Social Justice

Successful share-the-plate program supports Denver nonprofits

From one of our May feature stories, now available online at UUA.org:

When the offering plate comes around on Sunday morning at First Universalist Church of Denver, Colo., many nonprofit groups in the community feel the earth move just a little. This is the third year that the congregation has given its entire offering—every Sunday—to local groups or to support the work of the congregation’s own Social Justice Council task forces.

Associate Minister the Rev. Jeannie Shero said nearly $150,000 has been collected so far through the program, called Compassion in Action. “The first year we collected $44,000, then $56,000,” she said. “This year, which ends in June, will be close to $60,000. Prior to the program the offering would bring in around $25,000, much of which was largely used to support the operating budget.”

“This program represented a major shift for us,” Shero noted. “Was it a hard sell to the congregation? No. Did it make the board of trustees nervous? Yes. Giving up $20,000 for the operating budget was no small thing since the board has fiduciary responsibility.”

Go to full article.

 

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Growth, Resources

Summer 2013 youth social justice experiences

High school youth are invited to participate this summer in three social justice experiences through the Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice.

The first is the Civil Rights Pilgrimage, a trip through civil rights sites in the South, July 6-13. Second is the Boston Youth Justice Training, June 30-July 21. Third is the New Orleans Youth Justice Training, at the Center for Ethical Living and Justice Renewal, August 3-10. The pilgrimage is $975, the Boston training is $3,300, and the New Orleans training is $800. Fee reductions are available. Application deadline for all events is April 15.

The Rev. Kathleen McTigue, director of the College of Social Justice, said the programs are designed for youth who are “newly inspired to take action against the injustices of our world and for seasoned social justice youth leaders.”

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UUA Announcements

Youth social justice training in Boston

High school-age youth interested in social justice are invited to apply to attend a three-week training program this summer in Boston. The National Youth Justice Training program will be June 30–July 21, sponsored by the new Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice. The program offers a tiered funding structure, ranging from $500 to $3,300 per person. Application deadline is April 15.  More information is included in a NYJT brochure.

In addition to time spent together learning about social justice leadership skills and UU social justice history, participants will intern at various sites in the Boston area. The trip leader is the Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen, who is also the social justice educator at Boston Mobilization, which trains people for grassroots campaigns for peace, economic justice, and democracy.

This will be the second year for the youth training.

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UUA Announcements

New articles focus on sustainability, youth service, and more

From October’s InterConnections feature story, now online at UUA.org:

InterConnections is not the only source of useful information for lay leaders. Check out uuworld.org for stories about innovative congregational projects and new resources from the UUA. Here are some articles on sustainability, youth service, social justice, and outreach published between May and September 2012.

Go to full article.

 

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Resources

Coordinate your social justice efforts with the UUA

Coordinate your congregation’s social justice efforts with the UUA’s through the Association’s online Social Justice Action Calendar. The calendar currently features ten events, beginning with Labor Day weekend and progressing through Indigenous People’s Day (October 8), the Transgender Day of Remembrance (November 20), and Martin Luther King Jr. Day (January 21).

Also online are suggestions for how to mark those dates, as well as resources for preparing worship services and engaging in public witness events. Books and videos are also recommended for many of the events.

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Resources

New program helps kids live their values

Getting children involved early in social justice work can set a pattern for them for the rest of their lives. At Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colo., member Joyce McLaren has started the Living Our Values (LOV) program. About once a month children up through middle school age come to church with their parents sometime during the week, other than on Sunday morning. Activities this year have included making blankets for a home for teenagers, visiting a retirement center to put on a talent show, a trip to an organic farm, and helping collect school supplies.

Each activity has an orientation and a debriefing. Before the retirement home trip the kids learned from aging specialists how to talk to someone who doesn’t hear or see well. Said McLaren, “The kids’ goal was to make that person feel warm and loved because they don’t get very many visitors. And the kids really got it! They can’t wait to go back and see their elders again.”

