Mayor Adams Kicks Off Multifaith Tour Across NYC on Staten Island Today
New York City Mayor Eric Adams today announced the city’s first “Five-Borough Multifaith Tour,” a series of conversations with clergy and faith leaders from across New York City to hear directly from them and discuss solutions to the serious issues facing their communities. The tour will begin today with a meeting of approximately 100 faith leaders from across Staten Island and continue with meetings in each borough over the coming weeks. This is the second series of multidenominational meetings convened by the Adams administration and builds on the city’s work to engage with and meet the needs of all faith communities.
“No matter the issue, New York City’s faith community is there for New Yorkers in need, working tirelessly to keep people fed, safe, and healthy, both mentally and physically,” said Mayor Adams. “Faith leaders are on the frontlines of countless issues and our administration is committed to supporting them however we can. I’m grateful to our faith communities for all they do, and I look forward to sitting down with leaders from across the city, as we embark on our Five-Borough Multifaith Tour, starting on Staten Island today.”
“I am delighted to kick off our second round of gatherings with multifaith leaders across the five boroughs,” said Mayor’s Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships Executive Director Pastor Gilford T. Monrose. “These meetings will be held for leaders of churches, temples, synagogues, mosques, and all the places of worship that play a critical role in all our communities. Today’s first meeting is an opportunity for faith leaders to discuss their work in the community and the issues and concerns facing their organizations on Staten Island.”
The Adams administration has engaged faith leaders on a number of issues, ranging from housing and homelessness to public safety and the asylum seeker humanitarian crisis. Last month, Mayor Adams announced additional details of his plan to help faith-based organizations and other mission-based nonprofits build critically-needed affordable housing across the five boroughs. As a key proposal in the Adams administration’s historic “City of Yes for Housing Opportunity” plan — a proposed set of zoning changes that aims to combat the city’s housing crisis by adding “a little more housing in every neighborhood” — the plan will unlock the ability for faith-based organizations to add new housing on their properties and generate income by updating zoning laws so they can more easily create much-needed new housing on their properties or convert older buildings to housing.
In January 2024, Mayor Adams and a coalition of multifaith leaders from across the city launched the Citywide Clergy Collective, a group of 272 faith leaders committed to preventing gun violence in New York City, at the administration’s annual interfaith breakfast. Using a $1.5 million grant from the New York State Department of Criminal Justice, Citywide Clergy Collective members deliver resources, direct services, and community-building programs to all New Yorkers across the five boroughs as they respond to the needs and traumas that gun violence creates. The programs and services are run by local faith leaders across the city with assistance from the New York City Department of Youth and Community Development, the Office of Neighborhood Safety, the Office of Faith-Based and Community Partnerships, and the New York City Police Department.
The Five-Borough Multifaith Tour also builds on the work of the Adams administration’s “Breaking Bread, Building Bonds,” a citywide initiative to combat the rise in hate crimes in many communities, and foster mutual understanding between New York’s diverse neighborhoods. Since launching in January 2023, the program has organized over 1,100 meals citywide and had over 11,000 participants.
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