Our History.

Manatee county has hundreds of charitable organizations (including faith-based ministries) that provide direct aid to people in our community who are experiencing poverty, homelessness, incarceration, and many other challenges. However, far fewer (if any) organizations have focused on or had the power to take direct action to address the systemic causes of poverty, inequality, and injustice.

Early in 2020, several clergy leaders from Manatee congregations began meeting to discuss problems faced by members of their communities - affordable housing, criminal justice, mental health, education, affordable health care, and so on. Our leaders and congregations still felt called to provide charitable relief with mercy ministries to those in need, but also to “do justice” by forming a justice ministry with a more transformative approach that could address the systemic causes of these problems. Our name STREAM reflects our vision of a community where justice flows like a never-failing stream (Amos 5:24).

After we learned about DART and were inspired by the power and results of their direct-action model, STREAM (originally called Manatee Justice Ministry) was officially born! We were founded, incorporated, and launched an exploratory organizing committee in February 2020. Despite the challenges of the pandemic, we raised essential seed funds, hired our Lead Organizer (Jean-Luc Adrien), and officially began our work in Manatee County in May 2021. We quickly grew to 15 member congregations and held our Founding Convention in November 2021. All congregations with shared values of justice and fairness are welcome and encouraged to join us in the call to build a more just and fair community for everyone in Manatee County.

We are now an independent, 501 (c) (3) tax-exempt nonprofit with our own funding and staff. Our relationship with DART enables us to leverage the expertise and experience of the DART staff and our sister organizations. For more information on DART and the direct action approach, click here.