JaNae' Bates
JaNae' Bates is Communications Director at Faith In Minnesota. Lives in Saint Paul, Minnesota.
She is the new Communications Director of ISAIAH, a faith-based organization dedicated to economic and racial justice for the world in general and for the state of Minnesota especially by being a vehicle for congregations, clergy, and people of faith to act collectively and powerfully toward that end.
JaNaé is a proud Sum Cum Laude alumna of Wilberforce University, graduating first in her class while receiving her BA in Mass Media Communications. She was later awarded the Fulbright International Post Graduate Scholarship for the 2013-14 school year. As a Fulbright Scholar JaNaé received her Master of Theology in Ministry and Mission at the University of Aberdeen in Scotland, United Kingdom with First Honours, the highest distinction.
Her focus is on theologies concerning marginalized and oppressed people – primarily Liberation Theology, Disability Theology, Black Liberation Theology and Womanist Theology.
Professionally, she was a staff writer with the Call and Post Newspapers in Cleveland, Ohio, dedicated to writing stories concerning the local community and exposing issues that directly affect Cleveland’s minority populations. More recently she was with PR Newswire’s Cleveland branch and had been for seven years where she functioned as a senior editor for the global newswire service.
JaNaé also worked with the Cleveland bureau for the Anti-Defamation League, an organization dedicated to anti-bias and anti-prejudice support for schools and community institutions. There she served as a facilitator and worked primarily in schools to lead in conversations and exercises with students and teachers about bullying and anti-bias.
JaNaé has been an active member of Imani Church United Church of Christ in Euclid, Ohio for almost 25 years. There she received the call to teach the Gospel through the Imani Bible Institute and is a licensed minister with specialization in the area of Social Justice. As a Clevelander, she spent her free time with friends and family as well as writing, reading, and being a local activist with several organizations against racial, economic and gender injustice in the community.
New to Minnesota, she was recently announced as a fellow of the Dr. Josie R. Johnson Leadership Academy with the African American Leadership Forum in the Twin Cities. She looks forward to engaging in relationships with local faith communities and the larger surrounding areas.[1]
Education
- Studied Theology at University of Aberdeen
- Studied Journalism & Mass Communication at Wilberforce University
- Studied Ministry and Mission at University of Aberdeen
- Studied Mass-media at Wilberforce Alum
- Went to Maple Heights High School
Activism
- Communications Director at ISAIAH
- Former Live-in Assistant at L'Arche UK
- Former Senior Editor at PR Newswire Association
On Muslims
According to JaNae' Bates, director of Faith in Minnesota, the progressive interfaith advocacy group that hosted the St. Cloud State panel on Islamophobia in 2019, Republican political figures are manipulating Minnesotans’ fears to stoke resentment of Muslims.
“What we’re finding is that there are a few politicians who are seeing this to be a short-term way to win, because people do have anxieties and people are dealing with a number of different crises in their life,” she said. Muslims, Bates argued, are an “easy target” to be scapegoated and to keep people divided while wealthy conservatives successfully push their policy agenda.[2]
Minnesota Values Project
Pause, breathe, and lean into some hopeful lessons: Join Convergence and The Forge for a conversation with movement organizers and elected leaders from the Minnesota Values Project (MVP). When Minnesota’s historic legislative session wrapped up in May, reporters around the country were stunned by the number of progressive victories: paid family leave, expanded voting rights, greater healthcare access, criminal justice reforms, and more. Was this a “Minnesota Miracle?” The panelists demystify these victories, walking us through their decade-long efforts to build governing power by developing relationships of trust and accountability, strengthening infrastructure, supporting grassroots organizing, and aligning around a shared agenda.
Tune in to hear from:
- Representative Liz Olson, Minnesota House of Representatives, District 08A, co-founder, MVP
- Liz Xiong, Communications Director and Political Coordinator for Laborers’ International Union of North America (LIUNA) Minnesota
- Minister JaNae' Bates, Communications Director for Faith in Minnesota
- Senator Erin Murphy, Minnesota Senate, District 64, current chair, MVP
The conversation is moderated by Deepak Pateriya, a long-time community and labor organizer and contributor to both Convergence and The Forge.
Reframe crew
Jen Soriano November 8 2018:
Know any hungry go-getters with big hearts and sharp minds looking for a great movement job? Well ReFrame is hiring a Senior Program Associate to run our core mentorship and new training program, it's a work-from-anywhere position with great benefits and a full-time salary of 60-70K DOE. You'd get to work with incredible people like the folks in this photo from ReFrame 2017!
Application extended to December 1st. — with Libeth Morales, Fresco Steez DeLaflyy, JaNae' Bates, Hermelinda Cortes, Miguel Esteban Andrade, Jo Arellano, Shaunte Harris and Renee Mowatt.