Dear Friends,
ACT (Anne Arundel Connecting Together) is a non-partisan organization of 28 faith and community-based institutions in Anne Arundel County. As you may remember, AFM is a member. This summer they are developing leaders (you, me, us, our neighbors) to transform our communities by offering a series on community organizing. We hope you will read further about this wonderful opportunity to receive (free) training on how to be most effective in working with others to find actionable items to help move our communities forward. The group is non-partisan and spans, races, religions, and generations.
This will be a great way to hone skills to help with ACT priorities in the year to come. Hope you will join in this special summer program if you are interested and able.
From Martha B, and others.
ACT – Join our Next Steps!
The ACT Strategy Team hosted a retreat this past weekend at Annapolis Friends Meetinghouse (Friends/ Quakers). 37 leaders from 12 different member organizations joined together to chart our path forward. We walked away with 4 new Action Research Teams! Mental Health, Housing, Education, and Gun Violence will be our new teams and each team will be led by wonderful co-chairs who stepped forward to lead!
Five experts joined us to share their knowledge and experience with us and we walked away with many new ideas about how to tackle these issues and some potential new allies. Each team decided when their next meeting will be (below).
Gun Violence:Tuesday, June 20 @ 7pm on zoom
- June 12 – Building Community Power Through Relationships – Part 1 @ First Christian Community Church of Annapolis
- June 26 – Building Community Power Through Relationships – Part 2 – on zoom
- July 10 – The Cycle of Organizing & Moving from Overwhelming Problems to Solvable Issues – St. Anne’s Episcopal Church
- July 24 – Power Analysis and Research through Action – on zoom
- August 8 – Our Values as an Interfaith and Multiracial Organization – Ark & Dove Presbyterian Church (please note this is a Tuesday night, not a Monday)
- August 21 – Building a Strong Team – on zoom
ACT will mark the 5th Anniversary of the Capital Gazette Shooting
ACT is joining with the City of Annapolis, Anne Arundel County, the Capital Gazette, and the Caucus of African American Leaders to remember the shooting at the Capital Gazette and recommit ourselves to the work of ending gun violence.
Your faith congregation can join the Weekend of Prayer and Reflection June 23-25. We will be remembering the lives that were lost in the shooting at the Capital Gazette and grieving the overwhelming loss of life to gun violence in our County. We will also share ways to connect with our new Gun Violence team to turn our grief into action and keep our communities safe.
We will be sending out a sermon and discussion guide resource later this week. If your congregation would like to participate, please email Katie (katie@actaaco.org).
County Plan to End Gun Violence – Shared by ACT (via email on June 21)…
The county executive has a new plan to end gun violence after the June 2023 mass shooting in our capital following a parking dispute …
The County’s 2019 Gun Violence Prevention Plan…
https://patch.com/maryland/annapolis/anne-arundel-county-releases-gun-violence-prevention-plan
Where the County shares the Gun Violence Intervention resources …