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 ICO's Latest News:
Excluded from Health Care
On Tuesday, August 11, members of our congregation found themselves “Standing on the Side of Love” on behalf of all of those people who are excluded from meaningful health care. In solidarity with members from half a dozen other Long Beach congregations, as well as with people from throughout Orange County and Los Angeles, they gathered on the steps of Blessed Sacrament Catholic Church in Hollywood for a vigil and rally to give living support to Congressional efforts to reform health care in the United States.
As part of a member church in the Greater Long Beach Interfaith Community Organization (ICO), these four and the others were responding to the umbrella organization, PICO National Network, in its call for a national day of activities by the faith community
“to draw attention to the need for meaningful health care reform, and to deliver a message to members of our federal delegation that, while they may be on recess, the health care crisis affecting millions of families nationwide is not taking a break.”
Speakers at this rally included: Representatives Diane Watson and Xavier Becerra, both of whom pledged support for meaningful reforms as Congress reconvenes.
Following the rally, organized by LA Voice, ICO people, together with people from the Orange County Congregation Community Organization (OCCCO) visited the offices of Senator Dianne Feinstein and Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, where they spoke with staff members.
The message to the Senator and our Govenor was the same delivered at the rally: an expression of PICO’s disappointment with the deep cuts Schwarzenegger has made to children’s health coverage in this state – vital coverage that he and PICO had worked together in recent years to deliver to the children of California.
Why were these people said to be “Standing on the Side of Love”? This is the title of a new public advocacy campaign, sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association, designed to confront issues of exclusion, oppression and violence based on identity. In this case, the group excluded are the uninsured and underinsured.
If you’d like more details about that day, get in touch with Jay Kay, Sandy Kroll, Grace Lorentzen or Carol Quinlan. They were there.
October 9, 2009
Interfaith Immigration Forum Draws 200
from Sandy Kroll, member UUCLB
Two hundred Long Beach, California, residents gathered at St. Anthony’s Catholic Church Hall on August 31st to Stand on the Side of Love at a community forum on health care and immigration reform. Learn more...http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/blog/
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What is ICO?
Why is the UU Church of Long Beach a member?
 The Interfaith Community Organization (ICO) is composed of a number of congregations from across Long Beach that have come together in pursuit of justice for all residents of our community, something our church is deeply committed to. Through leadership training and congregation-based organizing, ICO works to revitalize democracy by engaging, educating and organizing people to act on their faith values.
Our congregation, a founding member of ICO, which was established in 1999 as an affiliate of the PICO National Network (People Improving Communities through Organizing). Individual member congregations have worked on a variety of issues of local concern, including traffic problems, street lighting, crime, sanitation and youth activities. Congregations have also worked together on issues of shared concern including air quality, access to health care, shelter for the homeless and the need for affordable housing. Our congregation has taken important leadership in these last two areas
Each congregation has its own Local Organizing Committee (LOC), which identifies key issues within the congregation and then works toward solutions. In 2001, through a series of one-to-one interviews, members of our congregation’s LOC determined that the issues of greatest importance to our church community were related to Homelessness and Affordable Housing. One-to-ones conducted again in 2007 reaffirmed those concerns.
As a result, our congregation has been and continues to be heavily involved in the following efforts:
- The City’s first year-round homeless shelter, Project Achieve, which opened Thanksgiving Day 2005. In addition to advocating for it, we supported this project through the Unitarian Universalist Assocition. At its 2004 General Assembly meeting in Long Beach, $71,000 was raised for ICO’s Homeless Shelter Start-Up Fund, including a large donation from our congregation’s Opportunity Fund.
- The Long Beach Housing Trust Fund, which was approved by the City Council with funding identified from hotel bed taxes, thanks to research conducted by ICO.
- A motel re-use initiative, intended to develop permanent single-room-occupancy housing in the City.
- Inclusionary zoning statutes, intended to require developers to include affordable units in every residential development.
Right now, our LOC is heavily engaged in efforts to implement the City’s Ten-Year Plan To End Homelessness by inspiring congregations in all nine Council districts to support at least one initiative suggested by that Plan.
Links:
Greater Long Beach ICO
PICO National Network
Congregation Based Community Organizing (UUA site)
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Social Justice