At the June Gathering, Shana Aisenberg sang us an invitation and a prayer:
“We rededicate ourselves to love, on this day, on this day.”
Amidst the escalating crises from Los Angeles to DC to Gaza, Side with Love offers The Gathering to collectively rededicate ourselves to love, joy, and justice. Last night, we gathered to stoke that fierce love and rekindle our collective hope and dream of a world of beauty, love, peace, and respect. We gathered to remind each other that what each of us – each of YOU– does matters. We gathered to make sure you are grounded in our faith and in specific actions YOU can do. From Shana’s music to Nicole’s teachings about strategy and power to Rev. Kentina’s presentation about the incredible faith rooted reproductive justice work SACReD, what will carry you through this week and motivate you in rooted, strategic action?
As I said at The Gathering, it is central to Unitarian Universalism that EVERY body is sacred, and that each of us has a role to play in building a world where that is true. What will you do this week?
Send Avelo “Abduction” Airlines a message on X, Facebook or Insta or LInkedIn , or email: Socialmedia@aveloair.com and let them know you won’t fly on their planes if they’re collaborating with ICE to profit off of kidnapping #StopAvelo
Our Chalice Lighting was “A Protest and a Party,” by Rev. Hannah Roberts Villnave, p371-2 of “For Pride,” in Blessing It All: Rituals for Transition and Transformation, edited by Revs. Heather Concannon and Allison Palm.
At The Gathering, we invited you to Glitter Up, Share with a friend, and Act. There is no time like the present! Take a few minutes right now to sign up, make a call to Congress, put a note in your congregational newsletter, and call or text 3 beloveds. We are more powerful than we know – and we need that power well-organized to confront the regime we are facing together.
Do at least one thing to celebrate your beautiful, fabulous body and self this week, and we will see you again in August.
May we dedicate ourselves to love today and always,
Rev. Cathy & Side with Love Staff Team
Recording and Resources from The Gathering, June 2025
In times like these, our faith does not retreat. It rises.
Unitarian Universalism is not a tradition that turns away from the world’s pain. It is a living faith rooted in covenant and shaped by generations of activists and prophets—people who believed that revelation is ongoing, that every person carries a spark of the divine, and that “giving life the shape of justice” is the work of our hands and hearts. We do not affirm the worth and dignity of every person as a slogan—we live it as a mandate. Our theology insists that love must be embodied in systems, structures, and policies that protect and uplift. In the face of suffering and oppression, our faith responds with courage, not retreat.
We write to you in a week of grief, outrage, and moral clarity.
In Los Angeles and Minneapolis, our neighbors are rising up as ICE raids tear families apart and target immigrant communities with cruelty and impunity. A new travel ban has gone into effect, once again targeting Muslims and immigrants from Black and Brown nations under the guise of national security. Meanwhile, the Supreme Court continues to tilt the scales of justice—expanding privileges for the powerful while narrowing the reach of vital civil protections.
At the same time, bold efforts are emerging to challenge U.S. complicity in global violence. The Block the Bombs Act was introduced by Representatives Delia Ramirez, Sara Jacobs, Pramila Jayapal, and Mark Pocan, alongside 18 other members of Congress. The bill seeks to prohibit the transfer of specific U.S. weapons to Israel that have been used in operations resulting in civilian harm—an effort grounded in both international law and our shared moral responsibility.
This special edition of the Action Center is here to help equip you, provoke reflection, and inspire faithful action in the face of escalating injustice, systemic cruelty, and sustained assaults on human dignity. The road ahead may be challenging—but we won’t face it alone. We will move forward together, guided by fierce love and unwavering hope.
Read on for tools, opportunities, and ways to rise in faith and solidarity this week.
Pride 2025 arrives at a time of deep reckoning and urgent resistance.
Across the country, we are witnessing a coordinated escalation of political attacks on LGBTQIA+ people—particularly targeting trans and nonbinary youth, families, and communities. These attacks are not isolated; they are deeply connected to intersecting systems of oppression—white supremacy, Christian nationalism, anti-Blackness, misogyny, and ableism—that threaten all of us. (See our curated resource list Preparing for Pride for workshops, toolkits, and resources on how to offer solidarity and support this Pride season).
This moment demands more than celebration—it calls us into bold solidarity. Pride was born from protest, from defiance, from the sacred truth that LGBTQIA+ lives are worthy, joyful, and powerful. Today, we carry that legacy forward—not just in words, but in our actions, relationships, and commitments.
As Unitarian Universalists, our faith calls us to keep love at the center. And love, in this moment, moves like this:
Join The Gathering: A virtual event celebrating LGBTQIA+ pride and preparing for upcoming Supreme Court decisions. Nicole Pressley from Side With Love will discuss building power through campaigns. Rev. Kentina Washington-Leapheart from SACReD will address challenges to reproductive justice and bodily autonomy. UU trans/non-binary musician Shana Aisenberg will also perform. Connect, find inspiration, and take action.
RSVP for The Gathering on June 9th at 8 ET:Register here
Congregational staff and board members, join Now What: The Gathering on June 11th at 1pm ET:Register here
Join UPLIFT Action: a Side With Love campaign advocating for bodily autonomy, Because Every Body is Sacred. Subscribe to the UPLIFT Action Newsletter to receive advocacy updates, educational tools, and actions to support LGBTQIA+ rights all year, not just during Pride. We offer guidance to help congregations and communities stay safe during Pride and year-round while showing up as public witnesses for LGBTQIA+ dignity and liberation. Subscribe today.
Renew Your Welcome: We invite congregations to participate in the Five Practices of Welcome Renewal, a powerful path to recommit to LGBTQIA+ inclusion and become ever more spiritually nourishing spaces for all.
Supporting UU Trans Religious Professionals: We encourage you to support TRUUsT — an organization of trans Unitarian Universalists who are living out a call to ministry within Unitarian Universalism. Email truust@transuu.org to learn how you might support their work.
LGBTQIA+ Resources: Visitwww.uua.org/lgbtq/resources for a growing library of resources to support LGBTQIA+ people in your congregation, community, and beyond.
Dear friends, let me be honest—for me, Pride is complicated. All throughout June, I vacillate from rolling my eyes and sissying that walk. I release a sigh of frustration when I see rainbow flags go up in storefronts while legislation strips away our rights. I feel exhausted by the commercialization of a movement that was born in the streets—by transwomen of color, by Black and brown queer people, and by people dying of AIDS who dared to fight back. It’s hard to know where the celebration ends and the co-optation begins. And still, I feel joy.
There’s a deep, abiding joy in being Black and queer. It’s in our music, our style, our stories, our survival. It’s in our capacity to love expansively, to grieve collectively, to laugh even when the world tells us not to exist. That joy is not naive—it’s a refusal to be diminished.
So this Pride, I’m holding space for contradiction. For fatigue and celebration. For grief and resistance. For the love that lives in chosen family, in congregational care, and in each courageous act of showing up for one another.
Wherever you are this month—angry, joyful, numb, overwhelmed—you are beautiful, you belong, and you are welcome here.
I’m a weather dork. I check my multiple weather apps like most folks check their social media. From two decades of organic farming where *everything* revolved around the weather to a lifetime working on climate and environmental issues, me and weather systems are tight. So I mean it when I say that predictions for the next several months are worrisome.
Summer 2025 will be a scorcher with hotter than normal temperatures across the US. This means higher electricity bills, more wildfires, worse air quality, and a greater chance of heat-related illness and death. We can also expect a more extreme hurricane season. NOAA predicts a 60% chance of an above-normal Atlantic hurricane season.
All of this spells doubly bad news when we think about the agencies that keep us safe in extreme weather. The National Weather Service and NOAA are operating with severe staffing gaps with leaders warning of potentially catastrophic consequences ahead, including “needless loss of life” if the agency enters its busiest period short staffed. FEMA has lost roughly one-third of their staff and cut disaster resilience programs that help communities prepare for climate disasters.
So what do we do? We take care of each other. If your congregation doesn’t already have plans in place for disaster preparedness and response, make it a priority this summer. We have created a Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care Toolkit for UUs to think through the challenges facing our communities, options for building resilience, and ways to partner with those most impacted.
Building community resilience through disaster preparedness and response is a crucial aspect of our work. Community Resilience is one of our Four Essentials of the Green Sanctuary 2030 program, which has been completely revitalized to support congregations with more action, less paperwork. Even if your congregation has been a Green Sanctuary congregation for twenty years, now is the time to renew your commitment to Climate Justice.
In community,
Rachel
Rachel Myslivy, UUA Side With Love Climate Justice Strategist
UU Climate Justice Revival at GA!
June 18-22, 2025
The UU Climate Justice Revival is coming to GA! We’re hosting a mini-Revival on Friday, a Revival meditation space, and a deep dive into the ways the UUA is moving climate justice forward. We’ll share more in the coming weeks, but for now, mark your calendars for:
Wear your Create Climate Justice t-shirt on Friday!Order from inSpirit Books or purchase at their booth in the Exhibit Hall
UU Climate Justice Revival at GA
Friday, June 20, 1-2:30 PM (Hybrid)
Baltimore Convention Center -- Ballroom III & IV
UUA Strategies to Address Climate Justice
Saturday, June 21, 1-2:30 PM
Virtual on Whova app
UU Climate Justice Revival Meditation Space:
Wednesday, June 18 - Sunday, June 22, 8AM-5PM
Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor -- Stone Room
Please note: all General Assembly programming is for registered General Assembly attendees only unless otherwise noted.
June 2025 update from Create Climate Justice: prepare for climate resilience
Pride Month is a powerful reminder of the beauty, resilience, and sacred worth of LGBTQ+ people. It’s a time for joy, for celebration, and for remembering that our lives and loves are nothing less than holy.
In a world that too often tries to dim that light, Pride shines all the brighter. It calls us to live our Unitarian Universalist values out loud—to embody love, to protect one another, and to build communities where everyone is free to thrive.
This month, Side With Love is sharing resources to help you celebrate and sustain that spirit—not just for Pride, but for the many ways we show up for justice and joy. From worship to public witness, spiritual care to bold action, we hope these offerings help you and your congregation feel more connected, grounded, and inspired.
May this be a season of deepening faith, fierce love, and renewed courage. We are in this together, and our collective light is unstoppable.
With love and gratitude, The Side With Love Team
The Gathering– June
Monday, June 9, 2025 at 8pm–9:15pm ET | 5pm - 6:15pm PT
Image description: A black background with white and yellow handwritten and typed text. At the bottom is a head-and-shoulders photo of Shana Aisenberg and the SACReD logo. The Gathering. Music: Shana Aisenberg. Speaker: SACReD. Monday, June 9. 8 ET, 7 CT, 6 MT, 5 PT on Zoom. “Gathering” is underlined in yellow, with yellow hand-drawn rays above it.
Join The Gathering, Side With Love’s monthly event to strengthen your spirit, make sense of the threats to democracy, and take meaningful action alongside others!
In this month when we celebrate GLBTQIA pride and brace ourselves for Supreme Court decisions, we gather with music from UU trans/non-binary musician, writer, and activist Shana Aisenberg. Side with Love’s Nicole Pressley will invite us into learning about how we build the power to intervene through campaigns (including an update on the Avelo “Abduction Airlines” campaign we talked about in May).
Rev. Kentina Washington-Leapheart from SACReD (Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity) will overview the challenging landscape of reproductive justice and abortion access and ways that folks on the ground are making pathways for bodily autonomy to flourish despite the obstacles. Come find inspiration, forge connections, and take action together!
Access & Accessibility:
Live Zoom event (no participant mics or breakout rooms)
Image description: A dark blue background with “NO KINGS” in a step-and-repeat pattern and a graffiti crown with a red “X” through it. No Kings. Nationwide Day of Defiance. June 14, 2025.
No Kings: A Nationwide Day of Action for Democracy Saturday, June 14, 2025 | Flag Day
This Flag Day, authoritarianism wants a parade. We want a democracy.
On June 14, communities across the country will gather for a powerful day of action to reject authoritarianism and affirm our deepest values: equity, dignity, and real democracy for all. With over 600 events already planned in every state, the No Kings mobilization is a chance to show that power doesn’t come from thrones or crowns—it comes from the people, organized in love.
As Unitarian Universalists, we know that defending democracy is a moral act. Whether you show up in person or amplify online, your voice matters.
Find an event and learn more at nokings.org Let your congregation know: Our faith accepts no kings.
Let’s show the country—and the world—that we are a people of principle, ready to rise for freedom, fairness, and a future rooted in justice.
Image description: Red background with a dark blue horizontal stripe above a white text bubble. Action of Immediate Witness Feedback Sessions. Join the UUA's Commission on Social Witness to learn more about each AIW, offer feedback, & connect with others interested in the issue! June 2 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET: We Declare and Reaffirm: All People Have Inherent Worth and Inalienable Rights. June 3 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET: Faithful Defiance of Authoritarianism: Reaffirming Our Covenants for Democracy and Freedom. June 4 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET: Bringing a Feminist and Womanist Lens to Resistance and Activism. June 5 at 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET: Funding Global LGBTIQ Freedom Amid Crisis: A Call for Immediate Action and Solidarity. June 8 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET: Voter Justice and Racial Equity for the Citizens of the Nation’s Capital. All Sessions will take place on Zoom. Register at uua.org/socialwitness.
Offer your feedback on the 2025 Proposed Actions of Immediate Witness!
An Action of Immediate Witness (AIW) is a statement about a significant action, event, or development in the world that necessitates immediate engagement and action among UU member congregations and groups. This year, the Commission on Social Witness received five proposed AIWs and will be holding feedback sessions for each one during the first week of June. Delegates and congregations and invited to join these sessions to learn about the proposed AIWs and provide feedback to the proposers. Learn more about the process, read the proposed AIWs, and register to join the feedback sessions at uua.org/socialwitness.
Image description: Preparing for Pride in yellow text on a black background decorated with colorful flowers and radiating circles. Next to the text is a photo strip with two images from Disabled And Here. Three Black and disabled folx (a non-binary person holding a cane, a non-binary person sitting in a power wheelchair, and a femme sitting in a chair) casually smile at the camera while a rainbow pride flag drapes on the wall behind them. A masked non-binary Latinx person waves a bubble wand in front of a wood panel wall. They look joyfully at the surrounding bubbles above them and wear a patterned shirt reading, “Trans joy is holy.” A teal cane leans against them, though only the top of it is in frame.
Is your congregation or community celebrating Pride this year?
Solidarity is the moral and strategic mandate of our time, and we must rise to challenge attacks on identity and these divide-and-conquer tactics that rely on the belief that one group’s safety comes at the expense of another group’s safety.
Is your congregation or community celebrating Pride this year?
Solidarity is the moral and strategic mandate of our time, and we must rise to challenge attacks on identity and these divide-and-conquer tactics that rely on the belief that one group’s safety comes at the expense of another group’s safety.
At our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting on May 21, we learned how one of our Green Sanctuary teams is working through the new Green Sanctuary materials! Released in February 2024, the new materials are designed to be more manageable, accessible, and impactful for our congregations. Watch the recording here.
So you held a Climate Justice Revival.... now what? The Revival Planning Team offered this space to come together with other UUs who are also moving through the Rest, Celebrate, Reflect, Synthesize, Organize process following the Revival. This informal gathering provided ample time for conversation and brainstorming next steps together.
We lead the Gathering to offer you spiritual and political handholds for your actions toward liberation. We care about the work you are doing right there in your community. We hope that this month’s Gathering nourishes you with the poetry and words from Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto; that you come away with a better understanding of a Theory of Change from Nicole Pressley; that you get as excited as we are by the Avelo “Abduction Airlines” campaign and our beloveds confronting ICE malfeasance at Delaney Detention Center in New Jersey.
This month, we dove into two critical (and exciting) campaigns to resist ICE:
Umme Hoque from Siembra NC shared about the new campaign to Stop Avelo Airlines, whose contract with ICE went live on May 12th. Umme shared the extensive research and strategy of this campaign, giving hope and inspiration towards a path to victory. This campaign has roles for everyone—from research to protest to advocacy. Check here if you are near an Avelo airport!
Rev. Robin Tanner and Charlene D. Walker joined us for a live update from Delaney Hall Detention Center in Newark New Jersey, where Faith in NJ has been fighting ICE detention facilities for a long time—and fascism has ratcheted up their tactics in the last few days. Learn about this ongoing campaign at the 54-minute mark in our recording.
At The Gathering, I asked folks to think about something you would share with 3 people and how many people you will recruit in your congregation to sign the Stop Avelo pledge (or another campaign you are working on). Rev. Julián invited us to picture how and when you will do that.
Friends, now is the time. Please take a few minutes right now to sign the pledge, make a call to Congress, put a note in your congregational newsletter, and call or text 3 beloveds. Together, we will continue to resist fascism and build towards a world where everyone has love, safety, respect, and beauty.
Finally, please do tend to your spirit and regulate this week (perhaps with more of Rev. Julián’s poetry in Spilling the Light!).
Together, We Will Resist ICE – Resources and Links from The Gathering on May 12, 2025
For people who work on climate change, we are accustomed to thinking long-term. When we strategize, we aren’t just addressing what’s happening right now or planning for the next election cycle. We think about what our communities will be like in ten or twenty years. We work on plans with timelines spanning the next 25 years. When we make changes - winning a solar campaign, creating a disaster preparedness plan, building partnerships in our communities - we know that the impacts of our actions may not be fully realized for years or even decades to come.
I think about the Martin Luther quote, “Even if I knew the world was to end tomorrow, I would still plant an apple tree today.” Many of us are planting trees - literally and figuratively - under whose shade we will never sit.
When it feels like everything is going the absolute wrong direction for the climate, I take comfort in the reality that we are conditioned for the long haul. Climate advocates are made for these times. When everything feels overwhelming - and it is pretty easy to feel like that now - we know that there is still - always - so much that we can do to work toward a better future.
If we ground in our faith and commit our hearts to realizing a world where all communities thrive, we can weather any storm. It’s so much easier to do these things if we’re connected to each other. In the next two months, we have opportunities for UUs to strategize what’s next after your Revival during our Revival Community of Practice. You can learn about the completely revitalized Green Sanctuary process in an orientation or at the May Community Meeting. If you’re going to GA, you can join the Revival at GA, find comfort in the Revival Meditation Space, and learn about the ways the UUA is rising to the call of climate justice. I’ll end with one of my favorite adrienne maree brown quotes,
“HUMBLE yourself to what is.
ACCEPT that this is what has unfolded so far.
NOTICE that you have your whole life to
SHAPE what comes next.”
In community,
Rachel
Rachel Myslivy, UUA Climate Justice Strategist
May’s Revival Community of Practice
May 14, 2025 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET
In May we’ll learn how Liesl Dees came for just one coaching call on the SAME DAY as her Revival follow up meeting and identified several ways to approach the meeting. Bonus, the team agreed on actions to move the work forward in a way that is both transformational and manageable for their small congregation in New Mexico. Learn more & register.
Working with the New Green Sanctuary Materials
May 21, 2025 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET
Learn how one of our Green Sanctuary teams is working through the new Green Sanctuary materials! Released in February 2024, the new materials are designed to be more manageable, accessible, and impactful for our congregations. Join us on May 21 to learn how the materials are being used by your fellow UUs! --- Come together for shared learning and mutual supports with other UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice. Green Sanctuary community meetings take place on the third Wednesday of the month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET for 90 minutes. Learn more and register.
UU Climate Justice Revival at GA!
June 18-22, 2025
The UU Climate Justice Revival is coming to GA! We’re hosting a mini-Revival on Friday, a Revival meditation space, and a deep dive into the ways the UUA is moving climate justice forward. We’ll share more in the coming weeks, but for now, mark your calendars for:
UU Climate Justice Revival at GA
Friday, June 20, 1-2:30 PM ET (Hybrid)
in person at Baltimore Convention Center -- Ballroom III & IV
virtually on Whova
UUA Strategies to Address Climate Justice
Saturday, June 21, 1-2:30 PM ET (Virtual via Whova)
UU Climate Justice Revival Meditation Space:
open Wednesday, June 18 - Sunday, June 22, 8AM-5PM ET (in person: Hilton Baltimore Inner Harbor -- Stone Room)
Spirit of Life, we gather with hearts broken open, souls aching— by the weight of the world, by the wounds of history, by the cruel persistence of injustice.
How long, O Spirit, must our bodies be made into battlegrounds? How long must the Earth be sacrificed at the altar of profit?
How long must we abide by an economy of disposability where Black, Indigenous, people of color, transgender, and disabled lives are traded for another’s right to exist, another’s claim of safety?
How long must this world run on stolen labor, stolen land, and stolen lives for the sake of greed and the lie of supremacy?
We lament the silence that has stretched too long, the complicity woven into our comforts, The slowness of our response when urgency was demanded. We grieve the gap between our values and our actions— between the pragmatic and the prophetic.
Forgive us for the times we have turned away. Forgive us when we have mistaken quiet for peace, and civility and decorum for justice.
But let this lament not be the end. Let our sorrow carve space for resolve. Let our tears water the seeds of uprising. Let our faith rise from the ashes—not innocent, but braver, wiser, more centered in love.
May we be a people who side with love. May we be a people who disrupt, who dismantle, and who dream. May we be a people who remember that we are always on the horizon of transformation, and there may we greet our collective liberation.
May it be so. Blessed be. Amen.
A lamentation for the first 100 days of this administration
We believe in a world where everyone is free and thriving. Where democracy is realized. Where bodies, our identities, and our Earth are honored and sacred. Where love is not just a feeling—but a force for liberation.
At Side With Love, we act on that belief every single day.
As we mark the first 100 days of this administration, we do so with full hearts. We lament the cruelty on display—from political repression to attacks on our rights and communities—but we also rejoice in the rising: the awakening of thousands to action, resistance, and the power of community.
Some days it feels like we’re walking through a storm with no map—moving through brutal winds of injustice and thick fogs of fear. But even in the storm, we carry something precious: a fire we refuse to let go out.
And that fire? You’ve helped tend it.
You’ve helped build a movement that doesn’t just react to the world as it is—but insists on the world as it could be.
Since the start of this year, we’ve:
🔥 Lit the path toward justice by planning our next big push with UU the Vote, launching a national survey and asset map to collectively and faithfully leverage our people power to meet this moment. ➡️ Take the Asset Map Survey and help grow our collective power. (Email love at uua.org to get the link.)
🌊 Risen with the tide by organizing across the country for reproductive freedom, trans liberation, climate action, and immigrant justice—through the Side With Love Action Center, your weekly hub for faithful action and political courage. ➡️ Visit the Action Center.
🌿 Transformed leadership into momentum by reimagining the Green Sanctuary program and nurturing networks of lay leaders through Trending SOIL, our spiritually grounded and strategically rich leadership development intensive. ➡️ Learn more about Tending SOIL and our leadership tools.
🌻 Expanded our circle by growing our canopy of collaboration—supporting UU coalitions on immigrant justice, deepening our commitment to reproductive justice through SACReD, resourcing Pink Haven, partnering with UUSJ on federal advocacy, and preparing a powerful Fall 2025 Reproductive Justice training series.
This is what Side With Love is about: not following one playbook, but listening deeply, shifting boldly, and responding with courage to what love demands—right now.
And I truly believe we are building something beautiful.
Not in spite of the struggle—but because of our fierce, faithful commitment to meet it with love, strategy, and imagination.
In a world that often feels heavy with injustice, we return to our spiritual roots for renewal, courage, and clarity. This May, Side With Love invites you to act in alignment with our deepest values—from marching for workers’ and immigrant rights on May Day, to gathering in community for reflection and strategy, to recommitting to climate justice and prophetic resistance. We invite you to connect, reflect, and take action—grounded in love, guided by faith, and held by community.
May 1st: May National Day of Action
On Thursday, May 1, join a local May Day National Day of Action! Find an event near you at maydaystrong.org. Join thousands of others who are resisting the defunding of our schools, the targeting of immigrant families, and the dismantling of public services. On May Day, we are fighting for our families, our rights, and our freedoms and for a future that works for working families.
In Support of Mohsen Mahdawi and All Imprisoned Student Activists
We join our beloveds in Vermont and beyond in supporting Mohsen Mahdawi, the latest university student to be imprisoned for his courageous opposition to the war in Gaza. These escalating attempts to criminalize peaceful protest and silence dissent—especially among young, immigrant, and marginalized voices—undermine the very foundation of our democracy.
Mahdawi’s story is deeply rooted in his Vermont community, including his relationship with the First Universalist Society of Hartland. This piece from Vermont Public offers a moving glimpse into his life and the love that surrounds him: Read the story.
We hold Mohsen and all imprisoned students in our hearts and prayers. Our commitment to the values of pluralism, justice, and equity compels us to speak out, show up, and remain steadfast in the face of repression. We echo the call to release all student activists.
The Gathering: Fortifying Ourselves for the Long Road Ahead
Join The Gathering, Side With Love’s monthly virtual event to strengthen your spirit, make sense of the threats to democracy, and take meaningful action alongside others.
This month at The Gathering, we will be anchored in the poetry of Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto and Side with Love’s Nicole Pressley will invite us into learning about strategy and what makes economic strategies like boycotts successful (or not!).
Congregational Sign-on: An Open Letter Rejecting Presidential Attacks on Nonprofit Organizations
The UUA has signed onto this open letter rejecting presidential attacks on nonprofit organizations, started by the ACLU.
From the letter: “This attack on nonprofits is not happening in a vacuum, but as a part of a wholesale offensive against organizations and individuals that advocate for ideas or serve communities that the president finds objectionable, and that seek to enforce the rule of law against the federal government. Whether the target is a church, an environmental or good government group, a refugee assistance organization, university, a law firm, or a former or current government official, weaponizing the executive branch to punish their speech or their views is illegal and wrong. It is also an attack on the very notion that government power must serve the people, not those in office.”
May 12th Deadline to Submit Actions of Immediate Witness (AIW)
An Action of Immediate Witness (AIW) is a statement about a significant action, event, or development in the world that necessitates immediate engagement and action among UU member congregations and groups.
The AIW process allows Unitarian Universalists to respond quickly to social issues deemed urgent. Adopted AIWs are used by congregations in local efforts and empower them to take action and recommend action through other departments of the UUA and other Unitarian Universalist groups.
Congregations may submit an AIW for consideration at General Assembly 2025. Deadline to submit is May 12th. Learn more.
Learn about the new Green Sanctuary Process & Materials
More manageable processes, less burden—and so much more!
All congregations are invited to recommit to their climate justice commitments by engaging with the newly revitalized Green Sanctuary 2030 process, which includes only one requirement for annual recognition.
We are moving away from the “one and done” accreditation model to an annual renewal process that celebrates incremental change and ongoing commitments. The goal is no longer accreditation—the goal is creating climate justice in our communities.
As Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt reminds us, “I am convinced that we are called to be a people of fierce love, committed to the work of justice, and grounded in the spiritual practices that sustain us.” May these events be fuel for your spirit and fire for your justice work. We’re grateful to be in this movement with you.
The Side With Love Team
May 2025 Update: Returning To Our Roots For Renewal
In April, Side With Love Organizing Strategy Director Nicole Pressley introduced a framework for analyzing to understand our power and what we are up against, predict what comes next, and plan our actions strategically. Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen invited us to think about a time we took a risk in line with our values, how that felt, and what made it possible. She invited us to reflect on our personal resiliency and the solidarity so deeply needed right now as we make sure to center those most targeted (and most at risk) by federal and state governments. Rev. Tania Marquez closed The Gathering with a somatic practice focusing on gentle touch and self-awareness.
Spring is celebrated in many spiritual traditions as a season of renewal—a time to awaken, to begin again. But renewal can feel elusive in moments like this, when each day seems to bring fresh attacks on the communities we love and belong to. In times of anxiety and fear, tending to our spirits can feel like a luxury. And yet, it’s more essential than ever.
We must care for ourselves and one another—not just to survive, but to sustain this work for the long haul. This, too, is sacred work.
At Side With Love, we believe that spiritual renewal and courageous action must walk hand in hand. That’s why each month we offer programming, resources, and opportunities designed to nourish your spirit and equip your community for bold, justice-rooted action.
April’s updates are full of invitations—to gather, to grow, to ground yourself. I hope you’ll take time to explore what’s offered, connect with what resonates, and stay rooted in this beloved movement for justice, love, and collective liberation.
Celebrate 35 Years of Green Sanctuary
For 35 years, Unitarian Universalists have been imagining renewal through the Green Sanctuary Program, a bold commitment to climate justice launched in 1989. Today, nearly 340 congregations are engaged in the revitalized Green Sanctuary 2030, focusing on continuous renewal and meaningful climate action.
Join us as we celebrate this legacy and look ahead with hope. On Wednesday, April 16 at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT, gather with President Sofia Betancourt for the Green Sanctuary 35th Anniversary Call for Renewal—a time to honor our movement’s past, reaffirm our shared commitments, and envision the future we long for.
The work we do together to build a world where all of us are free and thriving is deeply interconnected. When we ground our spirits, grow our skills, and act strategically for justice, we Side With Love.
That’s why every Tuesday, we update the Action Center Weekly Update—your go-to place for: ✅ Timely actions you can take ✅ Upcoming events to connect and mobilize ✅ Spiritual reflections to sustain our work
Join The Gathering – A Monthly Space for Grounding, Analysis, and Action
The Gathering is a new monthly virtual event from Side With Love, created to ground, inform, and mobilize UUs and partners in this critical moment. Each month, we come together for:
Spiritual Grounding – Strengthening our hearts and spirits for the work ahead
Political Analysis – Understanding the threats to democracy and justice
Collective Action – Organizing with others to counter anti-democratic forces and build a just and loving world
Join us every Second Monday of the month at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT. Our next gathering is April 14, 2025.
A Statement of Fierce, Unshakable Love: UUA Responds to Anti-Trans Proclamation
In these challenging times, when trans and nonbinary people are once again being targeted by political attacks disguised as policy, our Unitarian Universalist values call us to respond with clarity and courage.
Last week, the White House issued a Presidential Proclamation that shamefully labeled gender identity as a threat to children—perpetuating harmful, baseless rhetoric that endangers trans lives and undermines families. In response, the Unitarian Universalist Association issued a powerful public statement rejecting this hateful framing and reaffirming our unwavering commitment to the safety, dignity, and sacred worth of trans and nonbinary people.
“Affirming the inherent worthiness and belovedness of transgender people is an expression of our Unitarian Universalist faith,” the statement reads. “You were not made wrong—you were made sacred, and through you we are all made more whole.”
This is a moment to deepen our solidarity and take action. Read the full statement, share it with your networks, and consider supporting trans-led and affirming organizations named in the response. Our faith compels us to protect one another fiercely and to show up with love that cannot be shaken.
Upcoming SACReD Curriculum Facilitator Training – May 5–6 in New Orleans
Join the Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity (SACReD) for their upcoming Curriculum Facilitator Training on May 5–6 in New Orleans. This two-day training is designed for individuals looking to engage more deeply at the intersection of faith and reproductive dignity through SACReD’s powerful curriculum.
As always, thank you for being part of this movement to build a more just and equal world for us all. I look forward to seeing many of you at this months events as we embrace the call of this moment to both renewal and resistance.
April Events and Opportunities from Side With Love
On April 9, the Revival Planning Team offered this space to gather together with other UUs who are moving through the Rest, Celebrate, Reflect, Synthesize, Organize process following the Revival. Watch the recording here.
We were joined by Terry Welsher from the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Gwinnett. This informal gathering provided ample time for conversation and brainstorming next steps together.
For people who work on climate change, it can feel like we’re living through the apocalypse. We know how climate disruption is wreaking havoc on communities and threatening future generations, and still we wake up every day committed to the work of climate justice. I’m reading “The New Saints” by Lama Rod Owens right now, and I have been meditating on his reflection that:
Living through the apocalypse feels . . . like making plans for tomorrow while having little faith that there will be a tomorrow. It is the feeling of the bottom falling out from under me. . . but I believe the apocalypse is a blessing. There’s nothing like a crisis to wake us up and force us to start getting serious about change.
Although I struggle to call what’s happening with climate policy a “blessing”, I do agree that this crisis is a clear call for renewed commitments and strategic actions.
As a people of faith, we are uniquely poised to meet the challenging realities and overwhelm them with community care, and the UUA has resources to help your congregation meet the moment.
We’ve completely revitalized the Green Sanctuary 2030 materials for more action, less paperwork. The goal is no longer accreditation - the goal is creating climate justice in our communities. With just ONE requirement for yearly recognition, now is a perfect time to renew your climate justice commitments. The new materials are grounded in UU values and echo the UU Climate Justice Revival’s call to Reimagine Our Community Thriving, Ground in Our Context, Explore Opportunities, and more.
Here are a few opportunities to connect with other UUs committed to climate justice and fortify your souls:
Lama Rod encourages us that “to meet the apocalypse, you must embody an intention that this experience will not consume you, that this experience is calling you into a deeper labor of transformation and creativity.”
Get to know the new Green Sanctuary! Green Sanctuary orientations provide an overview of the process and allow for plenty of time to get all of your questions answered. Come learn how to transform your congregation through climate justice.
So you held a Climate Justice Revival.... now what? Come together with other UUs who are also moving through the Rest, Celebrate, Reflect, Synthesize, Organize process following the Revival. Learn together! Make Connections! Move Climate Justice forward together. This informal gathering will provide ample time for conversation and brainstorming next steps together.
Image description: A green gradient background with specks of light, with a head and shoulders photo of Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt in a flower frame and bold, stylized flowers in pink, yellow, and green. Green Sanctuary 35th Anniversary and Call for Renewal. Wednesday, April 16, 4pm PT, 5pm MT, 6pm CT, 7pm ET.
Celebrate 35 years of Green Sanctuary and renew your congregation's commitment! Join President Sofía and friends to celebrate this impactful and transformative program that has organized UUs to take action on climate for 35 years, and learn about the new Green Sanctuary process that will carry our faith through the coming years. All are welcome! Renew your commitment to faith based actions that advance climate justice in our communities.
Get to know the new Green Sanctuary! Green Sanctuary orientations provide an overview of the process and allow for plenty of time to get all of your questions answered. Come learn how to transform your congregation through climate justice.
Learn how one of our Green Sanctuary teams is working through the new Green Sanctuary materials! Released in February 2024, the new materials are designed to be more manageable, accessible, and impactful for our congregations. Join us on May 21 to learn how the materials are being used by your fellow UUs! --- Come together for shared learning and mutual supports with other UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice. Green Sanctuary community meetings take place on the third Wednesday of the month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET for 90 minutes.
On March 12, the Revival Planning Team offered this space to gather together with other UUs who are moving through the Rest, Celebrate, Reflect, Synthesize, Organize process following the Revival. Watch the recording here.
Andrew Batcher shared about organizing a Revival that brought together multiple UU congregations. This informal gathering provided ample time for conversation and brainstorming next steps together.
This is the only space specifically held for Revivaling congregations. It's your community! We're so grateful for everyone who attended the first Revival Community of Practice, and we look forward to learning, sharing ideas, and building community with you all again at the next Community of Practice on April 9 at 7pm ET. After receiving feedback from folks, we've decided to extend the meeting to be 90 minutes to allow for more full conversations. RSVP today!
As we mark the beginning of spring, we're excited to share a variety of offerings that we hope will nourish you and help sustain your commitment to collective liberation and justice this month.
