, parody and sarcasm to express scorn, anger or indignation.  Most of them were lawyers, ministers, merchants, or politicians rather than professional authors.  Their use of satire was a means of free expression to debate current religious and political topics, commonly using a pseudonymous signature.
During America’s Revolutionary Period, the pamphlet provided a way to spread new ideas and the political agitation of such thinkers as Benjamin Franklin, John Locke, Isaac Backus and Thomas Paine.  The contributions of Alexander Hamilton, John Jay and James Madison emerged in the Federalist Papers, marking the end of the pamphleteer’s era, as the 19th century arena of political dialogue moved into newspapers, periodicals, and bound books.  The Christian Orthodox leadership in Richmond used pamphlets to condemn the liberal religious concepts of the First Independent Christian Society on Mayo Street and played a part in its failure to maintain a proficient membership.
In the 20th century modern technology introduced the news media, television ads, journalist commentary and policy debates to provide candidate information and promote party platforms, recasting the pamphlet into the small tri-folds published by the U.U. Association, event advertising, enclosures attached to a prescription or the directions enclosed in the package with your purchased product.
Today the Internet’s social media has become a vast chamber that disseminates the billions of voices expressing opinions on merchandise, social issues, religious and political ideas and civil rights.                                                                         WHAT’S NEXT???

Ref: www.britannica.com/pamphlet                                           Britannica Online Encyclopedia
Ref: www.bricklin.com/pamphleteers.htm                  The Atlantic: “War Goes Viral” Nov. 2016

FEBRUARY: Did Ya Know?! by Pat Vaughn

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DID YA KNOW                                                                                                 by Pat Vaughn

The Reverend Nicolas Cox, among the first itinerate missionaries, was followed by others; strong men dedicated to the task of spreading the concepts of Unitarianism and Universalism into the South.  Rev. Jonathan Whitaker, his son Daniel and Rev. Edward Mitchell were among those leaving established church communities to carry the message of a new liberal religion to the immigrant settlers along the Mid-Atlantic trails.
Jonathan Whitaker graduated at Harvard in 1797.  He is described as talented and literally acute, with liberal principles that harmonize with those who have been styled Unitarians.  He served in Sharon, MA and New Bedford before becoming an itinerate minister, preaching in Virginia and North Carolina.   Daniel, also a minister and newspaper editor for several sarcastic and scurrilous publications (anti-slavery), traveled with him.[i]
Edward Mitchell, originally from New York, separated from the Methodist Church to organize the United Christian Friends in 1796.  Although Mitchell maintained his Trinitarian belief and never formally joined the Universalists, his message to Richmond audiences in 1823 was one of Universal Salvation.[ii]
These men were part of a movement that introduced a new understanding to Christian believers.  The traveled from isolated homestead, to farm settlement, to village, to city, sharing their message of salvation.  They organized tent-meetings, held lectures from wagon-beds and established churches dedicated to beliefs that were not acceptable in the hallowed halls of Christianity.  Unitarians, among other denominations, were slower to support itinerate missions into the frontier and often discovered once they did arrive that the Universalists had preceded them.
In Richmond the religious leadership, aware that concepts of non-conformity were seeping into small pockets of their assemblages, resisted in every means possible; using their pulpits, the newspapers and pamphlets to impress upon Richmond’s citizens the perils of Deist, Unitarian and Universalist belief.
[i] “Biographical Sketches of the Congregational Pastors of New England,”  http;//www.archive.org/stream/biographicalsket05favi_djvu.txt z

[ii]  The Larger Hope; The First Century of the Universalist Church in America 1770-1870”

JANUARY: Did Ya Know?! by Pat Vaughan

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DID YA KNOW……                                                                                            by Pat Vaughn

“NICHOLAS COX   (1742-1826), a native of Philadelphia, a Universal Baptist and pioneer in the establishment of Universalism in New Jersey, was probably the first to have preached in Virginia, in 1809 and 1810.”[i]
A note of record in Universalist history recognizes Nicholas Cox as one of the early itinerate missionaries that followed the wave of migrations down into the Valley of Virginia and the Carolinas.  Unitarians among other denominations were slower to send their missions into the frontier and often discovered once they arrived, that the Universalists had preceded them.
These brave dedicated men traveled along the margins of the frontier, often alone: their livelihood depending upon the free-will offerings of food and lodging.  Often their radical message of liberal Christianity was rejected, leaving them with no other choice than to move on.
Early in his ministry, Rev. Cox served as a Chaplain with the 1st New Jersey Regiment of the Continental Line (1776-1780).  In 1784, he and his family were received into the Kingwood Church in Baptistown, PA by a letter of dismission from his church in Great Valley, PA.  His ministry was very successful there until he became an outspoken proponent of Universalism.   Forbidden to preach in any of the Kingwood churches (Baptistown, Locktown & Flemington), he was tried for his Universalist views and excluded in 1791.  Undiscouraged, Rev Cox continued his ministry, a self-appointed Universalist missionary following a circuit of his own design until his death at age eighty-four.    “He is described as a close reasoner, a good neighbor and an honest man.” [ii]
At first the Universalist missionaries went unnoticed by the orthodox leadership until their non-conformist ideas began to surface in small pockets of Richmond society.  However, it was the heretical belief that “all souls would eventually be saved from punishment” that spread alarm throughout its Christian establishment.

