Our History

A History of The SALT Coalition

In 2020 there were several spiritual leaders who came together to protect democracy amidst the tension of the presidential election. On the eve of the election over 20 spiritual leaders gathered to pray, ensuring that all voices would be heard and every vote counted. After this public event, many wanted to stay in relationship with one another to continue to collaboratively pursue justice in our local community. We started meeting regularly in the spring of 2021 to discern our path forward. That summer many of the same spiritual leaders and dozens more whom we activated showed up at a school board meeting in solidarity with E3 to ensure our schools in Traverse City were committed to diversity, equity, inclusion and belonging. After hours of public comment the school board passed a stronger resolution than they had walked into the room with. In October of 2021 we collectively decided to name our group The Grand Traverse Area SALT Coalition, highlighting that we are Spiritual Activists Leading Together (SALT). 

We have continued to take action together in many ways: 

  • Hosted a prayer vigil for the community in the wake of the mass shootings in Uvalde and Buffalo. 

  • Participated in the vigil held on the one-year anniversary of the insurrection on January 6, 2021. The event also included a call to action to defend voting rights.

  • Organized the vigil for Ukraine at the start of the war. We gathered at the open space and had several faith leaders lead us in prayer and meditation, including the local Ukrainian community and their congregation. This led to helping to spread the word and turn out hundreds of people to their bake sale the following weekend to raise money for those impacted by the war. 

  • Organized a retreat for the coalition to build relationships, ground ourselves in our shared spiritual values, and determine our priorities for the year. We gathered almost 40 people for a half-day Zoom retreat and determined our top three priorities for the year would be: Housing, Voting Rights/Election, and Racial Justice. 

  • Secured hundreds of signatures on petitions to protect voting rights, raise the minimum wage, protect reproductive justice and offer “good time” to those incarcerated. 

  • We have held book studies together and attended anti-racism training with Title Track to deepen our anti-racism commitments and practice.

  • We hosted a community education night on housing bringing leaders from across the government and non-profit sectors working on affordable housing and homelessness.

  • Hosted a community coffee hour to update spiritual leaders on the refugee status of Afghans coming to the area after the US withdrawal. 

  • Attended ongoing TCAPS school board meetings to support the school board and continue to insist that a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion be implemented in the schools.