Responding to the Anti-Trans Movement: A Course for UUs
This concise on-demand course consists of three sessions: trans 101, what you need to know about the anti-trans movement, and how to ensure your congregation is truly trans welcoming. Each session includes a 25- to 35-minute video and accompanying resources.
It’s perfect for UUs who are looking to level up their understanding of the current political assault on trans people, how to respond to anti-trans information, and how to create more safety and belonging for trans people and our families in their congregations. Learn more here.
s course is not meant to replace our existing 6-session program Trans Inclusion in Congregations. It does make a great add-on to that more in-depth program, either as an entry point or as a continuation. It's priced for individual purchase but anyone who'd like to use it in a group setting is encouraged to email us to discuss a nominal/equitable fee.
Defend Trans Lives: A Webinar for People of Faith
This webinar, offered twice (on March 25 and April 8), is geared toward pro-LGBTQ Christians (but is open to all people of faith), presented in partnership with Enfleshed and Soulforce. Prior to the webinar registrants will receive essential background info from trans faith leaders and national trans advocates from the Transgender Law Center, the National LGBTQ Task Force, the Human Rights Campaign, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, and more. On the webinar, speakers will discuss the moral and spiritual imperative to defend trans lives and how attendees can take action in the public square and in their own churches and faith communities. Learn more here.
UPLIFT Trans/Nonbinary+ Monthly Gathering
Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings focused on trans, nonbinary, and other not (completely or at all) cis UUs. Join us to connect with other trans/nonbinary UUs and co-create support and community across our faith. All you need to bring is yourself (and other trans/nonbinary friends, if you’d like)!
This intentionally multi-generational gathering is open to and welcoming of trans/nonbinary elders as well as children, youth, and young adults. NOTE: There may be cisgender people present as parents supporting their 13-and-younger-child's presence in the space, as tech support, or as captioners. Standard UUA online safety measures apply to ensure all people under 18 are able to attend. We're glad to have you here!
Closed captioning will be available, and any common chat content will also be spoken aloud. Participants are encouraged to be mindful of processing and communication access, and speak one at a time. The meeting will not be recorded, and participation, as well as what is shared, will be confidential. There is no requirement to appear on video or to otherwise maintain “conventional” appearances. Any additional accessibility needs? Email lgbtq@uua.org. Register here.
UUA Transgender Day of Visibility Service
Join us for an hour-long UPLIFT Trans Day of Visibility Service hosted by the UUA on Friday, March 28, 2025 at 4 ET/1 PT. We will have time and space to celebrate who we are and show our support and love for each other as trans/nonbinary+ UUs and friends. All supporters and members of this community are welcome to attend!
Logistical and accessibility information: This is an all-ages event, and chaplain support will be available during our time together. We will have CART captions with a transcript and ASL interpretation. Visual descriptions will be integrated into our time together. This is an actively anti-racist and anti-oppressive space, and we strive to ensure all are included.
Do you have any needs that can help increase you access to this event, or other community events? Please reach out to lgbtq@uua.org, and we will do our best to accommodate. Register here. *This will be a youth/child centered, multigenerational, and accessible space.
UPLIFT Trans/Nonbinary+ Pastoral Small Group
What is pastoral care, exactly? Pastoral care is support with navigating life—big and small things, joys and hardships and all those mixed together. It’s not therapy, but a way for us to be in community together, supporting each other. This is a space to share the hard stuff and to hold the hard stuff that others are navigating in their lives.
During our time together, our lead chaplain/facilitators will share opening and closing words, and in between, there is time for everyone to share what's on their hearts, and receive what others are sharing about their own lives. It's a supportive, judgment-free place to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ people.
This year, the pastoral space is for adults only. If you’re a child or a youth and you’d like to have a space to talk about the hard stuff, let us know by registering for the pastoral space and putting a note in the comments. When we have enough children and youth registered, we’ll plan for opening additional spaces for different ages. And stay tuned for additional opportunities for children and youth to connect—we’re working on this!
Programming is trauma-informed. Closed captioning will be available, and any common chat content will also be spoken aloud. Please be mindful of processing and communication access, and speak one at a time. Meeting will not be recorded, and participation, as well as what is shared, will be confidential. There is no requirement to appear on video or to otherwise maintain “conventional” appearances. Any additional accessibility needs? Let us know by emailing lgbtq@uua.org! We’ll do our best to ensure you can fully access the space. Register here.
Spiritual Support for Reproductive Experiences: 6-Week Online Course
For two decades, All-Options has provided trainings on open-hearted, nonjudgmental counseling for pregnancy, parenting, abortion, and adoption. Our Faith Aloud spiritual care line has trained volunteers and provided spiritual support for hundreds of callers over the last decade. Drawing on our robust counseling expertise, we are excited to announce a new round of training: Spiritual Support & Counseling for Reproductive Experiences!
This training is designed for people with some level of education and/or experience in providing spiritual care. Please register only if you are already familiar with what it means to provide spiritual support in a vocational setting, which includes but is not limited to chaplaincy, parish/congregational ministry, and faith-based non-profit settings. Register here.
Building Beloved Community Beyond the Binary
Since 2017, First Unitarian Universalist Society of Syracuse has hosted an annual transformative conference supporting transgender inclusion and spiritual growth in Unitarian Universalism. Learn more about this year's conference here.
A SACReD Journey: Curriculum and Facilitator Training
Become SACReD Journey Curriculum Facilitator! This 12-hour training will prepare you to facilitate the SACReD curriculum for your congregation, faithful organization, or curious community.
Trained facilitators will be ready to lead a curriculum that:
deepens understanding of Reproductive Justice,
engages complex theological approaches to liberation and systemic oppression,
introduces practices of healing, and strengthens our community organizing.
SACReD is able to provide 10 scholarships for the May 2025 training. Scholarships will cover the cost of the registration and two nights in the training hotel. Breakfast and lunch is included as part of the training (May 5-6). Scholarship Recipients will be responsible for their travel to & from New Orleans. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis. Learn more here.
Build Community and Take Action for Reproductive and Gender Justice
These are trying times. And yet, in the midst of uncertainty, I find deep inspiration in the collective action of people of faith—especially Unitarian Universalists—across the nation. The poet and activist Audre Lorde reminds us:
"When we speak, we are afraid our words will not be heard nor welcomed. But when we are silent, we are still afraid. So it is better to speak."
This is our call—to take action, protect those being targeted, and resist the rising tide of injustice with all that we have. And the truth is, we’re already doing it. Even when the impact isn’t always visible at the national level, people are showing up, organizing, and making a difference in communities across the country. That is something to hold onto. That is reason for hope.
At Side With Love, we are committed to supporting, organizing, and equipping UUs for this work. This month’s email highlights events, resources, and opportunities to sustain us as we move forward together. I hope you’ll take time to explore, find what resonates, and continue being part of this movement for justice, love, and collective liberation.
Celebrate 35 Years of Green Sanctuary
For 35 years, Unitarian Universalists have been imagining renewal through the Green Sanctuary Program, a bold commitment to climate justice launched in 1989. Today, nearly 340 congregations are engaged in the revitalized Green Sanctuary 2030, focusing on continuous renewal and meaningful climate action.
Join us as we celebrate this legacy and look ahead with hope. On Wednesday, April 16 at 7 PM ET / 4 PM PT, gather with President Sofia Betancourt for the Green Sanctuary 35th Anniversary Call for Renewal—a time to honor our movement’s past, reaffirm our shared commitments, and envision the future we long for. 🔗 RSVP today!
Growing Leaders, Growing Justice: Tending SOIL in UU Communities
How do we cultivate stronger, more effective justice leaders in our UU congregations? Tending SOIL is Side With Love’s leadership development program, equipping UUs with the skills, organizing strategies, and spiritual grounding needed to advance justice.
In our latest blog post, we explore the impact of Tending SOIL through the experiences of congregations across 13 states. Plus, Rev. Brandan Robertson sits down with Rev. Cathy Rion Starr and Rev. Ranwa Hammamy for an inspiring conversation about grassroots organizing and the future of UU justice leadership. 🔗 Read the blog & watch the interview here.
Take Action with Us
The work we do together to build a world where all of us are free and thriving is deeply interconnected. When we ground our spirits, grow our skills, and act strategically for justice, we Side With Love.
That’s why every Tuesday, we update the Action Center Weekly Update—your go-to place for: ✅ Timely actions you can take ✅ Upcoming events to connect and mobilize ✅ Spiritual reflections to sustain our work
Join The Gathering – A Monthly Space for Grounding, Analysis, and Action
The Gathering is a new monthly virtual event from Side With Love, created to ground, inform, and mobilize UUs and partners in this critical moment. Each month, we come together for:
Spiritual Grounding – Strengthening our hearts and spirits for the work ahead
Political Analysis – Understanding the threats to democracy and justice
Collective Action – Organizing with others to counter anti-democratic forces and build a just and loving world
Join us every Second Monday of the month at 8 PM ET / 5 PM PT. Our next gathering is April 14, 2025.
Join President Sofía Betancourt in Washington DC on Wednesday, March 26
Join UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt and national faith leaders for a powerful, nonpartisan vigil calling on Congressional leaders to uphold their responsibility as a check and balance and to advance the common good.
Our nation faces a growing constitutional crisis impacting communities nationwide. Faith leaders from diverse traditions will unite to offer prayers and compelling calls for courageous action from our elected officials.
When: Wednesday, 12:00 PM Where: Upper Senate Park, Area 8 (virtual option available) Register here: Sojo.net/Witness Join us as we raise our collective voices and speak truth to power. Together, we can make a difference.
📍 Faithful Witness Wednesday 📅 March 26, 12 PM ET 📍 U.S. Capitol, Washington, D.C.
Side With Love & UUSJ Condemn FY 25 Continuing Resolution
On March 15, Side With Love and Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) issued a joint statement condemning the passage of H.R. 1968, the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act of 2025. This budget is a moral failure—gutting public services, enabling mass deportations, and prioritizing billionaires over everyday Americans.
As people of faith, we refuse to remain silent while our communities suffer and our democracy is eroded. We call on our leaders to demonstrate the same courage that everyday people are showing in the fight for justice.
"Spirit of Life and Love, Be with us in this time, as people suffer, as parents grieve, as violence rages. Be with us who feel the pain of loss, who feel anger at injustice. Be with the oppressed and change the heart of the oppressor, for we know that both are joined in their humanity, no matter how often we forget it. Help us remember the hope we had, the hope we have, and the hope we will have; help us remember joy in the midst of sadness, success in the midst of challenge, and good things in the midst of bad. Help us to be better people, to work for better things, and to create a better world. Amen."
As always, thank you for being part of this movement. Together, we organize, resist, and build a world rooted in love and justice. I look forward to seeing many of you at these upcoming events.
March news: faithful action for climate justice, democracy, and decriminalization.
Huge thanks to Deb and Sheila from the UU Church of Berkeley for talking through the ways their congregation Explored the Possibilities for Mitigation using the new materials! We enjoyed a robust discussion about the new materials and the ways the UU Climate Justice Revival works together with the revitalized Green Sanctuary Materials.
The new Green Sanctuary 2030 materials are designed for more action, less paperwork! Instead of a process where teams have to report a ton of information to the UUA, the new materials are here to support your congregation. As one presenter said, “Having this plan gave me confidence. I never would have attempted anything so ambitious without the support of this plan.” If you haven’t downloaded the new materials, check them out!
Mark your calendars for the upcoming Green Sanctuary Celebration and Call for Renewal with President Sofía on April 16 from 7-8:30 ET. RSVP today!
If you had to leave early or weren’t able to make it, you can watch the video or review the slides and materials shared.
Films they mentioned include: 2040 and The Letter: A Message from Our Earth, Additionally, they featured a Zoom presentation featuring two physicians who spoke on the topic of "Healthy Air for All: Time for Action."
To get a more complete orientation to the new Green Sanctuary Materials and Process and the ways they can support your congregation,
Get to know the new Green Sanctuary! Green Sanctuary orientations provide an overview of the process and allow for plenty of time to get all of your questions answered. Come learn how to transform your congregation through climate justice.
So you held a Climate Justice Revival....now what? Come together with other UUs who are also moving through the Rest, Celebrate, Reflect, Synthesize, Organize process following the Revival. Learn together! Make Connections! Move Climate Justice forward together. This informal gathering will provide ample time for conversation and brainstorming next steps together.
Green Sanctuary 35th Anniversary Call for Renewal with President Sofía Betancourt April 16, 2025 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET Celebrate 35 years of Green Sanctuary and renew your congregation's commitment! Join President Sofía and friends to celebrate this impactful and transformative program that has organized UUs to take action on climate for 35 years, and learn about the new Green Sanctuary process that will carry our faith through the coming years. All are welcome! Renew your commitment to faith based actions that advance climate justice in our communities.
Recording and Resources: Working with the New Green Sanctuary Materials - March 19, 2025
Tending SOIL is a program developed by Side With Love (SWL) to build leadership skills and effective local teams among Unitarian Universalist congregations to advance our shared values. The SOIL acronym stands for Skills, Organizing, Interdependence, and Liberation.
The program debuted last year, but built on the foundation of Side With Love’s previous organizing schools in 2020 and 2022 to create an opportunity for participants who had shown their commitment to action through other SWL activities to gain more advanced leadership skills.
Seventeen congregations across 13 states participated in SOIL last year, which involved two to five people committing to the full program per congregation. Participants first gathered online in February, attended monthly online learning activities, convened for three days in May, and completed three or more self-directed learning activities over six months.
Each participating congregation was asked to fund the training program on a sliding scale of $5 per congregation member, meaning a team from a 100-member UU congregation was expected to raise $500. This was done both to help cover some of the expenses involved in developing and offering the SOIL program (about $30,000 total), and because fundraising is integral to effective organizing.
Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, Side With Love’s Congregational Organizer, and Rev Cathy Rion Starr, SWL Leadership Development Specialist, also wanted the investment for its own sake. They knew financial investment was also a way to help ensure participants had established relationships with their minister and congregational leaders / board), creating a stronger foundation for their work at home. Each participating team chose how to raise the funds which could come from their operating budget, ministers’ discretionary fund, fundraising, or personal contributions.
The Tending Soil components are:
Skills: Personalized Skill Building by learning & practicing 2-3 organizing skills/practices (connected to existing Side with Love resources)
Organizing Plans: Develop your Vision, Goals, & Organizing Plan for electoral and issue-based campaign work, begin to implement it, and reflect on it in our learning community
Interdependence: Put relationality at the center of your team’s organizing and build a faithful community of peers
Liberation: Root deeply in our Unitarian Universalist values, working in solidarity with the people and communities most impacted by injustice to gain liberation.
During the SOIL program, the Stop Cop City campaign served as a case study that encompassed a spectrum of Side With Love justice priorities.
While the inaugural six-month program concluded, communication with participating teams is ongoing. Early responses from participants were enthusiastic. Lora Powell-Haney, interim Director of Religious Education at Mount Vernon Unitarian Church in Virginia. said, “The collaborative nature of the training has shaped how I do the family ministry work and now made me ready to be a resource for congregations as they organize beyond their walls.” Diane Lange of Olympia Brown UU Church in Racine, Wisconsin, reported, “Becoming better at celebrating effort and building community was a definite result of attending the SOIL program.”
The SWL facilitators will assess the impact of SOIL to improve on any future offering by asking a range of questions, including:
Did congregational teams engage in a campaign back home?
Have they recruited new volunteers & trained new leaders?
Are participants asking for the program to be repeated?
Look for information on ongoing training and skills development opportunities from Side With Love in email updates and social media.
In this insightful conversation, Side With Love's Senior Communications Manager Rev. Brandan Robertson sits down with Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, Side With Love’s Congregational Organizer, and Rev Cathy Rion Starr, SWL Leadership Development Specialist, to explore Tending SOIL, a transformative leadership development program from Side With Love.
You can watch or listen to the recording of The Gathering on March 10, 2025, read the transcript, or view the slides
The Gathering is a new monthly virtual event from Side With Love, designed to offer:
Spiritual Grounding – Strengthen your heart and spirit for the work ahead.
Political Analysis – Understand the threats to democracy and justice.
Collective Action – Organize with others to block anti-democratic forces and build a just and loving world.
Our launch on March 10 was led by Side With Love Staff Nicole Pressley and Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, with Katia Hansen sharing about the immigration context, and Rev. Lane-Mairead Campbell sharing lessons on showing up for and with trans folks in Western New York. bēheld grounded us with live singing.
We hope you will come to our next Gathering on Monday, April 14thand bring a friend!
In our Sacred Circles worksheet, we encourage individuals to reflect on these three questions:
What brings me joy?
What do I have to Offer?
What does my community need?
Image description of the Sacred Circles Worksheet: "Sacred Circles" is a flier with graphic flowers at the top. Most of the page is three colorful circles overlapping with "Love" in the center. One circle reads "What my community needs." Another circle reads "What Brings Me Joy," and the third circle reads "What I have to Offer." "Hope" is also written where the circles overlap.
The Gathering: Webinar Recording and Resources, March 10, 2025
In last week’s Action Center Update, I shared a quote from Ruha Benjamin, who encourages us to:
"Remember to imagine and craft the worlds you cannot live without, just as you dismantle the ones you cannot live within."
As the world increasingly feels like one we cannot live within, reimagining a world where all communities thrive is an act of joyful resistance—and it’s strategic. If we don’t know where we want to go, we’ll be derailed by all sorts of distractions.
The UU Climate Justice Revival, Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era, offers a clear call to all UUs to reimagine our communities thriving, and we do that reimagining together. Even though every blip on the news ratchets up my anxiety, every minute spent in community nourishes my spirit and refreshes my soul for the critical work of climate justice.
Community is both a balm and a buoy in these troubling times. Fortunately, there are several opportunities for you to come together for shared learning and mutual support with UUs committed to transforming our communities through climate justice.
The monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 meetings, the Climate Justice Revival Community of Practice, and The Gathering are all great ways to connect, ground in our faith, and mobilize for action.
Image description: Rachel is standing in front of greenery with brown, slightly curly hair to her shoulders, wearing glasses and a heathered blue Create Climate Justice t-shirt.
Be well, friends,
Rachel
Rachel Myslivy, UUA Climate Justice Strategist
More Action, Less Paperwork: the new Green Sanctuary 2030 materials!
The Green Sanctuary: Mobilizing for Climate Justice materials and process have been completely revitalized to encourage:
More action, less paperwork
More congregational support, less UUA approval
More manageable processes, less burden—and so much more!
All congregations are invited to recommit to their climate justice commitments by engaging with the newly revitalized Green Sanctuary 2030 process, which includes only one requirement for annual recognition.
We are moving away from the “one and done” accreditation model to an annual renewal process that celebrates incremental change and ongoing commitments. The goal is no longer accreditation—the goal is creating climate justice in our communities.
Event graphic with a light green background and the UUCB logo, a green and yellow painted circle enclosing a tree with leafy branches beneath a sun. Green and black text reads, "Working with the New Green Sanctuary Materials. Wednesday, March 19 at 4 PT / 5 MT / 6 CT / 7 ET. UU Church of Berkeley." The Side With Love and Green Sanctuary 2030 logos are below the text.
📅 Green Sanctuary 35th Anniversary & Call for Renewal
April 16, 2025 | 4 PT / 5 MT / 6 CT / 7 ET (90 minutes)
This year, we are celebrating 35 years of Green Sanctuary, starting with the revitalization of the process.
Whether your congregation was previously accredited or has never engaged, this event will celebrate and honor the work of the many organizations, individuals, and congregations that have shaped our denomination’s response to climate justice.
It will also include a healthy dose of hope, optimism, and faith—which we could all use right now!
Image description: green background with light flashes, decorated with bold, stylized cut out flowers in pink, yellow, and green. Black text reads "Green Sanctuary 35th Anniversary and Call for Renewal. Wednesday, April 16 at 4 PT / 7 ET" with the Side With Love and Green Sanctuary Logos beneath. To the right of the image is a photo of UUA President Rev. Dr Sofia Betancourt with her name and title in white below.
What’s Next After the Revival? Join the Community of Practice!
Thousands of UUs in over 380 congregations have hosted or are planning to host the UU Climate Justice Revival. Reports of its transformational impact continue to roll in, and congregations are working together to carry this momentum forward into justice ministries.
If you’ve done your Revival and aren’t sure where to go next, check out this handy documentand sign up to join the March Community of Practice.
Revival Community of Practice
📅 March 12, 2025 | 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM ET
This is a great way to connect with other Revivaling congregations for shared learning and mutual support.
Event graphic with a white background and "Climate Justice Revival" in a rainbow circle with smaller bubbles branching out that say, "Rest, Celebrate, Reflect, Synthesize, Organize," surrounding by swirling flowers and leaves. Text to the right reads, "What's Next after Our Revival? Community of Practice for Revivaling Congregations. February 12 - March 12 - April 9. 4 PT - 5 MT - 6 CT - 7 ET." The UU Climate Justice Revival logo is beneath the text.
This month, Andrew Batcher will share how he organized a Revival across multiple UU congregations—a great option for expanding your Revival’s impact. A clear next move from the Revival is to bring more folks into the dialogs! Learn how Andrew facilitated multiple congregations’ engagement in one Revival, then think about how you might host a Revival with interfaith partners or other UUs in your city, state, or region!
After the initial presentation, we’ll break into small groups based on whatever you want to talk about—this is your space, so you decide what needs discussion!
This year’s UUMFE Earth Day Service will feature Courtney Fishback, one of the UU Climate Justice Revival Art Contest winners. Together, we will imagine a world bright with kindness, joy, and climate justice for all.
Written worship materials will be available by March 1, 2025, for congregational or group use. A donation is requested for those materials.
With Love at the center of our faith, we can embody our shared value of generosity by clearly identifying the resources we hold and can offer to our community. Congregations of all sizes are fundamentally hubs of Love’s resources: the people who make up our membership, the infrastructure we build to serve our mission, the values we hold in common and our commitment to realizing them in the world, and the relationships we nurture with one another and our communities. Because of the inherent richness within our congregations, we play a crucial role in the ecosystem of local organizing and justice-making.
Congregations can be wellsprings of significant resources for their communities, both in ongoing and emergent ways. The more authentic and mutual our relationships are with community partners, the more effectively we can share our assets with those who share our values and goals. By practicing generosity, we honor the interdependence that has the power to transform our world with justice and Love.
Since we were last in touch, we celebrated the incredible work of UU congregations in 2024 and how our congregations are shifting and growing to attend to the shifting political terrain. Like so many, we are at an inflection point, discerning our collective pathway moving forward. Since our launch in late 2019, UU the Vote has been a vehicle for UUs to take collective action to strengthen the promise, the practice, and the process of democracy. We built meaningful relationships with partner organizations and contacted millions of potential voters. Now, we are in the process of reflecting on and evaluating our shared work ahead.
We want to hear from you – the people who have supported, participated and led UU democracy organizing and actions.
Our work has always been shaped by conversations with organizers, congregational groups, and individuals committed to expanding democracy to work for the many, not the few, while confronting the rise of authoritarianism.
In this critical moment, we want to hear from you! Please take our brief survey about the future of UU the Vote.
Leadership Update
Our Democracy Strategist, Nora Rasman, who joined the team in December 2023 is having a baby and will be going on parental leave this Spring. In her absence, we are thrilled to be joined by Josie Mitz who will be working with us over the next few months to offer strategic support and engagement on our democracy work. You can read more about Josie below and expect to see her at UU the Vote events and in the UUTV Facebook page soon.
Image description: Josie Mitz is smiling energetically while riding a colorful carousel horse.
Josie Mitz (she/her) joins the UUA team as the new UUTV Strategy Support. Since 2018, Josie has been involved in electoral campaigns, working on every aspect of races, from volunteering and organizing to managing two campaigns.
Recently, she managed two special election races to fill vacancies in the Delaware State Senate and led the statewide field program to elect the first trans member of Congress, Sarah McBride.
Outside of work, Josie is a passionate supporter of the WNBA and other professional women’s sports. She and her fiancée, Casey, live in Tempe, Arizona, with their dog, Panda.
Onwards together, UU the Vote
P.S. Looking for a place to gather with other UUs to make sense of this moment? Please join us for The Gathering, Side with Love’s new monthly virtual space for inspiration, connection and action. This is a space for UUs to learn, grow, and work for justice together. We’ll talk about the challenges we face, find strength for the work ahead, and take steps toward a better world. Register here.
Help us build what's next for UU the Vote! + Big News
Throughout history, people of faith and conscience have come together to resist injustice and build a better world. From the Montgomery Bus Boycott to the mass movements that brought down apartheid, collective action fueled by courage, love, and resilience has changed the course of history.
Now, it’s our time.
The Gathering is a new monthly virtual event from Side With Love, designed to offer:
Spiritual Grounding – Strengthen your heart and spirit for the work ahead.
Political Analysis – Understand the threats to democracy and justice.
Collective Action – Organize with others to block anti-democratic forces and build a just and loving world.
Like those who came before us, we must be ready—ready to resist injustice, protect democracy, and create a future where love and dignity prevail. The Gathering is a space to find inspiration, connect with others, and take action that matters.
📅 First Gathering: March 10 📍 Online – Register Now
The political terrain has shifted, but our North Star remains the same. Join us as we root ourselves in love and harness our power to rise together for justice.
In faith and solidarity, Side With Love
P.S. Side With Love has created a practical toolkit to support organizers, congregations, and individuals in their justice work. Download the Grounded, Resilient, and Responsible toolkit here.
The Gathering – Rooted in Love, Rising for Justice
The Green Sanctuary 2030 materials have been revised and updated to better serve the needs of our dynamic congregations. On February 19, we gathered at our Green Sanctuary Community Meeting to learn all about it and how these materials can help you advance climate justice and cultivate thriving communities. Watch the recording here.
As people of faith and conscience, we are called to be bold in love, steadfast in our values, and unwavering in our commitment to justice. In the face of growing authoritarianism, fear, and division, we must respond—not with despair, but with courage, resilience, and collective power.
That’s why Side With Love invites you to join us on Tuesday, March 4 at 7pm ET/4pm PT for
Webinar
Grounded, Resilient, and Responsible: Responding and Organizing in Authoritarian Times
This moment calls for us to be deeply grounded in our values, resilient in the face of challenges, and responsible stewards of justice. Together, we will explore:
✅ Simple tips on communicating safely in public and on private channels ✅ Strategies for responding in crisis moments ✅ Practical tools for organizing and resisting authoritarianism
Join us for powerful stories from the organizers who helped write the Grounded, Resilient, and Responsible toolkit. Learn how these tips can help you meet this moment.
Now more than ever, we must show up for one another. Join us to deepen your commitment, strengthen your skills, and stand in solidarity for a just and liberated future.
We are in a critical moment. Power is being consolidated in the hands of the few, while attacks on democracy, bodily autonomy, and human dignity escalate. But nothing is inevitable. Justice movements are powered by people like you—people who organize, resist, and build a loving and liberated world.
Through this hub, we offer guidance and resources on how to take action now, support each other, and build a resilient community that stands firm in the face of uncertainty.
On February 12, the Revival Planning Team offered this space to gather together with other UUs who are moving through the Rest, Celebrate, Reflect, Synthesize, Organize process following the Revival. This informal gathering provided ample time for conversation and brainstorming next steps together. Watch the recording here.
This is the only space specifically held for Revivaling congregations. It's your community! We're so grateful for everyone who attended the first Revival Community of Practice, and we look forward to learning, sharing ideas, and building community with you all again at the next Community of Practice on March 12 at 7ET. After receiving feedback from folks, we've decided to extend the meeting to be 90 minutes to allow for more full conversations. RSVP today!
We are on new terrain, but the work remains the same. Side With Love proclaims the power of love to end oppression and build a just and loving world where we all thrive. In this final week of 30 Days of Love, we honor Black History Month at a moment when this administration seeks to resegregate America and establish and enforce a global racial hierarchy. This week's theme is a bold proclamation of sacred and revolutionary truth: there are Black people in the future. What becomes possible when we inhabit this prophecy of Black resilience and liberation in our lives today?
These words from Interdisciplinary Artist and Cultural Producer Alisha B Wormsley are a declaration of resilience, commitment to solidarity, and insistence that victory is ours! It is a refusal to accept the erasure of Black existence, imagination, and liberation. It is a call to action for Unitarian Universalists and all people of faith and conscience to engage in the sacred work of co-creating a future where Black lives thrive.
At its core, "there are Black people in the future" disrupts all narratives of disposability, which sanction discrimination, inequity, injustice, and genocide. It offers instead a vision of boundless possibility. As a faith committed to justice and love, this theme challenges us to ask: What are we doing today to ensure a just and liberated future for Black people? Are we confronting the systems that perpetuate harm? Are we uplifting Black leadership, creativity, and wisdom? Are we actively dismantling white supremacy within and beyond our communities? Who must we be? What must we do? What transformation unfolds today if Black life and thriving are the promises of our future? What will you put into practice today to fulfill this promise?
May we move forward with courage, faith, and unwavering love. The future is now, and Black liberation is the path to collective liberation. Let us build it together.
Side With Love is working across partnerships, coalitions, and staff teams at the UUA to bring you current and accurate information on the many pressing issues related to this Administration's unjust and unconstitutional actions. This requires legal support, following the lead of the most impacted, and refining systems for consistent learning and action. We thank you for your patience as we navigate this chaotic political moment together. Below are three offerings that are coming soon to support your communities in showing up in our collective struggle for justice.
Grounded, Resilient, & Responsible Toolkit
We will provide helpful guidance to navigate political action in our current climate. As we all discern our risk in answering the call to side with love, this tool will support you in aligning our intentions with our impact for more strategic and deliberate social justice organizing. The focus will be safety, effective partnership, solidarity, and messaging. Use this guide to discern how you engage on social media, better understand the strategy and safety of protests and direct action, and how to use tactics effectively—coming end of February.
Side With Love Action Center
Help harness our power by joining in learning and action opportunities with Side With Love and coalition partners. The Action Center will provide weekly updates, issue analysis, and actions to take on issues related to immigration, LGBTQ justice, climate, and democracy. You will find these opportunities on the Side With Love homepage and via email. Subscribe here to get the Action Center alerts in your inbox. Coming end of February
Side With Love Monthly Meeting
As 30 Days of Love comes to a close, we are launching a monthly national call for faithful, grounded, and powerful organizing. This moment demands our attention, our action, and collective care. Join us monthly to root in our values, get updates and analysis on the political and organizing terrain, and move into prophetic action. Together, we will harness the power of love to end oppression and build a loving and just world where we all thrive. Launching early March.
Week Four of 30 Days of Love 2025: There are Black People in the Future
Mní Wičóni. Water is life. This sacred truth, which echoed around the world as the Standing Rock Sioux Nation led the movement to resist the construction of the Dakota Access Pipeline across the Missouri River, reveres the interdependence that defines all of our existence. In both the original Lakota and translated English, Mní Wičóni (Water is life) reminds us that honoring our connections to the elements—the air, the land, the water—transforms our communities. When we fully embrace water not just as a resource for life but as the source of life, we shift from extracting its power to tending to it with reverence. Water—life—is no longer a commodity or an obstacle but instead accompanies us as a close relative.
Mní Wičóni, Water is life, is not just an anthem of resistance against the devastation and violence that colonization continues to inflict upon this world. Yes, to declare “water is life” is to demand an end to the pipelines and mines that destroy ancestral lands, as well as the deadly pollution of waterways and neighborhoods caused by chemical plants and industrial agriculture. But it is also a message of healing and hope, grounded in the wisdom of communities that have endured and persevered through the worst of humanity. It is sacred guidance—an invitation to all of us—to not only end the harm we have caused but to restore the gratitude and care inherent in the ecosystems to which we belong.
Check out Week Three offerings for 30 Days of Love 2025! We have ways to take action, something to watch, three activities for families, a body practice, journaling practice, and a creative practice.
On January 29, we held our annual Celebration for our Active Green Sanctuary Teams to come together to share what they’re working on. It’s a fast-paced, inspirational review of all the good work our congregations are doing.
View the chat feed, with more stories and suggestions
Recommended Resources
Green Sanctuary: subscribe to receive updates, join the process, RSVP for upcoming events, and more
Upcoming Green Sanctuary Community Meetings
Image description: Graphic of the Green Sanctuary meeting spring schedule with text bubbles on a background of crocuses and a pink snail, yellow daffodil, and the Green Sanctuary chalice with a leaf flame. Text reads, “Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings. 3rd Wednesdays. 4 PT - 5 MT - 6 CT - 7 ET. Jan. 29, Green Sanctuary Team Celebration. Feb. 19, Green Sanctuary New Materials Release. Mar. 19, Working with the New Green Sanctuary Materials. Apr. 16, Green Sanctuary 35th Anniversary & Call for Renewal. May 21, Working with the New Green Sanctuary Materials."
The Green Sanctuary 2030 materials have been revised and updated to better serve the needs of our dynamic congregations.
Join the February Green Sanctuary Community meeting to learn all about it and how these materials can help you advance climate justice and cultivate thriving communities.
March 19, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM CT and May 21, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM CT
In February, we released the new Green Sanctuary materials which are designed to be more manageable, accessible, and impactful for all congregations! During our March and May meetings, we'll feature one of the Green Sanctuary teams working through the materials. Learn from each other and build community!
Celebrate 35 years of Green Sanctuary and renew your congregation's commitment! Join President Sofía and friends to celebrate this impactful and transformative program that has organized UUs to take action on climate for 35 years, and learn about the new Green Sanctuary process that will carry our faith through the coming years. All are welcome! Renew your commitment to faith based actions that advance climate justice in our communities.
Recording and Resources for Green Sanctuary Celebration, 2024!
Trans people are divine. This profound truth, first gifted with the world by J. Mase III and Lady Dane Figueroa Edidi in their Black Trans Prayer Book, is not just a statement but a powerful declaration of sacredness and resilience. It reminds us that trans and nonbinary existence is ancient, predating the oppressive systems of colonization, white supremacy, imperialism, and patriarchy that seek to erase or control it. Last week, one of the first actions of the current administration was to enact executive orders that limit the ways trans and nonbinary people can legally identify in our country. It was the latest effort in an ongoing campaign to legislate these divine beings out of existence.
It will not work.
Trans and nonbinary people have always been here. Acknowledging this calls us to honor them as vital and irreplaceable members of the human family and essential threads in the divine tapestry of creation. We affirm this not just as a response to oppression, but as a truth that has always existed. Their presence is a testament to the enduring power of transformation and creation, defying the forces that seek to constrain them and teaching us all how to manifest a more liberated future.
Check out Week Two’s offerings for 30 Days of Love 2025! We have ways to take action, something to watch, three activities for families, a body practice, journaling practice, and a creative practice.
Week Two of 30 Days of Love 2025: Trans People Are Divine
When it seems like bad news is everywhere, what do you do? How do you move through the overwhelm to start something, anything, that matters to you?
Being together with kindred spirits, sharing stories, and focusing on the good and useful things soothes my soul and fortifies my heart for the long work ahead. I firmly believe that together, we can reimagine thriving communities and realize a flourishing world…even if it’s hard to believe at times. I remind myself: there are so many of us doing this good work. When it’s tempting to withdraw, let’s stay connected. Togetherness is a balm and a buoy!
That’s why I want to invite you all to join the Annual Green Sanctuary Team Celebration. This celebration is fun and fast and celebrates our wins and honors the work that was challenging, disappointing, or unfulfilled. Most of all, it is soul-nurturing to see the range of actions - from huge efforts to everyday changes - that our congregations are doing to advance faith-filled climate justice in our communities.
