What does it mean to be a “Community” Church, as our name states? How would Jesus have us stand with the folks who live and work and shop around our four brick walls? How do we live out the theme of our Annual Conference: “Engaging Faith in the Public Square”? In recent months, Richard, Becky and Pastor Emily have been invited to participate in a group called the “Oakland Chinatown Coalition” (OCC). Representatives from many neighborhood organizations, including Asian Health Services, East Bay Asian Local Development Corporation, Lincoln Recreation Center, and Asian Pacific Environmental Network, have been meeting regularly with a focus on advocating for community needs in the face of a flurry of development projects in Chinatown. We quickly became aware that Chinatown is in a key position for huge developers to make money, causing rents to rise, displacing low-income residents, impacting schools and businesses, and oftentimes with little regard for the impact on the quality of life for the community.
We decided to sign their Membership Agreement and lend support in ways we feel called. One way to support is to share information with you, the CCUMC community, and discern together how to get involved. As an opener, there is a meeting Monday, June 27 th at Peony, 6 PM, to review a huge development on the entire block of 12 th , 11 th , Harrison, and Webster Streets. The community is urged to attend and raise questions and concerns.
The mission of OCC is to ensure an active, vibrant, safe neighborhood that serves the community. Some of the needs are to prevent displacement, provide access to affordable housing, community facilities, open space, strengthening small businesses, and ensuring that Chinatown is treated as a cultural and economic asset.
Please keep your eyes open for further updates and be in prayer about how God is leading us.