UUSJ Partners with UU Groups on Climate-Friendly Agricultural Policies 

UUSJ, UU Ministry For Earth, and UUs for a Just Economic Community joined forces on April's Write Here! Write Now! letter-writing campaign for climate-friendly agricultural practices and federal policies, in response to Earth Month. Specific bills are the Justice for Black Farmers Act (S.300) and the Climate Stewardship Act (S.1072), both sponsored by Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ). We are continuing to receive letters through May 10. (See WHWN Online platform and read more about the actions.

On April 21, UUSJ held an issue briefing (watch video) with Adam Zipkin, Counsel to United States Sen. Cory Booker (D-NJ) who advises the Senator on issues related to the environment, energy, agriculture, and animal welfare. 

We were also joined by Ben Thomas, Senior Policy Director for Agriculture at the Environmental Defense Fund, who discussed the ways his organization is addressing these policies.

Through the traditional and online WHWN letter-writing, 139 constituents have sent over 245 messages to 54 Senators in 27 states. We are scheduled to meet with ten Senate offices in virtual meetings with constituents from nine states through the first week of May.

Letter from a constituent:
We know that climate change is going to radically change our
farming/landscape culture. Allocations to help support friendly
stewardship practices- planting trees, restoring wetlands, and
investing in renewable energy, are all a part of [S.1072].
~ Mark Sanderson, Ann Arbor, Michigan

Many UUs appreciate UUSJ's advocacy assistance. From a letter writer: 
Thank you for doing this kind of letter. My life has so many demands at this current time that this is the only way I would have time to send a letter. I really appreciate this.
~Carol Barrick, Ames, Iowa.

A Reminder About Our Responsibility:
"We’re the first generation to feel the impact
of climate change, and the last generation that
can do something about it."
~President Barack Obama, August 3, 2015

Immigration Town Hall Shapes June Advocacy Focus

UUSJ’s Immigration Action Team held a virtual town hall in late April with 61 participants, including UUs from around the country and a dozen partner organizations. Based on the feedback received, UUSJ will be focusing its mid-June advocacy meetings on pathways to citizenship for as many undocumented immigrants as possible, including those covered by Deferred Actions for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and Temporary Protective Status (TPS), along with farm and essential workers. 

UU participation in meetings with Congress is encouraged. Watch for details about briefings and other information in the coming weeks. UUSJ will also advocate  – perhaps more focused on Executive Branch agencies – ceasing automatic detention, especially of families and minors. Young children continue to be separated for a week or more from family members who brought them to the border, creating a traumatic experience for children and family members. UUSJ will continue to monitor and join petitions when appropriate to raise the refugee cap for this year and get those vetted and medically-cleared displaced persons who have been waiting years onto their flights to America.

UUSJ News and Events

Second Session of Widening the Circle of Concern
Friday, May 14, 12noonET

Those who participated in the first session are welcome to join the second session with Paula Cole Jones on Widening the Circle of Concern (WTC), focusing on UUSJ. She will facilitate this 2.5-hour dialog/consultation with UUSJ leadership and volunteers. If you attended the first session you are eligible for the second. So look for those emails.

Paula brings perspectives to her work with UU organizations having career experience inside of a state, local, and federal partnership that advocated annually for federal policies that impacted local communities and landowners.  Her work with the 8th Principle has successfully built a new national grassroots movement within Unitarian Universalism. 

Widening the Circle (pdf)
Multicultural Paradigm (pdf)

New Trustees Sought for UUSJ Board

UUSJ is seeking 11 new Board members for the new Board of Trustees to be elected at the Annual Board meeting on June 26. Under UUSJ’s new governance system, the current Board will select an 11-member Board from candidates throughout the country instead of DC-area UUSJ member congregations appointing most Trustees. For more information, see 2021 Board Member Search.

UUSJ is looking for a significant number of new Board members who have never served as a UUSJ Trustee or Alternate. Encouraged to apply are those who identify as BIPOC (Black/Indigenous/People of Color), Women, LGBTQ2 (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender & Questioning), and Gender-Nonconforming. UUSJ also welcomes people from Impacted Communities -- those hit hardest by unjust policies -- along with those who identify as low-income or working-class, young adults, and retired persons.  Applicants need not be current members of UUSJ but must commit to UU values.

The new Board members will begin their terms shortly after the annual June UUSJ Board meeting and serve staggered terms. Three of the new Trustees will serve a partial one-year term; four partial two-year terms, and four regular three-year terms. Trustees may be re-elected to a total of two full three-year terms.

More information about UUSJ, the role of the Board and individual Trustees, and desired experience for Trustees, can be found in the 2021 Board Member Search. Those interested in becoming nominated as a Trustee, please fill out the application form found HERE. Applicants may also apply by sending a short statement of interest and biography or resume, including contact information, to the Nominating Committee Chair at SeanAMcCarthy48@gmail.com.