Here are some good things that are helping my spirit right now.
1) Thousands of UUs are reimagining thriving futures through UU Climate Justice Revivals! They’re reckoning with the challenging realities in their communities, overwhelming those challenges with community care, and figuring out how we, as individuals, fit into the larger work of UU climate justice in our congregations. And, they’re having fun while they’re at it! They’re weaving connections across teams, understanding multiple perspectives, and putting their hearts into the transformative work that we need to realize a world with love at the center. When I’m down, I flip through the photos that y’all have shared of your Revivals - check some of them out now! Read on to learn about the upcoming UU Climate Justice Revival Community of Practice Gatherings!
2) While the Revival has taken center stage, we can’t forget the longstanding commitment of our Green Sanctuary Teams! These faithful UUs are bringing life to the Green Sanctuary process: from individual to team, from learning to action - all while nourishing their spirits. There are so many positive stories that come out of the Green Sanctuary teams - come hear some at the Green Sanctuary Celebration on January 29!
3) Whew, that’s a lot, but are we resting on our laurels and patting ourselves on the back? Of course not! (We’re celebrating and plotting!) As soon as the Revival materials were sent out into the world, we turned to revitalizing the Green Sanctuary process to better respond to the changing realities in congregations and the pressing needs of our times. Join the Green Sanctuary New Materials Release on February 19 to learn more! In March and May, we’ll hear from UUs who are using these new materials so we can learn together!
4) And that’s not all! The Green Sanctuary program has inspired UUs and friends to take action on climate and environmental issues for 35 years. We’re planning to celebrate 35 years of Green Sanctuary with President Sofía and friends in April. While the next four years will challenge so much that we hold sacred, no one can take away the good work we are doing in our communities.
5) Finally, my dog is super cute. Seriously. My cats, too! And I have about a hundred beautiful plants that make my house feel like a garden. These things that bring us joy in our lives are just as important to remember
There’s always so much to be grateful for and good work to celebrate. Side With Love’s annual 30 Days of Love has begun with offerings for families, practices for journaling, art, and body, and opportunities for taking action. The week three theme is “Water is Life”.
I hope to see you all next week for the Green Sanctuary Celebration, at an upcoming UU Climate Justice Revival Community of Practice gathering, or any one of the wonderful events we have planned this spring. I promise you’ll feel so much better if you do!
Be well,
Rachel
Image description: Rachel is standing in front of greenery with brown, slightly curly hair to her shoulders, wearing glasses and a heathered blue Create Climate Justice t-shirt.
Image description: Graphic with green, blue, pink, and yellow balloons and small clusters of yellow, blue, and pink flowers on a light green background. Green and blue text reads, “Green Sanctuary Celebration. Jan. 29 at 4 PT / 5 MT / 6 CT / 7 ET." The Side With Love and Green Sanctuary 2030 logos are below the text.
Come together to celebrate the good work our congregations are doing to create Green Sanctuary in our communities!
This is one of the most beloved Green Sanctuary Community meetings of the year! You’ll hear so many stories of congregations doing the faithful ministry of climate justice all wrapped up together, plus it’s fun and exciting and inspirational! You’ll leave with a smile on your face and gratitude for the many UUs committed to this important work. Register now.
⭐ Green Sanctuary Teams! Fill out this short form to sign up to share what you’ve been up to. This can be celebrating a win or sharing how you’re reframing your work when things went sideways. We just want to hear from you! Presentations need to be no more than 3 minutes long so we can make room for everyone!
Image description: Graphic of the Green Sanctuary meeting spring schedule with text bubbles on a background of crocuses and a pink snail, yellow daffodil, and the Green Sanctuary chalice with a leaf flame. Text reads, “Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings. 3rd Wednesdays. 4 PT - 5 MT - 6 CT - 7 ET. Jan. 29, Green Sanctuary Team Celebration. Feb. 19, Green Sanctuary New Materials Release. Mar. 19, Working with the New Green Sanctuary Materials. Apr. 16, Green Sanctuary 35th Anniversary & Call for Renewal. May 21, Working with the New Green Sanctuary Materials."
Mark your calendars for this year’s Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings! We’re balancing our time with celebration and a deep dive into the new materials.
The Green Sanctuary 2030 materials have been revised and updated to better serve the needs of our dynamic congregations.
Join the February Green Sanctuary Community meeting to learn all about it and how these materials can help you advance climate justice and cultivate thriving communities.
March 19, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM CT and May 21, 2025 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM CT
In February, we released the new Green Sanctuary materials which are designed to be more manageable, accessible, and impactful for all congregations! During our March and May meetings, we'll feature one of the Green Sanctuary teams working through the materials. Learn from each other and build community!
Celebrate 35 years of Green Sanctuary and renew your congregation's commitment! Join President Sofía and friends to celebrate this impactful and transformative program that has organized UUs to take action on climate for 35 years, and learn about the new Green Sanctuary process that will carry our faith through the coming years. All are welcome! Renew your commitment to faith based actions that advance climate justice in our communities.
What’s next for the Revival?
If you’ve held your congregation's first Climate Justice Revival, you may be wondering what’s next? How do we go from this to that? We shared a doc to help you frame you next moves, starting with REST and CELEBRATION! If you did both of those well enough, you’re probably starting to REFLECT and making moves to SYNTHESIZE and ORGANIZE!
Yes, you can do this! And we’re here to help!
We’re hosting several Revival Community of Practice groups for Revivaling congregations. These informal gatherings will be a way for you to connect with other congregations who are asking the same questions as you are or maybe thinking about things htat haven’t yet crossed your mind. We do the work better together! So join your fellow Revivaling UUs for…
What's next after the Revival? Revival Community of Practice
Come together with other UUs who are also moving through the Rest, Celebrate, Reflect, Synthesize, Organize process following the Revival. Learn together! Make Connections! Move Climate Justice forward together. These informal gatherings will provide ample time for conversation and brainstorming next steps together.
In January 2021, immigrant communities, organizers, and their allies met the change in the US Presidential Administration with determination and courage, focused on ending the cruel, xenophobic policies from the Trump administration.
Envisioning a pathway toward healing, over 20 immigrant-led coalitions came together to launch the “We Are Home” campaign, delivering a clear message rooted in their undeniable humanity and worth. With three concrete demands and an intersectional organizing strategy shaped by youth, worker, and multi-racial coalitions, the “We Are Home” campaign not only called out the dehumanizing policies that have long criminalized immigrants and immigrant families, but centered the essentially transformative role that immigrant communities have in a free and fair society. “We Are Home” was, and is, a message of invitation - to become a country that truly welcomes, cares for, and celebrates all.
Today, the current Presidential Administration threatens to enact even crueler policies than previous administrations. As exclusion and brutality become further codified in our nation’s practices and policies, “We Are Home” invites us to reflect honestly. Can any of us feel at home in a society that continues to deny the basic rights of millions of our friends, family members, and neighbors?
Check out Week One’s offerings for 30 Days of Love 2025! We have ways to take action, something to watch, three activities for families, a body practice, journaling practice, and a creative practice.
With abortion rights under threat of continued erosion, we’re equipping Unitarian Universalists with the information, framing, and assistance needed to enable you to fight for those rights effectively and advance a broader Reproductive Justice paradigm. We’ve just published a guide to provide an easily-navigated reference that helps you make an impact defending and advancing abortion rights, including authoritative sources, key legal history, messaging ideas, UU landmarks and more.
To make it readily updatable, and easy for users to navigate, excerpt, or print, the primer is offered via Google Doc. You are welcome to repurpose and excerpt, provided attribution to the Unitarian Universalist Association is noted (and linked, for online matierial). We invite your input on any ways to improve this primer, or requests for support on other topics of interest to you. We will update this document periodically as major developments occur.
Today, we honor the life and legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., whose vision calls us to keep the dream alive through daily practice. Dr. King taught us that justice is not inevitable—it is built through continuous struggle, unwavering faith, and collective action. His dream lives on in every act of courage and compassion as we work to create a world rooted in equity, dignity, and love.
This Martin Luther King Jr. Day, as we begin 30 Days of Love, we celebrate the progress made by communities committed to justice and recognize the work still ahead. Together, we can build the Beloved Community by grounding ourselves in our shared values and collective action.
As Dr. King reminds us: “Change does not roll in on the wheels of inevitability but comes through continuous struggle.”
Justice requires intentional action. Yet, hope grows when we unite in community, using our shared values to challenge injustice and build a more loving, equitable world.
Inhabiting Our Freedom Dreams: 30 Days of Love As we honor Dr. King’s vision of a just and compassionate world, we are proud to launch this year’s 30 Days of Love with the theme "Inhabiting Our Freedom Dreams."
This year, 30 Days of Love will share practices we can take together to bring dreams of justice and liberation into being. New resources will be released every Tuesday, offering a variety of ways to engage with the weekly themes, including:
A Side With Love message provides political education and context for each weekly theme with lessons and inspiration to move through these times.
A journal practice to reflect and dream to chart a course with clarity and care.
A creative/art practice to ground in the beauty and abundance of imagination.
A body practice to ground us in resilience and renewal.
A family-friendly, multigenerational activity that builds community as we take action for justice.
Together, we can pace ourselves, grow our relationships, and build the spiritual discipline to sustain this work for the long haul. However you choose to engage with these offerings, we are honored to share the love and wisdom of some of our most inspiring UU voices.
A Blessing for MLK Day
We offer these words from Rev. Dr. Hope Johnson, a Unitarian Universalist minister, as a blessing for this day:
“The dream of justice and equality—the Beloved Community—is a dream worth living, worth giving our all. Let us continue to move forward, hand in hand, heart to heart, ever faithful, ever committed, ever courageous.”
May we honor Dr. King not only in our words but in our deeds. Together, we carry his vision forward, bending the arc toward justice and creating a world filled with compassion and hope.
Now is the time to practice that which we seek to grow in our world—deeply, compassionately, and at the scale of relationships in our communities. As the governing and power structures of our world rely more and more on domination, exploitation, and disposability to consolidate power, we must hold onto and grow ours. Our power is grounded in our values that proclaim the transformative power of love and harness the enduring power of community. We are the antidote to our fear. Our collective work is to practice the new world we seek to build, drawing inspiration from abolitionist and emergent strategies for liberation, as explored in Andrea Ritchie’s Practicing New Worlds: Abolition and Emergent Strategies. Liberation is our North Star guiding us through these times.
Last year’s 30 Days of Love theme was Imagining an Interdependent Future. We shared resources on growing our capacities to (re)imagine our world and our relationships. This year, 30 Days of Love will share practices we can take together to bring those dreams of justice and liberation into being. This year’s theme, Inhabiting Our Freedom Dreams, draws inspiration from Robin D.G. Kelley’s Freedom Dreams: The Black Radical Imagination, tracing the prophetic affirmations and spiritual work of justice movements as guides to how each of us can call new worlds into being. Each week, you will receive several offerings related to the weekly themes.
“We are home” From the the immigrant justice coalition lead by United We Dream
“Trans people are divine” From the creators of the Black Trans Prayer Book
“Water Is Life” From the Standing Rock protests against the Dakota Access Pipeline
“There are Black People in the Future” From artist Alisha B. Wormsley
Each week’s resources will be published on Tuesdays and include the following.
A Side With Love message provides political education and context for each weekly theme with lessons and inspiration to move through these times.
A journal practice to reflect and dream to chart a course with clarity and care.
A creative/art practice to ground in the beauty and abundance of imagination.
A body practice to ground us in resilience and renewal.
A family friendly, multigenerational activity that builds community as we take action for justice.
We share these resources hoping that you and your communities will use them in a variety of ways. The work ahead is great and we must do it intentionally. Let’s pace ourselves, grow our relationships, and build the spiritual discipline to hold ourselves and one another for the long haul.
However you choose to engage with these offerings, we are honored to share the love and wisdom of some of our most inspiring UU voices. We are deeply grateful for this annual opportunity to collectively nurture our spirits and sustain our commitment to love. Let us journey together to inhabit our freedom dreams together.
On January 14, UU the Vote, Side With Love, key partners, and special guest musicians Sandy O. of Emma’s Revolution and Holly Near hosted this celebration to honor the incredible work of UUs in 2024 to building and growing our democracy and dig into our work ahead. Watch the recording here.
Good Trouble Congregations Celebration, Tuesday January 28 from 8–9:30pm ET—if your congregation was awarded Good Trouble in 2024, you should have received an email confirming this from us. If you applied for it and haven’t heard back, please email us as soon as possible at voting@uua.org.
Recording and Resources: UU the Vote 2024 Celebration
As this year draws to a close, we pause to reflect on the love, justice, and care you have brought into the world. Your dedication and compassion have been a beacon of hope, and we are deeply grateful to be on this journey with you.
During this holiday season, may you find moments of rest and renewal. Whether you gather with loved ones, reflect in solitude, or engage in acts of kindness, may this time bring peace to your spirit and strength to your heart.
As we look ahead to 2025, we are excited to continue building a world rooted in love and justice. To grow our capacity for this work, we are thrilled to announce that Side With Love is searching for a Climate Justice Fellow! This temporary, part-time role (19 hours per week at $22-$26 per hour with benefits) will help deepen our Unitarian Universalist climate justice efforts through June 2025. If you or someone you know is passionate about faith-centered environmental stewardship, we encourage you to apply today.
While we continue this sacred work together, we invite you to take advantage of the resources we’ve created to support your journey. Our Community Resilience Hub offers tools to empower and equip your congregation or community in meaningful ways. Please also consider filling out our Community Skill and Asset Survey to help us map our collective strengths as the UUA community (email love@uua.org with your congregational affiliation to get the link to the survey.)
We’re also happy to offer two small gifts from the Side With Love Team to help you center yourself as we come to the end of a turbulent year. First, we invite you to listen to this Solstice Playlist cultivated by the SWL team, filled with songs to help you reflect and find inspiration in this season. We also have crafted this small Solstice Reflection Guide, offering you a few questions to sit with and reflect upon as we come to the end of 2024.
May this blessing from Rev. Kathleen McTigue, former minister of the Unitarian Society of New Haven, guide you in your walk and work in the days to come:
“May you be blessed with good companions on the journey Kindred spirits to uphold you in the face of challenges And to share in your joy. May you find in yourself the strength to rise above fear, A commitment to do justice, And the willingness to be enlarged by love.”
Let us carry this spirit into the year ahead, as we continue the sacred work of building the Beloved Community.
As we enter the season of reflection and intention, I’d like to share some exciting news and deep gratitude for this community. This year was a stretch! Together we reached towards the highest aspirations of our faith; modeling commitment, grace, partnership and adaptation to answer the call of love and justice.
Side With Love’s power comes from our collective commitment to rise to the challenge and beauty of building Beloved Community. Today, as the world around us continues to grapple with crises fueled by hatred and indifference, we have a moral mandate to embody the principles of justice and compassion in all that we do. Together, we can be the architects of a more just and equitable future. By rooting in our faith--embodying our values through care, political action, and deep learning--we can imagine a new world and call it into being.
Like you, the Side With Love team at the UUA is growing our capacities to support the work for this long haul and that means growing our team. I am overjoyed to announce two new additions to our team.
Image description: Blue background. At the top of the imagine, in white text, reads” “Welcome” with a triple line flourish around the words. Beneath, light blue text reads “to our new team members!” There are two round photographs, headshots of each staffer: Rev. Brandan Robertson, Senior Communications manager, who is standing against a beige background with short dark blond hair, smiling, wearing a denim shirt unbuttoned and an olive green t-shirt underneath. Next, is G Williams, Sepcial Projects Administrator. They are standing in front of greenery, wearing a black top and a white and pink jacket, their hands at their hips. They’re smiling and wearing red lipstick and thin wire frame glasses.
Welcome Rev. Brandan Robertson as the new Sr. Communications Manager! This role is designed to help us keep our communities connected and informed, tell the powerful stories of our work, and build faithful and libertory narratives of the world we are building. I am overjoyed that Rev. Brandan Robertson has joined the Side With Love team at the UUA as our new Sr.Communications Manager. Rev. Brandan brings a wealth of strategic communications and advocacy experience from United Methodist Church, Faith in Public Life, and his award-wining work and ministry of LGBTQ inclusion. We are excited for all that he brings to our team in helping us articulate and connect with our values in the world.
From Rev. Brandan:
As a progressive Christian pastor, activist, and organizer, I have long admired the work of Side With Love and the broader Unitarian Universalist Association. It is a true honor to now get the chance to partner with this incredible team to help share our vital work and message with the world in the days ahead. I look forward to all of the good work we will do together as we trouble the waters to bring healing, liberation, and justice to our world.
Welcome G Williams as the Special Projects Administrator.
This is a part-time role that helps us respond to the emergent needs and opportunities of this moment. G will play a key role in supporting internal infrastructure building as well as rapid response work. G brings a variety of technical skills and organizing experience from their work at The Trevor Project and justice work in Unitarian Universalism. Most recently they have co-founded Camp Ground, a multi-religious adult summer camp that provides a retreat for folks who do the work of justice in their day to day lives. G Is a seminarian at Starr King School for the Ministry and a member of the Trans Seminarian Cohort with The National LGBTQ Task Force. They are currently working on our asset map survey which will serve to mobilize resources and activate leaders to support bodily autonomy, and immigrant and gender justice work in the coming months. If you haven’t completed it yet, please email love@uua.org to request the link.
From G:
I have spent my life in service to the communities that nourished me into being, working not just towards the absence of oppression but for the presence of justice and the hope for peace. It is both an honor and a blessing to continue that work with the incredible Side With Love team and the broader UUA. At a moment when I am certain what awaits us will bring many challenges, I take heart in knowing that we are a people whose faith calls us to action, and that when I wade into the deep to meet each challenge, I will not be alone in the water.
At the heart of our work lies the profound power of love. Love serves as both a catalyst for action and a source of solace for our communities in times of need. In these times where we are told the lie that our individual thriving requires someone else's suffering, love is the promise of Beloved Community, where all of us are whole and worthy.
Thank you for your support in the ever-evolving work and staffing of Side With Love.
Love and courage,
Nicole Pressley
Resources for continuing the work.
Partnership is critical to work. I want to lift up some opportunities and resources to help our communities remain resilient and get ready for the work ahead.
In these turbulent times, we wanted to take a moment to reflect on the extraordinary efforts of UUs across the country who contributed to our UU the Vote work during this election season. No matter the results of the election, your commitment to justice and strengthening our democracy has made a real difference. Together, we mobilized, educated, and inspired thousands of people across key states, demonstrating the transformative power of our faith in action.
A few highlights from UU democracy organizing across the US:
Arizona: UU the Vote volunteers canvassed tirelessly, focusing on pivotal ballot initiatives, including Proposition 139 (expanding abortion care) and Proposition 314 (an anti-immigrant measure). Alongside local partners and out-of-state volunteers, we knocked on doors, educated voters, and grew relationships with grassroots partner organizations.
North Carolina: With legislative and judicial races on the line, UU volunteers and partners connected with over 12,000 voters, with a chorus that uplifted spirits at early voting sites, demonstrating that resilience and hope are powerful antidotes to intimidation and fear.
National Efforts: Phone-banking efforts in collaboration with State Action Networks in MI, NC, PA, and TX ensured voters were informed and empowered to make their voices heard. In Arizona, Colorado, Florida, and Wisconsin, UU volunteers canvassed the weekend before Election Day.
Through every conversation, song, and step, you embodied our faith’s commitment to justice, love, and equity. Thank you.
As we reflect on these efforts, we also invite you to consider an essential question posed by UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt during a recent fireside chat with UUSC President Rev. Mary Katherine Morn: How do we make our interdependence faithful and value-driven? These two theologians and leaders discussed the UU theological grounding for climate justice, highlighting that interdependence is not always positive—someone upstream polluting has an interdependent relationship with those downstream. This question challenges us to align our interconnectedness with values of justice, compassion, and care.
You are invited to explore this conversation further by watching the UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice Fireside Chat, a 32-minute recording that includes reporting from small group discussions across the UUA.
3 Resources to Empower Your Community as We Move Forward
While the election is behind us, there is still much work left to be done. The challenges ahead demand that we remain resilient, adaptable, and deeply connected to one another. In response, we have three resources to empower your community as we move forward.
1) Tap into the Community Resilience Hub The election may be over, but the work continues! The Community Resilience Hub is your go-to destination for tools, resources, and inspiration to help your congregation and community stay organized, advocate for justice, and heal together. Dive into everything it offers to stay grounded and connected as you move forward.
2) Contribute to the Congregational Asset Map Survey Your congregation’s unique strengths matter! By filling out the Congregational Asset Map Survey, you’ll help us build a comprehensive view of our collective resources. Together, we can ensure that our movement remains strong and impactful in the years to come. (Email socialjustice at uua.org with your congregational affiliation to receive the link.)
3) Share Your Insights in the UUA Community Care and Resilience Survey Let your voice shape the future! TheUUA Community Care and Resilience Survey is an opportunity to share your perspectives and help us strategically address challenges and opportunities ahead. Don’t miss your chance to contribute before the end of the year! (Email socialjustice at uua.org with your congregational affiliation to receive the link.)
As we move forward, we will continue to provide you with information, updates, and resources to empower you to be a witness for love and justice in your communities and beyond. But until then, may this blessing ignite a spark within your soul that empowers you to press onward with faith and hope:
May the love that binds us together bring the healing we seek.
May the hope that ignites our souls keep our eyes fixed on the prize of collective liberation.
May the peace that comes from knowing we are each other's strengthen our resolve.
May the joy inspired by the vision of a more just world propel us into the work ahead.
May the faith that sustains us guide our path with courage and grace.
Thank you for your unwavering commitment to our collective liberation. Your efforts are a testament to the transformative power of our faith and the boundless possibilities of what we can achieve together.
In gratitude and solidarity,
your Side With Love team
2024 UUA Social Justice Award Nominations Wanted!
Bennett Award for Congregational Action on Human Justice and Social Action
The Bennett Award for Congregational Action on Human Justice and Social Action honors a Unitarian Universalist congregation that has done exemplary work in social justice and is accompanied by a $1,000 cash award.
Submissions must be received by April 25, 2025.
Submissions consist of a short description form, and if applicable, a testimonial from a partner organization or community group, and any relevant media about the congregation's justice ministry, including news articles or photos. Learn more and submit your nomination.
Skinner Sermon Award
The Skinner Sermon Award honors Clarence Skinner, the late dean of the Tufts College School of Religion in Medford, MA. and a major voice of prophetic religious liberalism, and is presented annually to the preacher of the sermon best expressing Unitarian Universalism's social principles. It comes with a $500 honorarium.
We particularly encourage and invite sermons that speak to one of our four intersectional justice priorities (bodily autonomy inclusive of reproductive justice and trans liberation; decriminalization; democracy and electoral justice; and climate justice).
Submissions must be received by April 25, 2025.
Submissions may be offered as a document of the sermon text and/or as a video recording of it being offered. Please be sure to include the author's name, address, church affiliation, phone number, email address, and indication of when and where the sermon was delivered in your email submission. Learn more and submit your sermon.
Reflecting on 2024 & 3 Resources to Empower Your Community as We Move Forward
On November 21, Side With Love, BLUU, and DRUUMM hosted Tools for Tending: Post-Election Spiritual Care Space. This 2-hour special event was designed to help tend our spirits through somatic practices, spiritual grounding, and small group connection. Combining structured elements, reflection time, music, facilitated caucus spaces, and visioning exercises, we hope participants felt grounded, strengthened, and held. Watch the recording here.
With over 375 UU Congregations hosting the UU Climate Justice Revival and 125 ACTIVE Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregations, UUs are mobilizing for Climate Justice...but how?
As climate disasters become more commonplace, we need stronger networks of community care. Whether you want to convene a regional Revival, work on disaster response, collaborate on statewide advocacy, or just learn how others are approaching their climate justice work, working together with other UUs can be a powerful response to the problems of our times.
After this year’s election, we must come together to nourish our spirits and move in our collective power. This is about more than one election; it is about grounding ourselves in the values and communities that drive our fight for justice. No matter your issue — climate justice, democracy, gender justice, or decriminalization — we are in this work together.
This final session included an invitation for congregations to do the preparatory groundwork for meeting this moment as well as analysis from UUs in organizing who shared what they see as immediate needs for UU response.
After this year’s election, it is critical that we come together to nourish our spirits and move in our collective power. This is about more than one election; it is about grounding ourselves in the values and communities that drive our fight for justice. No matter your issue; climate justice, democracy, gender justice, or criminalization, we are in this work together. That’s why we are excited to invite you to join us for Forward Together: Anchoring in Community Post Election, a virtual series designed to offer space for reflection, spiritual grounding, and practical organizing in response to the evolving political landscape.
Tonight, the final votes will be cast in this election. As we await the results, many of us feel the weight of uncertainty. This moment brings tension but also invites us to lean into the steady presence our faith calls us to embody. Now, more than ever, your strength and leadership in your communities are essential. Together, we can be a grounding presence, steady and unwavering, whatever may come.
While the outcomes of key races are yet to be decided, we remain united by a shared commitment to our core values—values held by communities of all backgrounds, rooted in the freedom to shape our futures, protect our communities, and make our voices heard. In this moment, let us stay steadfast in our commitment to one another and to the common good, keeping our eyes on our ultimate goal: the collective liberation of all people.
As we move through this day, may this blessing spark hope within you:
On this Election Day, One of us will joyfully cast a vote, hoping we are moving closer to a just world— This act renews our inner strength, Challenges closed minds, And lifts our spirit with hope.
On this Election Day, One of us will serve as a poll worker— Guardians of democracy who show up with patience and courage, Ensuring every vote is counted and every voice is heard. A sacred act of love for every person in our country.
On this Election Day, One of us will vote with our focus on communities in need, Disrupting cycles of oppression, Loving our neighbors as ourselves, And seeking to bring peace to a world marked by division.
On this Election Day, One of us will vote with righteous anger aflame within, Encountering barriers to our right to be heard, To share our sacred stories, And feel the sting of ignorance working against our dignity.
On this Election Day, One of us will show up as our fullest self, without fear, demanding recognition and affirmation— Trusting in the power of “we the people,” Believing anew in the promise of democracy, And finding courage birthed within us once again.
As we embark on this sacred work today, Let us release that which has made us afraid, Hold close what stirs our spirit, And renew our faith in the strength of the Beloved Community. For as we bless the world with our voices and votes, we, too, are blessed in return.
As we continue forward together, here are essential actions that can support your communities during this time.
Embrace Connectedness: Remain closely connected to your faith community, using this moment to check in on one another and nurture the deep relationships we’ve formed. Whether through emails, phone calls, virtual gatherings, or in-person meetings, ensure that no one in your community feels isolated during this time.
Prepare for a Range of Outcomes: While we all hope to see a peaceful transition of power, it’s important to be ready for any unrest that may arise or the spread of misinformation. Utilize the resources we’ve developed to encourage calm and critical thinking in the days ahead.
Support Our Community: We must prioritize care for those most at risk in our communities—migrants, trans and nonbinary individuals, queer communities, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. Take time to reach out to trusted local coalitions and offer support where possible.
Mobilize When Necessary: Whether through public demonstrations or behind-the-scenes support, remain flexible and discerning in the days ahead. Keep our organizing and accountability networks active for a coordinated, compassionate response should it become necessary. Resources on risk discernment, safety at protests and more can be found on the Community Resilience Hub.
The Unitarian Universalist Association, along with our Side With Love and Congregational Life teams, is here with you through this time of unknowns. We’ve developed a broad range of tools, resources, and events to help us move forward together, and we will continue to provide thoughtful updates and support in the days ahead with a steady commitment to our shared values.
In times like these, it is natural to feel overwhelmed. Yet we’ve prepared for this. With courage, clarity, and deep love, we will navigate this journey together—whatever the outcome.
In faith and solidarity,
Nicole, Amanda, Amarin, Audra, Brandan, Cathy, G., Jeff, Nora, Ranwa, and Rachel the Side With Love staff Team
Together, we can be a grounding presence, whatever may come
by Rev. Brandan Robertson, Senior Communications Manager, Side With Love
On this Election Day,
One of us will joyfully cast our vote
in hopes that we are moving closer
to a just world—
This act renews our inner strength,
Challenges a closed mind,
And causes our spirit to leap with hope.
On this Election Day,
One of us will serve as a poll worker
and watcher—
Guardians of democracy who show up with patience and courage,
Ensuring every vote is counted
and every voice is heard.
A sacred act of love
for every person in our country.
On this Election Day,
One of us will cast a vote
with our focus set
on a community in need,
Disrupting cycles of oppression,
Loving our neighbors
as we love ourselves,
And seeking to bring peace
to a world marked by division.
On this Election Day,
One of us will vote with holy
and righteous anger aflame within,
As we encounter barriers to the right to have our voices heard,
Barriers to sharing our sacred stories,
Or feel the sting of ignorance working against our dignity.
On this Election Day,
One of us will show up as our fullest self, without fear, demanding to be recognition and affirmation—
Trusting in the power of “we the people,”
Believing again in the
promise of democracy,
And finding courage birthed within us once again.
As we set out in this
most sacred of work today,
Let us release that which has
made us afraid,
Hold close to that which stirs our spirit,
Renew our faith in the strength of the Beloved Community,
For when we bless the world
with our voice and our vote,
we, too, are blessed in return.
Image 1: “Election Day Blessing, Brandan Robertson” and the Side With Love logo with a rainbow heart on a light gray square with rounded corners, in front of a yellow background with red, white, and blue “I Voted” stickers.
Image 3: White paper on a bright green background, with black text that reads, “On this Election Day, / One of us will serve as a poll worker and watcher— / Guardians of democracy who show up with patience and courage, / Ensuring every vote is counted and every voice is heard. / A sacred act of love for every person in our country.” Red and blue name tags are in the top right and bottom left corners, and a dark blue arrow to swipe is in the bottom right corner.
Image 5: White paper on a light yellow-green background, with black text that reads, “On this Election Day, / One of us will vote with holy and righteous anger aflame within, / As we encounter barriers to the right to have our voices heard, / Barriers to sharing our sacred stories, / Or feel the sting of ignorance working against our dignity.” A brown envelope is behind the paper in the background, and a dark blue arrow to swipe is in the bottom right corner.
Image 7: White paper on a yellow background, with black text that reads “As we set out in this most sacred of work today, / Let us release that which has made us afraid, / Hold close to that which stirs our spirit, / Renew our faith in the strength of the Beloved Community, / For when we bless the world with our voice and our vote, we, too, are blessed in return.” Red, white, and blue stickers that say “I Voted” are scattered around the paper.
Image 2: White paper on a bright blue background, with black text that reads, “On this Election Day, / One of us will joyfully cast our vote in hopes that we are moving closer to a just world— / This act renews our inner strength, / Challenges a closed mind, / And causes our spirit to leap with hope.” A dark blue pen is pointing toward the text, and a dark blue arrow to swipe is in the bottom right corner.
Image 4: White paper on a bright pink background, with black text that reads, “On this Election Day, / One of us will cast a vote with our focus set on a community in need, / Disrupting cycles of oppression, / Loving our neighbors as we love ourselves, / And seeking to bring peace to a world marked by division.” A bright blue flip phone is open to the right of the text, and a dark blue arrow to swipe is in the bottom right corner.
Image 6: White paper on a dark blue background, with black text that reads, “On this Election Day, / One of us will show up as our fullest self, without fear, demanding to be recognition and affirmation— / Trusting in the power of “we the people,” / Believing again in the promise of democracy, / And finding courage birthed within us once again.” A light blue pen is pointing toward the paper, and a dark blue arrow to swipe is in the bottom right corner.
In these challenging times, we draw strength from the sacred truth that people of faith and conscience have been essential to every justice movement in our nation’s history. We are called to be faithful witnesses, to live our values through action and care. This has been true of Unitarian Universalism, from standing for abolition to advancing civil rights and marriage equality. This is our truth. And this is our time.
Let our history of prophetic witness guide us now, so that we may rise to meet every challenge and a commitment to building the Beloved Community. We recognize the sacred work many of you are doing—taking action, providing care and bearing witness within your communities. Though the path ahead may be uncertain, our faith calls us to move forward with clarity and courage, trusting in our shared power to shape a more just and compassionate world.
As we approach November 5th, be aware of the rising disinformation and increasing political violence. While Unitarian Universalist congregations may not be primary targets, we have a moral obligation to be in solidarity with our neighbors—particularly migrants, trans and nonbinary people, queer individuals, and Black, Indigenous, and People of Color. In these times, we have the opportunity to embody the highest aspirations of our faith. Together, through our care and preparedness, we can take faithful action to respond to the threats facing democracy and our communities. Our connections and shared values are boundless resources. Let us draw deeply from this well in this important moment of our history.
Here are a few ways we can move forward together in this moment:
Check in and Communicate: Regularly connect with your communities. Draw on lessons from the pandemic to ensure you have effective communication systems and nimble decision-making strategies for uncertain times.
Focus on Safety and Security: Be mindful of who enters and exits your building when your community gathers. Utilize de-escalation tools and other resources to ensure the safety and security of your congregation.
Connect with Local Leaders: Ensure you are in touch with regional UUA staff, local congregations, and organizers in your area. The leadership and experience of those accustomed to working in coalition and responding under pressure will be invaluable. Now is the time to decide whose leadership you will follow in moments of potential post-election instability.6
We at the UUA are committed to staying in close communication with you during this time. Our Side With Love and Congregational Life staff teams are gathering resources to help congregations navigate these uncertain times. Please keep an eye on your inbox, as well as our social media channels and other platforms, where we will share this information.
Throughout this election cycle, we will face many decisions about how best to uphold our values. Some situations will require bold, public action, while others may call for quieter, steadfast support for those who have been targeted by political violence. We must rely on the relationships within our congregations and communities to meet these challenges with wisdom and courage.
Thank you for everything you do in the name of love, justice, and democracy.
As we approach Election Day, it is critical that we come together to nourish our spirits and move in our collective power. This is about more than one election; it is about grounding ourselves in the values and communities that drive our fight for justice. No matter your issue; climate justice, democracy, gender justice, or criminalization, we are in this work together. That’s why we are excited to invite you to join us for Forward Together: Anchoring in Community Post Election, a virtual series designed to offer space for reflection, spiritual grounding, and practical organizing in response to the evolving political landscape.
A time for spiritual tending, regional connections, and holding space for emotional responses.
Forward Together: Meaning Making & Immediate Action
Date & Time: TBD (The day the election is called), 8-9 PM ET
A focus on immediate action steps, regional assessments, and spiritual nourishment.
Forward Together: The Way Forward
Date & Time: Tues, Nov 19, 8-9 PM ET
An opportunity to make political and organizing assessments and care for those navigating post-election challenges.
Our Commitment to the Long Haul
For more than a decade, Side With Love has brought people of faith together to harness the power of love to overcome fear and oppression and build a world where all people are free and thriving. In 2024, our work through UU the Vote takes up that work in a critical election where our collective action can protect and expand democracy, advance voting rights, and support climate justice, racial justice, and bodily autonomy.
Faith calls us to the promise and the practice transformation. Forward Together is a part of this long-term strategy. Through this series, we’ll gather to reflect on our faith, values, and next steps as a community committed to justice and love.
