The Peninsula Clergy Network:

• provides clergy with the opportunity to network with colleagues.
• convenes dialogues between clergy of diverse faith traditions and with civic leaders on the Peninsula.
• works to assist local clergy groups.
• works with civic leaders, including city and county managers and superintendents of schools to help them engage with clergy in their community.
• promotes the use of dialogues in faith communities.
• provides services to all clergy on the Peninsula.

Clergy can be involved through:

• Regional, Area and Local Clergy Dialogues.
• Regional and Local Clergy/Civic Leader Dialogues.

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Peninsula Clergy Network Initiatives:

• REGIONAL DIALOGUES Since December, 2001, the PCN has hosted 10 Dialogues with clergy from the diversity of faiths on the Peninsula. Several Dialogues have included clergy and Peninsula civic leaders, primarily city managers and superintendents of schools. Dialogues consist of roundtable discussion on topics which enable the clergy and civic leaders to examine areas of common concern and enhance their options as professionals in responding to the needs of the individuals they serve.
• LOCAL DISCUSSIONS An increasing function of the PCN involves the convening of discussions of clergy with city managers in local communities and with superintendents and principals in the school districts. These discussions provide the opportunity to develop relations on a more personal and immediate level. Initial discussions have evolved into the further development of local clergy groups and a format for continued discussions with city managers and school leadership.
• CITY CLERGY GROUP SUPPORT The PCN convenes regular meetings of the chairs of the clergy groups in Peninsula cities. Chairs of these informal groups have not met previously, and this provides for the development of stronger, more inclusive local clergy groups. The PCN has provided assistance to local clergy to initiate or strengthen local clergy groups. The number of groups has grown from four to twelve. The PCN convenes periodic gatherings for clergy from adjacent communities. These gatherings allow clergy in smaller cities to establish ongoing clergy connections. This also enables existing groups to reach out to uninvolved clergy, achieve discussion with a greater diversity of clergy, and promote collaboration among congregations beyond city boundaries.
• CLERGY EDUCATION Through these programs, clergy develop expertise in a range of areas on faith topics and professional issues. Clergy have mixed accessibility to regional and national denominational programs. These programs also serve the educational and collaborative aspect of the multi-faith clergy relations.
• CONSULTATION/TECHNICAL TRAINING The PCN provides consultation for faith-based and government, economic and civic sector organizations interested in extending their involvement to a more inclusive diversity of the faith community. The PCN is engaged in providing technical training on proficiency in multi-faith awareness and issues. This augments established multi-cultural training, which has excluded concerns with multi-faith issues.

Peninsula Clergy Network Core Projects:

• Education – Congregational-Based Parent Engagement to Support Student Academic Excellence and Personal Safety
• Disaster Preparedness and Response
• Diversity Training in Multi-faith Awareness
• Clergy Leadership Seminars

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History of the Peninsula Clergy Network

In December 2001, the Peninsula Community Foundation and the Peninsula FAITHS Partnership sponsored a morning of dialogue for an unusual mix of community leaders: clergy and civic leaders—city managers and school superintendents. The foundation hoped to foster relations of religious tolerance among diverse faiths and throughout the community. The response of both clergy and civic leaders to that morning of intense and productive conversation revealed a need for a multi-faith, professional association for clergy that would support and enhance their leadership in congregations and facilitate further community engagement.  The Peninsula encompasses almost 600 square miles between San Francisco and San Jose. In that region, approximately 900,000 people reside, in 26 cities and 33 school districts. The resulting Peninsula Clergy Network (PCN), an interactive network of clergy in San Mateo and Northern Santa Clara Counties, builds knowledge, understanding, and working relationships. The PCN promotes increased interaction between religious and civic leaders on behalf of the communities they jointly serve. In this work, the PCN does not advocate, urge a particular faith, or seek religious solutions to civic and secular issues.  Instead, the PCN provides the relationships and framework for fostering awareness, understanding, and community engagement. Since the initial Dialogue in 2001, the PCN has transformed the professional relationships among the region's clergy and forged new relations between clergy and other civic leaders.  Through the PCN, clergy of all faiths work with civic leaders in education, business, local government, and social services to address issues of importance to the Peninsula communities.  The PCN, unique in the United States, is now recognized nationally as the model for overcoming polarization among faiths and bridging the gap between faith communities and the larger community.  Key to the advances of the PCN is the creation of a database, also the only one of its kind in the country, of the 440 Peninsula clergy and 310 congregations. The database has allowed the University of Southern California Center for Religion and Civic Society to study the region’s clergy regarding their training, participation in local, denominational and interfaith clergy associations, and their community involvement. The PCN offers the Peninsula region’s diverse clergy opportunities for professional growth and support.  In addition, the PCN provides consultation and technical training for government, education, business, nonprofit, and faith-based organizations interested in greater understanding and engagement with the diversity of the region’s faith communities. Rabbi Jay Miller, Executive Director of the PCN since January 2002, brings to the PCN three decades of service to congregations and the community and a long history of initiating and coordinating clergy involvement in community issues.  The PCN is governed by a Board of Directors of eighteen clergy. Twenty local and national community leaders serve on the PCN Community Advisory Committee.  The PCN was established through grants from the Peninsula Community Foundation (now the Silicon Valley Community Foundation) and the Walter and Elise Haas Fund and funds from foundations, family funds, clergy and other individual donors.

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Donors - Clergy Associates

• THE ATKINSON FOUNDATION
• BOREL PRIVATE BANK AND TRUST
• WELLS FARGO BANK
• ROTARY OF BURLINGAME
• IN MEMORY OF DALE EUNSON
• BAY MEADOWS LAND DEVELOPMENT
• SEQUOIA HOSPITAL
• MILLS PENINSULA HOSPITALS
• SAN MATEO CREDIT UNION
• REDWOOD CITY INDUSTRIAL SALTWORKS

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