INTRODUCTION TO JUBILEE CONSORTIUM

In the belief that people flourish in environments that value dignity, justice and love, the Jubilee Consortium works to create such environments in urban, low-income neighborhoods of Los Angeles, strengthening these local communities through social change and personal empowerment. In 2001, the Jubilee Consortium was formed out of a shared vision that inner city churches can be much more than just worshipping communities. These churches can also be agents of transformation for the communities in which they are located and resources for empowerment to the families living there.

This vision is based upon an historical understanding of “parish” as being a geographically-defined entity rather than just a church building, and the commitment and responsibility to the community that comes with such and understanding. Jubilee Consortium organized itself around the principle of serving and supporting a community already well aware of its need for better health. Program design and expansion is developed in response to the feedback of the people living and working and going to school in our communities. Through this process of active engagement, Jubilee Consortium strives to raise and prepare leaders who are committed to transforming their neighborhoods and improving the quality of life of communities which face many challenges and insufficient resources.

In forming the Jubilee Consortium, member churches made a commitment to offer their church facilities as non-religious neighborhood resource centers and sites for program activity, open to the general community. The Jubilee Consortium works with community members to promote health, offer alternatives to violence, develop leaders and train advocates. Committed to values of inclusion, dignity, justice and peace, Jubilee Consortium partners connect neighborhoods and communities with opportunities that encourage creativity, fitness, well-being, and active participation in shaping healthy communities. Health is understood as wellness at all levels - personal, communal, and social. So while we are committed to reducing diabetes in the African American and Latino communities, we are also committed to reducing violence in our neighborhoods. In an effort to realize this broader definition of health, the Jubilee Consortium provides regular nutrition and health education classes, exercise and healthy-cooking courses, and trainings in community leadership and organizing. The Jubilee Consortium currently offers over 30 weekly nutrition and exercise classes with over 800 community members (duplicated) attending these classes each week. Our aim is to make individuals, families and neighborhoods we serve healthy and strong.

Jubilee Consortium members include the Holy Faith Episcopal Church in Inglewood; St. Stephen’s Episcopal Church in Hollywood; St. Luke’s Episcopal Church in Long Beach and Trinity Episcopal Church in Los Angeles. Partner parishes and institutions include All Saints Episcopal Church in Highland Park, Saint James Episcopal Church, Mid City, Grant Elementary School in Los Angeles, St. George’s Episcopal Church in Hawthorne, and the Los Angeles Neighborhood Land Trust. Jubilee’s target population resides in the neighborhoods surrounding these churches and institutions. Jubilee’s Board of Directors is composed of both church and at-large community leaders. Jubilee Consortium is a 501[c]3 not-for-profit committed to providing an environment of inclusive love and respect where people of all ages, races, religions, and sexual orientation are welcomed.

The Rev. Jaime Edwards-Acton is Executive Director of Jubilee Consortium. The Rev. Edwards-Acton oversees all project activities, supervises project staff, oversees all administrative and fiscal matters and serves as liaison to church leadership, parish community and the Jubilee Consortium Board of Directors and project staff.

The Rev. Edwards-Acton's educational background includes a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology from the University of California at Santa Barbara and a Masters in Divinity from the Episcopal Seminary of the Southwest in Austin, Texas.

The Rev. Edwards-Acton's work experience includes: Executive Director of the Jubilee Consortium, Los Angeles, 2004 - present; Rector of Saint Stephen’s Episcopal Church, Hollywood, CA, 1999 - present; Associate Rector, Saint Michael and All Angels Episcopal Church, Corona del Mar, CA, 1997 - 1999; Case Worker for Saint Barnabas Senior Services, Los Angeles, CA, 1991 - 1994. Seminary was from 1994 - 1997.

The Rev. Edwards-Acton is also a founding board member of L.A. Voice, a PICO-affiliated organization that works to improve lives and communities through congregation-based community organizing and leadership development. The Rev. Edwards-Acton is bilingual in Spanish and English.


Water, Women, and the Millennium Development Goals

Patricia Terry is a spiritual director and attorney with a small private practice specializing in tax, pension, non-profit, and employment law. Before moving to California, she was the Deputy General Counsel (Policy and Regulations) for the Pension Benefit Guaranty Corporation in Washington, D.C. Patricia obtained her law degree and masters of law degree in taxation from Georgetown University Law Center. She later received an M.A. in Spiritual and Pastoral Care from Loyola University in Maryland. She is a member of the Order of St. Luke, the Physician, an ecumenical organization devoted to the Christian healing ministry. She is also a member of Spiritual Directors International, a learning community committed to advancing spiritual direction around the world.

Patricia’s lifelong commitment to volunteerism and service eventually led her to the healing, pastoral care, and outreach ministries of the Episcopal Church. While serving as outreach coordinator for a medium-sized church in Silver Spring, Maryland, she saw how working with and for the poor can be transformative. This led her to support the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs), a world-wide effort to eliminate extreme poverty and hunger by the year 2015. Refusing to believe that poverty is a permanent human condition, Patricia wrote an article entitled, “What One Person and Do”, for Crossroads, St. Cross’ church newsletter. Shortly thereafter, she began a three-year effort to help raise awareness and support for the MDGs on behalf of the Diocese of Los Angeles as a member of the Program Group for World Mission.

Patricia lives in Torrance, CA with her husband, Jeff where they attend St. Cross in Hermosa Beach. Between them, they have three adult children.

The Women's Room - A Daytime Refuge for Homeless Women

The Rev. Pat O’Reilly serves as the Executive Director of the Ecumenical Council of the Pasadena Area Churches, a small social service agency helping low income and homeless individuals. She has been an Episcopal priest for 27 years, and has worked in a variety of settings including Episcopal Chaplaincy for Los Angeles County Facilities (Director), St. Matthew’s School in Pacific Palisades (School Minister), Messiah Lutheran Church in Pasadena (Interim Pastor) and the Church of the Epiphany in Lincoln Heights (Co-Rector).

Women Serving Together - Ordained and Lay

The Rev. Canon Elizabeth Habecker has been ordained a priest for 32 years, and has been in the Diocese of Los Angeles since 1984. Currently Rev. Liz serves as Rector and Chaplain of St. Mark’s Church and School in Downey.

Women bring a strength to the church when we plan and minister together. God’s great gift to us is life itself and we share that blessing as faithful women who follow in the steps of Mary, Elizabeth, and the many women of faith throughout the centuries. We are Ordained and lay, following God’s call to us to minister together and to bring our unique gifts, attitudes, and energy to serve in this needy world.

Our workshop will be a time of exploring the call and the possibilities that we as women bring to our ministries.