Who We Are

Faith Action for Community Equity (FACE), a Gamaliel Foundation affiliate, is a faith-based grassroots organization in Hawaii founded in 1996. FACE grew out of a sponsoring committee established in the mid-1990s with the assistance of the Center for Community Change. In November 2008 FACE became a statewide organization when our Maui chapter was founded. We currently have a membership base of 27 institutions on Oahu, 24 on Maui, and one statewide institution. Combined on both islands, we are made up of 38 churches, a Buddhist temple, 2 Jewish congregations, 10 community groups and non-profit organizations, and one labor union. FACE’s membership reflects the cultural and socio-economic diversity of our community.

FACE exists to allow its members to live out our common, faith-based values by engaging in actions that challenge the systems that perpetuate poverty and injustice. We balance social, economic and community activity with a deep spiritual commitment. Our spiritual centeredness empowers us to return hope and love to the public arena.

While rooted primarily in religious congregations, FACE invites the membership of other community groups as well. A church or civic organization is accepted for membership when the senior pastor, church council, or equivalent body formally signs our Covenant Statement.

FACE Covenant Statement:

We, the members of Faith Action for Community Equity, are a multicultural people, richly diverse in ethnicity, language, economics and faith.  We are convinced that, at every level of society, our system of power and power sharing, originally based on democratic traditions, is not working for all people.  As a people of hope who share values arising from our religious convictions, we celebrate the historical teachings of our heritages as they show us the way of justice and compassion, and set us to care for the needs of all people.

Out of these commonly shared values, and out of deep pain over the growing inequities and incivility in our society, we covenant:

• To strengthen and enhance the vitality of our own congregations, to discover the hopes, dreams, fears and talents of our members;
• To come together to impact the life of our community, uniting to act on real life concerns in hope;
• To be a grassroots organization of organizations, uniting in ministry, and caring for the common good of the people of these islands;
• To examine core issues and the root causes of problems, and to be a vehicle through which our people can act to improve quality of life;
• To support materially our emerging organization, contributing to its financial needs through pledges and an equitable structure of dues.