FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 2, 2018
CONTACT: Rhonda Smith, rsmith@faithinaction.org
Nation’s Largest Faith-Based Organizing Network to Host Gala Celebration for Longtime Leader’s Retirement and Organizational Name Change
PICO National Network’s leader Scott Reed will retire after 40 years. The organization will also celebrate its name-change to Faith in Action and welcome incoming Executive Director Rev. Alvin Herring.
WASHINGTON – On Wednesday, May 9, Faith in Action, formerly known as PICO National Network, is inviting friends and allies to celebrate the legacy of Executive Director Scott Reed, who is retiring after 40 years of service at the nonprofit organization. Guests will enjoy a cocktail reception, a tour of the “Voices of PICO” art gallery, a three-course dinner, dancing and live entertainment at the Omni Shoreham Hotel in Washington, D.C. The event is open press.
Faith in Action will also introduce its new executive director, the Rev. Alvin Herring, who will guide the organization in living up to its new name by transforming its Faith into action. Along with the new name, Faith in Action unveiled a new logo, offered customized logos to its 45 state and local federations in the United States and its international federations in Rwanda, Central America and Haiti.
Faith in Action was founded in 1972 as PICO (Pacific Institute for Community Organization) under the leadership of Father John Baumann, a Jesuit priest who had learned community organizing in Chicago based on the work of Saul Alinsky, an influential community organizer and author of Rules for Radicals: A Pragmatic Primer for Realistic Radicals. PICO began as a regional training institute to support neighborhood organizations in California. With guidance from Dr. Jose Carrasco, a veteran organizer and teacher, and Scott Reed, PICO developed a new congregation-community model. In this model, congregations of all denominations and faiths serve as the institutional base for community organizations. Rather than bring people together simply based on common issues like housing or education, the faith-based or broad-based organizing model makes values and relationships the glue that holds organizations together. These innovations have resulted in the development of a national network of powerful, long-lasting community organizations.
WHO: Faith in Action (formerly PICO National Network)
WHAT: Celebration Gala
WHEN: Wednesday May 9, 6 p.m. – 9 p.m.
WHERE: Omni Shoreham Hotel, 2500 Calvert St. NW, Washington D.C.
###
Faith in Action, formerly known as PICO National Network, is the largest grassroots, faith-based organizing network in the United States. The nonpartisan organization works with 1,000 religious congregations in more than 200 cities and towns through its 45 local and state federations.
