FPWA Hosts Second Annual Faith & Justice Fellowship Clergy Breakfast

FPWA CEO Jennifer Jones Austin moderates panel featuring Rev. Michael Walron, Rev. Chloe Breyer and Rev. Dr. Herbert Daniel Daughtry Sr.

(New York, NY) Yesterday, the Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA) held its second annual Faith & Justice Clergy Breakfast at the historic Riverside Church in Harlem. The breakfast brought together participants of the FPWA Faith & Justice Fellowship Program with more than 100 faith-based leaders from across the city to discuss the role of prophetic witness and what faith and justice looks like in the faith community.

The Faith & Justice Fellowship Program, launched last year in collaboration with the New York Theological Seminary (NYTS), aims to provides its participants with enhanced skills that will enable them to be more effective advocates on behalf of those most in need, and to help promote NYC as a place of equal opportunity for all. 

The fellowship program trains faith leaders to become prophetic witnesses for fair social policies and equal justice. Fellows participate in a series of theologically based courses, seminars related to understanding civic engagement from a theological and biblical perspective, and group retreats centering on personal formation and reflection. 

Speakers at this morning’s breakfast included Rev. Dr. Herbert Daniel Daughtry, Sr., Rev. Michael Walrond and Rev. Chloe Breyer.

Rev. Dr. Herbert Daniel Daughtry Sr. and FPWA CEO Jennifer Jones Austin together at the breakfast.

"I’m honored to be the first recipient of the Faith & Justice Torchbearer Award from FPWA and Ms. Jennifer Jones Austin,” said Rev. Dr. Herbert Daniel Daughtry. “I consider Ms. Jones Austin’s father to be an essential pillar in the faith and social justice movement, and I am proud to have served the community for 58 years."

“Faith-based leaders have historically been at the center of responding to human needs, both through direct service and by raising their voices to challenge policies and change conditions,” said Jennifer Jones Austin, CEO and Executive Director of FPWA. “The Faith & Justice Program recognizes that and supports the need to bring informed and focused voices of members of the faith community to major social service issues at the city, state and federal levels.”

Ten Fellows are part of the 2015-2016 cohort and they include: Rev. Kim Anderson, Pastor, Metropolitan AME Church; Rev. Yolanda Brown, Senior Pastor, Imani’s Quest Ministries; Rev. Phillip Craig, Senior Pastor, Greater Springfield Community Church; Rev. Hector Custodio, Pastor/CEO, Never Forsaken Re-entry Ministries; Rev. Andrea Hargett, Pastor, St. Matthew’s Community AME Church of Hollis; Rev. Lisa Jenkins, Senior Pastor, St. Matthew’s Baptist Church of Harlem; Rev. Mark Kellar, Pastor, First Reformed Church of Jamaica; Rev. Chris Lawrence, Pastor, Church of the Living Hope; Ms. Nilza Oyola, Chief Operations Officer, Latino Pastoral Action Center; Rev. Nigel Pearce, Senior Pastor, Grace Congregational Church of Harlem. 

Source: The Federation of Protestant Welfare Agencies (FPWA)