Explore the UU Community Resilience Hub
As part of our commitment to building resilient, safe, and thriving communities, we encourage you to visit the UU Community Resilience Hub a comprehensive resource offering tools, training, and support to help protect our communities and democracy. The hub contains everything from conflict de-escalation to leveraging spiritual and physical assets during critical times. We will be updating this space often to bring you the latest information and resources to equip our communities to meet the challenges and opportunities of this moment.
Get Involved with State Action Networks
Our Unitarian Universalist State Action Networks (SANs) are crucial in mobilizing local communities for justice. They will also have the latest and best information for state specific actions and community support. For more information on how to get involved with SAN events in your area and to see how you can contribute, visit CUUSAN to find your local SAN.
Why This Matters
Moments that define us are made in the actions we take together. Forward Together will include on-the-ground updates, political analysis, and messaging guidance for leaders and partners. Let us use our time meeting the urgency of the moment while nourishing the networks that build hope and resilience.
Whether you are passionate about racial justice, environmental resilience, or democracy, we invite you to join us in grounding, reflecting, and organizing in solidarity with the most impacted people.
How do we make our interdependence faithful and value-driven?
This question was posed by UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt during the fireside chat with UUSC President Rev. Mary Katherine Morn. These two theologians and leaders discussed the UU theological grounding for climate justice. Interdependent doesn't always mean something positive, as Rev. Betancourt noted. Someone upstream polluting has an interdependent relationship with those downstream. So: how do we make our interdependence faithful and value-driven?
Watch the event recording which includes reporting back from the small group discussion that happened.
Host Your Own Congregational Viewing & Discussion
You are welcome to share the recording of our meeting or watch the conversation only and use these discussions for your own small group conversations.
Are you one of your congregation's facilitators for the UU Climate Justice Revival? All facilitators need to join one of our 2 hour Facilitator Training Sessions. Come learn how to be the best facilitator you can be for your congregation's Revival!
November 20 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT With over 375 UU Congregations hosting the UU Climate Justice Revival and 125 ACTIVE Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregations, UUs are mobilizing for Climate Justice...but how? As climate disasters become more commonplace, we need stronger networks of community care. Whether you want to convene a regional Revival, work on disaster response, collaborate on statewide advocacy, or just learn how others are approaching their climate justice work, working together with other UUs can be a powerful response to the problems of our times.
Get to know the new Green Sanctuary! Join the monthly orientation session to get a better understanding of the program and learn how your congregation can engage in ongoing climate action. Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice can transform your congregation through climate justice! Orientation meetings are held on the first Wednesday of the month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.
Green Sanctuary Celebration and Call for Renewal with Pres. Sofía Betancourt December 11 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT Come together to celebrate 35 years of Green Sanctuary! From the 7th Principle Project to Mobilizing for Climate Justice, the Green Sanctuary process has transformed our congregations and our world. Join Pres. Sofía and friends for a celebration of Green Sanctuary and a call for renewal through Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice. Register now.
How do we make our interdependence faithful and value-driven?
Our October Green Sanctuary 2030 Monthly Gathering was a fireside chat with UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt and UUSC President Rev. Mary Katherine Morn on UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice. After the conversation, participants were invited to join small group discussions.
Host Your Own Congregational Viewing & Discussion
You are welcome to share the recording of our meeting or watch the conversation only and use these discussions for your own small group conversations!
Our shared values of love, justice, and compassion call on us to respond to the many threats to our future of collective thriving and liberation. While we fight the many causes of climate disasters (extractive capitalism, racial injustice), we also commit ourselves to building communities of care and resilience. As the Southeast experiences the devasting loss from Hurricanes Helene and Milton, we are grateful for the many who have taken up the sacred task of care. From spiritual support to life-saving rescue efforts to financial and material relief efforts, it is critical that we show up. If you can make a financial contribution to relief efforts, please support one or all of the vetted relief efforts at the end of this email.
It is clear that mitigation - working to reduce the polluting emissions that drive climate change - is no longer enough. We are called to expand our efforts to center justice and prioritize creating communities of care.
Our congregations must become places of refuge in the storms, hubs of resilience in times of climate disaster, and centers of nourishment when things fall apart. This, dear friends, is the work of our time.
We know that climate disasters do not affect all equally. Marginalized communities—including people of color, people with disabilities, low-income families, and unhoused neighbors—are often impacted first and hardest. Consider that people with disabilities are two to four times more likely to die or be injured during climate disasters. Or that Black disaster survivors receive significantly less government support than their white counterparts, exacerbating pre-existing inequities. This is a call to action.
As we reimagine a world where all communities thrive, we must also ground ourselves in the systems of oppression that worsen the climate crisis. Our work must include addressing FEMA accountability, the mental health crisis exacerbated by displacement, and the climate grief and anxiety that many are facing. We must not turn away from these realities but open our hearts to create a new world with this knowledge.
We encourage everyone to support efforts like the UUA's Disaster Relief Fund and mutual aid networks, such as those offered by Highlander, to uplift the most vulnerable. Additionally, the importance of voting for leaders and policies that prioritize climate justice cannot be overstated. Our collective action in these moments will shape the future.
Let us move forward with courage, faith, and an unwavering commitment to justice.
In solidarity,
Your colleagues at Side With Love
UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice
UUs have been at the leading edge of climate action for decades, but how does our faith call us to the work of climate justice?
Image description: a green background with watercolor splotches. Blue text reads UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice, followed by text in black that reads Wed, Oct 16, 4PT / 5 MT / 6 CT / 7ET. To the right hand side there are portrait images of Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt and Rev. Mary Katherine Morn. The bottom of the image has the logos for Side With Love and Green Sanctuary program.
Join the Green Sanctuary 2030 Community on Wednesday, October 16 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET for a watch party of the UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice Fireside Chat with UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt and UUSC President Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, hosted by Side With Love Climate Justice Advocate Rachel Myslivy.
How does your faith call you to this work? Join the conversation!
Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care
We can use our gifts to offer love, to work for justice, to heal injury, to create pleasure for ourselves and others. We can recognize our mutual independence with all life. We can take actions that are grounded in justice, guided by wisdom, and sustained with hope. We can learn, act, and reflect to cultivate the beloved community.
Every community is different, and climate impacts will vary at the hyper-local level. Some neighborhoods may be devastated by a hurricane while others experience only minor impacts. Adequate preparation and response for climate disasters must center the lived experiences and impacts of climate disasters on those most at risk.
Use our toolbox, worksheets, and recorded trainings to assess your community's climate impacts and mobilize for action. Start today.
UU the Vote: 2024 Mobilization
With just 24 days until Election Day, UU the Vote continues to invite UUs around the country to join us for these important events to engage with voters.
If you are within driving distance of any of our in-person mobilizations, please join us! Each day includes spiritual grounding, training, lunch, and support (plus gas reimbursement if you bring a group!). Read about our in-person mobilizations in Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and Dallas!
Drop into any or all of our upcoming phonebanks - we train at the beginning of each one and provide on-going support. Your personal information is protected as you make calls through our software.
Image description: Over a navy blue background, white text reads Get Involved with UU the Vote. The image is decorated with stamp style photos of people in groups doing UU the Vote work, with yellow hearts and dotted lines connecting the images.
Our loving faith calls us to honor the inherent rights and dignity of all people and to fight forms of oppression wherever we find it. However, disabled people (who make up 26% of the population) regularly find ourselves pushed to the margins, being denied our needs, and not receiving the radical welcome UU’s aspire to provide to all members.
Lay leaders, religious professionals, and allies are invited to join us for our monthly lunchtime webinars where you can learn how to be more accessible and inclusive of your congregation’s disabled members and visitors.
Image Description: UPLIFT ACCESS MONTHLY WEBINARS in green and red letters that overly a planet made of gold grid lines and circled by a ring, with stars on the upper right.
Join us for our next UPLIFT Access Resource Webinar on Thursday, October 17 at 12:00pm ET / 9am PT for a discussion of Voting and Disability Justice. Join representatives from Side With Love, New Disabled South, and Rev. Amanda Schuber, the UUA’s Disability Justice Associate.
Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs and friends of UUism. Join us on October 22 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ UUs and co-create support and community across our faith. All you need to bring is yourself (and other trans/nonbinary friends, if you’d like)!
This is a drop-in space, where folks can come and go as works best for them, and where people can join us at any time. You can be a regular or someone new, someone who's been curious for a while but hasn't yet checked us out, somebody who is rejoining after time away, and all other ways of relating to this space! You are welcome here, and you are loved.
The Side With Love staff team - some of whom are in the US South - are holding all our beloveds in deep care, prayer, and love tonight as Hurricane Milton makes landfall.
If your congregation is able, please consider a donation or collection for the UUA Disaster Relief Fund. All funds go directly to supporting congregations and their communities.
The UUA understands the connection between disaster relief and justice making. Populations who have historically been denied access to resources and care suffer most in a disaster.
Disaster Relief Grants to our UU congregations and related organizations not only help other Unitarian Universalists, they can also support on the ground relief efforts through existing partnerships that congregations already have. These grants encourage congregations to build coalitions to meet the needs of their wider communities.
UUs have been on the leading edge of environmental advocacy for decades - and much of that good work has focused on mitigation - working to reduce the polluting emissions that drive climate change. While mitigation is a critical piece, it’s not enough. As our beloved communities continue to experience climate disruption, extreme weather, and climate disasters, we must expand our climate work to center justice and prioritize creating communities of care. As we reimagine together a world where all communities thrive, we equally have to ground ourselves in the systems of oppression and harm. We know that climate disasters impact some of our neighbors more than others.
If you are in an area that hasn't yet experienced a climate disaster, I invite you to explore our resource Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care which includes a toolkit, webinar series, and worksheets for congregations and communities to identify risks and envision solutions with love and justice at the center.
In faith and solidarity,
your Side With Love colleagues
UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice
UUs have been at the leading edge of climate action for decades, but how does our faith call us to the work of climate justice?
Image description: a green background with watercolor splotches. Blue text reads UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice, followed by text in black that reads Wed, Oct 16, 4PT / 5 MT / 6 CT / 7ET. To the right hand side there are portrait images of Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt and Rev. Mary Katherine Morn. The bottom of the image has the logos for Side With Love and Green Sanctuary program.
Join the Green Sanctuary 2030 Community on Wednesday, October 16 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET for a watch party of the UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice Fireside Chat with UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt and UUSC President Rev. Mary Katherine Morn, hosted by Side With Love Climate Justice Advocate Rachel Myslivy.
How does your faith call you to this work? Join the conversation!
Celebrating the Climate Justice Revivals So Far
Just two weekends ago, hundreds of UU congregations around the country held their own UU Climate Justice Revivals - and we know more congregations are hosting their own throughout this winter and next spring.
If your congregation hosted a revival recently, tell us your revival story using our UU Climate Justice Revival Commitments & Evaluation form here or by going to https://bit.ly/UURevivalStories, where you can not only submit your revival participants’ words of commitment, but also share your feedback and upload the pictures you took!
Upcoming UU Climate Revival Facilitator Trainings
Thursday, November 14, 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7 ET: Register now
Wednesday, January 15, 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7 ET: Register now
Wednesday, February 26, 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7 ET: Register now
Upcoming Programming
Image description: half the image is solid green with white text that reads, Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings, 3rd Wed, 4 PT - 5 MT - 6 CT - 7 ET. The rest of the image has a background of fallen autumn leaves with word bubbles of upcoming events. There is a cartoon bird by one bubble and a yellow cartoon leaf on another. The bubbles read: View online: What do I have to offer? + the social change ecosystem framework; Oct 16: UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice; Nov 20: Green Sanctuary 2030 New Materials Release; Dec 11: Green sanctuary celebration and call for renewal
Recording and Resources
"What do I have to offer?" + the Social Ecosystem Framework
Our faith calls us to proclaim that liberation is possible even as the devastation stretches beyond what any human spirit should be forced to hold. As we watch the news out of Palestine, Lebanon, Yemen, Syria, the West Bank, and Israel our spirits are unimaginably stretched – especially those of us who have family and beloveds in danger on these lands. As people who commit to center love as the fundamental theological anchor of our faith, we are called to embody that commitment beyond our church walls, our nations’ flags, and even our personal pains. We are called to be beacons of true transformation, dreaming and creating pathways towards a justice that leaves nobody behind.
As people of faith, we reject the false narrative that the safety of some must come at the expense of the safety of others. It is that choice which has permitted too many atrocities in the U.S. and abroad. As our Unitarian ancestor and abolitionist Frances Ellen Watkins Harper reminds us, “We are all bound up together in one great bundle of humanity, and society cannot trample on the weakest and feeblest [sic] of its members without receiving the curse in its own soul.”
The Israeli government’s project of settler colonialism is now expanding to many countries. The violence must end. The U.S. government funding for this violence must also end. The cost to our collective soul is too high. The escalation in Lebanon and Yemen, which has caused more devastation and destabilization, must stop. U.S. military aid to the Israeli government must cease. And the oppression that has long fueled this conflict must finally come to a permanent and sustained end. Sovereignty for Palestine and an end to the occupation of Palestinian lands must be realized.
We are not bystanders to the moral imperative of our time. We are each called to faithful witness on the stage of history. We will not crumble under the shadow of a troubled past but be fortified in the light of the truth – that all life is a reflection of the Divine. Let us rise in that truth.
Let us live into our sacred duty to reject any actions that violate that truth, and instead fully embrace the opportunities for a holy and wholly liberated future. May we recover our collective humanity by making a different choice than we have over decades of this compounding human rights atrocity.
We can start by first witnessing this moment and grieving the lives, homes, and futures that this violence has stolen.
Image description: Graphic with lit candles on a black background with a red, green, and yellow abstract wave embellishment in the top right corner. Text reads, “Still Here: A Unitarian Universalist Vigil for Gaza. Sunday, Oct 6th, 8:00pm Eastern. Open to All. RSVP for Zoom: druumm.org/events. Logos: DRUUMM, UUJME, UUSCM, UU Women’s Federation, CLF, Side With Love, BLUU, UUCSJ, UUSC.
We can honor the commitments of our 2024 General Assembly’s Action of Immediate Witness, “Solidarity With Palestinians,” and move towards the necessary humanitarian demand of calling, yet again, for an immediate ceasefire, the release of all hostages and prisoners, and for the U.S. to stop shipments of military weapons to Israel.
Join us in taking action and renewing this commitment by calling your representative to ask that they support the Joint Resolutions of Disapproval (JRD) introduced by Sen. Bernie Sanders, which blocks a proposal to send $20 billion in weapons to Israel.
And finally, deepening in our knowledge and values through education and discourse so that we may align our work in healing and accountable solidarity with the many living under the remnants of settler colonialism and empire. Visit Resources for Engaging Palestine & Israel for ongoing resources and learning opportunities.
We embrace liberation as a collective process and collective responsibility. Each of us has a role in cultivating the collective thriving of which so many lives and futures, including our own, depend.
Towards collective liberation and a free Palestine, today and always, we Side With Love.
Talking about abortion is the first step to busting stigma, stopping harmful restrictions, and expanding access. On September 30, we learned how to have deeper conversations about abortion that are rooted in values and facts, defuse extremist talking points, and develop skills to use in one-on-one conversations. Watch the recording here.
UU Climate Justice Revival Ahoy! Starting this weekend, congregations across the land are coming together to reimagine a spirit-filled and liberatory future. Through conversations, worship, and advocacy, congregations will work together to realize climate justice and collective liberation in our communities. Let’s GO!
Read on for more info about:
Revivaling Congregations + YOU!
Tune in to the Livestream of President Sofia’s sermon at UU Congregation of Ann Arbor
Sneak peak into UUA’s expanding support for climate justice!
“When I go to the Revival” reflections from Side with Love!
Revivaling Congregations + YOU!
Over 370 UU congregations in 45 states plus Mexico, Canada, the Virgin Islands, and online - over 35% of our denomination - are joining in spirit to reimagine together a world where all communities thrive.
The UU Society of Oneonta, NY is the first congregation to share the outcomes of their Revival. Look at all those smiling faces! Karen Palmer reports,
“We just completed our Climate Revival Saturday Workshop a weekend early due to our schedules. Rev Stacey and I facilitated and we think it went very well. People were very engaged and moved from expressing that they felt overwhelmed and stressed about Climate Change to feeling more positive and hopeful seeing the collective energy that emerged from the event. Thanks for all the work your team did to provide the resources!”
What’s that you say? Your congregation hasn’t signed up to host a Revival yet? Do it now! You can host your Revival later this year or in 2025. Several folks are hosting theirs over Earth Day. Do what makes sense for you but sign up now so we can best support you!
Your Revival will bring together hearts and minds to make the connections between climate and justice and re-imagine what it means to do this urgent work in community. This powerful and transformative event weaves together the threads that have always linked our deepest commitments. The UU Climate Justice Revival will equip UU congregations to enter into a new era of climate action—one that intentionally and faithfully breaks down silos and cultivates relationships that lead to flourishing collaborations that transform our congregations through climate justice.
Watch a Revival Worship This Weekend!
If your congregation is not hosting the Revival this weekend, but you want in on the fun, we invite you to join the livestream of UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt preaching at the UU Congregation of Ann Arbor on September 29 at 8:30am PT / 11:30am ET.
UUA developing new tools for Climate Justice facilities projects at the congregational level
As congregations seek to implement climate justice projects at the community level, we are excited to report that the UUA will soon be offering support and a loan option for clean energy projects with incentives for climate justice. We can’t go into too many details just yet, but put this in the back of your mind as your congregation is Reimagining Together at your UU Climate Justice Revival and stay tuned for more information!
How are you Revivaling?
Hear from the Side With Love Team on what we’re bringing to our Revivals!
“The sign of a health economy should be a drinkable river.” - Li An Phoa
Here in Delaware, none of our rivers and creeks are swimmable, let alone drinkable. Here in my county with the highest number of chickens in the country, chicken waste is spread on our fields and runs off into the water (among other causes for the unhealthy water). If we had drinkable rivers, families be able to play in them! But more than that, getting there would require improved conditions and lives for the chickens themselves, the small family chicken farmers stuck in contracts with the big chicken companies, and the largely immigrant and Black non-unionised workers in the chicken factories. When I go to the Revival, I will elevate the connection between small farms, workers, animals, water, and our health.”
Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, Leadership Development Specialist
When I go to the Revival, I’m going to talk about the profound connections between climate justice and building a more democratic society for all people. I think about the opportunities for direct democratic process in Atlanta where over 116,000 residents signed petitions in support of taking Cop City – a militarized police training camp destroying an urban forest to be destructed – and the city’s unwillingness to respond to the demands of the people. I think about what it means when our governing bodies have been bought and sold by the wealthy and corporations – in the case of the Great Lakes, the federal government has not stopped Enbridge from pumping oil through their 71-year old pipelines through the Straits of Mackinac putting 21 percent of the world’s fresh surface water at risk. I am excited for the synergy and opportunity for more relationship and more collective action that will emerge from the Revival.
Nora Rasman, Democracy Strategist
When I go to my climate justice revival, I want to talk about the intersection of the climate crisis and our values. I want to leave able to articulate how our values call us into environmental action. I care about Climate Justice, and I'm already doing so much to end oppression that I want to better understand how this work impacts the work I'm already doing. It all feels so big! I want a space to dream about a better, healthier, and more connected world.
Rev. Amanda Schuber, Disability Justice Associate
When I go to my revival, I will talk about the impacts of climate change on marginalized communities. Many who lack the basic necessities of life and whose livelihood depends on survival are the most likely to suffer the devastating impacts of climate catastrophe. When a hurricane hits or a chemical contamination strikes, low-income people, Black and brown people, trans people, and disabled people lack the financial resources to protect themselves. Worse yet, agencies and government officials fail to craft policies and procedures that take into account the variety of needs and contingencies that will ensure the safety of these communities. A climate revival will not only raise the aware of the reality of climate change but will also raise the awareness of how climate catastrophe impacts all communities and the need to center care for the most vulnerable as we consider sustainable solutions.
Rev. Michael Crumpler, LGBTQ and Multicultural Programs Director
When I go to my Revival, I’m going to talk about disability justice, community care, and the urgency of practicing solidarity with disabled people in this age of pandemics. As we reimagine a world where all beings thrive, in this moment of accelerating mass disablement, death, and climate catastrophe and simultaneous calls to reinvest in pre-pandemic ways of living and organizing, I’m curious about what our movements can learn from disabled resistance, connection, and survival. I’m eager to attend to this need for the many generations of people who are becoming disabled in a very small window of time and to whom our movements are accountable for a place in this work. I’m inspired by the 2024 AIW Centering Love Amidst the Ongoing Impact of COVID-19. What’s possible for our communities when we live into communal interdependence?
When I go to my climate justice revival, I want to make sure we find spaces for us to grieve. There is so much violence we are encountering and experiencing in our lives, and it takes a toll on our bodies, minds, and hearts. My heart breaks for my Palestinian siblings who have lost homes, loved ones, and ancestral lands where they have nurtured olive trees for generations. All of us have lost the biodiversity that comes with human-driven climate change. And some of us may feel like humanity has lost its soul, with our extractive relationships to each other and our greater world. I want to make the space for us to name and feel that grief. Because in that grief, we can find our longing. We can find what it is we yearn for, rooted in our greatest imaginings of what our faith tells us is possible. In honoring our grief, we lean into the best of our humanity - our connections to our reality and our commitments to transforming this world into one centered on love.
When I go to my Revival later this year, I am excited to meet all of the community members we’re inviting to join us. We’re using the Revival materials to bring together as many people as we can from the many smaller communities in our area who are all connected to the same ecosystem we love and social services we need. I plan to elevate the connections between climate change and all of the injustices we fight so hard against as a means of working towards building community resilience together. How can we make sure that everyone in our community thrives? I know that I - alone - do not have the answer, but we - together - can create a vision, a north star, to guide our collective work. Together, with curiosity, humility, grace, and imperfection, we can find the solutions that strengthen our community and protect our ecosystem, all while centering the needs of those most impacted by climate injustice. I bring my lived experience as a person with a disability and my rural, working-class background to this dynamic work. As Chico Mendes said, “Environmentalism without class struggle is just gardening.” How can our climate justice work intersect with labor, disability rights, anti-racism, disaster preparedness, and more? My commitment to justice and collective liberation will guide my actions both at the Revival and beyond. No system but the ecosystem, no liberation without love. We’re reimagining together!
On September 18, we joined Deepa Iyer for our September Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting: “What do I have to offer?” + the Social Ecosystem Framework. Watch the recording here.
We all have an important part to play in our congregation! To create a world that liberates all of us, we need each and every one of us. Deepa Iyer's Social Change Ecosystem Framework identifies ten "roles" all working towards and with the values of equity, liberation, justice, and solidarity. This framework is built on the recognition that we all have “innate gifts, lived experiences, learned skills, and formal and informal knowledge that can propel social change.” It also celebrates that we are fluid and adaptable, with our "role" changing from one context to the next. We’re using this framework in the UU Climate Justice Revival and in it can be helpful when bringing together you GS2030 Teams.
"We build spiritual containers. We tell different stories. We engage one another. We follow frontline leaders. We remind each other [to be with each other] when the world mocks us sometimes for hope; mocks us sometimes for the radical idea that love can guide who we are and how we show up, rather than needing to win at a game that puts some of us ahead of others." - Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt
Earlier this month, UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt joined our first UU the Vote in-person mobilization in Philadelphia. She was part of a powerful panel on the role of faith organizations in this political moment (watch the entire event at Side With Love’s YouTube) and invited UUs to remember how important it is that we be together in this work; to, in her words, "literally chaplain one another back to the space we are building together."
Over the next four weeks, we have a number of reproductive justice and access events so we can learn and take action on this critical issue. Two political education events, two phonebanks with partner organizations (one in Florida and one in North Carolina), and our ongoing UPLIFT and UPLIFT Access monthly gatherings. We hope you'll join us at these events where we can chaplain each other, remind each other why we're letting love guide us, and tell different stories about the world we want to live in.
Woven Together: Religion & Reproductive Justice
Political Education Series from SACReD
Tuesdays this fall 7-8:30pm ET
SACReD is a national alliance of multiracial, multifaith, multiethnic, mixed gender and sexual identity religious leaders, congregations, movement organizations, activists, academics, and directly impacted communities collaborating to advance Reproductive Justice through congregational education, culture change, community building, and direct service.
As we shift the culture to make Reproductive Justice a lived reality, we recognize that our political, religious, and reproductive lives are all woven together. We are watching the forces of White Christian Nationalism threaten our families and our communities every day. We are bringing together experts to cover the legal, political, theological, and cross-movement intersections of religion and reproductive justice. When we understand how all of our struggles are inextricably linked, we can continue to deepen our solidarity in the pursuit of liberation and justice for all.
Accessing this series is free, with a suggested donation of $25 per workshop, or $150 for the full series.
Help us grow our movement to limit government interference with abortion!
Florida's proposed Amendment 4 creates a state constitutional amendment that explicitly blocks the implementation of laws that prohibit, delay, or restrict abortion access.
On Thursday, Sept 26, you're invited to join Yes on 4 and UU the Vote for a virtual phone bank session. We'll connect to voters to invite them to take action and support Yes on 4 this election cycle. No experience is necessary, we will provide training and support to you while you make calls. Your personal information is protected and all calls are made through the dialer system. We'll have fun and promise the conversations you have with voters will energize you!
Unapologetic Abortion Access: Skill Training with Avow Texas
Monday, September 30, 2024 8pm ET - 9:30pm ET
Join us for a virtual workshop with Caroline Duble, Political Director of Avow Texas, to talk about abortion.
Defuse extremist talking points and develop skills to use in one-on-one conversations. We are particularly enthusiastic to invite UU reproductive justice organizers and activists and folks living in states with abortion ballot measures this November.
Talking about abortion is the first step to busting stigma, stopping harmful restrictions, and expanding access.
Learn how to have deeper conversations about abortion that are rooted in values and facts.
North Carolina Abortion Rights Interfaith Phone Bank
Tuesday, October 8 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT
Join Side With Love, UU Justice NC, Pro-Choice North Carolina, and Carolina Jews for Justice for a phonebank calling North Carolina voters. The future of abortion access in North Carolina is on the line this election! Even though there isn't a ballot initiative, abortion is absolutely on the ballot in NC, because those we elect will either defend and advance abortion access, or keep banning it. People of faith are coming together to send a powerful message that reproductive rights are aligned with our values, so let's get on the phones and turn-out pro abortion voters this fall!
Our loving faith calls us to honor the inherent rights and dignity of all people and to fight forms of oppression wherever we find it.
However, disabled people (who make up 26% of the population) regularly find ourselves pushed to the margins, being denied our needs, and not receiving the radical welcome UU’s aspire to provide to all members.
Lay leaders, religious professionals, and allies are invited to join us for our monthly lunchtime webinars where you can learn how to be more accessible and inclusive of your congregation’s disabled members and visitors.
Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs and friends of UUism. Join us to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ UUs and co-create support and community across our faith. All you need to bring is yourself (and other trans/nonbinary friends, if you’d like)!
This is a drop-in space, where folks can come and go as works best for them, and where people can join us at any time. You can be a regular or someone new, someone who's been curious for a while but hasn't yet checked us out, somebody who is rejoining after time away, and all other ways of relating to this space! You are welcome here, and you are loved.
Climate at the Intersections: Climate Justice is Gender Justice
In our newest video in our Climate at the Intersections series, Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy and UU Women's Federation National Organizer Antoinette Scully explore how climate is a gender justice issue.
Upcoming events on abortion, reproductive justice, & access!
We have some fantastic meetings planned this fall, and we hope to see you all soon! Join the Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings for shared learning and mutual supports with other UUs working to transform our congregations through climate justice.
UU Climate Justice Revivals!
I know that many of you are busily preparing for your UU Climate Justice Revivals! Keep up the good work, and remember that if you do the Revival activities as planned, they can serve in place of your Opportunity Assessment! Win-win! If you missed it, check out the recording of the UU Climate Justice Revival + GS2030 to learn how these activities overlap and support each other.
If you haven’t signed up to host a Revival, there’s still time! Many of our congregations are hosting their Revival later this year or in 2025. Bonus! We have mini-grants to support your work! Sign up today!
Our meetings will begin and end with some very special guests! The September meeting, “What do I have to offer?” + the Social Change Ecosystem Framework will feature Deepa Iyer, author of Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection. Consider this a must-attend training for nourishing impactful Green Sanctuary Teams! In October, we’ll deepen our understanding of the UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice with the UUA President, Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, and UUSC President, Rev. Dr. Mary Katherine Morn. In November, we’ll release the new Green Sanctuary 2030 Materials and the yearly renewal process. These new materials will be even more manageable and accessible for all of our congregations. Come get the inside scoop! We’ll round out the year with the 35th anniversary celebration of the Green Sanctuary program featuring Pres. Sofía.
We all have an important part to play in our congregation! To create a world that liberates all of us, we need each and every one of us. Deepa Iyer's Social Change Ecosystem Framework identifies ten "roles" all working towards and with the values of equity, liberation, justice, and solidarity. This framework is built on the recognition that we all have “innate gifts, lived experiences, learned skills, and formal and informal knowledge that can propel social change.” It also celebrates that we are fluid and adaptable, with our "role" changing from one context to the next. We’re using this framework in the UU Climate Justice Revival and in it can be helpful when bringing together you GS2030 Teams. Learn more about this powerful framework from the author, herself!
We will be giving away 50 copies of the Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection at this event. You must be present to win. Sign up today!
UUs have been at the leading edge of climate action for decades, but how does our faith call us to the work of climate justice? Join the Green Sanctuary 2030 Community for a watch party of the UU Theological Grounding for Climate Justice Fireside Chat with UUA Pres. Sofía and UUSC Pres. Mary Katherine Morn. How does your faith call you to this work? Join the conversation!
Come together to celebrate 35 years of Green Sanctuary! From the 7th Principle Project to Mobilizing for Climate Justice, the Green Sanctuary process has transformed our congregations and our world. Join Pres. Sofía and friends for a celebration of Green Sanctuary and a call for renewal through Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice on Wednesday, December 11 at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.
Announcing the Fall Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings!
To create a world that liberates all of us, we need each and every one of us, whether in our roles in our congregation or in our wider community.
Deepa Iyer is a South Asian American writer and advocate for justice who has developed ten "roles" -- all working towards and with the values of equity, liberation, justice, and solidarity -- in her new book from Skinner House, Social Change Ecosystem Framework.
This framework is built on the recognition that we all have “innate gifts, lived experiences, learned skills, and formal and informal knowledge that can propel social change.” It also celebrates that we are fluid and adaptable, with our "role" changing from one context to the next.
We’re using this framework in the UU Climate Justice Revival and in it can be helpful in your congregation's justice ministry or your everyday life! Learn more about this powerful framework from the author, herself, by joining our September 18th event. We'll be giving away 30 copies of this book during the event, too, so join us live for what we know will be an informative and inspiring gathering!
Host the UU Climate Justice Revival on Your Timeline!
Did you know that more than a third of our North American congregations are hosting a UU Climate Justice Revival? This is an incredible demonstration of the passion and commitment our denomination has to this transformative work - and your congregation can be a part of it, whether you can host your revival in September or not!
The UU Climate Justice Revival is responsive to your unique needs and context, which means you can register now for the materials and schedule it whenever is best for your congregation. (We're requesting that all congregations offer their Revival before General Assembly 2025.)
Here’s a sneak peak of the “How do we schedule the Revival” section of the Toolkit. You can make this schedule work in a variety of ways—whatever suits your congregation. You could host one-hour meetings on Zoom over the course of four Wednesdays or your congregation could have volunteers host house parties for the dialogs and a potluck. Be creative! If you’re still not sure how to swing it, email us at UURevival@UUA.org. We can brainstorm ideas!
Connect with UU climate justice organizers & Side With Love staff on Slack!
Slack is a collaboration app that can be used on one's phone, computer, or web browser. Like a message board, it has various channels related to different topics and Side With Love has an active Slack account where UU volunteers, activists, and leaders can work together with Side With Love staff on a variety of topics and campaigns. Check out this intro packet to learn more and join!
Imagine that it's 2050 and we've achieved all of our wildest hopes for collective liberation. What is present in that re-imagined reality? What have our values led us to collectively abolish or move away from? How would our world transform if love was at the center of our climate actions and collective liberation were upheld as a uniting goal across all of the movement spaces that matter most?
With these questions in mind, the UU Climate Justice Revival planning team invited sermons that would ground us in this new reality. The number of submissions exceeded our expectations - evidence of the prophetic spirit and liberatory theology alive in our movement - and after much deliberation, we are proud to announce our sermon winners.
Congratulations to:
Andrew Batcher
Lee Curran
Diego Garrido Barreto
Meleah Houseknecht
Rev. Dr. Molly Housh Gordon
Frances Koziar
Edward Lynn
Rev. Arif Mamdani
Learn more about each awardee and read their award-winning sermon. Recordings of each sermon will be available by September 5th. https://www.uuclimatejustice.org/sermon
September Create Climate Justice Update: each and every one of us is needed
On August 7, we hosted Green Sanctuary 2030 + the UU Climate Justice Revival to learn how both the Green Sanctuary 2030 community and the UU Climate Justice Revival can spark and light the way to transforming climate justice in your congregation. Watch the recording here.
On September 28-29, congregations will host UU Climate Justice Revivals to collectively reimagine a spirit-filled and liberatory future. Through conversations, worship, and advocacy, congregations will work together to realize climate justice and collective liberation in our communities. Congregations will receive everything they need to host a revival in their communities, including discussion guides and materials for all ages, training, worship resources, and advocacy actions designed to transform our communities through climate justice.
Siding with love means we center accessibility in all our programming and events.
Rev. Amanda Schuber, Disability Justice Associate on the Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team, offers some guidance for congregational staff and volunteers on how to center accessibility in programming.
Did you know that almost 300 congregations are hosting a UU Climate Justice Revival! How amazing! In just a few days, the registered congregations will receive all of the materials to host a Revival. If you haven’t signed your congregation up yet, there’s still time! But… maybe you’re saying to yourself…
"Aw, we can’t join the Revival because [insert time conflict here]!"
If you’re one of the many people thinking this, I’m here to tell you that YOU CAN HOST YOUR REVIVAL ANY TIME AFTER SEPTEMBER 28!
Seriously. The Revival is responsive to your unique needs and context. If you need to host the Revival in October, later in the year, or even in 2025, that’s fine! ✨ REGISTER TODAY ✨
“Yeah, but we rent our space and have limited access to it. We can’t reserve it for the dialogs.”
Bummer! But you can STILL host a Revival! In the soon-to-be-released Facilitator’s Toolkit, we’ve crafted several sample schedules to help congregations figure out what would work best for them. Revival activities are super flexible and can be modified in many different ways. We’ve included several options for the Day 1 Dialogs:
Quick and Easy: Afternoon Revival with Snacks
Slow and Steady: Full Day Revival with Lunch and Snacks (and Optional Videos and Longer Breaks)
The More the Merrier: Revival + Community Fair
Saturday Dialogs
Revival dialogs take place for one hour over four days
Here’s a sneak peak of the “How do we schedule the Revival” section of the Toolkit. You can make this schedule work in a variety of ways—whatever suits your congregation. You could host one-hour meetings on Zoom over the course of four Wednesdays or your congregation could have volunteers host house parties for the dialogs and a potluck. Be creative! If you’re still not sure how to swing it, email us at UURevival@UUA.org. We can brainstorm ideas! ✨ REGISTER TODAY ✨
“We really want to do the Revival, but our budget is t-i-i-i-ght! Is there any support for congregations who need some extra help to host a Revival?”
