This week marks a powerful moment in Springfield, Ohio for G92 and UNDIVIDED.
In this season of fear and uncertainty, G92 led an action with more than 1,200 people of faith earlier this week This kind of response is not spontaneous, but reflects the fruit of patient organizing, leadership development, trust-building, and sustained investment in community.
For more than a year, thanks to your support, UNDIVIDED has invested deeply in the people, relationships, and leadership that became G92 through trainings, developing and supporting teams, and partnering with congregations and clergy to develop strategies and the leadership necessary to love our neighbors well, including the Haitian community We call this Faithful Witness — showing up, bearing witness, praying, and protecting the dignity and safety of our communities.
As Temporary Protected Status uncertainty for many Haitians reached another critical moment, the community showed up by the hundreds at St. John Missionary Baptist Church in solidarity with thousands of local Haitians facing the threat of deportation. Before the 9 a.m. service even began, more than a thousand people had packed the church, more than double what G92 expected, with so many attending that fire officials had to limit entry.
We celebrate G92’s leadership and courage. We are proud that UNDIVIDED’s long-term investment in organizing helped make this moment possible. This is what sustained, faith-rooted organizing looks like. This is what it means to equip communities not just to react, but to lead, to be in deep solidarity with the most vulnerable, to protect one another, and to stand in faithful witness.
If you would like to be a part of supporting UNDIVIDED’s investment in Springfield and other communities where we are building solidarity and spaces of belonging, you can give to UNDIVIDED here.
To read more about the event in Springfield, see this article in the New York Times.
The work continues — and this week is a reminder that when we invest in people, strategy, and faith-rooted organizing, transformation is possible.
We are also reminded that as we show up in faithfulness, God is with us every step of the way.
In solidarity and hope,
Rich Morales | Chief of Staff, UNDIVIDED