Strategy & Action Priorities

1. Promote affordable, accessible, quality healthcare for all.

PURPOSE: To bring about affordable, accessible quality health care for
                all residents within Massachusetts by:

• Gaining a clear understanding of proposed initiatives;
• Discerning their impact; and
• Promoting those initiatives that are believed to improve significantly access to affordable quality care for all citizens. (See SAC Health Care Priority Fact Sheet)

GOALS:

1. Evaluate, critique and support (if appropriate) sponsored initiatives by organizations, legislators and informed citizens that have a real chance to improve the current health care system.
2. Give special attention to the fiscal and logistical problems faced by poor persons/families encountering catastrophic illness, and  evaluating and supporting (when appropriate) public initiatives  designed to address these issues.          
3. Explore creative options for private sector (including church) involvement which will further our primary purpose.
    

2. Work to curb violence and promote civil discourse about
     violence in our society.

PURPOSE: To seek to create a less violent society by:

• Exploring the root causes of violence;
• Learning from and educating church communities about the relationship between the causes and effects of violence; (See WCC “DECADE TO OVERCOME VIOLENCE” study page)
• Supporting initiatives which offer promise toward supporting behavioral changes in individuals, transformation of institutions and changes in public policy to create a more civil society.

GOALS:

1. Identify the causes of fear that drive violence;
2. Explore the relationship between early learning environments, literacy and violent behavior;
3. Raise the level of consciousness among concerned persons relating to the nature and impact of domestic violence;
4. Counter the increasing xenophobic response toward “the stranger in our midst”—e.g. immigrants, refugees, those seeking amnesty, anyone appearing as “other”;
5. Examine the depth at which violence is systemic in our society;
6. Discover links to economic and social issues of greed and poverty, racial injustice, and the need for gun control, prison reform and disarmament;
7. Join the efforts of the World Council of Churches Decade to Overcome Violence that will parallel the United Nations Decade for a Culture of Peace and Nonviolence for the Children of the World. (2001-2010)
8. Train groups and communities in conflict resolution.