We sure understand that! The UU Climate Justice Revival is designed to be accessible to all congregations, regardless of size or resources.
Thanks to the generous support of the UUA and Revival sponsors, we are offering mini-grants to support congregations who need additional resources to be able to host a Revival. If this sounds like you, ✨ REGISTER TODAY ✨ and then fill out this UU Climate Justice Revival Mini-Grant Support Request form to let us know the kind of support you need. There are limited funds available, so we can't guarantee every request will be filled, but we’re going to do our very best to make it happen!
“Ok, so now that we’re registered and ready to go, what can we do to get our congregation excited!?
So much!
You can start getting your team together with the Welcome Packet
On July 20, we offered a virtual workshop to talk about abortion, led by Caroline Duble, Political Director of Avow Texas. Watch the recording here.
Talking about abortion is the first step to busting stigma, stopping harmful restrictions, and expanding access. We learned how to have deeper conversations about abortion that are rooted in values and facts, defuse extremist talking points, and develop skills to use in one-on-one conversations.
On July 17, we hosted Green Sanctuary 2030 + the UU Climate Justice Revival to learn how both the Green Sanctuary 2030 community and the UU Climate Justice Revival can spark and light the way to transforming climate justice in your congregation. Watch the recording here.
On September 28-29, congregations will host UU Climate Justice Revivals to collectively reimagine a spirit-filled and liberatory future. Through conversations, worship, and advocacy, congregations will work together to realize climate justice and collective liberation in our communities. Congregations will receive everything they need to host a revival in their communities, including discussion guides and materials for all ages, training, worship resources, and advocacy actions designed to transform our communities through climate justice.
by Rev. Amanda Schuber, Disability Justice Associate, UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team
Image 1: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: A Blessing for Disability Pride Month by Rev. Amanda Schuber, Disability Justice Associate, UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team.
Image 2: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: Spirit of Life and Spirit of Love, July is Disability Pride Month, a time to celebrate our community's diversity, tenacity, and adaptability.
Image 3: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: It’s a time to acknowledge the work being done towards a more accessible and welcoming world.
Image 4: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: This month, we lift up those who have fought tirelessly each day to ensure that everybody (every body) is honored as sacred and holy.
Image 5: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: We send love and care to those who have not been served well, who have been abused or forgotten.
Image 6: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: May we remember the fierce souls of our movement who have died this past yea as we carry their legacy forward.
Image 7: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: The Disability Community is one grounded in resilience and connection.
Image 8: Image has a black background. To the left is a stack of watercolor style hearts in the following colors: green, blue, white, yellow, and red. Text in white reads: May we hold fast to the promise of a future that is inclusive, welcoming, and accessible for all.
In these times, where the threats to democracy and liberty devastate our communities, we are fortified by the truth that throughout history, people rise to meet the moment.
In 2024, we are rising to the challenges we face in the world.
Transforming our Climate Justice Work
We are launching a first-ever faith-wide Climate Revival that will break down silos and springboard hundreds of congregations to a move beyond extraction into a wider climate justice movement—the Revival supports congregations with tools and training to equip us to take courageous and impactful action.
Growing our Organizing Power
We’re building response networks across the country for trans people, students, and the many folks targeted by state violence and legislative attacks.
Taking mass action for democracy
We are answering the call to show up boldly and be part of the moral majority that knows another world is possible. We are taking action right now towards that future with UU the Vote 2024.
Side With Love is a public expression of our values, bringing our values to life through mobilizing leaders in congregations and our communities.
Today, it is urgent that we center love in all that we do, if we are to transform ourselves and our world toward liberation. That is the power of a liberating love.
“Everything you touch, you change; everything that changes, changes you.”
Octavia Butler, The Parable of the Sower
What happens when love is a force for change? Who must we become to embody that love?
Help Side With Love build community and campaigns centered around liberating love. Let's harness our power in the urgent times. Thanks to generous donors, all contributions made by July 5 will be matched up to $75,000.
The Mass Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Assembly & Moral March on Washington DC on Sat, June 29
The Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival is calling on people of moral conscience in the DMV area to join thousands on June 29th in Washington, DC to uplift and center the needs of the over 135 million poor and low-wage people and workers across the country. The UUA is one of the organizational partners for this event.
Watch the livestream on Saturday on our Facebook page.
Blessing for Queer Youth of Faith Day
Queer Youth of Faith Day is celebrated on June 30th.
According to Beloved Arise, "1 in 5 LGBTQ youth say their faith is important to them."
As a religious denomination committed to LGBTQIA+ liberation, Side With Love is pleased to share thisblessing for queer youth of faith, penned by Side With Love Leadership Development Specialist Rev. Cathy Rion Starr (they/them/theirs).
General Assembly 2024
Side With Love Cohorts
During General Assembly 2024, Side With Love offered a cohort for attendees. Twice a day, GA attendees could drop into one of Side With Love's cohort sessions which offered theological grounding, a story of congregational action connected, opportunities for discussion, and moments of movement and levity.
Recommended Resource: Collaboration is a relationship that starts with knowing what you have to offer and what you hold. See what your congregation can offer and what your congregation is currently holding:
Skill Up Workshop: Asset Mapping: Leveraging Congregational Resources for the Movement
Join Slack - our virtual field office! Slack is our primary online community for Side with Love - let’s connect!
Social Witness Statements for 2024
These statements were affirmed at General Assembly and are undergoing review by UUA legal counsel. Final text will be posted at UUA Statements by July 15th.
Queer Youth of Faith Day is celebrated on June 30th. According to Beloved Arise, "1 in 5 LGBTQ youth say their faith is important to them." As a religious denomination committed to LGBTQIA+ liberation, Side With Love is pleased to share this blessing for queer youth of faith, penned by Side With Love Leadership Development Specialist Rev. Cathy Rion Starr (they/them/theirs).
A Blessing for Queer Youth of Faith
Bless you, for who you are, right now, right here.
Bless you in your queerness, your genderfabulousness, your questioning, wondering, exploring, declaring. Bless you in the words you create and evolve and claim for yourself. May you relish your divinity as you dismantle binaries and create beautiful worlds of infinite possibilities. May those of us who are not queer respect you, learn from you, and show up for you as you need.
Bless you in your youth, your brilliance, your ideas, your curiosity, your incredible leadership right now (let alone what is to come). May you be fortified in the face of adultism and may you inhabit the fullness of your being. May those of us who are not youth respect you, learn from you, and show up for you as you need.
Bless you in your faith, your precious connection with the sacred, tradition, community, belief and action that guides your life and holds you through the storms and celebrations of life. May your faith sustain you when your faith tradition honors you and when it harms you. May those who hold faiths that judge you come to know how very sacred and perfect you are. May those of us from all sorts of faith traditions respect you, learn from you, and show up for you as you need.
May all of us – queer and straight, trans and cis, young – younger -old and elder, faithful and faith-allergic -- bless you as your full, beautiful, queer, young, sacred self.
Bless you as YOU. Know that you are enough right now, right here; and you are ever evolving, growing, deepening as your imperfectly perfect self.
May we bless all queer youth of faith, all queer youth, all queer and trans and questioning people, all youth on our collective journey towards liberation.
May you be blessed with the glitter of joy, dances of liberation, bricks of safety, and the nourishment of radical love.
It is that time again. PRIDE Month! Every June, many of us celebrate PRIDE, honoring LGBTQ+ people, our lives, accomplishments, and resilience. As you read this, the streets in your hometown may be lined with banners announcing the upcoming PRIDE parade; storefront windows are abundantly decorated with affirming messages like “love trumps hate” or “love is love.” From logos to curated book displays at our local library, we can find PRIDE deeply affirming and celebratory.
Pride is beautiful! It is life-affirming to be celebrated and declare your love for yourself and your beloved. Whether it is joining an affirming community in a parade or a gentle reminder of your worth and dignity on a rainbow t-shirt, PRIDE month can bring revolutionary joy and healing to our community. Our existence and our resistance is beautiful and worthy of celebration.
We know this PRIDE month may feel different. Maybe your school has removed books that include stories with LGBTQ+ characters. Maybe the PRIDE flag that used to fly outside your church’s door or in front of City Hall has been vandalized or stolen. Perhaps you and your community are grieving the loss of a loved one, the loss of a community member who has moved for their safety, or the loss of hope that things will get better. Maybe your PRIDE celebration includes a memorial or dedication.
PRIDE is complicated. The love, grief, and unbridled joy moves through us
It is a time when many of us hold our partners, our chosen family, and our beloved close because we know that “love is love” is not just a slogan. It means offering housing to someone whose home is no longer safe. It means cards and celebration on Nonbinary Parents Day. It means learning and celebrating new names, pronouns, and bodies. Love is embracing the joy in becoming who you know you are and the humility and care of being one who may be invited to witness this transformation.
Today, it is important that we remind ourselves that the first PRIDE was a riot and lift up the legacies of Marsha P. Johnson and Silvia Rivera. In June, we witness new cycles of “No Police in PRIDE” campaigns. Some LGBTQ+ organizations will inform us of all the corporations that churn out PRIDE-themed advertisements while donating millions to legislators who vote to ban trans children from sports and trans people from bathrooms, vote for discriminatory policies that leave many in our community without homes or jobs, or healthcare, spread pinkwashing messages that worsen the genocide in Palestine, abandon disabled people to an ongoing pandemic, and use the carceral system to police our identity.
PRIDE is political. PRIDE has never represented one cohesive and aligned community. Just as Silvia Rivera gave voice to a gay liberation movement that ignored the needs and contributions of trans and non-binary people, PRIDE continues to be an important site of political struggle that calls us into accountability and the work for collective liberation.
PRIDE, like our LGBTQ+ community, is so many things. For Side With Love, PRIDE is an opportunity to faithfully continue the work of LGBTQ+ liberation and gender justice. It is an opportunity to reflect on where movements have fallen short of our highest ideals and recommit to centering BIPOC, trans, disabled, and other marginalized LGBTQ+ people who are still marginalized due to multiple and intersecting oppressions. It is a time when we honor our legacy of protest and disruption by affirming protest and disruption when communities are struggling for their liberation. PRIDE is an invitation to root in a radical history so that we may reach a liberatory future.
This month, we will share short reflections from UUs on what PRIDE means to them this year. Find these posts on our Instagram at @SideofLove.
We know that these times ask a lot of us and that we need one another to stay in the work with hope, joy, impact, and accountability. Join us if you are doing the work on the ground, if you are showing up for and with Side with Love, and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff. Register now.
Climate Justice Revival Info Session
Thursday, June 13 at 1:00pm ET
Are you excited for the first-ever UU Climate Justice Revival ...but...still have so many questions? Is it on zoom or in person? Can kids participate? Is it a regional or national event? When we do new and different things, questions are expected! Come to the UU Climate Justice Revival Info Session and get all your questions answered! Register now.
Stop Cop City Monthly Huddle
Thursday, June 13 at 2:00 PM ET
We’ll review what’s happening and what you can do with Stop Cop City more broadly. Join us to get activated or to jump back in. Register now.
Blessing for Mental Health Awareness Month
May is Mental Health Awareness Month. We are grateful to share with you a blessing to honor all of you, from Side With Love Disability Justice Associate Rev. Amanda Schuber.
Spirit of Life, Source of Hope and Healing,
We open our hearts to the boundless love that surrounds us. Each of us is touched in different ways by the complexities of mental health. Today, and every day, let us remember that wholeness is our birthright, and each of us is a precious part of the vast tapestry of existence.
May we embrace a theology of hope, one that celebrates the wholeness within each soul, beyond any perception of brokenness. Let us acknowledge that our struggles and pains are not signs of failure, but threads in the intricate weave of our humanity.
In times of struggle, may we find the wat forward. May we hold onto the truth that we are never alone; we are part of a loving community that supports and uplifts one another. Together, we can accompany each other in this life, offering compassion and understanding to ourselves and to others.
Let us affirm that every person is deserving of care, dignity, and respect, and may we create spaces where mental health is spoken of openly and without stigma, where seeking help is seen as a strength, and where every story is heard with empathy.
Spirit of Love, guide us to be beacons of hope. May we find strength in our shared journey, knowing that we are interconnected, and that together, we can foster a world where every mind and heart can thrive.
On May 15, Side With Love offered our May Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting: Climate Justice Brainstorm! Watch the recording here.
Advancing climate justice is one of the essentials of the Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice... but how do we do that... exactly? We joined other UU Congregations for our annual Climate Justice Brainstorm to hear what's worked, what hasn't, and how we're learning, supporting each other, and adapting along the way.
We hope you'll join us at one of our upcoming UU Climate Justice Revival Info Sessions.
Image description: Graphic with text on blue, pink, and green blobs on a white background decorated with colorful flowers in the bottom left corner. Text reads, "Reimagine Together: From An Extractive Age To A New Era. Info Sessions! Join any of our sessions to connect with the Planning Team, ask questions, and learn more about how to host the Revival in your congregation! Tues, May 21 @ 7pm ET/4pm PT. Wed, May 29 @ 1pm ET/10am PT. Thurs, June 6 @ 5pm ET/2pm PT."
Are you excited for the first-ever UU Climate Justice Revival... but... still have so many questions? Is it on Zoom or in person? Can kids participate? Is it a regional or national event? When we do new and different things, questions are expected! Come to the UU Climate Justice Revival Info Session and get all your questions answered!
May 16th is the 13th Global Accessibility Awareness Day (GAAD). UUA Accessibility Resources Coordinator Gretchen Maune shares this reflection on digital accessibility.
In 2007, I was staying at a blind rehabilitation center in Kansas City. Six months prior, I had gone from having 20/15 vision to being almost completely blind over eight rough weeks. I was 24 years old and needed to complete just 15 more credits to finish my Bachelor’s in English so I could move on to grad school, but first, I had to figure out how.
While I enjoyed learning Braille, and techniques for cooking without sight, most of my motivation was reserved for learning to use a computer again. Starting with my family’s Apple II GS, I had been using computers for the vast majority of my life. Being unable to use one for the last several months had made everything from writing capstone papers, to playing Morrowind, to messaging friends impossible, and I was miserable. Cut off from so much, I didn’t know how I was supposed to live my life anymore. When my rehab counselor told me there was software that made it possible for blind people to use a computer, I felt hope and clung to it.
Through the help of a text-to-speech screen reading program called JAWS, I quickly adapted to navigating Windows with my ears instead of my eyes. My instructor, Jim, was the first blind person I can ever remember meeting, and I will be forever grateful to him for all he taught me. One day, as I was practicing surfing the web (come on, it was the 00’s) I found myself becoming increasingly frustrated with a particular website. The techniques I’d been taught weren’t working, and though I creatively strove to find a solution, I eventually found myself giving up. Confused, I asked Jim what I was doing wrong, but the answer he gave me was “nothing at all.” That was the day I learned about digital accessibility.
Assistive technologies like screen readers make participating in society possible for me and countless other disabled people. However, these tools can’t make content accessible all by themselves. Application developers, page designers, instructional material creators, and anyone posting something to the internet (so, that would be just about everyone) have to do their part as well, building, editing, or sharing with accessibility in mind.
Thankfully, my UUA colleague, Kasey Kruser, knows just how important digital accessibility is, and is always keeping it in mind with her work. When asked why she thinks accessibility is important as a web developer, she says, “Making our sites as accessible as possible is a great way to help people feel welcomed and included right from the start. Whatever else might be going on in their lives, whatever brought them to our site, I want to know I've done my best to remove frustrations and roadblocks; I hope my efforts make life that much easier for everyone in or looking for our community.”
As someone who relies on accessibility for my professional, entertainment, and spiritual needs, I am reminded daily that we’re all in this together. On this 13th annual Global Accessibility Awareness Day, let us design our websites, create our documents, and share our social media with love.
A few of the resources I recommend:
The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines, WCAG, are standards for making digital content accessible to disabled users. These standards are required by many countries and other entities across the globe. Learn more with this WCAG primer.
Whether you’re using mostly text, tables, or graphics, increase your inclusive practices with this guide to creating accessible Microsoft Office documents.
Engage with official GAAD Events and Resources and learn to make your content more accessible!
Photo of Gretchen Maune standing against a gray background. Gretchen has long brown hair and is wearing a black top and holding a cane in their right hand.
Side With Love, in collaboration with the Youth and Emerging Adult team of the Lifespan Faith Engagement office and the UU College of Social Justice, joins in solidarity with Unitarian Universalist young adults and students across the globe who are protesting the ongoing assault in Gaza. These protests are a response to the moral urgency of this moment. The assault on Gaza, sponsored by the United States, has killed more than 32,000 Palestinians. We cannot turn away.We join the chorus of faith and progressive organizations calling for an immediate and lasting ceasefire and the protection of student activists.
In the face of dehumanization, devastation, and death, human beings have always gathered to create life-affirming communities of resistance. Rooted in a strong lineage of student movements, this generation - like those protesting the Vietnam War, calling for the racial integration of their campuses, and for the end of apartheid in South Africa - are, again, asking this nation to embody its highest ideals of liberty and justice for all.
Our values call on every generation to listen with care and compassion to the prophetic witness of these courageous students and offer faithful solidarity. We, too, must rise to meet the highest aspirations of our faith, which rejects the disposability of any human being and proclaims all are worthy of love and belonging.
This generation of students has endured the trauma of COVID-19, school shootings, a climate crisis, and the brutality of U.S. police forces on their campuses and in their communities. It is time to turn around the question, “Where are the young people in our faith movement?” and instead ask, “Where are all of us, as people of faith, when our young people are showing up?” We must not turn away.
Side With Love proclaims the transformative power of love to build vibrant and liberated communities. This dangerous assault on civil liberties on college campuses and human rights – at home and globally –are connected. Too many of our justice movements (labor movement, Civil Rights, Gay liberation), have been met with sanctioned police brutality, imprisonment, and worse. We must not fail our students with our silence. We will not betray our faith with our complicity.
We call on university administrations and public officials to remove police from campuses, end the militarized response to student activism, and come to the table in good-faith negotiations with student demands. We call on our community to show up in solidarity. We welcome all, in this pivotal movement, to Side With Love.
Rev. Scott Aaseng Abigail Abysalh-Metzger Ms. Kathleen Adams Rev. Dr. Julia Aegerter Ms. Nancy Ahmadifar Dr. Robert Alexander Dr. Amanda Alexander Ms. Melody Allan Ms Gaylee Amend Dr. Susan Anderson Adele Andrews Rev. Dr. Leonisa Ardizzone Ms. Larissa Armstrong Ms. Dana Ashrawi Ms. Ellen Asprooth Barbara Atkinson Dan Bailey Ms. J Bannester Rev. Erica Baron Rev. Dr. Tracie Barrett Ms. Kathy Bartolomeo Dr. Lynette Bassman Janet Bednarz Ms. Sharon Bell Stevens Mrs. Sharon Bell-Stevens Patricis Bennett Ms. Rebecca Bent Gene Bergman Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt Ms. Joyce Bianchini Rev. Ashley Birt Mx. Sara Blackthorne Mx. Emily Blair Ronnie Boyd Cole Breedlove Henry Bright Mr. Farrell Brody Ms. Beth Brunton Ms. Dana Buhl Mr. Benjamin Burch Sue Burke George Burman Ms. Shirin Caldwell Rev. Dr. Isabel Call Mrs Cici Carilli Cheryl Carmi Dr. Devin Carroll Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer Alesha Chaffin Mr. Donald Chery Ms. Jane Collins Mr. R.Sidney Collins Rev. Otto Concannon Rev. Susan Conrad Rev. Julie Conrady Mr. Larry Cooper Rev. Darcy Corbitt Ms. Nan Corliss Betty Cornelisen Rev. Lyn Cox Carol Crabill Mrs. Sue Craig Chris Crass Ms. Gretchen Crawford Mrs. Jamaine Cripe Mrs. Lee Curran Patrice Curtis Mrs. Jeanne Davis Ms. Karen Deaton Rev. Emily DeTar Birt Ms. Mary Devitt Rev. Tina DeYoe Rev. Jaimie Dingus Sarah Ditzler Ms. Rebecca Donley Angie Donnay Laura Dooley Ms. Lynn D Douglas Mr. Bruce Douglas Ms. Joyce Dowling Ms. Helen Duffy Martha Durkee-Neuman Angelique Duvet-Tovar Rev. Dayna Edwards Natalie Eldridge Susie Epstein Ms. Claire Eustace Dana Fisher Ashrawi Beverly Fitzpatrick Rev. Tobi Fleck Ms. Clare Fortune-Lad Kim Fox-Kristensen Ms. Janna Radovsky Frelich Ms. Roberta Frye Lori Garcia Dr. Shernaz Garcia Dr. Anne Garcia Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson Ms. Vicki Gavel Rev. Pamela Gehrke Elaine Gehrmann Ms. Sally Jane Gellert Janine Gelsinger Elisabeth Geschiere Mrs. Stephanie Giamberardino Mark Giese Ms. Ann Gilmore Rev. Annie Gonzalez Rev. Sara Goodman Ms. glenda gordon Ana Gorny Danielle Grand Mrs. Virginia Green Ms. Joan Gregory Rev. Ranwa Hammamy Emily Hand Ms. Katia Hansen Dr. bill Harris Ms. Zoe Hart Victoria Hartman Ms. Aisha Hauser Ms Gwyn Helie Peter Helwig Paul Heniques Rev. Meagan Henry Rev. Patt Herdklotz Samantha Herndon Bill Hessell Ms. Sandy Hildebrandt Mr. Joel Hildebrandt Rev. Jamie Hinson-Rieger Rev. Dr. Lucy Hitchcock Heather Hoecker Dr. Donna Hoffmeister Ray A Hommeyer rimki honnold Rev. Ashley Horan Edythe Hough Rev. Molly Housh Gordon Ms. Kathleen Yezierska Hulley Kirsten Hunter Rev.erend DL Hwlfer Ms. Laila Ibrahim Elizabeth Ingram Diana Ingram Ms. Catherine Jackson Mr. Mark Jagner Dr. Melissa James Rev. Abhi Janamanchi Ruth Jenkins Ms Cheyenne Jenvey Mr. Bruce Jewell Valerie Johnson Ms. Barbara Johnston Miss Zoe Johnston Constance Jones Rev. Dr. Dr. Roger Jones Rev. Jeff Jones Rev. Nancy Palmer Jones Mona Jones-Romansic Dr. Donna Joss Dr Razan Kaileh ANN KALINOSKI Mr. James Kane Ms. Rosemary Kean Carl Kennedy Asma Khan Ms. Izzy Khapoya Lynn Kimbark Dr. D King Rev. Dan King Gregory King Rev. Cecilia Kingman Mary Kingsley Ms. LINDA KNIGHT Ms. Katie Kosseff Anne Kosseff-Jones Rev. Tim Kutzmark Ms. Pat Lamanna Mr. Steven Sellers Lapham Ms. Areej Latif Dr. Kate Lenhardt Rev. Bran Lennox Ms. Renate Ley Dr. Judy Lightstone Tanya Liscano Dr. Deborah Little Ms. Karin Livingstone Andrew Livingstone Patricia Looney-Burman Ms. Sue Ann Lorig Mr. Terry Lowman Marie Lowry Marsha Luce Monica Luevano Mares Kathleen Lund Leigh Ann Luscan Dr. Aurolyn Luykx Rev. Jason Lydon Mx Bernise Lynch Mx. Sherri Lysy Mr. Melvin Mackey Dr. Heather MacLeod Ken Mah Tina Malone Alisha Mancinas Rev. Kevin Mann Jennifer Marck Mr. Bob Mason Ms. Sally McCollum Clara McCollum Dr. Renee McCormick Ms. Pamela McInnes Kathy McKay Ms Ann McKay Bryson Jung Han Messinger Ms. Joanne Michelson elizabeth miller Rev. Alisha Mills Rev. Sarah Millspaugh Mr. Michael Monroe Rev. John Morehouse David Morgen Dr. John Moses Abbas Moussaoui Rev. Johannah Murphy Ms. Christine Myers Ms. Diane Nassif Mrs. Dawn Newcomer Dr. Gail Newel Mrs. Jackie Newman Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen Jil Novenski Ms. Susan Nye Debbie Ockey Mx. Kyle Osborne Peggy Owen Sands Lori Palmer Ms. Kathryn Partridge Miss QuianaDenae Perkins Rev. Ali Peters Lydia Philip William Philips Rev. Millie Phillips Betty Prange Dr. Marcelle Pratt Mrs Virginia Preuss Ms. Lois Reborne Dr. jon rice Ms. Mary Richards Emily Richards Alice Richards Sandra Rigsbee Rev. Cathy Rion Starr Christina Rivera David Roberts Ms Nancy Roberts Dr. robert roberts Ms. Amanda Rogers Jonathan G Rogers Rev. Jonathan Rogers Ms. Genevieve Rohan Rev. Katie Romano Griffin Mary Rooker Dr. Lee Rossi Rachel Rott Ms Ann Rovere Mr James Ruelas Mr. Stephen Sacks Ms. Judith Sadegh Rev. Misha Sanders Rev. Elizabeth Saunter Ms. Wendy Schoener Rev. Amanda Schuber Mx. Andrea Schulz Rev. Catie Scudera Antoinette Scully Jeffrey Severson Evelyn Sheridan Ms. Isabel Sheridan Rev. Alia Shinbrough Ms. Terri Shofner Dr. Joshua Shurley Mr. Brett Smith Rev. Julián Soto Sandra Steubing Catherine Strickland Wesley Stroupe Ben Strube Rev. Sonya Sukalski Judith Swick Rev.erend Jan Taddeo Rev. Leslie Takahashi Dr. Katrina Thompson Mr. Scott Thomson Bis Thornton Ms. Rita Townsend MS. Ellen Trumpler Dr. Brenda Ungerland Elizabeth Valencia Danielle Van Dusen Nico Van Ostrand Ms. Michelle Venegas-Matula Sandra Villareal Hannah Villnave Dr. Maria Cristina Vlassidis Burgoa Dr. Caitlin Waddick Dr. Kaitlin Walker Virginia Waring Mylo Way Rev. Vail Weller Penelope Wells Krista Westervelt Elizabeth Westie Rev. Dr. Pippin Whitaker Mrs. Jan Wiley-Egdall G Williams Gordon Woodworth Ms. Carol Workman Ms. Connie Young Lenore Yousef Rev. Crystal Zerfoss
Overview Rev. Cathy Rion Starr led us through the Universe of Possibility presentation, after which we all spent some time drawing our unique Universe of Possibility for work we're doing in our congregations and communities. We reflected on questions like:
How many people are in each circle? Who’s in your core?
Is your committee reflective of the congregation as a whole in terms of demographics and interests?
What do you invite folks to at each level?
How is the flow of leaders in and out of the circles?
What are your hopes & dreams for your universe? What changes would you like to make?
It was so helpful to frame our work through this tool, but don't take my word for it, here's what some of your peers said:
"Love this tool and this group… looking forward to working with y’all!" - Sharon G.
"Thank you, Rev. Cathy, for reminding us about the importance of different levels of involvement!" - Diane D.
"This is a great topic — impactful teams! Our UU congregation has many teams and they all operate differently. Love this model and I think we can apply it broadly. I hope to learn more about building community and spiritual connection simultaneously. Thank you!" - Carolyn T.
"I loved this! Lots to think about and weave into all my future efforts!" - Dorothy S.
This will definitely be a workshop we reference time and again in the coming months!
This Sunday, April 21, is Nonbinary Parents Day. As Unitarian Universalists (UUs), we not only open our doors to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, we value diversity of sexuality and gender and see it as a spiritual gift. We share with you a blessing to affirm and celebrate all nonbinary parents and caregivers. (See our Facebook post for beautiful graphics of this prayer!)
Blessing for Nonbinary Parents Day
To all the in-betweens, outside-ofs, not-quites, both/ands, and neithers:
We honor all of who you are and all of how you nurture and care.
Through your embodied authentic self, you impart a transformative love.
A love that is abundant, bold, whole, holy, you.
On this Nonbinary Parents’ Day, may we amplify this transformative love into a world that allows you to be secure and safe, to rest, breathe, and relax.
On this joyous day, may we celebrate the sacredness of your relationship and role.
Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, Side With Love Congregational Justice Organizer and "Nommy"
Noor Hammamy-Way, Honorary Staff and "Cube"
Announcing Nicole Pressley as Organizing Strategy Director!
We are pleased to welcome Nicole Pressley as the Organizing Strategy Director for Side With Love!
Nicole first joined Side With Love in 2020 as the National Organizer for UU the Vote and has since worked to strengthen our infrastructure, nurture partnerships, and coordinate collective action across our core issues as the Field and Programs Director.
Our movement partner SACReD, is hosting a multi-faith conference centering Reproductive Justice: the SACReD Gathering, May 7-9.
Connecting healing, skill building, deeper analysis, and organizing, the SACReD Gathering will strengthen our cross-movement connections and capacities to build a world where Reproductive Justice is a lived reality.
This is a space to share the hard stuff and to hold the hard stuff that others are navigating in their lives. During our time together, our lead chaplain/facilitators will share opening and closing words, and in between, there is time for everyone to share what's on their hearts, and receive what others are sharing about their own lives. Register to join.
Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need. Register to join.
Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs and friends of UUism. Join us to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ UUs and co-create support and community across our faith. This is a drop-in space, where folks can come and go as works best for them, and where people can join us at any time. Register to join.
Nonbinary Parents Day and May Programming from UPLIFT!
I am thrilled to take this opportunity to introduce myself and share some exciting news.
As of March 1, I have been promoted to the position of Organizing Strategy Director on our Side With Love team. It's an incredibly meaningful step for me personally, and I am eager to continue serving our community in this capacity.
You may already be aware that Rev. Ashley Horan has transitioned into the role of Vice President of Programs and Ministry, providing strategic support to President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt and the UUA in advancing our shared mission. Rev. Horan's tenure as Organizing Strategy Director has been marked by tremendous growth, culminating in the consolidation of our issue programs (UU the Vote, Create Climate Justice, UPLIFT Action, and Love Resists) under the Side With Love umbrella. We extend our heartfelt congratulations to Rev. Horan and eagerly anticipate the impact she will make in her new role.
My journey at the UUA began in 2020 when I joined as the National Organizer for UU the Vote. In the face of significant political challenges, we embraced innovation, fostered new relationships, and adapted our strategies to meet the moment.
In subsequent years, as Side With Love’s Field and Programs Director, I have worked to strengthen our infrastructure, nurture partnerships, and coordinate collective action across our core issues.
While our communities continue to grapple with the ongoing challenges posed by the pandemic and the erosion of democratic norms, I remain steadfast in my belief that we are stronger and more resilient than ever before. Through my fifteen years of organizing, I have come to understand that our commitment to justice transcends socio-political fluctuations and conditions.
During the emergence of Covid-19, UU the Vote became the largest activation of Unitarian Universalists in the history of our faith. Our advocacy for bodily autonomy draws from our legacies in abolition and the women’s suffrage movement, extending to Uplift Action work proclaiming that every body is sacred. As we confront the climate crisis, we are revitalizing Green Sanctuary and reimagining how we do this urgent work together in a national Climate Justice Revival in September to catalyze a widespread denominational commitment to transforming our congregations and communities through climate justice. While the criminal legal system continues to claim lives and devastate families, we have mobilized efforts to close detention centers and counter rising fascist tactics in the campaign to Stop Cop City.
It is this steadfast dedication that sustains our justice movements through adversity and uncertainty. And the relationships and communities we build are the manifestation of what we are fighting for: whole, just, and thriving communities centered in liberating love.
At the heart of our work lies the profound power of love. Love serves as both a catalyst for action and a source of solace for our communities in times of need. In these times where we are told the lie that our individual thriving requires someone else's suffering, love is the promise of Beloved Community, where all of us are whole and worthy.
Side With Love embodies this transformative vision. It is more than a slogan; it is a call to moral clarity and collective action. It is a bold invitation to be who we say we are. Today, as the world around us continues to grapple with crises fueled by hatred and indifference, we have a moral mandate to embody the principles of justice and compassion in all that we do. Together, we can be the architects of a more just and equitable future. Now is the time for us to embody the promise of our faith, and I believe that we are ready.
I want to express my gratitude for your continued support and partnership. I am so proud to do this work with you and with the amazing staff team who has stewarded this work with brilliance and care.
I am excited to continue this journey together and look forward to the incredible work that lies ahead.
Join me at the next Side With Love Monthly Mixer on Monday, April 15 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. Our monthly mixer is a time to connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff. We know these times ask a lot of us and that we need one another to stay in the work with hope, joy, impact, and accountability. Join us if you are doing the work on the ground, if you are showing up for and with Side with Love, and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love.
Join UU the Vote 2024
UU the Vote is our campaign for democracy and electoral justice, grounded in Unitarian Universalist values. With UU the Vote we’re organizing on the state and local levels to fight for fair elections, advance voting rights, protect abortion access, and resist the targeting and criminalization of Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities.
Excited to join UU the Vote but need some support with your work? Confused about what electoral work is “allowed” for non-profits? Want help finding a local partner to work with? Join us at Getting Started with UU the Vote: Community Gathering on Thursday, April 18 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET as we talk through some of the first steps to making a plan.
Join with hundreds of sibling congregations across the continent for our national UU Climate Revival, offering inspiring collective worship, creative learning, and new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice.
The UU Climate Revival will equip UU congregations to enter into a new era of climate action—one that intentionally and faithfully breaks down silos and cultivates relationships that lead to flourishing collaborations that transform our congregations through climate justice.
Open to every UU congregation of every size and budget, we will provide facilitation toolkits, training, music, projects, coordinated justice action and more! Find out more at www.uuclimatejustice.org.
Announcing Nicole Pressley as Organizing Strategy Director!
The urgency of the climate crisis can sometimes lead folks to believe that integrating justice into our climate actions is a distraction. “Don’t we need a singular focus on reducing emissions to save the planet?” or “Once we solve climate change, then we can focus on racial justice,” and even “We’ve been fighting racism forever; we only have a few years to fix climate change,” are murmurs in climate spaces.
For many of our congregations engaging in the Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice process, integrating justice into our climate actions can be the most challenging part of the work. When I hear anxieties about folding justice into our on-going work, I always remind our teams that while it may feel like the most challenging, it is also the part of our work with the most opportunity and the most potential for impact!
As people of faith, ours is the work of collective liberation. If we honor the interconnectedness of all life, justice for all must be our guiding principle.
For as many problems climate change poses to our world, there are even more solutions that cultivate a flourishing world for all. When we put our faith into action not just to reduce emissions but also to create thriving communities for all, we’re nurturing collective liberation.
If we reject the scarcity mindsets that pit our climate action teams in competition with our racial justice teams, we embrace abundance in our shared ministries. If we cultivate trusting relationships within our congregations and our communities, we amplify our impacts. If we faithfully advance intersectional climate actions with love at the center of our work, we co-create a future where all communities thrive. Just imagine the beauty, the joy, the togetherness, the solutions, the stronger communities, the flourishing world that will come from these shared ministries.
Friends, this is why I am so excited to invite you all to join the UU Climate Justice Revival, “Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era” this September!
Bring your congregation, your justice teams, your problem solvers, and your dreamers together for a powerful weekend of togetherness through shared dialogs, inspirational worship, and collective actions designed to intentionally and faithfully break down silos, cultivate connections, and envision the world we want to create, and chart a course for actions that cultivate that world.
