On June 16, PICO affiliate Brooklyn Congregations United (BCU) held a mayoral candidates forum in Our Lady of Refuge Roman Catholic Church as a response to residents' concerns regarding the economic crisis and how it impacts life in Brooklyn.  Residents from Park Slope to Bay Ridge, from Flatbush to Canarsie, met to share their concerns and to hear where candidates stand on issues identified through intensive listening sessions in BCU member congregations.

Mayoral Candidates who attended included City Council Member Tony Avella and Comptroller Bill Thompson.  They responded to the concerns of BCU members around issues of immigration, education, health care, and transportation options for elderly residents. 

Quoting from the Book of Proverbs, BCU clergy member Rev. Janis Pauliks set the tone of the meeting early on: "Where there is no vision the people will perish."  BCU leaders Claire Sejour and Lori Pandolfo continued: " The members of Brooklyn Congregations United, seeing how our families are paying the price for public policies that do not always reflect our priorities, made a decision to develop and proclaim a new vision for our community that reflects our desire to create "shalom" in Brooklyn. This vision that we proclaim tonight is based on thousands of one-to-one conversations, visioning sessions, forums and actions with congregations throughout Brooklyn.  We met at 11 congregations and held 20 sessions in English, Spanish and Creole. Out of these sessions came a unified vision for Brooklyn-one that we commit ourselves to working on moving forward."