More information about Living Our Values is in JUC’s newsletter. Look for Kids Practice Living Their Values, July 3, 2012.

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Resources

UUA’s 2011-12 Common Read is ‘Acts of Faith’

Acts of Faith: The Story of an American Muslim, the Struggle for the Soul of a Generation, a memoir by Eboo Patel, is the 2011–2012 Unitarian Universalist Common Read. The Common Read project invites Unitarian Universalist youth and adults in all congregations to share a common reading experience, and to engage in reflection and action about that book.

In Acts of Faith, Patel shares his faith journey as an American Muslim who comes to believe in religious pluralism. Patel founded the Interfaith Youth Core (IFYC), a nonprofit focused on building an interfaith youth movement. Patel invites those who believe in religious pluralism to support young people, helping them ground themselves in a faith that can equip them to work across faiths to make the world a better place.

Gail Forsyth-Vail, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Adult Programs director, said the book was chosen with an eye to both the tenth anniversary of September 11 and to the work of building coalitions as UUs prepare for General Assembly 2012, a “Justice GA” focused on immigration issues, in Phoenix.

The discussion guide will be published in October and will offer materials for a single 90-minute session or three 90-minute sessions, each expandable to two hours. The guide will provide the option of splitting the single 90-minute session into two shorter sessions. Download a flyer for Acts of Faith. The UUA Bookstore is offering the book for $14, plus a discount for multiple copies.

The UU Common Read last year was The Death of Josseline, stories about crossing the Mexico-Arizona border.

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UUA Announcements

People who made the world better

A new book, Stirring the Nation’s Heart: Eighteen Stories of Prophetic Unitarians and Universalists of the Nineteenth Century, describes how these 18 religious folk, from Julia Ward Howe to Theodore Park and Dorothea Dix, had an idea about how the world could be better, and made that change happen.

Written by Polly Peterson, a freelance writer and member of First Parish in Concord, Mass., Stirring the Nation’s Heart will be useful for religious educators as well as UUs and others wanting to learn more about the big ideas that began with many of our spiritual forbears, including reform of education and treatment of the mentally ill, women’s suffrage, and antiracism work. These were social reformers who played key roles in UU and U.S. history and whose life work made the world a better place. Each chapter includes discussion questions.

Stirring the Nation’s Heart is published by the Unitarian Universalist Association and is available from the UUA Bookstore for $15.

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Resources

Book helps with youth mission trip planning

Youth leaders responsible for planning social justice trips with youth will want to pick up a new book, Journeys of the Spirit: Planning and Leading Mission Trips with Youth.

The authors are Jennifer McAdoo and Anne Principe, two Unitarian Universalist religious educators from New England who, between them, have organized mission trips to Central America, Romania, Massachusetts, Maine, the Texas border with Mexico, and New Orleans.

The book covers how to determine what type of mission trips to do and why, and goes on to explain team-building and fundraising and how to share the trip upon returning home. It also includes testimonials by veteran UU social justice activists, including the Rev. Richard S. Gilbert, on their various experiences with mission work.

The book, published by the Unitarian Universalist Association, is $15 and is available at the UUA Bookstore.

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Resources

Earth Day resources available

For congregations planning events around the 40th anniversary of Earth Day in April, the UU Ministry for Earth has developed an Earth Day resource packet. Earth Day itself is Thursday, April 22, and many congregations will hold events that week or the weekend before or after.

The resource packet includes information on the UUA’s current Congregational Study Action Issue “Ethical Eating: Food and Environmental Justice,” fair trade products, labor issues, and organic food. It also has an Earth Day order of service cover and insert, and a certificate to honor your Congregational Eco-Hero.

There is also information on what other congregations are doing and ways to engage your own community. You can share what your congregation is doing for Earth Day by registering the event and by emailing the UU Ministry for Earth photos and information about how the event went.

The Ministry for Earth is also encouraging congregations to hold a special collection to support its ongoing work.

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Events, Resources