From September, 2007 through May, 2008 the Outreach Committee will highlight a monthly outreach focus specific to the Millennium Development Goals. Each month we will seek to raise awareness regarding the Millennium Development Goals and offer ways for members of our congregation to become involved at the local and global levels through prayer, education and advocacy efforts, hands on volunteer opportunities, global connections, financial commitment and internet resource access. Visit the display board in the undercroft to learn about the history of the Millennium Development Goals, the commitment of The Episcopal Church, and the participation of St. Andrew’s.

Goal 8
Create global partnerships for development with targets for aid, debt relief, and trade.

The three pillars of global partnership envisioned in Goal 8 are: (1) Canceling the debt burdens that consume vast amounts of developing countries’ annual budget; (2) Making fair the rules of international trade so that developing countries can compete in world markets; and (3) Providing effective development assistance to countries seeking to empower themselves. Development aid is not the answer, but rather is an important step in helping economically impoverished nations find just, peaceful and effective ways of moving forward. The Outreach Committee invites you to make a financial contribution to the organizations listed below. Please access their websites, or pick up a MDG Contribution envelope in the basket in the undercroft and place your donation in the collection plate during Sunday services. Thank you.

Women’s Global Empowerment Fund , based in Denver and started by Denver-native Karen Sugar. "Our mission is to reach poor women around the world thru microfinance enterprises and development programs; creating opportunities, strengthening communities and families with small business loans, training and education."

Episcopal Relief and Development micro-credit/economic opportunities. The gift of your designated donation can support micro-credit loans and relevant training for women, food vendors, small business, and more.

Episcopal Relief and Development – “Basics for Life”
815 Second Avenue
New York, NY 10017

Links

Global Good | A resource portal for Episcopalians working together to support the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and to reduce global poverty. The web site seeks to help you engage these efforts, which frame the justice and peace work that General Convention has designated as the Episcopal Church’s top mission priority for 2007-2009. Presiding Bishop Katharine Jefferts Schori further defines the Church’s first priority as the kind of deed-based evangelism that shows the world the good news of God’s love through the actions of Christians. We cannot speak much in the way of good news to people who are starving or dying of preventable disease or living in slums.  She adds that the work of achieving the MDGs is intimately wrapped up in the promises we make in the baptismal covenant to engage in God’s mission.

Episcopal Relief and Development | The Episcopal Church has also committed itself to achieving the MDGs. In two consecutive General Conventions, the Church has embraced the MDGs as a framework for action. Dioceses and churches across the nation are responding to the MDGs. Episcopal Relief and Development along with the Episcopal Church’s ONE Episcopalian Campaign and Episcopalians for Global Reconciliation have issued a joint statement about their response to the MDGs.

The ONE Campaign | According to their Web site, ONE aims to help Americans raise their voice as ONE against the emergency of AIDS and extreme poverty, so that decision makers will do more to save millions of lives in the poorest countries. ERD is a member of the ONE Campaign.

Episcopal Public Policy Network | EPPN describes itself as a nationwide grassroots network of Episcopalians who call and write their members of Congress and the Administration to advocate positions of the Church.

United Nations | The eight Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) which range from halving extreme poverty to halting the spread of HIV/AIDS and providing universal primary education, all by the target date of 2015 form a blueprint agreed to by all the world’s countries and all the world’s leading development institutions. They have galvanized unprecedented efforts to meet the needs of the world’s poorest.

United Nations Development Programme | UNDP is working with a wide range of partners to help create coalitions for change to support the goals at global, regional and national levels, to benchmark progress towards them, and to help countries to build the institutional capacity, policies and programmes needed to achieve the MDGs.

Millennium Project | Commissioned by the UN Secretary General and Supported by the UN Development Group