Posts Tagged ‘Breaking Bread and Building Bridges’

Day 11: Breaking Bread & Building Bridges

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Today is Day 11 of the Thirty Days of Love. Today’s action is to prepare to participate in the “Breaking Bread and Building Bridges” campaign. Click here for more resources, family actions, and more! Click here to sign up for the daily Thirty Days of Love emails.


My name is Ivone and as a recent Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) recipient, I write this piece on behalf of the millions of undocumented immigrants residing in this country. We all wish to have similar opportunities like the one that I was given through DACA, based on our character and not our places of origin.

I cannot forget that I am part of a larger group of individuals who reside in your communities, provide you with customer service at stores and restaurants, and are part of the same congregations that many of you attend. We are people who have established longstanding roots and relationships and have the same kind of dreams, beliefs, and desires as you. We are asking for your support and participation with a new initiative that the interfaith community has launched called Breaking Bread and Building Bridges.

The Breaking Bread and Building Bridges campaign consists of a series of events designed to create and strengthen relationships of solidarity between faith communities and immigrants’ rights groups. Groups are encouraged to hold local events such as potlucks, vigils, and detention visitations as a way to effectively educate, organize, and advocate for just immigration policies.

Click here for more info on Breaking Bread and Building Bridges!

At a time when there’s been a meaningful shift in public opinion on such a polarized issue, our efforts are part of a larger strategy to lift up the voices of the faith community at the local level. We are the ones helping to turn the tide for immigrants’ rights in the U.S.

Our campaign is important because it provides an opportunity for communities across the country to become involved in advocating for just and humane immigration reform this year. We are creatively engaging in a number of activities that will allow people’s voices to be heard all the way to Washington, D.C., where decision makers need to hear from us. As public witnesses, you have a unique opportunity to help frame the issue going forward. The need for comprehensive immigration reform in this country is more pressing than ever and by becoming involved, you are helping to amplify the local voices of those who are directly affected to create the change we need!

If you are ready to join this life-changing movement, I strongly encourage you to help make a difference by participating in the Breaking Bread and Building Bridges events. Click here for useful resources that can help guide you every step of the way.

It’s amazing the ripple effect that is created when people come together around a cause for the common good of our nation. Help us magnify this effect across the country today by holding a Breaking Bread and Building Bridges event!

With much gratitude for your support,

Ivone Guillen

Ivone serves as the Co-Chair for the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, a partnership of faith-based organizations committed to enacting fair and humane immigration reform.

Taking Our Voice to the White House for Immigration Reform

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Members of the IIC coalition including Rev. Roshaven (center) with Ms. Rodriguez.

Yesterday, I went with fellow members of the Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC) Steering Committee to meet with Julie Chavez Rodriguez, Associate Director of Latino Affairs and Immigration in the White House Office of Public Engagement, and present our list of key principles for compassionate, comprehensive immigration reform to the Obama Administration. I felt honored to represent the Unitarian Universalist community and proud of the good work that so many of our congregational and community leaders have done for migrant justice and the Beloved Community.

For us, any immigration reform that does not include a pathway to citizenship and prioritize keeping families together is unacceptable. As people of faith, we are calling for compassionate immigration reform legislation that:

• Addresses the root causes of migration,
• Creates a process for undocumented immigrants to earn citizenship,
• Keeps families together,
• Enacts the DREAM Act,
• Protects workers’ rights including agricultural workers,
• Places humanitarian values at the center of enforcement policies, and
• Protects refugees and migrant survivors of violence.

What can you do to help support our work for compassionate, comprehensive immigration reform? Local congregations and individual faith leaders can sign on to our letter to Congress listing key principles of immigration reform. Click here to learn more.

Additionally, your congregation or community group can participate in the upcoming Breaking Bread and Building Bridges campaign—a program to create and strengthen relationships between people of faith, impacted communities, and immigrants’ rights groups, and increase local capacity to effectively advocate for just immigration policies.

Keep your eye out in the coming weeks—we are also organizing a national immigration reform call-in on the day after Inauguration (January 22). Join folks from across the country in asking President Obama and Congress to enact compassionate, comprehensive immigration reform that includes a pathway to citizenship and keeps families together. The IIC Steering Committee will be visiting key members of congress on that same day. Add your voice to ours and help ensure that the faith community is heard!


Rev. Craig C. Roshaven

This post was written by Rev. Craig Roshaven, Unitarian Universalist Association Witness Ministries Director and a leader in the Interfaith Immigration Coalition (IIC) Steering Committee.

Immigration Reform: A Once-in-a-Generation Opportunity

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Finally, all signs indicate that we will have the chance to pass humane, inclusive immigration reform in the coming months. This once-in-a-generation opportunity comes from the phenomenal work that immigrant communities, faith groups, and others have done to build partnerships and raise voices of compassion. Now that this moment is here, it’s important that grassroots migrant groups and faith communities have their voices heard–and lead the way.

Breaking Bread and Building Bridges is an interfaith campaign that will help us achieve Compassionate Immigration Reform (CIR) at the national level by building the power and capacity of interfaith coalitions at the local level. In addition to helping make CIR a reality, the campaign will help us continue to push for needed changes in local and state policies that affect migrants.

To learn more about the changed political landscape and how you can help roll out the Breaking Bread and Building Bridges Campaign early next year, join our conference call on Monday, December 10th at 4:00pm ET.

Click here to RSVP today.

At the heart of the Breaking Bread Campaign is an activity that every faith community is familiar with – potlucks! But these potlucks are special. We ask that one congregation in your area host a potluck to which members of every faith in your community are invited. In addition to other faith communities, invite members of migrant rights organizations to Break Bread together and Build Bridges between all our communities. We suggest that you schedule your potluck(s) between January 22 and May 22, 2013.

Now is the time for us to assemble and strengthen our local coalitions. The 2012 election created a significant shift in the dialogue on humane immigration reform and the voice of the faith community needs to be part of that conversation.

Please join our conference call on Monday, December 10th at 4:00pm ET and learn how you can be a part in this critical moment. Click here to RSVP.

Yours in a Shared Faith in the inherent worth and dignity of every person,

Rev. Craig C. Roshaven
Witness Ministries Director
Unitarian Universalist Association

The Breaking Bread and Building Bridges Campaign is sponsored by the Interfaith Immigration Coalition, a broad based national coalition of 32 faith communities in which the Unitarian Universalist Association plays a leading role.


The message above went out on Thursday, December 5, 2012 to Standing on the Side of Love supporters. You can sign-up for these emails here.