Together, we can shift our work to be less isolated, more connected; less anxious, more nourishing; less limited, more visionary. Let’s reimagine together a world where love guides our actions and all communities thrive. We can’t do it without you, so sign your congregation up today for the UU Climate Justice Revival on September 28-29.
Join with hundreds of sibling congregations across the continent for our national UU Climate Revival, offering inspiring collective worship, creative learning, and new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice.
The UU Climate Revival will equip UU congregations to enter into a new era of climate action—one that intentionally and faithfully breaks down silos and cultivates relationships that lead to flourishing collaborations that transform our congregations through climate justice.
Open to every UU congregation of every size and budget, we will provide facilitation toolkits, training, music, projects, coordinated justice action and more! Find out more at www.uuclimatejustice.org.
Join the Line 5 Petition
(Line 5 is a 645-mile pipeline from Superior, Wisconsin, to Sarnia, Ontario. The 30-inch diameter pipe transports up to 540,000 barrels of crude oil and natural gas liquids daily.)
The Women’s Earth & Climate Action Network (WECAN) is sharing a petition drive and a new video just released highlighting Indigenous women leaders fighting to stop Line 5 and protect water, climate, and Indigenous rights. The petition drive joins growing national and regional efforts to stop Line 5 permanently.
Petition signatures will be delivered ahead of the premiere of the Bad River documentary film, taking place in Washington, D.C., with invited government leaders and officials. Indigenous women leaders, WECAN, Sierra Club-Wisconsin, and others will deliver the petition signatures on March 13 to the Army Corps offices in Washington, D.C.
Keep Calling And Writing: How the Climate Justice Movement Affects Federal Legislation
UUs for Social Justice presents a Zoom policy talk by Katie Thomas Carol, Esq., Director of Energy and Environment Programs for the CPC Center, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that identifies and develops solutions to build a more just, equitable, and resilient nation.
With almost a decade on Capitol Hill working energy and environmental policy and legislation, Katie will speak in her personal capacity about how UUs can drive the progressive agenda.
Katie will highlight examples of her work as Staff Director for the U.S. House of Representatives Oversight Subcommittee on the Environment for Rep. Ro Khanna and Senior Policy Advisor for Energy and Environment to Senator Bernie Sanders before that.
Happily, Katie is also a UU. RSVP and attend to create a lovely, robust, informative Earth Month event.
Available Now - Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in Predominantly White Congregations
On March 20, we joined Dorothy Swain of UUs of Grants Pass and Gabi Johnson with the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, both from Grants Pass, Oregon, for our Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting on Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in Predominantly White Congregations. Check out the recording and resources!
Nourishing Impactful Teams
As we work to transform our congregations and communities through climate justice, a strong and dynamic team is critical. Join Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, Side With Love Leadership Development Specialist, for tips on how to bring together and nourish a cohesive and impactful team! Register to join us!
Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET. Each meeting includes a brief introduction to the Green Sanctuary 2030 process and a presentation on a climate justice topic usually led by a Green Sanctuary 2030 Team followed by an open discussion.
Remind Congress We Still Need The Environmental Justice for All Act
We still want Congress to act on "the moral principle that all people have the right to pure air, clean water, and an environment that enriches life." We still agree "Federal policy can and should seek to achieve environmental justice, health equity, and climate justice for all underserved communities," let's urge them to do so. Last year's passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was a significant step toward greater investment in clean energy.
Unfortunately, some provisions of the IRA are expected to stimulate fossil fuel production and worsen pollution in areas already saturated by heavy industry. Now, in the new Congressional Session, the House is proposing legislation intended to loosen procedural protections around energy projects. This includes efforts to undermine cornerstone environmental protections like the National Environmental Policy Act, and measures that will increase the risk to public health.
Tell Congress: Support the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act!
Register for the 2024 National Faith + Climate Forum
We are excited to invite you to join us for an inspiring and transformative event designed to strengthen local congregations through care for creation – The National Faith + Climate Forum on April 16th from 12:00 pm - 5:15 pm ET / 11:00 am - 4:15 pm CT / 10:00 am - 3:15 pm MT / 9:00 am - 2:15 pm PT!
Join other faith leaders in our area to hear inspiring national speakers and participate in purposeful discussions, practical workshops, and energizing collaborative sessions. All clergy and lay leaders, younger and older congregants, are welcome to join, whether you have been caring for creation for some time, or just getting started. We all can be part of the solution in our congregations and our community. Learn more and register here.
We are called to re-imagine what it means to do climate justice work in community
The urgency of the climate crisis can sometimes lead folks to believe that integrating justice into our climate actions is a distraction. “Don’t we need a singular focus on reducing emissions to save the planet?” or “Once we solve climate change, then we can focus on racial justice,” and even “We’ve been fighting racism forever; we only have a few years to fix climate change,” are murmurs in climate spaces.
For many of our congregations engaging in the Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice process, integrating justice into our climate actions can be the most challenging part of the work. When I hear anxieties about folding justice into our on-going work, I always remind our teams that while it may feel like the most challenging, it is also the part of our work with the most opportunity and the most potential for impact!
As people of faith, ours is the work of collective liberation. If we honor the interconnectedness of all life, justice for all must be our guiding principle.
For as many problems climate change poses to our world, there are even more solutions that cultivate a flourishing world for all. When we put our faith into action not just to reduce emissions but also to create thriving communities for all, we’re nurturing collective liberation.
If we reject the scarcity mindsets that pit our climate action teams in competition with our racial justice teams, we embrace abundance in our shared ministries. If we cultivate trusting relationships within our congregations and our communities, we amplify our impacts. If we faithfully advance intersectional climate actions with love at the center of our work, we co-create a future where all communities thrive. Just imagine the beauty, the joy, the togetherness, the solutions, the stronger communities, the flourishing world that will come from these shared ministries.
Friends, this is why I am so excited to invite you all to join the UU Climate Justice Revival, “Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era” this September. Bring your congregation, your justice teams, your problem solvers, and your dreamers together for a powerful weekend of togetherness through shared dialogs, inspirational worship, and collective actions designed to intentionally and faithfully break down silos, cultivate connections, and envision the world we want to create, and chart a course for actions that cultivate that world. Together, we can shift our work to be less isolated, more connected; less anxious, more nourishing; less limited, more visionary. Let’s reimagine together a world where love guides our actions and all communities thrive. We can’t do it without you, so sign your congregation up today for the UU Climate Justice Revival on September 28-29. You can read more on our website: UUClimateJustice.org, or check out our Frequently Asked Questions and the Overview which explains all the beautiful work happening to bring the revival to your congregation. As always, you can email me at Environment@UUA.org with any questions.
In community,
Rachel
Rachel Myslivy (she/they)
Climate Justice Organizer
Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team
Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era
Join with hundreds of sibling congregations across the continent for our national UU Climate Revival, offering inspiring collective worship, creative learning, and new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice.
The UU Climate Revival will equip UU congregations to enter into a new era of climate action—one that intentionally and faithfully breaks down silos and cultivates relationships that lead to flourishing collaborations that transform our congregations through climate justice.
Open to every UU congregation of every size and budget, we will provide facilitation toolkits, training, music, projects, coordinated justice action and more! Find out more at www.uuclimatejustice.org.
Join our national UU Climate Revival, September 28 - 29, 2024!
When Nex Benedict — a Two Spirit (nonbinary) Choctaw youth -- died one day after being beaten by other students in the girls room at Owasso, Oklahoma High School, the event generated rare public awareness. Benedict’s death in February appeared around the nation in news coverage of what was later labeled a drug-induced suicide by local officials.
But despite the lack of attention, suicides among LGBTQIA+ youth are tragically common. According to The Trevor Project, about half of transgender youth seriously considered suicide in the past year, and it was the second-leading cause of death among ten to fourteen year-old members of the LGBTQIA+ community. Further, young LGBTQIA+ people of color reported much higher rates of attempting suicide than their white peers.
Rev. Jami Yandle, the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Transgender Support Specialist, believes transphobia and harassment led directly to Benedict’s death. “Imagine sticking up for yourself, getting in a fight, and then having to go to school following that incident -- and probably hundreds of others -- with no protections and feeling so much of the world against you at such a young age,” said Yandle.
The environment Yandle describes was created largely by deliberate scapegoating. In 2022, Oklahoma’s overwhelmingly Republican state legislature banned transgender females from playing on female sports teams. The following year, the state made it a felony crime for health care workers to provide gender-affirming medical care to young transgender people, despite the medical community overwhelmingly supporting such care. Another 2023 law required students to use bathrooms that match the sex listed on their birth certificates.
Fueling the hostile setting in Oklahoma, right wing agitators are trying to ban many books depicting gay and transgender people from school libraries.
Of course, a gender-neutral bathroom could have been a life-saver for Benedict. “Nex deserved to grow up; to live long enough to have gray hair. So, when we talk about anti-trans legislation, this is literally a life and death issue,” said Rev. Yandle.
Unfortunately, Oklahoma is far from exceptional. As of March 2024, more than470 state bills were active that attack the equality, dignity, and free expression of LGBTQIA+people, with many directly targeting transgender youth. Some bills would criminalize the very existence of Transgender and Gender Expansive people (the Unitarian Universalist Association and many UU State Action Networks have spoken out against and are working to thwart those bills).
Trangender Day of Visibility may seem modest in the face of such legislative onslaughts until you learn fewer than half of U.S. residents say they personally know someone who is transgender, meaning their opinions are formed entirely from what they absorb from media, politicians, and other people, not from personal experience. Transgender people are among the last who can successfully be portrayed as dangerous “others,” because gender identity is not well-understood by many Americans.
Earlier movements to advance civil rights for LGBTQIA+ people accelerated dramatically when millions of Americans “came out” to family and friends, dismantling the ability of oppressors to portray people as threatening or dangerous based on their sexual preferences. The same will surely hold true for advancing gender equality.
In supporting the importance of gender expansive people “coming out,” Rev. Yandle says “because I'm white, I feel an obligation to be out and loud, and use what little privilege I have -- to be a little more bold to pave way for folks who may feel like it's unsafe. So they have a visual marker of somebody who is aging and will hopefully grow old enough to get gray hair.”
“That visibility is why I also sometimes wear my collar when I'm at a rally or public event…so that everybody can see, there's a trans person who's also an ordained Unitarian Universalist minister,” said Yandle.
The Rev. Jami A. Yandle with TV personality and LGBTQIA+ advocate Jonathan van Ness at a rally against anti-trans legislation at the Austin, TX capitol. The event was part of the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry’s 2023 legislative day of action. Rev. Yandle serves as the UUA's Transgender Support Specialist, ministering on the Organizing Strategy Team that holds the outward-facing justice work for the UUA under the banner of Side With Love. Rev. Yandle provides spiritual support and direct care for the trans and non-binary community within and beyond the UUA. Photo by Rev. Erin Walter.
UUs have a long history of working to advance LGBTQIA+ rights and, in a recent nationwide survey by Public Religion Research Institute, led all included denominations in supporting nondiscrimination protections (93 percent) and inclusion of LGBTQIA+ individuals within congregations (29 percent).
But Rev. Yandle stresses the need for UUs to push themselves and their congregations to keep working. “I don't want to minimize the life saving capability of using somebody's correct pronouns, but that's the least you can do. It all comes down to organizing, and bodies in state capitols, and going to legislator’s offices, to be in their faces.”
Special Event Join UPLIFT and TRUUsT Director Rev. Julián Jamaica Soto for an online gathering to celebrate all Trans & Nonbinary people following Trans Day of Visibility. Tuesday, April 2 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. Register today!
On March 20, we joined Dorothy Swain of UUs of Grants Pass and Gabi Johnson with the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, both from Grants Pass, Oregon, for our Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting on Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in Predominantly White Congregations. Check out the recording and resources shared below.
Dorothy and Gabi's community organizing on Grants Pass Remembrance: from Sundown to Sunrise exemplified interfaith partnership and climate justice actions deeply rooted in the context of oppression in their community. They shared tons of great resources all linked below.
We hope to see you for April's Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting on Nourishing Impactful Teams with Rev. Cathy Rion Starr on April 17. RSVP today!
We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! We joined other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities.
In this 2024 webinar, Peg MacMorris with Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, CO, shared the way her congregation is approaching installing solar with IRA funds and Sabina Shelby with the Unitarian Church of West Hartford, CT, talked us through the Financial Incentives for Energy Investments at Houses of Worship document the IRA PLC group created to help congregations access IRA funds.
Following the presentation, Michael Cohen with Solar United Neighbors and First Unitarian Church of Orlando, FL, and Russell Outcalt from UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, chimed in with Peg and Sabina to answer questions from the audience.
We began this year with a 30 Days of Love reflection from our Democracy Strategist, Nora Rasman, who wrote, “This year, we will tell the truth to each other and ourselves about the political landscape we inhabit, the conditions and threats we are facing and the power of the left.” The truth is the stakes are high. It is also true that every action that chooses democracy as the method to express political desires or dissent is an invitation to building a new world, together.
Last night millions of voters went to the polls to express their desires about the leadership of their states and country. Hundreds of thousands voted “uncommitted” in protest of the ongoing assault in Gaza. Several voter suppression laws have created an unjust field that cannot produce accountable and representative elected leadership. Some candidates speak openly about ending free and fair elections, disparage trans people and immigrants, and celebrate limiting our individual freedoms. Last night, we faced hard realities together. Now, we must decide what we will do in the days ahead.
Let us remember that every movement forward generates new possibilities. Every new person we invite into our work grows our power. Each time we respond to the grief, rage, and demands of a people yearning to be free with compassion and a faithful recognition of our shared humanity, we Side With Love.
We invite you to use today to deepen your commitments to justice. This moment and our movement, needs you. With UU the Vote 2024, we are leaning even more deeply into the shared values that move voters to the polls. We are equipping leaders to engage in compassionate conversations that hold our grief as well as our commitment to building a multi-racial democracy. We are resisting state violence in our work to Stop Cop City in Georgia. We’re showing up to protect abortion in the Yes on 4 campaign in Florida. We are launching Green Sanctuary 2030 to ground our congregational climate justice work in local and accountable relationships.
Throughout history, we have shown up to kindle the flames of justice in uncertain times. Today, we build on that legacy and commit to justice and prophetic action to build a future where we all thrive. This is our work. We forge the paths that lead us towards the just and loving world we seek to create.
Join a community of people who greet each day a new opportunity to Side With Love in all that we do.
UU the Vote 2024 is an ambitious strategy to grow a powerful pro-democracy majority. This year we will build our commitment to democratic practices and recommit to showing up for social movements building infrastructure and relationships to sustain us the beyond the electoral year. Join us to learn about our work with State Action Networks and their partners in key states, key ballot initiatives, political education and spiritual grounding opportunities and our mass voter contact program.
March 20: Climate Justice and Racial Reconciliation in a Predominantly White Congregation Integrating justice in our climate work is essential, but many UU congregations struggle with this component of the Green Sanctuary 2030 process. Join Dorothy Swain from UUs of Grants Pass, OR, and her colleague Gabi Johnsen from the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, to learn about the ways their congregations are advancing climate justice in a predominantly white, rural community.
March 18: Side With Love Monthly Mixer Join us if you are doing the work on the ground, if you are showing up for and with Side with Love, and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff.
March 21: UU Stop Cop City Monthly Action Huddle Our huddle this month will focus on writing letters to those imprisoned for protesting Cop City in Atlanta. Writing letters to folks locked up is a ministry, a political act, and a great way to invite new folks into decriminalization work. As always, we’ll also review what’s happening and what you can do with Stop Cop City more broadly. Join us to get activated or to jump back in.
Democracy Is an Invitation to Build a New World Together
After closing out this year's 30 Days of Love, Side With Love is looking forward to exciting opportunities for faith-filled action this spring. Starting March 6, we have a range of offerings that we hope will ground you and help sustain your commitment to liberation, democracy, and justice. Please join us and share with your congregation!
Get ready for UU the Vote 2024! On Thursday, March 14 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET, join UU leaders and partners to learn how you can show up for our values and communities in the critical 2024 elections. Invite your congregation and social justice teams to join us for an exciting launch of UU the Vote 2024.
When we organize, we build power in our communities for justice, accountability, and healing. In the last four years, UU the Vote has built new networks of spiritual and political communities to #VoteLove and #DefeatHate. With UU the Vote 2024, we’ll be showing up to combat criminalization; protect and expand healthcare, including abortion; and deepening local democratic practices, from participatory budgeting to ranked choice voting.
We are fighting for so much in 2024. Together, our communities can address the current threats to our democracy and human dignity. Join us in this fight on Thursday, March 14 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET for the launch of UU the Vote 2024!
Get to know the new Green Sanctuary! Join the monthly orientation session to get a better understanding of the program and learn how your congregation can engage in ongoing climate action. Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice can transform your congregation through climate justice!
This is a space to share the hard stuff and to hold the hard stuff that others are navigating in their lives. During our time together, our lead chaplain/facilitators will share opening and closing words, and in between, there is time for everyone to share what's on their hearts, and receive what others are sharing about their own lives. It's a supportive, judgment-free place to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ people.
Join us if you are doing the work on the ground, if you are showing up for and with Side with Love, and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff.
Integrating justice in our climate work is essential, but many UU congregations struggle with this component of the Green Sanctuary 2030 process. Join Dorothy Swain from UUs of Grants Pass, OR, and her colleague Gabi Johnsen from the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, to learn about the ways their congregations are advancing climate justice in a predominantly white, rural community.
This is a cozy, drop-in community space for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs and friends of UUism where we connect with each other with games and breakout groups, share ideas and stories on all kinds of topics, listen to music and poetry (often by trans/nonbinary+ creators), and much more! This space is intentionally multi-generational. It is open to and welcoming of trans/nonbinary elders as well as children, youth, and young adults. Standard UUA online safety measures apply to ensure all people under 18 are able to attend.
Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need.
Mark your calendars for the March 20 Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting: Climate Justice and Racial Reconciliation in a Predominately White Congregation with Dorothy Swain of the UUs of Grants Pass, OR. Justice is one of our four Essentials for Climate Action, and it’s often the one our congregations struggle with the most . . . or, as I like to say, the one with the most opportunity! I hope to see you for some shared learning and mutual supports at this or any of our Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings.
Wow, was our February meeting inspirational or what?! Huge thanks to Russ Outcalt and the UU Fellowship of Raleigh for sharing the ways they’re Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030. I love hearing how our congregations are engaging with the Green Sanctuary 2030 process, and the UUs in Raleigh are doing stellar work! Check out the recording below, and while you’re at it get your congregation involved with UUSJ’s Environmental Justice for All Actions, also linked below!
Big thanks to our UU congregational leaders who shared their knowledge at our Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle this month! Peg MacMorris with Foothills Unitarian Church in Fort Collins, CO, shared the way her congregation is approaching installing solar with IRA funds and Sabina Shelby with the Unitarian Church of West Hartford, CT, talked us through the Financial Incentives for Energy Investments at Houses of Worship document the IRA PLC group created to help congregations access IRA funds.
Following the presentation, Michael Cohen with Solar United Neighbors and First Unitarian Church of Orlando, FL, and Russ Outcalt from UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, chimed in with Peg and Sabina to answer questions from the audience. If you missed the presentations or want to review alllllll of the information shared (it was a lot!), look for the link to the recording below.
Financial Incentives for Energy Investments at Houses of Worship is a wealth of information and resources for congregations looking to access federal funding for clean energy. In addition to details about federal funds, there’s a section on UU specific funding opportunities you can use to leverage IRA funds. Towards the end of the document, there are links to all of the webinars we’ve held related to the historical investments in clean energy available in the IRA.
We hope to see you at the Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting: Orientation on Wednesday, March 6 at 7ET.
New Resources Available
Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle for Congregations
We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! Thanks to everyone who came together to learn and share information at the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Watch the recording, and get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations.
Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030!
On February 21, we learned from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. View the recording and resources.
Climate Justice and Racial Reconciliation in a Predominately White Congregation
Integrating justice in our climate work is essential, but many UU congregations struggle with this component of the Green Sanctuary 2030 process. Join Dorothy Swain from UUs of Grants Pass, OR, and her colleague Gabi Johnsen from the Pursuit Church of the Nazarene, to learn about the ways their congregations are advancing climate justice in a predominantly white, rural community. Register to join us!
Image description: Graphic with text bubbles on a background of pine branches, decorated with an illustrated pine cone and a bird resembling a goldfinch. Below is the Green Sanctuary logo, a chalice lit with a leaf flame. "Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings. 3rd Wednesdays. 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET. Jan. 17: Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration! Feb. 21: Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030, UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC. Mar. 20: Climate Justice & Racial Reconciliation in a Predominately White Congregation, UUs of Grants Pass, OR. Apr. 17: Nourishing Impactful Teams, Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, Side With Love Leadership Development Specialist. May 15: Climate Justice Brainstorm!"
Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8ET - 7CT - 6MT - 5PT. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs.
Remind Congress We Still Need The Environmental Justice for All Act
We still want Congress to act on "the moral principle that all people have the right to pure air, clean water, and an environment that enriches life." We still agree "Federal policy can and should seek to achieve environmental justice, health equity, and climate justice for all underserved communities," let's urge them to do so. Last year's passage of the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) was a significant step toward greater investment in clean energy.
Unfortunately, some provisions of the IRA are expected to stimulate fossil fuel production and worsen pollution in areas already saturated by heavy industry. Now, in the new Congressional Session, the House is proposing legislation intended to loosen procedural protections around energy projects. This includes efforts to undermine cornerstone environmental protections like the National Environmental Policy Act, and measures that will increase the risk to public health.
Tell Congress: Support the A. Donald McEachin Environmental Justice for All Act!
Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era
As climate change rocks our world, there is a spirit at work in the congregations and movements committed to justice.
As we make the connections between climate and justice, we are called to re-imagine what it means to do this urgent work in community. As we make the connections between climate and justice, we are called to re-imagine what it means to do this urgent work in community. How can our climate work be:
Less isolated, more connected;
Less anxious, more nourishing; and
Less limited; more visionary?
Through worship, laughter, learning, reflection, lamentation, and joy, we can feed our spirits and move forward nourished and connected with love at the center of our climate actions. Together, we can move from a deadly era of extraction to a flourishing era of connection.
Join us on September 28 and 29 for a national UU Climate Revival offering inspiring collective worship, creative learning, and new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice, and the chance to weave together the threads that have always linked our deepest commitments. The UU Climate Revival will equip UU congregations to enter into a new era of climate action—one that intentionally and faithfully breaks down silos and cultivates relationships that lead to flourishing collaborations that transform our congregations through climate justice.
If you’re interested in learning what is new with Green Sanctuary 2030 and our new, flexible process; or if you want other leaders in your congregation to understand how powerful this program is for wider community change, join one of our upcoming orientations! Held the first Wednesday of each month at 4pm PT / 7pm ET, this orientation presents our new, flexible, accessible process and the opportunity to speak with me about what your congregation has been doing. Register now!
An Invitation to Faith-Filled Transformation through Climate Action
The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. On February 21, we learned from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. See the recording and resources below.
Our grief is holy. Our rage is divine. Our love is enduring. Our lives are sacred.
This week we learned that Nex Benedict, a non-binary child in Oklahoma, died after a violent attack by fellow students at their school. While the details are still emerging, one thing is extraordinarily clear - hateful policy and hateful theology are deadly. The ongoing dehumanization of trans and non-binary people by elected officials and hate groups fuels inhumane actions.
Our grief is holy. Our rage is divine. Our love is enduring. Our lives are sacred.
Nex should be alive today. As we look at Nex’s photos, learn about their dreams, read about their love of Minecraft and nature - we bear witness to a beautiful soul who had every right to flourish and thrive. We also bear witness to a collective loss of humanity as a new generation is enlisted to carry forth this legacy of violence.
Our grief is holy. Our rage is divine. Our love is enduring. Our lives are sacred.
When we face the ultimate cruelty that systemic oppression visits upon our communities, any number of responses emerge. Whether you need to remain still or stirring in your grief, wild or weary in your rage, frozen or frenetic in your fear, resilient or resistant in your love - we encourage you to care for your sacred body and life in whatever way your spirit demands.
Let your grief be holy. Let your rage be divine. Let our enduring love move us to build a world where trans and non-binary lives are honored as sacred.
Friday, February 23, at 8pm ET/7pm CT/6pm MT/5pm PT
Join UPLIFT Ministries on Friday, February 23, at 8 ET/7 CT/6 MT/5 PT to be in community and hold ourselves and each other in the feelings and needs we’re experiencing right now. All are welcome–this is a space that is open to everyone–cis, trans, metagender, questioning, and more! During the vigil, we will spend time all together, as well as move into breakout groups for:
Children and youth (focused on trans/nonbinary+ youth, but open to people of any identity)
Trans/nonbinary+ adults (closed to this identity)
Trans families, caregivers of trans/nonbinary+ children/youth, and other close loved ones of a trans person/people (this space may have people with cis, trans, or other identities)
General breakout focused on cisgender experiences (though someone of any identity may join)
This space will be facilitated by Jess Hunt and Rev. Steven Leigh Williams, and will have chaplains available. Register here
This is a collection of resources, both within and outside the UUA, geared towards trans/nonbinary+ people and our supporters. Resources for mental health crisis appear at the bottom.
Hosted in March 2022, this training featured Sam Ames, Director of Advocacy & Government Affairs for The Trevor Project as well as Side With Love staff Rev. Ashley Horan, Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, and Adrian Ballou.
Held March 15, 2022, this training featured Sam Ames, Director of Advocacy & Government Affairs for The Trevor Project; Rev. Erin Walter from Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry; and Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson from UU Justice Ministry on North Carolina, in addition to Side With Love staff Rev. Ashley Horan, Rev. Michael Crumpler, Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, and Adrian Ballou.
UUs have long been part leaders in powerful multifaith movements fighting for trans and queer rights and liberation. Join UPLIFT Action and Side With Love staff for this webinar, lifting up the faithful work UUs are engaging in right now in the context of the wave of hateful legislation and violence against trans and queer people. We'll hear stories from congregations and State Action Networks on the ground, and point toward ways you and your community can take meaningful action.
When I think about our 7th principle of Unitarian Universalism, the “interdependent web of existence of which we are a part,” I envision the way a small touch on one strand of a spider web makes the whole web shake.
Last month, with our partners at the American Friends Service Committee, we shook the web across the country with actions focused on corporate funders of Atlanta’s Cop City, like Bank of America and Home Depot. Thank you to those of you who wrote one of the over 7,000 letters to CEOs and showed up from Oakland to Atlanta! You can still sign the letter to CEOs urging them to stop funding increased militarization of police.
Side With Love Congregational Justice Organizer Rev. Ranwa Hammamy outside the Emeryville Home Depot during the Stop Cop City! Corporate Week of Action.
Celebrate Good News!
Unitarian Universalist Joan Gregory has been one of many in the Salt Lake City area organizing for Victor’s release for the past 11 months. Victor is an Indigenous land defender who has spent much of his adult life caring for the water, for the land, and for his elders. On March 5, 2023, Victor was arrested at the South River Music Festival near the site in Atlanta of a proposed Cop City which is under construction and where hundreds of acres of forest have already been destroyed. Victor was unloading camping equipment from his truck with his dog inside when heavily armed police charged at him from the woods, violently assaulted him, and hauled him to jail. After spending 3 months incarcerated at DeKalb County Jail without bail set or being indicted, he was transferred to a remote ICE facility, where he spent 8 months. In September, he learned he was one of 61 people indicted in the highly repressive RICO case that’s attempting to criminalize any and all efforts to Stop Cop City. We join Victor’s home community in the Salt Lake City area in celebrating his release. For more information and an opportunity to show your support go to: http://tinyurl.com/VictorIsFree.
As Nicole Pressley wrote recently, “Our work to Stop Cop City dismantles the false ideal of safety. This false ideal is destroying forests, intensifying violence against communities of color, and silencing the electorate. As people of faith, we cannot affirm the worth and dignity of all while privileging the well-being of a chosen few. We are not fully human when we separate ourselves from the humanity of others.”
When one side of the web is hurting, it rattles the whole web of existence.
May we continue to honor these connections across the whole web of existence.
May we each do our part to stop the pain and injustice.
May we envision a world of community care and abundant love.
May we recommit ourselves to mutuality, abundance, and community.
In faith and persistence,
Rev. Cathy Rion Starr Side With Love Leadership Development Specialist
Available Now - Skill Up: Community Safety & Security
Unitarian Universalists are called to grapple with the question, “what is safety?” Black liberation organizers say “We Keep Us Safe" as a way to proclaim that true safety comes from relationship, community, and structures of care and mutuality outside of state structures of violence and control. How do we build our political and theological commitment to keeping each other safe in the face of state and interpersonal violence?
In this Skill Up led by Nora Rasman and India Harris, we defined safety and security grounded in abolitionist practice, discussed our spiritual mandate towards building sanctuary, and concretely outlined what we can honestly offer to ourselves and each other.
March 21 at 11am PT / 2pm ET (Please note the date change this month!)
Our huddle this month will focus on writing letters to those imprisoned for protesting Cop City in Atlanta. Writing letters to folks locked up is a ministry, a political act, and a great way to invite new folks into decriminalization work. As always, we’ll also review what’s happening and what you can do with Stop Cop City more broadly. Join us to get activated or to jump back in. This meeting usually happens on the second Thursday of the month at 11am PT / 12pm MT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET.
In case you missed it, view our final gifts from our Bonus Days of 30 Days of Love! During the last days of 30 Days of Love, we explored the theme of “liberatory intersections.”
Safety. Re-Imagining. Possibility. Resilience. These themes have been the backbone of this year’s 30 Days of Love, with each offering extending to us the opportunity to hone our ability to pause, listen, and receive even as the world around us continues its frenetic hum. We hope that these weekly gifts from our siblings in faith have invited you to breathe deeply, feeling – even if just for a moment – a sense of connection with kindred spirits who share a soul-deep yearning for justice and wholeness.
At the most basic level, spiritual practice is spending regular, intentional time turning away from despair and fear and toward connection and commitment. At Side With Love, we believe that this kind of spiritual practice is what makes sustained organizing for justice possible: without making space in our lives to purposefully strengthen the musculature of imagination and hope, the soul of our movements atrophies and the dream of liberation becomes an empty fantasy.
Click here to read the full reflection by UUA Vice President for Programs & Ministry Rev. Ashley Horan. Our final offerings: a blessing by Rev. Verdis LeVar Robinson, a musical blessing by Rev. Erin Walter, a Time for All Ages by CB Beal, a body practice by Rev. Maria Cristina Vlassidis Burgoa, and a prayer by Rev. Kim Wildszewski.
May We Envision a World of Community Care and Abundant Love
Over the next couple of weeks you may hear murmurs of a gathering for UUs to deepen our commitments to climate justice…in the coming months, we hope those murmurs will turn into a cacophony of excitement around the UU Climate Revival. Reimagine Together: From an Extractive Age to a New Era will connect our congregations through inspiring collective worship, creative learning, new frameworks at the intersection of climate and justice, and the chance to weave together the threads that have always linked our deepest commitments. Two words for you: “Stay Tuned!” Or maybe three words are better: “Don’t miss this!”
As we’ve been envisioning this powerful event, I am now (and forever!) reflecting on the question: how can we center love in the climate movement? For me, it’s all about relationships. I do not want to build the world that is right for me, I want to collaboratively cultivate a world where all communities thrive.
This means shifting from a singular mindset, a narrow focus, a myopic vision into an expansive reimagining, an abundance of possibility, and - yes, friends - collective liberation for all. There is no quick and easy fix to the problems of our world. For me, there are unbounded possibilities when I recognize that I alone do not have the answer. Of course, I can’t single handedly solve the complex, interconnected crisis that is climate change, but goodness sometimes it’s easy to fall into that mindset. There’s no time! There’s no time! I am here to remind us all that there is always time for love in our movements.
When it feels like everything in the world is on fire and my heart breaks with the enormity of it all while my task list has more than I can possibly accomplish in a year of Sundays, it can be tempting to push forward as fast as possible. Still, if I do that, and you do that, and everyone pushes forward independently, well, you can see where that gets us. For me, this means embracing curiosity, humility, and grace. Spending time with colleagues to learn about who they are, what their vision is, how they think we should move forward, so that when we do move forward, we move forward together. Does it take more time to build relationships? Does it slow down the work? Yes. Is it worth it? Absolutely.
I find grounding and renewal in Viktor Frankl’s quote, “Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” Today, I invite you all to pause. Slow down. Reflect on how you can center love in your actions. I promise your next thought, your next response, your next move will be all the better for it.
And as we all move forward refreshed and grounded in love, I hope to see you at any one of the many nourishing and inspiring events in the coming months. From Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with Green Sanctuary 2030 to the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle or even just taking a break to watch the recording of Reimagining with Energy Democracy, we have several opportunities to build community, learn, get inspired, and move forward together with love at the center of our climate actions.
Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 - Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting
Join our next Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21. The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. Learn from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. Register to join us!
Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate. Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.
Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle
We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on Wednesday, February 28 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities.Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC!
The IRA Peer Learning Circle is a place for congregational leaders to come together to brainstorm, get into the weeds, and figure out the best way to access these funds for our congregations and our communities.RSVP today!
For a deep dive on how one congregation is reducing emissions, check outNet Zero by 2030 with the People’s Church of Kalamazoo.
Available Now: Reimagining with Energy Democracy
On January 25, we offered a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy. You can review the slides here and watch the recording here.
Reimagining with Energy Democracy was part of two larger events, Side With Love’s 30 Days of Love and our Clean Energy as a Human Right series. Throughout this series, we’ve invited folks to embrace a visionary approach to clean energy, not just as a technical solution, but as a moral imperative. Rather than falling into the scarcity mindset so common in climate spaces, we encourage you to embrace abundance and ensure that our clean energy work nourishes thriving communities for all.
The Clean Energy as a Human Right series includes:
March 21 to May 2 (International Day of Biodiversity) is Spring for Change! Together with a variety of Unitarian Universalist partners working for climate justice, the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth is offering activities and educational events to provide congregations and individuals with spiritual grounding and resources to face our ecological crises with courage, compassion, and a commitment to justice. Click here to view the full schedule of offerings.
World Water Day: Water is Life - March 21, 2024
7:00 pm ET/ 6:00 pm CT/ 5:00 pm MT/ 4:00 pm PT
World Water Day celebrates water and raises awareness that 2.2 billion people live without access to safe water. We are honored to welcome Rev. Dr. Clyde Grubbs and Rev. Karen Van Fossan into a conversation on this important and sacred day. They are defenders and protectors of water; two spiritual leaders in our UU movement who will help us build a heart-centered approach to a right relationship with Mother Earth and her waters.
Rev. Dr. Clyde Grubbs is a Unitarian Universalist minister who served congregations in Indiana, Quebec, Massachusetts, Texas, Florida and California. He honors his Native American heritage (Texas Cherokee) which informs his spiritual understanding and practice, and his anti-racist and anti-oppressive commitment He has worked for peace, justice and equality since he was in the Unitarian Universalist youth movement, Liberal Religious Youth.
Rev. Karen is also a Unitarian Universalist minister and author of A Fire at the Center: Solidarity, Whiteness, and Becoming a Water Protector. She is an abolitionist, licensed professional counselor, and former defendant in the Line 3 pipeline resistance. She is pursuing a Doctorate of Ministry specializing in abolition through Pacific School of Religion. Clyde is on her dissertation advisory committee. Karen lives in Fargo, North Dakota, on the traditional lands of Anishinaabe, Lakota/Dakota, and many Indigenous peoples.
