Results tagged “churches”

The city's Department of Homeless Services has recently begun enforcing a rule that is forcing 22 churches to stop serving as homeless shelters. The long-ignored rule states that religious-based shelters operate a minimum of five days a week. Many of these churches had long slipped under the radar and housed those in need three days a week. Arnold Cohen, president of the Partnership for the Homeless, who recently had to break the news to churches told the News, "We will see hundreds of people who will not have a place to sleep. It's antithetical to what the mayor talks about." The city is expected to once again this winter use the Code Blue system, an emergency-preparedness system that prompts city workers to take extra precautions to protect homeless people living on the streets. Right now we are at Level Two in Code Blue with temperatures outside currently at 17ºF after the wind chill factor.

Proliferating in great number in the wake of the Civil War by freed slaves migrating north, who had little economic resources, "storefront churches" are primarily a black and urban phenomena, where small congregations could worship in smaller numbers. More recently, the ecclesiastic form has been adopted by other ethnic groups such as recent immigrants. The site Fotki has a collection of 100 images of storefront churches located in Brooklyn that makes for some interesting browsing. There are more photos after the jump. [via Satan's Laundromat].