In 2016, the Christian Activities Council (now the Center for Leadership and Justice, CLJ) extended invitations to houses of faith throughout Greater Hartford to explore establishing a broad based social justice initiative for churches, synagogues, mosques, and meeting houses.  The goal was to build a diverse organization of lay leaders and clergy from across bounds of race, class, gender identity, religion and geography to build relational power to address social justice issues in local communities and beyond.

After three years of building relationships and learning about the history and practice of faith-based community organizing, this group of diverse faith communities and allied institutions officially launched the Greater Hartford Interfaith Action Alliance (GHIAA) on October 28, 2019.