About Washington Interfaith Network (WIN)

Temple Sinai is a member of WIN, a multifaith, multiracial organization that organizes people to effect change in their neighborhoods and communities. WIN’s current campaigns focus on creating affordable housing, improving public safety, and addressing environmental hazards.

We are among more than 45 WIN member institutions, including Calvary Baptist Church, Foundry United Methodist Church, Friends Meeting of Washington, Luther Place, Masjid Muhammad Mosque, Metropolitan AME Church, New York Avenue Presbyterian Church, Varick Memorial AME Church, St. Augustine’s Catholic Church, St. Mark’s Episcopal Church, Laborers International Union Local 11, and other DC-based institutions.

Each WIN congregation fields a core team of activists who commit to organizing our fellow congregants and other congregations to identify issues and interests and develop a plan for action.

Our ongoing WIN Ward 3 congregations affordable housing work group – led by members of Temple Sinai, Adas Israel, Chevy Chase Presbyterian, National United Methodist Church, and St. Columba’s Episcopal Church, aims to make the Mayor’s goal of 1,990 new units of affordable, sustainable housing in NW DC a reality. The most promising opportunity is the development of affordable housing in conjunction with the renovation of the Chevy Chase (DC) Library and Recreation Center, referred to as the Civic Core. Working with other community organizations, WIN is advocating for development of 100 such units at this site.

Read the opinion piece from clergy on the restrictive covenant at the Civic Core, and our October 2022 proposal and February 2023 comments to the Deputy Mayor for Planning and Economic Development.

Temple Sinai’s program “Affordable Housing in Upper NW: Everything You Wanted to Know But Were Afraid to Ask” featured several slide presentations, one from Melissa Bondi, DC Housing Expert, and one from our own WIN representatives, Anne Schwartz and Barbara Kraft. View the recording here.

Temple Sinai leaders are key members of WIN’s Black Equity Through Homeownership (BETH) Campaign Steering Committee, which is working with leaders across DC to develop financing and ownership opportunities that build Black wealth.

WIN is also working to reduce environmental threats in low-income communities, seeking policy changes to fund retrofits of public housing and private homes. In particular, WIN is seeking to reduce the emission of methane gas in homes and neighborhoods.

WIN has helped us create and deepen relationships with social justice advocates in religious communities across DC, and has given us an opportunity to practice tikkun olam in our own neighborhoods and city-wide, working with a variety of people who share our commitment to justice and equality.

Get involved with WIN! Email Anne Schwartz for more information.