New Covenant Community • 210 West Mulberry Street • Normal, IL • 61761 • 309.454.7362

The Social Justice Group at New Covenant Community

Updated: 7/25/09

The Social Justice group comprises eight to 10 members and friends who meet monthly to discuss and promote various activities involving social justice at NCC and in the broader community. These activities have included the following:

Block Party:  As we have for the past three years, we will be a participating congregation in the August 8, 2009 Block Party hosted by First Christian Church, Bloomington.  Contact Pam Lubeck for more information.

Sound the Alarm 2009:  Our congregation participated in the Illinois Healthcare Justice Campaign "Sound the Alarm" Sunday on March 15, 2009 by clanging a bell 18 times to commemorate those Illinoisans affected by the health care crisis.  Kim Tingley and daughter Sierra rang our bell, and a picture of them made the web site:

https://app.e2ma.net/app/view:CampaignPublic/id:3144.274449/rid:

CIOP:  We send a member of the group to represent NCC at the meetings of this regional organization. The group as a whole has participated in rallies and circulated petitions designed to heighten public awareness of problems associated with predatory lending and the lack of a living wage in Bloomington.

Adopt-a-school:   We have “adopted” Irving School in Bloomington and recruited NCC members to run a Great Books program and a speech program, and to help in the classroom and with materials preparation. We also did some landscaping.

Socially responsible investing:  We urged the investment of half of the NCC Endowment fund in a mutual fund dedicated to socially responsible investment. In the past, several members went to Nicaragua on an informational tour conducted by the Wisconsin Coordinating Council on Nicaragua. In October we will give a Sunday service on Fair Trade and Microcredit.

Community Events:  We continue to participate in Share Fest and in the back-to-school Block Party at First Christian Church in Bloomington.

Book group:  We sponsored a book/discussion group on liberation theology.

We are currently planning a reflection on the needs of local food pantries, and we will be working with social justice groups from other churches on broader community issues.

Here are some photos from NCC's "Adopt a School" program at Irving School: