Staff & Lay Leaders

Jim Stewart has been with the First Church Shelter since 1987. He is a graduate of the University of Massachusetts and Harvard Divinity School. Prior to his involvement with First Church Shelter, he helped open and operate a shelter in a UCC church in Salem, Massachusetts. He was a founding member of the Massachusetts Coalition for the Homeless and Housing Now!, which brought over 100,000 people to Washington, D.C., to demand more federal funding for affordable housing. He was also a founding member of the United Church of Christ Welfare Working Group and lead organizer for the UCC’s Twin Scandals campaign.

Jim likes Modest Mouse, Carbon Silicon, Bob Dylan, Curtis Mayfield, John Ford and Hal Hartley movies. A shameless Social Democrat, he and his son, also named Jim, currently live in Arlington.