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Atlantic Yards/Pacific Park infographics: what's built/what's coming/what's missing, who's responsible, + project FAQ/timeline (pinned post)

CBA signatory transition: from All-Faith Council to Faith in Action

The pending litigation over the Atlantic Yards environmental review offers some intriguing detail about the apparent transition of one Community Benefits Agreement (CBA) signatory group.

Perhaps the most obscure of those signatories, if ever extant, was the All-Faith Council of Brooklyn (AFCB), which was described in the CBA as not quite formed:
AFCB will form and facilitate an All-Faith Council, which shall be representative of the religious diversity within the Community, to establish an ongoing mechanism for community input for referrals to the jobs, housing and other programs created by this Agreement.


Little has been heard from the AFCB other than a statement in the original 6/27/05 press release:
The Reverend Walter J. Morris, Co-Chair, of the All-Faith Council of Brooklyn, said, "For those who say that communities have not had a say in this process, we say look not just at the process, which was inclusive, but at the results. They reflect community needs because community groups were involved in their development."

The Reverence Orlando Findlayter, the other All-Faith Council of Brooklyn Co-Chair, added, "When a developer says 'help make this a better project,' we say yes. This process was open and thorough and the results speak volumes about the developer and we believe the end result."


Nor has contact information been available.

From AFCB to Faith in Action

The AFCB, with Morris at the head, has apparently gone through a transition. A 4/16/07 affidavit from then-FCR executive Jim Stuckey offered a list of the heads of CBA signatory groups, with Morris leading the list. (Click on graphics to enlarge.)

A 1/17/08 affidavit from Stuckey's successor, Maryanne Gilmartin, offers a similar list (below), but substitutes in Morris's place the Rev. Lydia Sloley.

A 12/19/07 Real Estate Weekly article described Sloley as representing "CBA Coalition member group Faith In Action Inc." I'm assuming that Faith In Action," about which I've seen no official announcement, has either replaced the never-organized AFCB or is just the AFCB renamed.

Who's Sloley? She heads a Pentecostal church, Life in Its Poetic Form Christian Ministries, on Washington Avenue near Atlantic Avenue, with 100 congregants, that was one of more than 200 organizations and individuals that backed the CBA.

CBA connections

That's one long block from the project footprint, but likely more important to her role is her presence as clergy liaison to the 88th Precinct Community Council, headed by CBA Chair Delia Hunley-Adossa.

The latter's organization, the obscure Brooklyn Endeavor Experience, still lists the All-Faith Council of Brooklyn on its infrequently updated web site. The official Atlantic Yards web site now tells us that Faith in Action is one of the CBA signatories, though the story is a bit more complicated.

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