25 Years Later, Nauset Interfaith Association Presses On

BREWSTER – The Sept. 11 attacks gave many across the country and the rest of the world pause for thought about the fragility of their own communities. On the Lower Cape, some in the faith community answered the call for unity and togetherness.

 The Nauset Interfaith Association started as a faith-based entity but has since expanded to address issues of concern to the broader public, especially the region’s more underrepresented communities.

 “By and large, the majority of our folks are not clergy, they’re folks from faith communities. So that has shifted the priorities of the association and allowed it to grow in ways that might not have been possible if this was a clergy exclusive group,” said Rev. Jon Elsensohn, pastor of First Congregational Church of Wellfleet who currently serves as the association’s president.

 For the past quarter century, the association and its subgroups and committees have worked to address local issues ranging from race to the Nauset community’s relationship with its local police departments. That work will continue, members say. But on Sunday, some time will be given to recognize the nonprofit’s 25-year anniversary.

 From 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. on Oct. 25, current and past association members will host a gathering at the Brewster Baptist Church. There will be speeches, including Elsensohn’s keynote address, as well as refreshments. But more importantly, Elsensohn said, it will provide yet another opportunity for conversation amongst people of different backgrounds and beliefs.

 “It’s not just ‘sit down and listen to all we’ve done,’” he said. “How can you connect with your neighbor? What is a common interest that binds you? What do you want to see our communities looking like, our association looking like, in the months and years to come?”

 Today, the association boasts about 50 members across a number of “action teams,” subgroups that dedicate their work to specific causes and issues. Those include the Martin Luther King Jr. Action Team, which serves as the “racial justice arm” of the association, according to the organization’s website. Other action teams are dedicated to environmental justice, youth outreach and refugee support.

 Jeff Spalter of Chatham, who has been involved with the association for the past 10 years, said giving specific attention to these various issues helps further the association’s goal of bringing people of all different backgrounds together to help address the region’s issues and needs.

 “This whole part of the Cape, you have a lot of people of different backgrounds and different ages,” he said. “To have representation from all these different faiths, to be aligned in doing so many good things, is so amazing.”

 Spalter is a member of the MLK Action Team, where he serves on the action team’s Conversations with Police task force. The task force brings members of the association and broader community together with area police chiefs to open a dialogue about the issues most affecting them. At the task force’s most recent meeting last week, the group invited Tara Vargas Wallace, founder and CEO of AmplifyPOC Cape Cod, to speak.

 “We heard her firsthand perspective about what’s going on in the Black community and businesses,” Spalter said. “What are the challenges that they have that may be different than what we have, and how are they the same? And what has the current environment done to them?”

 Looking ahead, Elsensohn said the association wants to create more action and discussion around the region’s housing issue. As the cost of housing continues to escalate, more and more young families, seniors and members of the local workforce are being priced out and excluded from their communities.

 “One of the ways we feel that the interfaith association can be active is by talking about some of the obligations that we have to our neighbors and to new visitors among us,” he said.

 The association is also looking at establishing a process for how to further grow itself. Specifically, Elsensohn said an effort is underway to outline the process by which new subgroups and action teams can be created. In the near term, he said there’s interest in establishing Delilah’s Healing and Educational Collective as its own action team. The group seeks to “amplify Wampanoag history, culture and contemporary voices while increasing awareness of environmental harm and the need for equity in the Cape Cod region.”

 “It originally started as a subgroup of the MLK Task Force, but they’ve done such good work with one another that it seems poised to become their own action team, set their own agenda and really move into the next level of ownership,” he said.

 Spalter said there is also a need for further discussions about how the community responds in support of the Lower Cape’s immigrant population, especially as the threat of federal action from Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) looms. The association in the past has held community conversations about immigration and how the community can work in support of those impacted.

 “There are people who are scared about coming out to food banks where they need help,” he said. “They’re food deprived, and they’re afraid to come out to a food bank.”

 Born out of tragedy, the association’s 25th anniversary is a cause for celebration, Elsensohn said. But the focus remains on the present and the future, he said.

 “There’s always work to be done and there’s always ways to do new work,” he said.