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  • January 15-18, 2021

    MLK Weekend

    CBE has a long-standing tradition of coming together to honor the life of Reverend Martin Luther King, Jr., and this year is no different. We hope you will find time to join us for any or all of the programming we have planned for this weekend of prayer and community service.

Friday, January 15 at 6:30 PM over Zoom — Kabbalat Shabbat Service with special guest speaker Reverend David F. Telfort

CBE is delighted to welcome Reverend David F. Telfort to speak during our Kabbalat Shabbat service on MLK Weekend. Pastor Telfort serves as the pastor of Lafayette Avenue Presbyterian Church in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. He is a community organizer and a leader in Rev. William Barber’s Poor People’s Campaign. He speaks powerfully and inspirationally about racial and economic injustice in America and where we go from here. A Brooklyn native and the son of Haitian immigrants, Pastor Telfort is a graduate of Yale Divinity School who previously served as an Associate Minister at Plymouth United Church of Christ in Des Moines, Iowa. He began his tenure at LAPC in 2017.

Pastor Telfort’s faith journey began early in life. He grew up in a Wesleyan church in East Flatbush, Brooklyn, and his father is currently a Wesleyan pastor in Newark, NJ. While working towards his BA degree at Occidental College, Pastor Telfort explored a career in finance, interning for a private equity firm. In 2010, he changed course to explore ministry as a vocation.

Pastor Telfort’s leadership development and language skills were put to good use during a week-long church delegation visit to Cuba and as a group facilitator for The Forum for Theological Exploration. He is a member of the Institute for Responsible Citizenship Alumni Association, an organization that mentors talented young African American men. Under the auspices of the Academy of Preachers, Pastor Telfort has preached for churches both domestically and abroad.

Zoom information will be provided the week of the service.

Monday, January 18 at 7 PM over Zoom — Member Mondays: Meryl Schwartz presents Race and Wrongful Conviction: What innocence reveals about racism in the criminal justice system

While African Americans are only 13% of the American population, they constitute a majority of innocent defendants wrongfully convicted of crimes and later exonerated, mirroring disparities found across the criminal legal system. This unique group of people who are fortunate enough to have had their innocence proven provide a lens into how our systems of justice—designed to distinguish between the innocent and the guilty—get it wrong. Racial bias sits at the core. How can their experience lead us toward reform?

CBE member Meryl Schwartz has been an advocate for justice reform for more than 30 years. She recently left the Innocence Project, a national nonprofit that frees the innocent and reforms the criminal justice system, after nearly nine years in executive leadership. In previous roles, she provided strategic guidance and support to a long list of nonprofits whose missions commonly seek to reform the systems intended to deliver justice and opportunity to people who are poor, including the adult and juvenile criminal systems, urban public school districts and poverty reduction and employment programs. Meryl began her career as a poverty and immigration lawyer.

Click here to RSVP. Zoom link will be provided upon RSVP.

MLK Weekend with Repair the World Brooklyn

This year Repair the World’s programming will include in-service small-group projects, remote projects, and virtual programs. Click here for information on a few options Repair the World is highlighting for CBE members. Check out Repair the World’s MLK website for more.