Faith Communities Coming Together for a Better New York
Program Overview
ICNY’s long-running series of conferences and retreats for religious and civic leaders is one of New York City’s principal venues for interfaith dialogue and collaboration. Each conference addresses a social justice issue of shared concern to diverse New Yorkers — for example, recent conferences have explored faith-based and secular perspectives on food justice, housing affordability, gun violence, and the relationship between faith and democracy.
The conferences are currently held annually, and are followed by additional educational programs and advocacy opportunities centered around the conference theme. In addition to addressing pressing social issues, the conferences are professional development, networking, and capacity building opportunities for local religious leaders — helping them build multifaith networks for mutual support, and engage with secular civic leaders.
To learn about upcoming conferences, please click here to join ICNY’s email list. To learn about past conferences, please click on the conference titles below. For questions about the series, please contact us at 212-870-3510 or info@interfaithcenter.org.
History of the Program and Legacy of Rabbi Marshall Meyer
ICNY has offered conferences and retreats for religious and civic leaders since 1998, convening thousands of participants from all corners of New York. In the early years of the program, we held two-day retreats at the Stony Point Center, in New York’s Hudson Valley. More recently, we have held one-day conferences at the Interchurch Center in Morningside Heights.
From 1998 through 2024, the conference and retreat series was named in memory of Rabbi Marshall Meyer — former spiritual leader of New York’s Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, international human rights activist, and Brooklyn-born social justice visionary. Following his ordination at the Jewish Theological Seminary, Rabbi Meyer served the Jewish community of Buenos Aires from 1954 to 1983, where he also founded the Movimiento Judio por los Derechos Humanos, and was a leading voice in advocating for families of the disappeared during and after Argentina’s Dirty War. He returned to New York in 1984 to lead Congregation B’nai Jeshurun, the second oldest synagogue in the city, and became a close friend of ICNY’s founder, the Very Rev. James Parks Morton. Rabbi Meyer passed away in 1993, at age 63, and we were honored to name our conference series in his memory.
In October 2024, however, following a years-long investigation and restorative justice process, Congregation B’nai Jeshurun publicly acknowledged that Rabbi Meyer — like far too many faith leaders, of all religious backgrounds — had been credibly accused of sexual assault by an adult congregant. Following this revelation, we felt it was no longer appropriate to name ICNY’s conference series in Rabbi Meyer’s memory. That said, we do not wish to erase or neglect Rabbi Meyer’s important legacy. While acknowledging his flaws — and standing with victims of sexual assault — we continue to honor Rabbi Marshall Meyer’s path-breaking work to build a more just and inclusive world.
Past Conferences and Retreats
2025 (43rd): Religious Resistance to Authoritarianism
2024 (42nd): Faith and Democracy: Educating Communities for a Better Future
2023 (41st): Faith in Action for Food Justice
2022 (40th): Housing Now: Faith Communities’ Call to Action
2021 (39th): New York Faith Communities Respond to Gun Violence
2020 (38th): The Climate Crisis and New York Faith Communities
(37th): Faithful Responses to the Overdose Crisis: Building Congregations and Communities of Care
2019 (36th): Welcoming the Stranger: Taking Action Together for Immigrants’ Rights
2018 (35th): Multifaith Strategies for Nonviolent Direct Action
2017 (34th): Faith-Based Lending and Economic Empowerment: Helping Diverse New Yorkers Build American Dreams
(33rd): Hospitality in a Time of Hate: Religious Leadership for an Inclusive City under the Trump Administration
2016 (32nd): Youth Speak Out!
2015 (31st): Coming Home: Faith Communities Supporting Successful Reentry
2014 (30th): Harnessing Spirituality and Religion in End of Life Care
As follow up to this retreat, ICNY held a similar program exclusively for Staten Island religious leaders.
2013 (29th): Child Welfare and Foster Care
(28th): Widening the Lens on Community-Police Relations: Comparisons Across Cities New York, Glasgow, Barcelona, Los Angeles
(27th): The Challenge of Homelessness: Strategies to Provide Support and Restore Hope
2012 (26th): Together in Service: Building Interfaith Partnerships for Social Action
2011 (25th): Creating Safety, Preserving Faith: Religious Leaders Respond to Domestic Violence
2010 (24th): Building Sacred Space in the City: Religious Freedom in Bricks and Mortar
(23rd): Building Economic Resilience in Faith Communities
2009 (22nd): Immigration: From Estrangement to Engagement
(21st): Confronting Hate Crimes
2008 (20th): Investing In Our Future: The Health of Children and Youth
(19th): Growing Older and Wiser in an Aging City
2007 (18th): Cultivating Hope: Planting Seeds of Environmental Justice in NYC
(17th): Faith as a Force for Recovery: Substance Abuse and Addiction
2006 (16th): Faith and Mental Health
2005 (15th): Religious Communities and Conflict Mediation
(14th): Religious Communities and Domestic Violence
2004 (13th): Getting Health Care Access in New York City
(12th): Religious Diversity in New York’s Public Square: Religious Accommodation New York’s Public Schools and Hospitals
2003 (11th): Poverty and the Justice System
2002 (10th): Poverty in New York City
(9th): Post 9-11 Challenges to Religious Communities in New York
2001 (8th): Immigration and Immigrants Rights
(7th): Youth Leadership and Social Action: An Intergenerational Retreat
2000 (6th): Transformative Justice
(5th): The Contribution of Religious Communities to the Education of Children and Youth
1999 (4th): Roots of Violence and the Reimagination of Community
(3rd): Youth and the Search for Identity
1998 (2nd): Patterns of Incarceration and the Prison System
(1st): Immigration, Police Brutality, Identity, and Youth