Applicants are encouraged to apply by May 15 but the Nominating Committee will consider applications submitted by June 6. For additional information or to suggest a potential Trustee, contact the Nominating Committee Chair, Sean McCarthy, SeanAMcCarthy48@gmail.com.

UUSJ Annual Meeting Will Pave the Way for New Governance Model

UUSJ’s Board of Trustees will make some major decisions at its virtual Annual Meeting on June 26, from 10 am to 1:30 pm ET. This will be a transitional meeting to a new governance model, with elections for new board members, approval of next year’s budget, discussion of proposed policy priorities for the next two years, and plans for growing congregational membership across the nation. 

The agenda and related materials will be sent to Board members in advance. Board meetings are open to UUSJ members, who may request in advance an opportunity to briefly speak. For more information contact: info@UUSJ.org

WARE Lecture Announced; Register Now for Virtual General Assembly

General Assembly (GA) is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Participants worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through the democratic process. 

Each year the UUA president invites a distinguished guest to address the General Assembly as the Ware Lecturer. This year Stacey Abrams and Desmond Meade will present the Ware Lecture on Saturday, June 26 at 7:00 pm ET. General Assembly registration is required.

Registration ($200) gives access to the new GA app where announcements are made, conversations are already happening, and the program guide is published. The on-demand library of GA content will be yours to view throughout the summer...if you register!

2021 Draft Statement of Conscience -- “Undoing Systemic White Supremacy”

After three years of study and action on the 2018-2021 Congregational Study/Action Issue Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action, General Assembly delegates will vote this June whether to adopt the draft Statement of Conscience (SOC), prepared by the Commission on Social Witness with feedback from congregations. 

Adopted Statements of Conscience focus the efforts of UU congregations and other UU groups on the topic of the SOC, shape the meaning of contemporary Unitarian Universalism, and empower the UUA staff to lobby our positions in pending legislation.

Read the draft Statement of Conscience (SOC) Undoing Systemic White Supremacy: A Call to Prophetic Action.

Immigration Bills in House & Senate

Charlotte Jones Carroll, Immigration Action Team Convenor (cjonescarroll@aol.com)

April brought concerns about the lack of progress on two important immigration goals: creating legal paths to citizenship and raising the cap for incoming refugees.    

Success for President Biden’s comprehensive immigration reform bill appears doubtful as the legislation remains stalled in House and Senate committees. Advocates are instead urging action on bills in the Senate, that have already passed the House. This includes HR.6, the House’s American Dream and Promise Act. In the Senate, the measure is divided into S.306, the SECURE Act, providing pathways to legal status for Temporary Protected Status (TPS) holders; and S.264, the DREAM Act for Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals (DACA) and other Dreamers.

The Farm Workforce Modernization Act (HR.1603) also passed the House. If approved by the Senate, it will provide immigrants with more options to work here legally and add protection from worker exploitation. Still, this bill falls short of farmworker goals.

[Read More]

Action Alert: Support The Dream Act, SECURE Act, and Farm Workforce Modernization Act

Please ask your senators to support the Senate versions of S.264 – DREAM Act (sponsors Sens. Durbin and Graham), S.306 SECURE Act (for Temporary Protective Status holders; sponsors Sens. Van Hollen and Cardin), and the Farm Workforce Modernization Act sent to the Senate as H.R.1603, received, read and referred to the Committee on the Judiciary.

Click to Send Your Letter

May Day 2021-- UUs Join Immigrations Activists in DC Rally;
Declare Immigrants Essential -- Not Disposable -- Workers

500 Days Fighting Forward Together

During the first 100 Days of the Biden-Harris Administration, poverty was propelled into the national agenda in ways unseen for decades, such as the Fight for $15 Federal minimum wage, and changing our farming/landscape culture. People are beginning to hear the demands of the 140 million poor and low-income people in this country.  

The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call For Moral Revival, is launching a 500 Days Fighting Forward Together Coordinated Action plan. It calls for an intense and sustained period of organizing and action to continue the movement’s momentum. It builds upon the leadership of faith communities and organizations at the heart of this Campaign, which has built real power and shifted the narrative around poverty and its related social ills. 

The plan’s key dates include June 21 for a massive online gathering and, a year later, June 18, 2022, for an in-person Mass Poor People’s and Low Wage Workers Assembly and Moral March on Washington, DC. Early details available now. Stay tuned for more details.

 

If You Liked Nomadland -- Learn More About Wage Gender Bias

Triple Oscar winner Nomadland has been described as “a gentle tone poem with western genre inflections, mining the rich seams of human kindness that run through the margins of society,” while it chronicles true tales of the “new nomads” who took to the road after their savings were “obliterated by the Great Recession.” Take a deeper dive with UU author Chuck Collins who wrote about the film earlier this year on the human impact of economic upheaval and the gender pay gap. Find it here and check out Chuck’s weekly column at Inequality.org.