Join Us for 2024 The National Faith + Climate Forum! We are excited to invite you to join us for an inspiring and transformative event designed to strengthen local congregations through care for creation – The National Faith + Climate Forum on April 16th from 12:00 pm - 5:15 pm ET / 11:00 am - 4:15 pm CT / 10:00 am - 3:15 pm MT / 9:00 am - 2:15 pm PT! Join other faith leaders in our area to hear inspiring national speakers and participate in purposeful discussions, practical workshops, and energizing collaborative sessions. All clergy and lay leaders, younger and older congregants, are welcome to join, whether you have been caring for creation for some time, or just getting started. We all can be part of the solution in our congregations and our community. Learn more and register here.
Safety. Re-Imagining. Possibility. Resilience. These themes have been the backbone of this year’s 30 Days of Love, with each offering extending to us the opportunity to hone our ability to pause, listen, and receive even as the world around us continues its frenetic hum. We hope that these weekly gifts from our siblings in faith have invited you to breathe deeply, feeling – even if just for a moment – a sense of connection with kindred spirits who share a soul-deep yearning for justice and wholeness.
At the most basic level, spiritual practice is spending regular, intentional time turning away from despair and fear, toward connection and commitment. At Side With Love, we believe this kind of spiritual practice is what makes sustained organizing for justice possible. Without making space in our lives to purposefully strengthen the musculature of imagination and hope, the soul of our movements atrophies and the dream of liberation becomes an empty fantasy.
As Black feminist, abolitionist, and scholar Angela Y. Davis famously says, “You have to act as if it were possible to radically transform the world. And you have to do it all the time.” But none of us can sustain that on our own. At Side With Love, our work is to build a skilled, rigorous, interdependent network of individuals, congregations, and partners who are in it together, day after day, season after season – audaciously fostering transformation and tending to each other’s spirits in the struggle.
As we close out this year’s 30 Days of Love, we know there is daunting work ahead of us in 2024. Never has it been clearer how deeply interconnected all our issues are, or how very high the stakes are for all of our communities. As we gear up yet again to defend and deepen our democracy, to fight for a society that honors the sacredness of all bodies, to push back against the dehumanizing impact of criminalization, to re-imagine a thriving future for our precious planet – we are grateful to be fighting and dreaming alongside you. Even after these 30 days of practice and pause, let us commit to making space – as individuals, as communities, as movements – for re-grounding in our purpose and nurturing our spirits along the way.
May we all be well, whole, and free. In faith and solidarity, Ashley
The Rev. Ashley Horan UUA Vice President for Programs & Ministry
p.s. As some of you know, I have recently moved into a new role at the UUA, so closing out this 30 Days of Love feels especially bittersweet as it will be my last year overseeing this beautiful project and the year-round work of the Side With Love team. We will be sharing more with you soon about these role transitions, including the exciting news that our beloved Nicole Pressley is now serving Side With Love as Acting Organizing Strategy Director – stay tuned!
Unitarian Universalists are called to grapple with the question of “what is safety?” Black liberation organizers say “We Keep Us Safe" as a way to proclaim that true safety comes from relationship, community and structures of care and mutuality outside of state structures of violence and control. How do we build our political and theological commitment to keeping each other safe in the face of state and interpersonal violence?
In this skill up, Nora Rasman and India Harris define safety and security grounded in abolitionist practice, discuss our spiritual mandate towards building sanctuary, and concretely outline what we can honestly offer to ourselves and each other. View the webinar below, or on Vimeo.
Skill Ups are our monthly series of trainings on organizing skills to help build our UU the Vote and Side with Love Volunteer Squads and help YOU build stronger teams in your congregation and community. We'll start the session with some spiritual fun and then launch into our training. See our past trainings.
Skill Up Recording and Resources: Community Safety and Security
The Side With Love Team is hosting our annual 30 Days of love, and the second week's theme was Reimagining :: Climate Justice. Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts and embrace our coulds. What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world? When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.
If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence. Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice. If we reimagine a world with justice, with love at the center, we cultivate communities of care where all beings thrive. Read my full 30 Days of Love, Reimagining :: Climate Justice reflection here.
We’ve got loads of opportunities for you to learn, act, and reflect on climate justice in the coming weeks, including:
Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21
Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on February 28
In between these amazing events, watch the recording of our Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration! We heard from almost 20 congregations actively engaging in the Green Sanctuary 2030 process designed to transform our congregations through climate justice.
Get inspired, then get involved!
Get inspired with the Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!
During our January Community Meeting, we hosted the annual Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration. Almost twenty Active Green GS2030 congregations shared highlights of their current work. Green Sanctuary 2030 teams engage in intersectional actions that align with our Four Essentials of Climate Action: Justice, Congregational Transformation, Community Resilience, and Mitigation. Learn from your fellow UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice!
On January 25, we offered a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy. You can review the slides here and watch the recording here.
Reimagining with Energy Democracy was part of two larger events, Side With Love’s 30 Days of Love and our Clean Energy as a Human Right series. Throughout this series, we’ve invited folks to embrace a visionary approach to clean energy, not just as a technical solution, but as a moral imperative. Rather than falling into the scarcity mindset so common in climate spaces, we encourage you to embrace abundance and ensure that our clean energy work nourishes thriving communities for all. The Clean Energy as a Human Right series includes:
Image description: Graphic illustration from the Abolitionist Visions on Climate Justice webinar titled, "Side With Love. Abolitionist Visions on Climate Justice," with a sunflower with a raised fist stem at the top. In the top left is a group of people holding hands, sharing a thought bubble with a heart, and resting atop a half-earth with the words, "Plantcestors, Spiritual Natural Grounding, and Beyond the Human World." In the bottom left is a Council of Grandmothers. In the center is a globe with cities powered by clean energy and oceans with abundant fish and red arrows. On the right side of the document is a large scene featuring mountains; a thriving city with clean energy, rivers supporting birds and fish, happy families, healthy agriculture, and safe roads; and cows, sheep, bees, and people relaxing in a field near the words, "Loving Each Other" and "Caring for Each Other." The illustration features a diversity of plants and people of different races, ages, genders, and abilities. There are bright colors and gentle lines, and all the beings represented are free, connected, and safe. Logos: UUA, Create Climate Justice, Green Sanctuary 2030, See in Colors.
Imagedescription: Black and white version of the graphic illustration shared above, to be printed out and enjoyed as a coloring page.
Upcoming Green Sanctuary Orientations
If you’re interested in learning what is new with Green Sanctuary 2030 and our new, flexible process; or if you want other leaders in your congregation to understand how powerful this program is for wider community change, join one of our upcoming orientations!
Held the first Wednesday of each month at 4pm PT / 7pm ET, this orientation presents our new, flexible, accessible process and the opportunity to speak with me about what your congregation has been doing. Register now!
Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 - Green Sanctuary Community Meeting
Join our next Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21. The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. Learn from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. Register to join us!
Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate. Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.
Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle
We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on Wednesday, February 28 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC!
The IRA Peer Learning Circle is a place for congregational leaders to come together to brainstorm, get into the weeds, and figure out the best way to access these funds for our congregations and our communities. RSVP today!
For a deep dive on how one congregation is reducing emissions, check out Net Zero by 2030 with the People’s Church of Kalamazoo.
On January 25, Side With Love hosted a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy. You can review the slides here and recording here.
Reimagining with Energy Democracy was part of two larger events, Side With Love’s 30 Days of Love and our Clean Energy as a Human Right series. Throughout this series, we’ve invited folks to embrace a visionary approach to clean energy, not just as a technical solution, but as a moral imperative. Rather than falling into the scarcity mindset so common in climate spaces, we encourage you to embrace abundance and ensure that our clean energy work nourishes thriving communities for all. The Clean Energy as a Human Right series includes:
This webinar was also part of our 30 Days of Love, Reimagining :: Climate Justice. Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts and embrace our coulds. What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world? When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.
If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence. Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice. Consider what this radical reframing could look like. How would it feel? What does not exist in that future world? What is the shift that needs to happen in you to commit to this future? Bring this reimagining to your work in your relationships, congregations, and communities.
Big thanks to the sponsors of this event, including: the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, People Power Solar Cooperative, POWER Interfaith, The Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, Reamp Network, UUs for Social Justice, UU Service Committee, UU College of Social Justice, JUUstice Washington, UU Women’s Federation, UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina, and Peace Education Center of the Hudson Valley.
We do this work together, with love at the center of our climate actions, and I am so grateful for the support and collaboration and unique work of each of these amazing organizations.
Recording and Resources: Reimagining with Energy Democracy
In our final week of 30 Days of Love, we explore the theme of “democracy and electoral justice” and how it is situated within our broader organizing.
As we begin our electoral work of 2024 together, I return to recent remarks by Working Families Party National Director Maurice Mitchell: the organizing principle that we build trust by telling the truth about the world we share. The core truth that I’m reckoning with this year is that democracy—the promise of our elected officials feeling a direct and accountable tie to us, their electorate—has always been aspirational.
I acknowledge the fear that many of us hold–that the threads of democracy we’ve had will fully unravel, and we will lose the pieces of representation we rely on. And I ground in the possibility that with the millions of people who have come into social movements in the past four years, we might push closer to a more just world. We will continue to fight and build the power of the working class multi-racial majority to exact wins from the people in power that will make all of our lives better.
This year, we will tell the truth to each other and ourselves about the political landscape we inhabit, the conditions and threats we are facing and the power of the left. We will share, heavy hearted, the truth that we are facing massive devastation and suffering by war and genocide, climate catastrophe, legacies of colonization and imperialism, and rising fascist politicians and policies. We will share the bitter reality that our social movements fighting for justice have grown while also facing massive backlash and criminalization. We will also share in the conviction that our work in the year ahead is to continue to fight for the political conditions where winning is more possible.
Organizing is where we draw hope and build long term power. It is where we invest in each other and our communities through relationships and partnerships with grassroots organizations. Organizing is where we move towards the aspiration of representative democracy; a place where local but consequential change happens. Collective decisions like distribution of parking spaces at our congregation, the neighborhood association being trained on de-escalation techniques and the passage of a new lead abatement law at city council.
When we look back on 2024 - what are the relationships we have built? How is our local organizing landscape stronger? How have we changed?
Our work should ground and fortify us for whatever outcomes lie ahead. This means building and strengthening our local organizing landscapes. Growing and sharing our skills and resources generously. Engaging humbly. And always telling the truth.
Unitarian Universalism calls us towards building democratic processes - in our congregations & communities. I hope we can do that together this year.
Nora Rasman is the new Democracy Strategist for the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Organizing Strategy Team, which drives Side With Love and UU the Vote.
Unitarian Universalists are called to grapple with the question of “what is safety?” Black liberation organizers say “We Keep Us Safe" as a way to proclaim that true safety comes from relationship, community and structures of care and mutuality outside of state structures of violence and control. How do we build our political and theological commitment to keeping each other safe in the face of state and interpersonal violence?
In this skill up, Nora Rasman and India Harris define safety and security grounded in abolitionist practice, discuss our spiritual mandate towards building sanctuary, and concretely outline what we can honestly offer to ourselves and each other. View the January 21, 2024 webinar below, or on Vimeo.
Imagine a world where everybody - every body - was treated as truly sacred. Every body, whatever shape, size, expression, ability - was revered as one of the infinite expressions of the Divine. A reflection of God. An opportunity to celebrate the holy diversity that makes up our humanity.
When we witness our shared humanity we are called to care, to defend, protect, and affirm OUR very existence and our inherent worth. In this world, every body is cared for. Everybody has the ability to make the decisions they need to be safe and whole in their being. Every body has access to the resources they need to thrive. Everybody - every body - is held in a truly liberating love.
Unfortunately, we know that the world as it is today does not treat every body as sacred. Our country's dominant narrative of "safety," heavily influenced by ongoing colonization, criminalizes black and brown bodies. An oppressive and exclusive definition of gender, perpetuated by conservative Christian supremacy, dehumanizes queer and transgender bodies. The denial of access to even the most basic spaces and resources, exacerbated by a "profit over people" healthcare industry, invisibilizes disabled bodies. Injustices rooted in the capitalist and white supremacist systems that have shaped our communities for generations have created an apocalyptic world, brutalizing sacred bodies in a vicious cycle of exploitation, violence, and death. Our society’s dependence on these immoral forces has moved us so far away from our shared humanity that we no longer regard one another as threads woven together in a Divine tapestry.
These attacks on our bodies are attacks on our existence. They are neither isolated nor unrelated. We know this because there is a unified strategy and single solution. Devalue and criminalize our identities and institutionalize our people. We know the tactics and the institutions - prisons, jails, conversion therapy, conservatorship, detention, surveillance. These are the many tentacles of the carceral state that are strangling so many of our Beloveds.
And yet, it is within this fight where we can remind ourselves that another world is possible, but only if we commit to creating it together. In the midst of what is, there are glimmers of what could be. There are holy moments of possibility that we must lean into during these desperate times. From the quiet moments of self-determination and action, to the power of thousands showing up for collective liberation, there is hope in all of those moments that connect us.
Click here to read the full reflection for 30 Days of Love from Side With Love Disability Justice Associate Rev. Amanda Schuber, Trans Support Specialist Rev. Jami Yandle, and Congregational Justice Organizer Rev. Ranwa Hammamy.
This week's offerings: a Time for All Ages from Rev. Hannah Villnave, a body practice by Rev. Catharine Clarenbach, a prayer from Rev. Mykal Slack, a grounding practice by Canedy, and a blessing from Kaden Colton.
Upcoming Events:
February 7:UPLIFT Trans/Nonbinary+ Pastoral Small Group 5pm PT / 8pm ET This is a space to share the hard stuff and to hold the hard stuff that others are navigating in their lives. During our time together, our lead chaplain/facilitators will share opening and closing words, and in between, there is time for everyone to share what's on their hearts, and receive what others are sharing about their own lives. It's a supportive, judgment-free place to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ people. Register to join.
February 22:Faithful Grounding 4:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need. Register to join.
February 27:UPLIFT Trans/Nonbinary+ Monthly Gathering 5pm PT / 8pm ET Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs and friends of UUism. Join us to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ UUs and co-create support and community across our faith. This is a drop-in space, where folks can come and go as works best for them, and where people can join us at any time. You can be a regular or someone new, someone who's been curious for a while but hasn't yet checked us out, somebody who is rejoining after time away, and all other ways of relating to this space! You are welcome here, and you are loved. Register to join.
Imagine a world where everybody - every body - was treated as truly sacred. Every body, whatever shape, size, expression, ability - was revered as one of the infinite expressions of the Divine. A reflection of God. An opportunity to celebrate the holy diversity that makes up our humanity.
When we witness our shared humanity we are called to care, to defend, protect, and affirm OUR very existence and our inherent worth. In this world, every body is cared for. Everybody has the ability to make the decisions they need to be safe and whole in their being. Every body has access to the resources they need to thrive. Everybody - every body - is held in a truly liberating love.
Unfortunately, we know that the world as it is today does not treat every body as sacred. Dominant ideas of safety have created inflated police budgets that rob our children of books and our communities of healthcare. Living outside prescriptive gender binaries can mean losing a job or your life. Our society isolates disabled people from community and care by denying access to housing, healthcare, and public space. But ideas alone aren't what is killing us. It is the allegiance to a values system that moves people to violent and deadly action – against their neighbors, their country, and sometimes their own children. Our society’s dependence on these immoral forces has moved us so far away from our shared humanity - brutalizing sacred bodies in a vicious cycle of exploitation, violence, and death - so that we no longer regard one another as threads woven together in a Divine tapestry.
These attacks on our bodies are attacks on our existence. They are neither isolated nor unrelated. We know this because there is a unified strategy and single solution. Devalue and criminalize our identities and institutionalize our people. We know the tactics and the institutions - prisons, jails, conversion therapy, conservatorship, detention, surveillance. These are the many tentacles of the carceral state that are strangling so many of our Beloveds.
The nature of the attacks on our sacred bodies means that those of us who live at the intersections of multiple marginalized identities face this violence on all aspects of our being. Within the carceral state - which already disproportionately targets black and brown communities - 40% of the state prison population are people with disabilities. The number is even higher for incarcerated youth. In just this first month of 2024, at least 322 bills targeted the transgender people, many in states where we have already witnessed the criminalization of reproductive health care. And among individuals specifically seeking abortions, 1 in 5 must travel out of state for care. That barrier creates unsurmountable burdens for individuals without the financial, social, or physical means to travel. As we dream of a world where everybody thrives, we find ourselves fighting to create a world where every body can at least survive.
And yet, it is within this fight where we can remind ourselves that another world is possible, but only if we commit to creating it together. In the midst of what is, there are glimmers of what could be. There are holy moments of possibility that we must lean into during these desperate times. From the quiet moments of self-determination and action, to the power of thousands showing up for collective liberation, there is hope in all of those moments that connect us.
Our connection isn’t just sacred, it is powerful. Some of these moments look like gathering together to protest anti-trans laws at the capitol; holding vigils to honor the community members whom we have lost; teaching our youth what rights they have over their own bodies; and growing mutual aid networks that strengthen each others’ access to essential resources and care. In those moments, where we show up together, our momentum is realized and the loneliness is lessened.
Changing the world has always happened when the few become the many. When we each find our common humanity in the strength of our values, we all find new ways to love the hell out of this world!
Knowing that God lives in the margins, on the edge of all possibility, we are called to engage in the world as it is, grounded in our values and in an all-encompassing LOVE, to turn it into what it could be. This week we hope you will take time to think about how to build the world of infinite possibility that we dream of, where our bodies, however they are, are expressions of all that is good and sacred in this world.
Rev. Amanda Schuber, Disability Justice Associate Rev. Jami Yandle, Trans Support Specialist Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, Congregational Organizer
The Side with Love Team is hosting our annual 30 Days of love, and this week’s theme is Reimagining: Climate Justice. Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts and embrace our coulds. What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world? When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.
If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence. Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice. If we reimagine a world with justice, with love at the center, we cultivate communities of care where all beings thrive.Read Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy’s full 30 Days of Love, Reimagining: Climate Justice reflection.
We’ve got loads of opportunities for you to learn, act, and reflect on climate justice in the coming weeks, including:
Reimagining with Energy Democracy this Thursday, January 25
Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21
Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on February 28
In between these amazing events, watch the recording of last week’s Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration! We heard from almost 20 congregations actively engaging in the Green Sanctuary 2030 process designed to transform our congregations through climate justice. Get inspired, then get involved!
Reimagine with Energy Democracy
Please join us for Reimagining with Energy Democracy this Thursday, January 25, to explore the ways Energy Democracy reimagines a world where everyone thrives and recreates the systems we need to bring about that future.
Energy Democracy helps frontline communities build power and liberation by reimagining how we organize our lives toward new systems that support the health and wellbeing of our communities and ecosystems. We invite you to explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities.
Join Side With Love and special guests from the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, People Power Solar, and POWER Interfaith for a webinar on Reimagining with Energy Democracy on January 25 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET. Register to join us!
Get inspired with the Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!
During our January Community Meeting, we hosted the annual Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration. Almost twenty Active Green GS2030 congregations shared highlights of their current work. Green Sanctuary 2030 teams engage in intersectional actions that align with our Four Essentials of Climate Action: Justice, Congregational Transformation, Community Resilience, and Mitigation. Learn from your fellow UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice! If you’re ready to join the community, sign up for an orientation and join us for our monthly community meetings. The GS2030 orientations are the first Wednesday of each month, and the community meetings are the third Wednesday, both events are at 7ET.
Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 - Green Sanctuary Community Meeting
Join our next Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Renewing Environmental Justice Commitments with GS2030 on February 21. The Green Sanctuary 2030 process provides congregations with an accessible and impactful framework to advance climate and environmental justice. Learn from the recently recognized Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregation, the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, NC, about the ways their congregation renewed their environmental justice commitments through the GS2030 process. Register to join us!
Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate. Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.
Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle
We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle on Wednesday, February 28 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC!
The IRA Peer Learning Circle is a place for congregational leaders to come together to brainstorm, get into the weeds, and figure out the best way to access these funds for our congregations and our communities. RSVP today!
For a deep dive on how one congregation is reducing emissions, check out Net Zero by 2030 with the People’s Church of Kalamazoo.
Join UUSC on the Hill!
Join the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee in Washington, D.C on Wednesday, January 31 to visit Members of Congress to advocate for solutions to the climate crisis.
We will be demanding that Congress take action to protect vulnerable communities from the devastating effects of climate-forced displacement:
Advance community-led solutions to climate-forced displacement in the United States; those closest to the problems are experts on the solutions.
Ensure Indigenous communities have the resources they need to apply for federal funding from bills like the Inflation Reduction Act.
Take accountability for the damage caused by U.S. fossil fuel dependency by increasing U.S. funding for the Loss and Damage fund.
Please visit bit.ly/UUSCHillDay to let us know if you’ll be attending and for a more comprehensive schedule. Please feel free to email Ivanna D’Alencon at idalencon@uusc.org if you have any questions.
Join the UU Ministry for Earth Board!
If you have a deep and embodied commitment to uplifting the need to face and adapt to the climate crisis, counter environmental injustice, and support the flourishing of all life, and if you feel drawn to support and contribute to the many offerings of the UU Ministry for Earth (www.uumfe.org), please reach out to the UUMFE Nominations Committee to share your strengths and desire to be part of the team. UUMFE is looking to develop a dynamic, multicultural, multigenerational anti-oppressive Board, inclusive of people of color, trans and gender-nonconforming people, young people, people with disabilities, people living in poverty, and/or frontline communities; people who self-identify with such identity are especially welcome to apply. Please contact SearchTeam@UUMFE.org to submit your resume and letter of interest. For details on roles and responsibilities of Board members, go here.
This Month: Learn, Act, and Reimagine for Climate Justice
On January 17, Side With Love gathered to celebrate the good work our congregations are doing to create Green Sanctuary in our communities! Green Sanctuary teams shared how they're transforming their communities through congregational transformation, climate justice, mitigation, and community resilience. Watch the recording here.
Image description: Graphic with a green and yellow gradient background and an open head with colorful flowers blooming out. Text reads, "Reimagining with Energy Democracy. January 25. 4 PT / 5 MT / 6 CT / 7 ET." Logos: Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, Side With Love, Create Climate Justice, People Power Solar, POWER Interfaith, UU Ministry for Earth, Re-Amp Network, UUs for Social Justice, UUs for a Just Economic Community, UU Service Committee, UU College of Social Justice, JUUstice Washington, and UU Women’s Federation.
Reimagining with Energy Democracy January 25, 2024 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET | Online
Join us for Reimagining with Energy Democracy on January 25! For the last in our webinar series on Clean Energy as a Human Right, we invite you to explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities. Energy Democracy helps frontline communities build power and liberation by reimagining how we organize our lives toward new systems that support the health and wellbeing of our communities and ecosystems.
Join the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns (OH), People Power Solar (CA), and POWER Interfaith (PA) for Reimagining with Energy Democracy on January 25, 2024 at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET Cosponsors include: Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns, People Power Solar Cooperative, Power Interfaith, UU Ministry for Earth, UU Women’s Federation, UUs for Social Justice, UU Service Committee, UUs for a Just Economic Community, Re-Amp Network, UU college of Social Justice, JUUstice Washington, UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina, Peace Education Center of the Hudson Valley. RSVP here: bit.ly/EnergyDemocracyWebinar.
Image description: Graphic with watercolor sunflowers on a green background. At the top is a white UUA chalice and the Green Sanctuary 2030 logo, a chalice lit with a leaf flame. "Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle. Wednesday, February 28. 1pm PT / 2pm MT / 3pm CT / 4pm ET."
Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle February 28, 2024 4:00 PM - 5:00 PM ET | Online
We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC! RSVP here!
Tending SOIL
Reach out to Rev. Cathy Rion Starr if you'd like to learn more about the Tending SOIL (Skills, Organizing, Interdependence, Liberation) program at CRionStarr@UUA.org. To learn more, watch the introductory video here.
Recording and Resources: Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!
The North Carolina Climate Justice Collective offered a framework for the 4 Rs of Social Transformation for people working on climate:
Resist: working against the current systems
Reform: working within the current systems
Reimagine: envisioning a just new system
Recreate: creating models for a just new system
We need people learning, acting, reflecting in each of the four areas. One approach is not better than the other; rather, they are complementary and each approach is as important as the other. Take a moment to think about yourself and the way you approach climate justice . . . Are you a Reformer committed to policy change? Do you take to the streets as a Resister? Do you orient to dismantling and creating new systems? Do you light up with the possibilities of Recreating? Once you find your natural inclination to this framework, ask yourself which approach feels the most difficult for you? Which one do you admire the most?
When I first learned about this framework, the first prompt was: “Where are you in your work?” And the second was, “Where are you in your heart?” For me, most of my climate work has been squarely in the reform and recreate with resist sprinkled throughout. In my heart, I reimagine. For me, the magic happens when we are curious, exploring new ways of thinking and being in relationship with each other and the planet. Reimagining encourages us to shake off our can’ts and embrace our coulds. What could the future hold if love was at the center of our selves, of our relationships, of our actions, of our world? What does the idea of “reimagining” climate justice call to mind for you? How does it feel in your body when you think of reimagining the future? When we embrace reimagining, we move past myopic, my-way-or-the-highway thinking and into the space of possibility; shifting from scarcity into abundance.
If we are to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive, we need new systems, norms, approaches, and ways of being to bring that world into existence. For the Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice (see video) event in May 2023, we asked now Pres. Sofía Betancourt, Dr. Rashid Shaikh, and Antoinette Scully to draw a picture of the world they want to see. If you imagine the world we want to create, what does it look like? How does it feel? What does not exist in that future world?
Above is the illustration of the discussion. You can download or print the full-color image here (pdf). We also offer a black/white outline (pdf) of the drawing for printing to color at home or school.
Without a clear vision of the world we want, we prioritize short term gains and false solutions; we advance goals disconnected from cultural shifts, we divide our focus, and our movements are out of alignment with justice. If we reimagine a world with justice, with love at the center, we cultivate communities of care where all beings thrive.
Reimagining is not spiritual bypassing. It is not daydreaming with no action. It does not dismiss the harmful systems of oppression or ignore the climate disruption that is breaking our communities and our world. As we work toward a future where all are free, we must dream beyond our current circumstances. Those dreams are the seed of that future, and as we believe, we begin to shift our relationships, our commitments, and our actions to creating that world.
2023 was the hottest year on record, and we broke the record for billion dollar disasters by September. As we experience the climate crisis, we become increasingly distressed at the perilous state of our world. Climate anxiety, eco-anxiety, and climate grief are breaking the hearts of so many. Reimagining the future we want can soothe this anxiety while also helping folks recommit to meaningful action.
How? What are the connections between anxiety and imagining? How can reimagining inform our resistance? Our efforts to reform? What systems do we need to create? As we reimagine together, what new (and ancient) ways of being can we bring to our relationships? To our organizing? To our inner work? How can reimagining nourish our individual and collective spirits for the long haul?
We invite you to explore these questions and more as we reimagine together this 30 Days of Love.
Rachel Myslivy is the climate justice organizer for the UUA's Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team.
On Jan. 15-21, demand corporations stay out of policing our communities and end their involvement in Cop City!
The Atlanta Police Foundation is trying to use millions of tax dollars and millions in corporate contributions to build one of the largest militarized police training facilities in the country in Atlanta. Corporations, which are not accountable to the public, are funding Cop City and the Atlanta Police Foundation.
Home Depot and UPS are among 21 corporations involved in sponsoring, financing, insuring, and building the facility. We are taking action to tell them to get out of policing in our communities. Please join with your community this week of Jan. 15 -21 to demand that these corporations end their involvement with Cop City.
Image description: Graphic by Paul Garner (paulartifice.com) with a powerful forest rising out of a hollow construction site behind a blue and orange bulldozer. The trees have trunks shaped like raised fists. Two people representing UPS and Home Depot are fearfully running away on the sidelines, carrying a box and bucket of dollars, which are fluttering out. In the background is a sunburst. “HOME DEPOT & UPS are among 21 corporations pouring millions into one of the largest militarized police training facilities in the U.S. So… WHAT ARE WE GONNA DO ABOUT IT? STOP COP CITY! Corporate Week of Action. Jan 15–Jan 21, 2024. Take Action!" The graphic includes a QR code and two URLs: afsc.org/CopCityAction and bit.ly/StopFundingCopCity.
The construction of Cop City would destroy much of the city's largest urban forest, warming nearby majority Black neighborhoods by as much as 10 degrees. Similar projects are being considered in other cities.
Private sector corporations—which are not accountable to the public—are funding the Atlanta Police Foundation as well as other private police foundation projects.
Image description: Header with a rainbow hand drawn heart and a blue and white calendar with January 15-21 underlined on a black background. "30 Days of Love. January 15 - January 21. Weekly Theme Safety :: Decriminalization."
Welcome to the first week of 30 Days of Love! This year’s theme is “Imagining an Interdependent Future.” With each new year, we move into an intentional holy time of spiritual nourishment, contemplation, and embodiment. A new year can carry with it the weight and grief of the former while inviting us into possibility and prophecy of the new. We enter 2024 witnessing unconscionable suffering and injustice at a scale that calls us all to deeply reimagine a future where we all thrive. The only way through this moment is together, bound by a commitment to our shared humanity and interdependence. 30 Days of Love offers a place to steady and stretch as we faithfully journey toward wholeness and collective liberation. Together, let us imagine our interdependent future and order our work along this path.
In the first week, we explore the theme of “safety” and how it shows up in our world and our decriminalization work. Click here to read the full reflection from Side With Love Field & Programs Director Nicole Pressley.
This week’s offerings: a Time For All Ages by Rev. Mylo Way; a Body Practice from Jess Hunt; a prayer by Rev. Cecilia Kingman; a blessing from Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen; and a Grounding Practice for Safety by Lora Powell-Haney.
On January 11, Side With Love joined our partners at the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee and American Friends Service Committee to learn about the history of police foundations and the threat they pose to democracy. We took a close look at the funding behind APF—and explored how people can organize to stop them through collective corporate divestment. You can watch the recording here.
Across the country, for-profit corporations are funding private police foundations. With this dark money, these police foundations pour millions of dollars into militarized policing that harms Black and Brown communities.
That includes the Atlanta Police Foundation (APF), which is seeking to build Cop City. APF's funders include big corporate names like Bank of America, Coca-Cola, and Cox Enterprises. It's also the largest police foundation in the U.S., despite Atlanta only having the country's 39th largest population.
Welcome to the first week of 30 Days of Love! This year’s theme is “ Imagining an Interdependent Future.” With each new year, we move into an intentional holy time of spiritual nourishment, contemplation, and embodiment. A new year can carry with it the weight and grief of the former while inviting us into possibility and prophecy of the new. We enter 2024 witnessing unconscionable suffering and injustice at a scale that calls us all to deeply reimagine a future where we all thrive. The only way through this moment is together, bound by a commitment to our shared humanity and interdependence. 30 Days of Love offers a place to steady and stretch as we faithfully journey toward wholeness and collective liberation. Together, let us imagine our interdependent future and order our work along this path.
In the first week, we explore the theme of “safety” and how it shows up in our world and our decriminalization work.
In “Letters from a Birmingham Jail,” Rev. Martin Luther King Jr. wrote, “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere. We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly affects all indirectly.” Rev. Martin Luther King Jr.’s words and context offer us an important lesson. First, that we need each other to survive. Second, we learn that when you challenge a usurped power held by the state, criminalization is a routine tactic to repress a people rising up to be free.
Today, we are experiencing a contest for power: accountable collective governance for all or power organized and held by the few. This contest is not new.
To me, it is clear that a new world is emerging. As the Civil Rights movement helped usher in a new day, we are witnessing the mass mobilization and subsequent violent repression that are hallmarks of political and social transformation.
But as we are reminded in this letter, before criminalization becomes a political tactic of disconnection and domination, it is first a spiritual acquiescence to dehumanization and disposability. We deny a moral mandate of mutuality in search of the protection of power over others.
As our nation struggles to realize the promise of liberty and justice for all, it also reckons with the ways it has used oppression to construct an idea of safety that relies on the comforts of those in power. We have witnessed this in battles around integration, access to medical care for trans people, book bans, and more. This country has erased people from history, from legal recognition, and from the public square in order to secure power in a world demanding change.
The struggle for collective liberation must not be mistaken for a threat to safety. Today, we know the consequences are too great.
History teaches us what happens when we build a world around an exclusionary idea of safety. Our government carves borders, erects armies, surveils, polices, and imprisons the threat. And with each action towards this end, we make enemies of each other. We devote our resources, our labors, our art, and our children to mutual destruction. No one in this kind of world is safe.
Decriminalization is a political and spiritual project. Our work to Stop Cop City dismantles the false ideal of safety. This false ideal is destroying forests, intensifying violence against communities of color, and silencing the electorate. As people of faith, we cannot affirm the worth and dignity of all while privileging the well-being of a chosen few. We are not fully human when we separate ourselves from the humanity of others.
Decriminalization is a process of healing and (re)connection. A just and abundant concept of safety requires all of us. It proclaims a future where care and safety are abundant because our relationships are cultivated through mutuality, not domination. We act, showing up with and for communities to win campaigns and to grow a network of love, compassion and care. This is the work of community building. This is how we keep us safe.
In faith and solidarity,
Nicole Pressley, Field & Programs Director, Side With Love
This week’s offerings:a Time For All Ages by Mylo Way; a Body Practice from Jess Hunt; a prayer by Rev. Cecilia Kingman; a blessing from Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen; and a Grounding Practice for Safety by Lora Powell-Haney.
Get energized and inspired by Active Green Sanctuary 2030 Teams during our Annual Celebration on January 17, then explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities with Reimagining with Energy Democracy during 30 Days of Love on January 25. Read on to learn about these events + see all of the great Green Sanctuary 2030 community meetings we have planned this winter and spring. Great things are happening with Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice!
The Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration!
Are you ready to share the good work you’re doing? The annual Celebration is a time for our Active Green Sanctuary 2030 Teams to come together to share something you’re excited about, something you need help with, or what you’re thinking about doing! Sign up today!
Teams will have a short two or three minute slot to share. Don’t overthink it! 🙂 We’ll handle all of the tech, advancing slides, and whatever else you need to feel comfortable sharing. Your job is just to come and share what you’re up to with other UUs who are working to transform our congregations through climate justice.
Monthly Community Meetings
Our monthly Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings celebrate success, build capacity for teams, elevate how the local context of oppression shapes our climate action, and celebrate the ways the Green Sanctuary 2030 process supports our work on climate justice, community resilience, congregational transformation, and mitigation - all balanced with the faith-filled call to impactful action on climate.
Meetings are held on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET.
Side With Love is thrilled to announce 30 Days of Love 2024! Our annual month of spiritual nourishment, political grounding, and shared practices of faith and justice, 30 Days of Love will go from Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (January 15) through Valentine’s Day (February 14).
30 Days of Love is a gift to our whole community: a love letter, a warm hug, a spiritual balm for all of the individuals, families, religious professionals, partners and communities that embody our values and work for justice and liberation year round. Each week will feature a spiritual theme overlapping with one of Side With Love’s intersectional justice priorities, and we'll share an array of offerings to help nourish your spirit and give gratitude and affirmation. All offerings are curated to support building disciplines and resources for life-long work for justice grounded in the deep Love that is at the center of our faith. We’ll focus on Reimagining Climate Justice during the second week of 30 Days of Love.
