Alameda has 70-80,000 people. It’s a literal island; a pretty small town with over 40 different faith groups/communities, but people don’t know each other across faith lines. There are a lot of needs in the Alameda community, and there is a willingness to address the needs, but people don’t always know what to do or how to do it. Alameda All Faith Coalition builds relationships among people of different faiths so that they can go back to their individual communities, share what the needs are, and ask for their help. Their work started in 2014 around the issue of rising rent costs. The different faith communities were asked to start advocating/speaking up on behalf of people in the community who had been marginalized around that issue. They came together to advocate for justice and equality. Members work in subcommittees on different issues that the members are passionate about. They have organized their first interfaith dialogue workshop with a panel of four women from different spiritual backgrounds (Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, LDS). Also, the City of Alameda asked Alameda All Faiths if they wanted to lead the Dine and Connect program. Through their collaboration, they bring a unique program to the Bay Area. It is not a soup kitchen. It is an opportunity for people to get the services they need. Alameda All Faiths Coalition really uses food as a way to build trust that has been eroded. They use this program to encourage houses of worship to get more volunteers. They have added two new sites to Dine and Connect this year. A community of volunteers provides a meal one day a week, three weeks a month. It is a wonderful example of a cooperative effort. At one of the three sites, they have a mobile health clinic from the county; they have also incorporated showers and a washer and dryer. Members have been talking for a while about getting some kind of temporary housing for people -- tiny homes (community cabins), or navigation centers. This may feel futuristic but it’s something they need to look at because our homelessness rate has not gone down. They have over 40 places of worship and 31 days in the month -- Dine and Connect could be a daily event and still have places of worship left over to host other things.