[i] Miller, Russell E., “The Larger Hope: The First Century of the Universalist Church in America 1770-1870”
(Boston: Unitarian Universalist Association, 1979)  Chapter 24: “Moving With The Frontier: The Midwest”
Virginia and West Virginia, page 727

[ii] www.RootsWebsWorldConnectProject: The Cox Family and other Sussex County, NJ Lines  (accessed 06/05/2017)

Eddy, Richard, “Universalism in America: A History” (Boston: Universalist Publishing House. 1891) pages 40-45 of a publication entitled “Century of Universalism” by Rev. Abel C. Thomas

 

Didja Know!?

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DIDJA KNOW…….by Pat Vaughn

Otis Manson, a Richmond architect of notable reputation, was commissioned by the First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond to submit drawings for a suitable house of worship in what was then the (John) Mayo Addition. This neighborhood had proved to be a popular choice for three of Richmond’s churches (Trinity Methodist Church, First Presbyterian and the synagogue of the German and Dutch Jews of the Sephardic Ritual) seeking to relocate uptown from the Shockoe Creek section prior to 1822.  The fourth religious edifice to be erected in the Mayo Addition was Manson’s simple structure with long shuttered windows that would serve as a meeting house for the Universalist’s congregation until its doors closed in 1875.  Otis Manson died April 8, 1862 and was buried in Shockoe Cemetery.  The stone that marks his grave reads in tribute:

He was the first scientific architect Richmond possessed.  He served the City faithfully as as a volunteer soldier in the Corps d’Elite in the war of 1812 and for many years was a member of her Council. He died as he lived respected and beloved by all who knew him.

Rev. John Robinson became the minister for the 1st Unitarian Church of Richmond, January 1, 1904.  Two years later on February 18, 1906, a new building had been completed and dedicated on the corner of Floyd and Harrison.  A. J. Russell, an architect from Boston, had been contracted to design the new chapel.  I have found a number of buildings credited to A. J. Russell in the Boston area but as of this date I have been unable to find any biographical information.

Ulrich Franzen was born in Dusseldorf, Germany, January 15, 1921; emigrated to the United States in 1943 and became a naturalized American citizen in 1943.  He holds a BA at Williams College, Williamstown, Mass. and a MA at Graduate School of Design; Harvard University, Cambridge, Mass.; served in the United States Army (1942-1944).

Franzen resided and worked in New York, NY with his wife, Josephine Burgess, and their three children, Peter, David and April.  It was there that this young man, with a mildly rebellious streak, formed an architectural firm that achieved a reputation for a unique style of modernistic design that is sensitive to the social context.  He said; “Architecture is the servant of its time and significant design are the experiments of an era.  The buildings that are designed become footprints of our own socio-cultural history, reflections of the ideas and concerns of an era, and not those of the individual.” 

Ulrich Franzen and Associates hold a long list of credits and awards for architectural accomplishments that are too numerous to list here but I would like to draw your attention to one of his creations in 1972; The First Unitarian Church, 1000 Blanton Ave., Richmond, VA.

Lost Causes

I am reminded of the scene in “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” where Jimmy Stewart’s character, worn down and dry-throated, espouses the virtue of fighting for lost causes because of one simple rule: love thy neighbor.

As we come upon the Christian observance of Holy Week, and we watch or participate in nation-wide Marches for Our Lives, this part of Frank Capra’s script seems prescient. It is an argument for empathy. The teachings of the man known as Jesus, above all, ask us to love our neighbors as ourselves, for everyone is our neighbor. To treat others as we wish ourselves to be treated. Who would want to chalked up as a lost cause, themselves?

The clarity of the importance of these teachings is heightened in our current landscape. No child should have to wake up afraid that today is the day their school goes on lockdown, and not as a drill this time. No parent should face this fear about their child’s daily life.

Let us remember, though, that love thy neighbor extends to not just the neighbors around us immediately, but to ALL our neighbors. School shootings are horrific, and we are right to decry them and fight against them. Lest we forget, though:

  • young men of color are 13 times more likely to be shot and killed than white men, in the U.S.
  • women and female-identifying genders are shot to death at the rate of 50 individuals per month, by intimate partners, and the presence of a gun in a domestic violence situation increases the likelihood of a woman’s death 5 times over, in the U.S.
  • mental health crises ending in suicide by firearm constitute 62% of firearm deaths in the U.S.

All lives lost to gun violence are horrific, ought to be decried, and above all, are losses. But we should vow that they are not lost causes. When we march on Saturday, when we step into Holy Week, when we walk through our neighborhoods – let us remember the depth and breadth of the statement to “love thy neighbor.” Let us remember and then show up to support all causes, and never allow another to be lost.

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