Community Organizing

Congregation Rodef Sholom and the Marin Organizing Committee

Marin Organizing Committee (MOC) is an organization of institutions, mostly religious congregations and non-profit institutions, in Marin County, formed for the purpose of creating relational power that can both build and strengthen each member institution as well as shape Marin County’s public policy for the common good. The MOC is affiliated with the Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF),  the nation’s oldest and largest leadership development and organizing network.

We organize by building trusting relationships between people of diverse backgrounds and by training leaders to organize within their institutions and to create public relationships with local policymakers. The MOC is intended to be a long-term consensus-building organization that will help institutions in Marin County speak and act for themselves for the common good of our local community.

We are currently working on multiple issues, including protections for renters; advocating for more affordable housing; improving quality of life for older adults; and increasing mental health care in schools. Past issues have included access to health care, housing-focused shelter and neighborhood safety. 

Interested in getting involved in MOC? Contact: 
Meredith Parnell at mereparnell@gmail.com
Judy Bloomberg at jabloomberg@icloud.com

Marin Organizing Committee website

Current MOC institutions:

Community Congregational Church of Tiburon
Dominican Sisters
Fairfax Community Church
First Presbyterian Church of San Rafael
First Presbyterian Church of San Anselmo
First United Methodist Church of San Rafael
St. Raphael’s Catholic Church, San Rafael
Gan Halev
Congregation Kol Shofar
Congregation Rodef Sholom
Legal Aid of Marin
Marin Center for Independent Living
Marin Community Clinics
Marin Environmental Housing Collaborative
Marin Lutheran Church
Marin Interfaith Council
Mt. Tam United Methodist Church
MVCAN
Seniors for Peace + Mill Valley Community Church
St. Anselm’s Catholic Church, Ross
St. Vincent de Paul Society of Marin
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Marin

Two of MOC’s most recent campaigns have centered on protecting renters:  Obtaining passage in the County and cities of Just Cause Eviction ordinances and Mandatory Mediation, and in 2020 passage by the Board of Supervisors of a countywide emergency eviction moratorium to protect renters if they have reduced or unpaid rents during the Covid-19 pandemic.