Social Justice in the Merrimack Valley

All are invited to hear about a “year of action” for social justice in the Merrimack Valley. Kevin Jones of the Merrimack Valley Project (MVP) will speak during the 10 am service on Sunday, February 24, 2019 at St. Mark's Episcopal Church in Westford. Mr. Jones will discuss the MVP's extremely successful year advocating for immigrant justice, economic justice, addiction treatment and prevention, and criminal justice.

MVP’s successes included securing a commitment from U.S. Rep. Lori Trahan to meet with MVP leaders once a quarter to hear concerns about immigrants in need and be an ally for them; collecting over 1,800 signatures to put paid family and medical leave and an increased minimum wage on the November ballot; and starting a pilot program to provide an access hotline and transportation system for struggling addicts.

The fundamental goals of the MVP are not the issues themselves, important as they are, but rather about organizing and leading. How do you organize and empower people so that they can identify and take on together the problems and issues in their own communities? In addition to professional paid leaders, self-identified community leaders in cities such as Lowell and Lawrence can become beacons in their communities to help people rally around solutions to social justice issues.

Kevin Jones represents that kind of leader. Mr. Jones is a Lowell firefighter who has worked on homeless issues for years and is now active in establishing effective tactics for fighting the opioid crisis. He is the kind of leader and witness who it is important to hear. He will speak during the worship service at St Mark's and he also will be available to talk after the service.

St. Mark's Episcopal Church is located at 75 Cold Spring Road, Westford, MA 01886. We welcome people of all faith backgrounds to learn more about our Christian traditions and our work to promote social justice locally and globally.

For more information, contact Herb Elliott, herb.elliott@cheza.com 978-692-4959