FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contacts: 
Lauren Jacobson    (c) 617-694-1396   (e-mail) L.Jacobson@gbio.org
Ehab Abdul Ghaffar    (c) 617-388-7537   (email) eaghaffar@gmail.com

Date: Sunday, October 17th
Time: 6:00pm – 8:00pm (GBIO leaders available for media interviews 12-6 pm Oct. 17th)
Location: Temple Israel of Boston, 477 Longwood Ave, Boston

Mr. Charles Baker, Treas. Timothy Cahill, Gov. Deval Patrick, and Ms. Jill Stein will meet with  1,200 leaders of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO) at 6:00pm on Sunday, October 17th at Temple Israel of Boston.  Clergy, youth, and lay leaders will hold the candidates’ feet to the fire as GBIO stands up against the growing politics of fear and opportunism in our state and nationally.

In the face of economic crisis, devastating youth violence, natural disaster in Haiti, rising Islamophobia, and threats of anti-tax activists to strangle the state, GBIO leaders demand that the next governor take bold action to stand for the whole state of Massachusetts and protect its residents.

“Our families are fighting to keep their heads above water,” says Rev. Dan Smith, senior pastor of First Church in Cambridge UCC and Vice President of GBIO, “our next governor needs to fight for them.”

This event will not be a typical forum or debate. Instead, the candidates will be asked to answer “yes” or “no” as to whether they will implement a specific issue platform when in office, taking actions to:

* Fight Abusive Interest Rates and Fees Charged by Big Banks
* Provide our Youth with Life-saving Job Opportunities
* Support Haitians in the Aftermath of Disaster
* Denounce Ballot Questions that Threaten State Services and Affordable Housing

“Too many teens are dying in the streets and if teens had something positive to do, like working in the community- as I have done for the past three years- our neighborhoods would be better places to live,” testifies Tyree Hyatt, a teen leader of Dorchester Bay Youth Force.

The Greater Boston Interfaith Organization organizes the communities of greater Boston across all religious, racial, ethnic, class, and neighborhood lines to hold both public and private power holders accountable for their public responsibilities.  GBIO’s organizing played a key role in achieving health care reform and affordability standards for health care in Massachusetts.

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