Maryanne Frangules has been Executive Director of Massachusetts Organization for Addiction Recovery (MOAR) since 1999. She has mentored many recovery community members to use their voice to improve public policy and systems. Maryanne strongly believes that faces – who are visible; voices – who are vocal; will only prove that recovery is valuable to our communities.

Commissioner William B. Evans has served as Commissioner of the Boston Police Department since 2013. A veteran of the Boston Police Department since 1982, Commissioner Evans was instrumental in the city’s response to the 2013 Boston Marathon bombing.

Reverend Dan Smith is the seventeenth Senior Minister of First Church in Cambridge, Congregational, UCC. He also serves as the Vice President of the Greater Boston Interfaith Organization (GBIO).

Reverend Kim Odom is co-pastor of True Vine Church in Dorchester, MA. She is a community activist and most importantly the mother of 13-year-old Steven Odom, a homicide victim to gun violence in October 2007.

In an ironic twist, Boston Police Commissioner Evans was en route to participate in this episode on Gun Violence Prevention when a shooting occurred in the Dorchester neighborhood of Boston. Commissioner Evans will join us for Part 2 of this episode – stay tuned.

Senator Sonia Chang-Díaz was the first Latina elected to the Massachusetts State Senate. She is serving her fourth term on behalf of the Second Suffolk District and is the Senate Chair of the Joint Committee on Education. Senator Chang-Díaz recently co-sponsored legislation to reform the pre-trial bail process and eliminate mandatory minimum sentences related to drug offences.

Reverend Liz Walker is the senior pastor of Roxbury Presbyterian Church. A two-time Emmy Award recipient, Reverend Walker was the first African-American weeknight news anchor in Boston.

The most significant study of the Jewish community, A Portrait of American Jews, by the PEW Research Center in 2013, reinforced a reality that Temple Israel has understood for more than a decade: a mandate for institutional change. Temple Israel has a rich history of developing innovative approaches towards engagement. Pulpit on the Common establishes a new setting for the content and conversation that was once situated on the pulpit – making the pulpit accessible anywhere, anytime, to anyone.

Moderated by Rabbi Matt Soffer, each episode of Pulpit on the Common focuses on the intersection of faith and public life, based here in the birthplace of American Freedom, Boston, Massachusetts.