Brad Wassink rejoined CPJ in 2013 as Communications Coordinator after serving a year as Public Justice Intern. He has experience as a policy researcher and community organizer for several non-profit organizations, working on environmental advocacy, supportive housing, and restorative justice for organizations such as ACORN, Prison Fellowship Ministries, and Clean Water Action. He grew up in the Christian Reformed community and has also attended Presbyterian and Anglican churches. These traditions have fostered his passion for social justice which, coupled with his interest in political science, has made the intersection of faith and political life especially intriguing to him. Brad has a B.A. in International Relations from Calvin College.
We are on the cusp of seeing Canada’s first national poverty reduction strategy. And faith communities have played a major role in getting us here.
It’s been a long time coming. In 1989, Canada’s House of Commons unanimously voted to end child poverty by the year 2000. With 17.4 per cent of children in Canada living in poverty, clearly we failed to meet this commitment.
From the Catalyst, Summer 2015
The News: A User’s Manual
By Alain de Botton
Signal, 2014
Reviewed by Brad Wassink
Given the profound impact the news has on our lives – how we use our time, spend our money, and cast our votes – the media deserves much more focus in our public justice discussions. In 1984, CPJ produced the “Charter of Social Rights and Responsibilities,” a framework for how people of faith and various organizations, including the media, should engage in public life.
