As Christ followers, we remind our President and our government that every human being is created in the image of God, and merits being treated with dignity. We are committed to following the teachings of Jesus of Nazareth regarding our treatment of all human beings, especially the vulnerable [...]Read More
Planting Seeds of Hope
A reflection on the intersection of gardening & activism I’ve been thinking about seeds a lot lately. It’s Spring, and I’m a gardener. Years ago I moved to a house with a small patch of dirt – about three square feet. One day as I was at my local Walgreens I saw seed packets marked 10 for [...]Read More
Mother’s Day: What About Mothers Who Placed Their Baby for Adoption?
This article was originally published in The Christian Post on Friday, 11 May 2018. Sunday, May 13th is Mother's day, an important day set aside to celebrate mothers. One of the ways we will celebrate here in America is through gifts. As a country we will spend upward of 21 million dollars to honor [...]Read More
Answering the Call: Rooted and Ready
By Noel Castellanos Over the last 30 years, CCDA has been a catalyst for envisioning and encouraging leaders like myself to follow God’s calling to work among the poor throughout our nation. The organization has taught me about the three R’s and 8 Key Components of CCDA. I was exposed to other [...]Read More
Unlocked: An Open Mic Night for LIS 2018
150 people gathered for “Unlocked: An Open Mic Night” at Rosebud Coffee in Pasadena, California to celebrate and amplify the voices, performances, and visual art pieces of communities impacted by mass incarceration. The night included 20 artists who debuted their art publicly, some for the first [...]Read More
“Is it just too much to rise up and fight against injustice?”
As part of Shaw University’s Religious Emphasis Week, over two hundred undergraduates gathered for a forum on the calling to moral leadership and social justice on Tuesday, February 7, at 11 am. Framed in the context of the Locked in Solidarity focus on ending mass incarceration, Dr. Mikael [...]Read More
Davidson County Transitional Services Remains Locked in Solidarity
Davidson County Transitional Services got involved with this event kind of late but knew that I could not let this opportunity pass our community by. I planned about four days of events which included a expungement clinic, employee rights clinic, a viewing and discussion of the featured documentary [...]Read More
Answering the Call: a Lesson in Resilience
Noel Castellanos In 1989, I was living in San Jose, California where I worked in ministry with Latino youth. Like many leaders in urban communities, I was struggling to establish a ministry that was both relevant and impactful. I came to realize there were needs in the community to be addressed, [...]Read More