We invite you to explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities. Energy Democracy helps frontline communities build power and liberation by reimagining how we organize our lives toward new systems that support the health and wellbeing of our communities and ecosystems. Join the Energy Democracy Project, Cleveland Owns (OH), People Power Solar (CA), and POWER Interfaith (PA) for Reimagining with Energy Democracy on January 25, 2024 at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET
This is the last in our series on Clean Energy as a Human Right, which included Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding, Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience, Light for All - UU Ministry for Earth’s Winter Solstice Celebration, and lastly, Reimagining with Energy Democracy. Sign up today!
Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle
We’ve all heard about the funding available for congregations to advance clean energy through Inflation Reduction Act Funding, but…really…don’t we all still have questions about how it works?! If this sounds like you, we invite you to join the Inflation Reduction Act Peer Learning Circle to learn with other UUs figuring out how to put these opportunities into action in our communities. Get up to speed by reading this short primer on the opportunities available for congregations, then bring your questions and good ideas to the PLC! RSVP today!
Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration and More Upcoming Climate Justice Events
As the Side With Love staff returns to work after a brief break, we’re looking forward to celebrating 30 Days of Love in a few weeks. Beginning Monday, January 15, we’ll have a variety of offerings we hope will inspire you and help sustain your commitment to liberation and justice this year.
In addition to our special offerings for 30 Days, we have a variety of events this month for congregational staff and lay leaders, listed below. Please share with your congregation!
And finally, if you haven’t heard, we’re delighted to announce our first Democracy Strategist, Nora Rasman, who will oversee our 2024 UU the Vote campaign. We’re so excited about the impact UUs will have on democracy and electoral justice this year. If you aren’t already subscribed to our UU the Vote newsletters, you can do so here.
Connect with other congregational justice leaders and Side With Love staff at our monthly mixer! Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and be bolstered by the joy and commitment from UUs around the country.
Unitarian Universalists are called to grapple with the question of what is safety? Black liberation organizers say “We Keep Us Safe" as a way to proclaim that true safety comes from relationship, community and structures of care and mutuality outside of state structures of violence and control. How do we build our political and theological commitment to keeping each other safe in the face of state and interpersonal violence? In this skill up, Nora Rasman and India Harris will define safety and security grounded in abolitionist practice, discuss our spiritual mandate towards building sanctuary and concretely outline what we can honestly offer to ourselves and each other.
We invite you to explore the power of Energy Democracy and the ways our congregations can reimagine energy for our communities. Energy Democracy helps frontline communities build power and liberation by reimagining how we organize our lives toward new systems that support the health and wellbeing of our communities and ecosystems.
Across the country, for-profit corporations are funding private police foundations. With this dark money, these police foundations pour millions of dollars into militarized policing that harms Black and Brown communities. Join this webinar to learn about the history of police foundations and the threat they pose to democracy.
Increasingly, our congregations are finding themselves the targets of online harassment, phishing, doxxing, and other forms of digital hate – often as a result of the ways we are embodying UU values in the world. Unfortunately, many of our UU communities do not have the skills and the infrastructure to protect themselves from malicious digital targeting that is constantly evolving.
Equality Labs' Digital Security For All Workshop is a dive into the world of digital security, and what that means for you and your organization. We will develop some common ground and shed light on types of attacks and security concerns that affect our communities, engaging with you at a strategic level as you plan for your organization.
This is a cozy, drop-in community space for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs and friends of UUism where we connect with each other with games and breakout groups, share ideas and stories on all kinds of topics, listen to music and poetry (often by trans/nonbinary+ creators), and much more! This space is intentionally multi-generational. It is open to and welcoming of trans/nonbinary elders as well as children, youth, and young adults. Standard UUA online safety measures apply to ensure all people under 18 are able to attend.
This is a space to share the hard stuff and to hold the hard stuff that others are navigating in their lives. During our time together, our lead chaplain/facilitators will share opening and closing words, and in between, there is time for everyone to share what's on their hearts, and receive what others are sharing about their own lives. It's a supportive, judgment-free place to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ people.
Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need.
On December 6, Side With Love joined the American Friends Service Committee for a webinar to hear from the organizers, activists, and other professionals accomplishing the transformational work of abolition - from combatting exploitative fines and fees to decarcerating architecture.
With the construction of Atlanta's Cop City looming overhead and the demands of the 2020 uprisings as of yet unrealized, a world beyond policing and incarceration can seem unreachable. But while still an unmet ideal, the foundation for an abolitionist world is being built by those who remain dedicated to dismantling and replacing an entrenched system which promises safety while producing the opposite. In the face of state repression and Draconian policies upholding the myth of safety, the work of abolition is actualizing it.
We hope you'll continue to be a part of this webinar series exploring the issues at the heart of the movement to stop Cop City! Please register for the next event:
Session Three: Police Foundations and Policing on January 11 at 5pm PT / 8pm ET. Register to join us!
Recording and Resources from Not Just Stop Cop City - Session Two: Abolition
We are excited to announce Nora Rasman as the new Democracy Strategist who will support our UU the Vote 2024 program and year-round work to resist authoritarianism and build a multi-racial democracy.
Nora has been a skilled leader and strategist in Unitarian Universalist justice work and a powerful coalition builder progressive organizations like Working Families Party, Showing up for Racial Justice, and Mijente. Her reputation for building and sustaining accountable relationships and sharpening the analysis and political commitments of volunteer leaders will strengthen our national and local networks for more effective collaboration and deeper impacts. As the former Wisconsin organizer for UU the Vote in 2020, Nora is ready to move our faith community into the next phase of our democracy work.
The Democracy Strategist is a critical investment that will build on the success of our electoral work and root our collective actions in the long haul work to resist anti-democratic movements that we are witnessing in our courts, our legislatures and school boards, and boards of elections.
We thank our national community and UU partners for the work and investment that makes this exciting new development possible. Right now, we must all find our roles and grow our commitments to our justice work. Join us as we celebrate Nora finding her place in the work with our beloved Unitarian Universalist community.
Finding Our Place, Finding Our Power A Note from Nora Rasman
I’m so grateful for the opportunity to return and continue the work of UU the Vote to build power and take action alongside Unitarian Universalists. Writing to you from Sarasota, Florida where I spent the weekend supporting UUs taking action to defend and expand access to abortion in Florida.
I was raised UU and my experience within Young Religious Unitarian Universalists was transformative for me, particularly in shaping my anti-imperialist and anti-racist world view and belief that all people deserve dignity, joy and care. I spent the last few years sharpening my own skills building political power and working on local campaigns in Milwaukee. This included a statewide race for Senate alongside local organizing fights like the fight to Stop Line 5, ongoing election defense work and doubling down on experiments in decriminalization.
I’m excited to rejoin you to address the urgent need for progressive faith communities to show up for movement organizations committed to collective liberation as we build skills, analysis and take action in line with our values. I see our work towards democracy connected to building strategies and practices for how we are together and building shared governance skills including participatory budgeting and cooperative structures. Outside of this role, I am also a queer birthworker and also very enthusiastic to connect around Trans and queer family building.
New Democracy Strategist Boosts Side With Love’s Impact
The American Friends Service Committee (AFSC) and Love Resists teamed up earlier this month to host the first webinar (in a series of three) to educate people about the “Cop City” project underway in Atlanta and equip them to stop this destructive plan (and similar schemes elsewhere in the U.S.).
take action to tell CEOs to stop funding Cop City and militarized policing!
As one of our speakers said, we choose relentless optimism in the face of this struggle! Confronting the sponsoring companies about their harm to our community is the first step leading up a corporate divestment campaign AFSC will lanch in January 2024. Please stay in touch for opportunities to take further action to Stop Cop City!
Please attend our second webinar in this series, addressing abolition, on December 6th.
To stay connected with our speakers and their efforts to combat environmental justice and environmental racism:
Join Dr. Jacqueline Echols and the South River Watershed Alliance in contacting the regional and national EPA to remove priority language from the Dekalb consent decree, and support SRWA’s legal fund to help Stop the Swap of public park land to a private developer. Connect with them on Instagram @southriverforest @southriverga
Follow founding editor of the Atlanta Community Press Collective, Sam Barnes on Twitter/X and support ACPC’s work
Follow Commissioner Ted Terry on Twitter/X for ways to support his appeal of Dekalb County’s land disturbance permit issued to the Atlanta Police Foundation
Get involved with organizer Neil Sardana and Georgia Conservation Voters efforts to Stop Cop City and help combat the environmental racism of Georgia’s Public Service Commission
Recording and Resources from Not Just Stop Cop City, Session One: The Environment
Save the date for 30 Days of Love 2024: January 15 - February 14, 2024
This annual event offers a month of spiritual nourishment, political grounding, and shared practices of faith and justice.
Each week, you can expect to receive several different kinds of offerings, each from a different voice within Unitarian Universalism. Within each weekly theme, which will connect with one of our intersectional justice priorities, we plan to offer prayers, blessings, grounding, and meditative practices, a story or time for all ages, as well as a reflection from one of Side With Love's program and field staff.
To get an idea of what to expect or to enjoy some meditative breaks during your lunch this month, see last year's offerings at sidewithlove.org/30daysoflove2023.
Register Now: Digital Security 101 for Congregational Teams - Virtual Training
Increasingly, our congregations are finding themselves the targets of online harassment, phishing, doxxing, and other forms of digital hate – often as a result of the ways we are embodying UU values in the world.
Unfortunately, many of our UU communities do not have the skills and the infrastructure to protect themselves from malicious digital targeting that is constantly evolving.
Equality Labs' Digital Security For All Workshop is a dive into the world of digital security and what that means for you and your organization. We will develop some common ground and shed light on types of attacks and security concerns that affect our communities, engaging with you at a strategic level as you plan for your organization.
We cover everyday, practical steps to mitigate online harassment, fraud, and other forms of cyber attacks. We look at how the data broker ecosystem, coupled with open-source intelligence (OSINT) from social media, increases security risks to individuals and organizations. We then look at key preventative measures including data broker scrubbing, phishing awareness, multi-factor authentication, password management, VPN, and other tools that can be immediately applied in anyone's daily lives.
Open to all congregational leaders but especially targeted to those who manage secure information such as congregational websites, social media accounts, databases, and communications.
Cost: $100 for congregational team of up to 5 attendees for both sessions. This cost is highly subsidized so we can bring this impactful training to our congregations. Register your team of up to 5 attendees at bit.ly/DigitalSecurityForCongregations.
Session 1: Monday, January 22, 2024
Session 2: Monday, February 5, 2024
4:30pm PT - 6:30pm PT / 7:30pm ET - 9:30pm ET
Available Now
Why We Cannot Turn Away: Resources for UUs Engaging Palestine & Israel
Sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association and hosted by Muslim and Jewish UU professionals, this session features experts sharing about UU engagement on these issues over the past 40 years, reflecting on the many-layered history of the region, exploring the complexities of Islamophobia and antisemitism, and faithful responses to the ongoing violence. View the webinar, resource guide, and template for congregational conversations.
Skill Up Recording and Resources: Faith Out Loud
UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt invites us to remember "what symbols, messages, principles, or experiences are most central to [our] deep understanding of Unitarian Universalism.” During this Skill Up, we took time to discuss and practice articulating our theologies of justice-making with faith-centric language that can be used in outreach, public statements, petitions, letters, and more. View the training.
Recording & Resources: Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience
How can we think more expansively about transforming our buildings and grounds into hubs of climate resilience? As we center our thinking around clean energy as a human right, we shift the idea of it from a technical solution for only some to a moral imperative for all. Most importantly, we can use practical building improvements as tools for community support and justice. View the training.
Join the monthly orientation session to get a better understanding of the program and learn how your congregation can engage in ongoing climate action.
Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice can transform your congregation through climate justice! Register to join.
The Winter Solstice occurs when Earth's axis tilts away from the sun, making it the shortest day and longest night of the year for those living in the Northern Hemisphere. Join UU Ministry for Earth and other UU partners to honor this time of year, our connection to the natural world, and to remember that light does come after the darkness. Register to join.
This is a space to share the hard stuff and to hold the hard stuff that others are navigating in their lives. During our time together, our lead chaplain/facilitators will share opening and closing words, and in between, there is time for everyone to share what's on their hearts, and receive what others are sharing about their own lives. It's a supportive, judgment-free place to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ people. Register to join.
Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs and friends of UUism. Join us to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ UUs and co-create support and community across our faith.
This is a drop-in space, where folks can come and go as works best for them, and where people can join us at any time. You can be a regular or someone new, someone who's been curious for a while but hasn't yet checked us out, somebody who is rejoining after time away, and all other ways of relating to this space! You are welcome here, and you are loved. Register to join.
We know that these times ask a lot of us and that we need one another to stay in the work with hope, joy, impact, and accountability. Join us if you are doing the work on the ground, if you are showing up for and with Side with Love, and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff. Register to join.
Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need. Register to join.
Save the Date for 30 Days of Love! Plus, new resources and events!
Increasingly, our congregations are finding themselves the targets of online harassment, phishing, doxxing, and other forms of digital hate – often as a result of the ways we are embodying UU values in the world. Unfortunately, many of our UU communities do not have the skills and the infrastructure to protect themselves from malicious digital targeting that is constantly evolving.
Equality Labs' Digital Security For All Workshop is a dive into the world of digital security, and what that means for you and your organization. We will develop some common ground and shed light on types of attacks and security concerns that affect our communities, engaging with you at a strategic level as you plan for your organization.
We cover everyday, practical steps to mitigate online harassment, fraud, and other forms of cyber attacks. We look at how the data broker ecosystem coupled with open-source intelligence (OSINT) from social media increases security risks to individuals and organizations. We then look at key preventative measures including data broker scrubbing, phishing awareness, multi-factor authentication, password management, VPN, and other tools that can be immediately applied in anyone's daily lives.
Open to all congregational leaders but especially targeted to those who manage secure information such as congregational websites, social media accounts, databases, and communications.
Cost: $100 for congregational team of up to 5 attendees for both sessions. This cost is highly subsidized so we can bring this impactful training to our congregations.
We are grateful for the presence of so many hundreds of people at the November 6 event, “Why We Cannot Turn Away: Resources for UU Leaders Engaging Palestine & Israel.” We apologize for the delay in release of these materials, although unfortunately the violence in the region continues and these conversations are very much still ongoing. We hope you will find these resources helpful for both your own learning and reflection and that of your congregations and communities.
We are keenly aware that members of our Unitarian Universalist community do not all share an identical analysis of the history of the region or the realities of the current crisis, and yet what is clear is that we are all united by our shared heartbreak over the killing, kidnapping, displacement and violence impacting so many of our human siblings, regardless of their national identities.
As you continue to engage in communal learning, action, and lament in your congregations and communities, please feel free to use these resources in whatever way is helpful to you. You can find the full recording here, as well as the presentation slides, which you may use freely in whole or in part. You can also find more information on many of the issues covered in the webinar in our “Why We Cannot Turn Away:” Expanded Resource Guide; please feel free to share this with whoever needs it. You are also invited to refer back to the October 17th UUA Statement on the Humanitarian Catastrophe in Gaza and Israel for both the UUA’s statement on the current crisis and a dive into the history of our collective UU engagement with issues related to Israel/Palestine over the past 40 years.
We recognize that given the intensity of this moment, not all of us are in a space for deepening our learning, taking action, or consuming more perspectives, coverage, or information; many among us simply need spaces in which to grieve, rage, and be held. We are pleased to offer you this template for small-group conversation circles, intended for use in your congregations as a way to invite your people into a space of heart-centered listening and reflection. The template includes facilitator instructions, recommended group agreements, an opening prayer and ritual, and questions for reflection.
We are keenly aware that the current catastrophe is far from over, and the ripples will continue to touch the whole world for the foreseeable future. As Unitarian Universalists, we are committed to continuing to learn and heal together, struggling for justice and liberation for all, and working toward a global community in which all people are safe and free from violence in all its forms.
In faith and solidarity,
The Rev. Ashley Horan, UUA Organizing Strategy Director
The Rev. Summer Albayati, UUA Pacific Northwest Regional Staff
The Rev. Kelly Weisman Asprooth-Jackson, Senior Co-Minister, First Unitarian Society of Madison, WI
The Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, Side With Love Congregational Justice Organizer
The Rev. Leah Ongiri, Acting Director of Lifespan Faith Formation and Family Ministries, First Unitarian Church of Portland, OR
The Rev. Sana Saeed, UUA Central East Regional Staff
Available Now: Why We Cannot Turn Away: Resources for UUs Engaging Palestine & Israel
This Skill Up was led by Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, our Congregational Justice Organizer, on November 19, 2023. UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt invites us to remember "what symbols, messages, principles, or experiences are most central to [our] deep understanding of Unitarian Universalism.” During this Skill Up, we took time to discuss and practice articulating our theologies of justice-making with faith-centric language that can be used in outreach, public statements, petitions, letters, and more.
Our Skill Ups are a monthly training series to help build organizing capacity across our congregations and communities. We are grounded in our UU calling to be lifelong learners and organizing traditions' call to share what we know for our movements to grow. View past Skill Ups or sign up for upcoming Skill Ups.
Skill Up Recording and Resources: Faith out Loud, November 2023
We hope you enjoyed last night's Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meeting with Rev. Kelly Dignan from the UU Ministry for Earth as much as we did! Rev. Kelly offered lots of great resources in her presentation (see the video recording or slides) and the community offered several in the chat. We encourage you to sign up for updates from the UU Ministry for Earth - www.uumfe.org - to receive their resources like Monthly Musings and their Earth Day Resources (emailed to subscribers on February 1). You can reach out to Rev. Kelly directly at kellydignan@uumfe.org.
Are you ready for the Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration on January 17? We can't wait to hear updates from our GS2030 Teams. Fill out this short form to let us know that you'll be there to share your good work. Presentations need to be no more than 3 minutes long so we can make room for everyone! Complete the form to let us know you want to present and make sure you RSVP here!
Congratulations to the UU Fellowship of Raleigh, North Carolina on their Green Sanctuary 2030 Recognition! UUFR has completed significant work on each of the four essentials for climate action - Congregational Transformation, Mitigation, Adaptation & Resilience, and Justice with plans for continued action. Great work UUFR!
Resources:
Sand Talk by Tyson Yunkaporta is the book Rev. Kelly mentioned:
Side With Love joined Denise Abdul-Rahman from Black Sun Light Sustainability, Shina Robinson from Asian Pacific Environmental Network, and Miguel Yanez-Barnuevo from Environmental and Energy Study Institute for an informative discussion on ways you can turn your faith into action to create hubs of climate resilience for our communities. This was the second session of our webinar series on Clean Energy as a Human Right.
Shina mentioned her work with PSE Healthy Energy as a great technical partner for the RYSE hub. They developed a resilience hub mapping tool with info on solar and storage capacity for community centers, public schools, and places of worship, along with data about EJ burden and climate threats, available here.
How can we think more expansively about transforming our buildings and grounds into hubs of climate resilience? If your congregation is thinking about installing solar panels with the 30% direct pay option, think about adding battery backup (which has an additional 30% option) to offer your buildings as an emergency shelter in extreme weather or a cooling center during power outages.
We hope you'll continue to be a part of this series on Clean Energy as a Human Right! Please register for the next event:
Yesterday, our community rallied around the 61 people who were arraigned in the RICO case targeting Stop Cop City organizers. Like the domestic terrorism charges levied at protesters earlier this year, these are inflated charges meant to quash democratic protest and free speech. Members of our Unitarian Universalist community were among people arraigned as well as those rallying to their defense. The violent and repressive tactics used against community members and activists to support this unpopular and anti-democratic police training facility demonstrate what is at stake. Violent and anti-democratic processes do not lead to peaceful or just outcomes.
As UUs, we condemn the criminalization of protest. We build power for justice through collectivism and deepen our relationships and capacity for liberation through social solidarity. We're grateful to be part of a movement that won't cede ground to fascism, increased militarization of law enforcement, and destruction of our green spaces.
This weekend, activists are traveling to Atlanta to take direct action to stop Cop City. While Side With Love is not a partner in this action, we join in solidarity with our faith and community partners and remain committed to this campaign. Here are four things you can do to join in solidarity:
Learn more about the Cop City plan and the movement to stop it via the Not Just Cop City” webinar series , presented in collaboration with the American Friends Service Committee
Session 1: Tuesday, November 14 8-9pm ET, 7 CT, 6 MT, 5 PT: The Environment - Sign Up Now
UU Debrief Thursday, November 16th, 2-3pm ET - Sign Up Now
Session 2: December 6, 8-9pm ET: Abolition
Session 3: January 11, 8-9pm ET: Police Foundations & Policing
Organize a Share the Plate for the Atlanta Solidarity Fund
From preserving a forest, building safe communities and making sure communities have the choice about their lives and futures. Join us for the stop cop city political education series to learn more about the fight to stop cop city. With our partners American Friends Service Committee and UUSC, we will learn about this issue and the people led movement to stop cop city. Together we will dig deeply into the history of this plan, interrogate the interests of its corporate backers, and reflect on our values and the moral call to democracy and justice.
The fight to stop cop city is not just about the people of Atlanta. With similar projects sweeping cities across the nation (like in Baltimore, San Francisco, and Colorado Springs), this is our collective work. Understanding what is happening in Atlanta equipped us to understand the battles for justice and democracy in all the places we call home.
Let us join together to resist fascism and the erosion of our democratic rights. Sign up today to learn more and join other Unitarian Universalists taking action.
As our world bears witness to the tragic and traumatic events unfolding in Palestine & Israel, many of us are yearning for a faithful way to discuss and engage what is occurring.
Join us for this session for religious professionals, where we will invite multiple expert voices to help us deepen our understanding in truth and possibility.
Sponsored by the Unitarian Universalist Association and hosted by Muslim and Jewish UU professionals, this session will feature guest appearances by experts who will share about the history of the region, how our world arrived at the current moment, some history about UU engagement with these issues, and what we as people of faith might do in response to it. In this time of collective fear and grief, let us form a community willing to learn, struggle, and heal together.
This event is geared toward anyone who serves as a UU religious professional or in a lay leadership capacity in their congregation.
This session will be recorded and made available as a resource for congregations after the live event, and you may register even if you are unable to attend live.
We will also be introducing a template for congregational conversations to be used by religious professionals in their settings; all who register for this event will receive a zoom link to the live event as well as follow up communications including the video recording and congregational conversation template.
The first webinar in Side With Love’s series toward Clean Energy as a Human Right: Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding, was offered October 25, 2023.
While congregations are excitedly learning about federal clean energy funding, how can make sure we're prioritizing justice in our actions? How can put our faith into action to ensure those most impacted by climate disruption benefit the most?
Featuring Just Solutions, Emerald Cities Collaborative, and Rewiring America , this webinar covered how your congregation can put your faith into action to advance visionary approaches to clean energy funding with justice at the center.
This event was co-sponsored by Side With Love, Interfaith Power & Light, Blessed Tomorrow, Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, and UU Ministry for Earth.
Engage in the full Clean Energy as a Human Right webinar series with Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding on 10/25, Creating Hubs of Community Resilience on 11/9, UUMFE's Light for All on 12/20, and Reimagining with Energy Democracy in 2024.
Recording: Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding
This Skill Up is led by Rev. Ashley Horan, our Organizing Strategy Director. We often talk about partnership and solidarity in organizing, and the crucial role of showing up well in crucial moments. But how do we know which potentially risky asks we're actually ready to say "yes" to -- and follow through with? We discussed a framework for having congregational conversations about risk, including expanding our courage as communities with significant power and resources. Our Skill Ups are a monthly training series to help build organizing capacity across our congregations and communities. We are grounded in our UU calling to be lifelong learners and organizing traditions' call to share what we know for our movements to grow.
We know we need to get to Net Zero and fast, but how? The People's Church of Kalamazoo has made a commitment to cut their emissions to achieve Net Zero by 2030. We joined Tom Hackley from People's Church to learn how their Green Sanctuary Team is working to meet this ambitious and critical goal!
One facet of very localized climate justice work is through our Green Sanctuary 2030 program and we invite all UU congregations to join us - either once or as part of your Green Sanctuary process. Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice anchors to the reality that we need to reduce emissions dramatically by 2030 if we are to avoid some of the worst impacts of climate change.
The Green Sanctuary process provides a framework for congregations to adopt a justice-centered, comprehensive approach that can support congregations to hit Net Zero. Our community meetings provide shared learning and mutual supports for UUs transforming their congregations through climate justice. So, while we all know we need to reduce emissions, often the biggest question is, “how?”
Has your congregation hit your net zero goal or are you just starting to think about it? We want to hear from you! We are building out a resource guide for congregations to adopt measurable and achievable goals towards net zero. We’d love to know what you’re thinking! Complete this short form or email Environment@UUA.org to share your plans and approaches to this critical goal.
“Disability Justice builds on the disability rights movement, taking a more comprehensive approach to help secure rights for disabled people by recognizing the intersectionality of disabled people who belong to additional marginalized communities. Disability justice is a framework that acknowledges the intersection of oppression, and centers the ways that disabled people experience the world through systems that are not built for us, especially the twice, thrice and more oppressed among us.” - Rev. Amanda Schuber, Side With Love Disability Justice Associate
Welcome our new staff!
We are excited to welcome two new colleagues to the UUA, both of whom are holding accessibility and disability justice in their portfolios. At Side With Love, we recognize that accessibility must be part of our prophetic vision for Beloved Community and we’re grateful to be working with Gretchen and Amanda!
Gretchen Maune (she/they)
Accessibility Resources Coordinator in Ministries and Faith Development's LGBTQ and Multicultural Ministries
As Accessibility Resources Coordinator, Gretchen will provide virtual resources for Unitarian Universalist congregational and organizational leaders to create spaces, events, programs and communities which are accessible and inclusive to disabled participants.
Gretchen is a white, queer, autistic, blind, disabled UU living in Columbia, Missouri. She serves the Unitarian Universalist Church of Columbia (UUCC) as a Worship Associate, and has previously served on its Board of Trustees, and as a multi-time delegate to GA.
In 2017, Gretchen co-founded UUCC’s Disability Justice and Inclusion Team (DJIT), and has chaired it for over five years. UUCC’s DJIT seeks to foster an inclusively designed environment, with a congregational commitment to combating ablism, where all individuals feel radically welcome and are able to participate in every aspect of the church and community. She has consulted on accessibility for nonprofits, companies, and government entities across the country. She is excited to apply her experience and knowledge to help the UUA and its congregations do their work with a lens to disability justice and accessibility lens.
Gretchen holds a Master’s of Public Affairs from the University of Missouri’s Truman School of Public Affairs, and a Bachelor’s in English, also from MU. She’s worked as a Community Organizer in the fields of both economic and reproductive justice for GRO—Grass Roots Organizing, and for NARAL Pro-Choice Missouri. She’s also worked as a public education lobbyist for the Missouri National Education Association, the largest union in Missouri. Gretchen has been appointed to the Columbia Disabilities Commission, and the city’s Public Transit Advisory Commission. In addition, she has served as a board member with multiple nonprofits, and volunteers her time with Missouri Faith Voices, bringing a disabled perspective to their work.
In her free-time, Gretchen enjoys reading, playing D&D, and hanging out with her Seeing-Eye Dog, Royal.
Rev. Amanda Schuber (she/her)
Disability Justice Associate in Side With Love’s Organizing Strategy Team
My pronouns are she/her, or anything said in love. I have lived in the deep South for most of my life and consider myself a dedicated Southern Minister.
My wife, Wanda, and I have been married for 18 years and live with two of our three children in Middle Georgia. I spend most of my free time engaged as a taxi and sports mom extraordinaire for my two youngest children, Joseph (almost 11) and Nora (13). Our oldest child, Samantha, and her husband, Cody, are stationed in South Dakota, serving in the United States Air Force. When not at the ball fields, our family loves to camp and hike all over the country. I am also an avid gardener, crafter, and theater patron.
I have served the UU world in various capacities over the last 29 years, including sitting on the Boards of EQUUAL Access, Interweave, and CUUYAN (Continental UU Young Adult Network). I spent two years living in Boston, working at the UUA in the Office of Congregational Fundraising. Additionally, I have been a Beyond Categorical Thinking facilitator since 2004 and have been privileged to work with well over 50 congregations in that time. Congregationally, I have held many positions, including social action chair, worship chair, and DRE.
A graduate of Starr King School for the Ministry, I’m honored to serve as Minister for High Street Unitarian Universalist Church in Macon, GA and as the Disability Justice Associate for the Side with Love Organizing Strategy Team.
I am an advocate for disability rights and visibility in the wider world and within our denomination. Specifically, I strive to create a welcoming and supportive space for those living with mental health challenges and their families.
Subscribe to UPLIFT Access, our newsletter uplifting accessibility in and beyond Unitarian Universalism which Gretchen maintains. You can read the most recent issue here.
Welcome to our new accessibility and disability justice staff!
“When was the last time you changed your mind about something?”
For many of us who’ve been working on environmental issues, we’ve become experts on particular things, and - truth be told - it’s a lot easier to stick with what we know than to stop, reflect, and reorient ourselves to new understandings. However, this is exactly what we are called to do if we are to center justice in our climate work. Over my years as a climate advocate, organic farmer, and faith-based organizer, I’ve had to reorient and reorient and reorient again because I keep learning. That’s a good thing!
As Maya Angelou said, “Do the best you can until you know better. Then, when you know better, do better.” The more I learned about the injustices in our energy system, for example, the more I wished I had done things differently in my early organizing. I’ve had to learn and unlearn and relearn and check myself over and over again because I need to continuously improve to better center justice. Does this resonate with any of you?
Side With Love’s Create Climate Justice Campaign organizes Unitarian Universalists (UUs) to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all beings thrive. One of the big things I’ve learned and reoriented to over the years is understanding clean energy as a human right. Clean energy only works as a climate solution if it is accessible to everyone. Clean Energy as a Human Right reframes clean energy from a technical solution to a moral imperative.
As congregations are eagerly learning about the 30% direct pay option for solar and battery backup, we need to continue to challenge ourselves to ground our actions in justice while holding a liberatory vision of the future. For example, what would it look like if our congregations put on solar and battery backup storage and offered our buildings as shelters during climate disasters, power outages, or extreme heat? Or if our congregations advocated at city and county levels to weatherize and electrify low-income neighborhoods, which reduces energy bills and improves air quality and quality of life, all while reducing the pollution that causes climate change?
Over the next several months, you’ll have multiple opportunities to learn more about Clean Energy as a Human Right from some of the organizations who continue to inspire and challenge me to do better, including:
Conflict is inevitable. What plan do you have to engage? Let’s get together and explore ways to transform harm and restore relationships in our congregations with Wendy Weirick, a Restorative Circles Facilitator. You’ve met her as a Side With Love Zoom host who has held the Green Sanctuary and Climate Justice gatherings with tender care as we lean into this work. Now, she invites us in to share one of her passions, conflict at the community level.
Last time we wrote you, Revs. Dave Dunn and Jeff Jones were in jail after stopping construction at Cop City in Atlanta with their bodies.
We are happy to share that all 5 who were arrested were released from jail with misdemeanor charges.
Additionally, Rev. Christina Branum-Martin, Rev. Misha Sanders, and other UUs joined others to deliver over 116,000 petition signatures collected by the Cop City Vote Coalition in support of letting Atlantans decide if they want Cop City at all.
The City of Atlanta is trying a legal appeal to avoid verifying signatures, a decision that Senator Raphael Warnock and Stacey Abrams both criticized as deeply anti-democratic.
We're grateful to be part of a movement that won't cede ground to fascism, increased militarization of our public safety, and destruction of our green spaces.
As Unitarian Universalists, we hold deeply to the truth that there is no one singular right way to live and love. We see this flourishing in the work to Stop Cop City: some folks put their bodies in front of construction equipment while others tediously match thousands of referendum signatures one by one while others bring food and care for babies.
Our call to collective liberation includes all this and more – we root deeply in spiritual practice for strength and courage, we send cards and food and song as our prayers, we summon the courage to show up and out of our comfort zones again and again, and we also rest in the dark peace of night when we need it.
However you're able, we've a way for you to join this call:
The attacks on the freedom and dignity of trans people and their families continue to escalate, with one-third of the country that has passed laws that criminalize and ban access to gender-affirming care. The next stage of the fight for basic LGBTQ freedoms is here, and it affects everyone — even in states that haven’t seen any anti-trans attacks.
Legislation has already been introduced by the most extreme anti-LGBTQ Members of Congress that would criminalize the health care trans people need. Now, they’re sneaking bans on essential health care into the federal budget too. Any national bans on gender-affirming care would be devastating. You and your elected Members of Congress are our last line of defense against this national threat.
Image description: a paper heart is cut out of white paper, and behind it are the trans flag colors of blue, pink, white, pink, and blue. In black text, it reads: "Congress: Protect healthcare for trans people".
Tell Congress: Protect healthcare for trans people!
Earlier this year, Side With Love and UU the Vote program and field staff were joined by UU State Advocacy Network staff and UU volunteers to talk about the impact of UU the Vote on the 2020 and 2022 elections as well as plan for what we will be doing in 2024. This interactive workshop invites us to dive deep into the practices, relationships, and strategies of our electoral organizing that helped us to reach over 5 million voters since 2020.
Image description: Upper left-hand corner has a black background, with white text that reads: “Democracy is not a crime.” Below it is a photo of two people chained to a construction vehicle holding a banner. Next to it is a photo of police officers dragging a person away, held by their feet and arms. Below is white text on a black background that reads “Photos by ATL Press Collective.” Next is a photo of another person being dragged away by police officers. Above it is white text on a black background that reads, “Join the movement to stop Cop City.”
Yesterday morning, two Unitarian Universalist ministers, Rev. Dave Dunn and Rev. Jeff Jones, joined a non-violent direct action to protest the escalating anti-democratic actions of the Georgia Attorney General and the Atlanta City Council. Over the past year, these two tax-funded institutions have waged an ongoing campaign of disinformation, intimidation, and criminalization to repress the grassroots movement to Stop Cop City.
Revs. Dunn and Jones, along with three additional community leaders, were arrested yesterday after halting construction on the site. Side With Love and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee honor the courageous moral witness of these leaders and remain committed to showing up in solidarity with them and the movement to Stop Cop City. To support those who have been arrested, please click here to donate to the bail fund.
From City Hall to the Attorney General’s office, Republicans, Democrats, and corporate interests have colluded to intimidate activists, silence voters, and repress a movement of people who are simply asking to have a voice in the future of their community. Last month, the Atlanta City Council announced that they would use the “exact match” system to verify the more than 100,000 petition signatures from communities asking for a referendum vote on Cop City. Courts continually ruled that signature verification methods like “exact match” are subjective and discriminatory, with many Georgia voting rights organizations and elected officials condemning its proposed use in the 2018 Georgia election. In late 2018, a U.S. district judge ruled that the system is a “severe burden” for voters.
On Tuesday, 61 Stop Cop City environmental defenders and organizers were indicted in Georgia on Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations (RICO) charges, part of a federal law aimed at punishing criminal enterprises.
Among the list of charges, the indictment explicitly cites “mutual aid, collectivism, and social solidarity” as presumably dangerous ideas that were being promoted by the activists. Make no mistake, this is political repression.
Image description: Orange and white graphic with a megaphone icon. Text reads, “Phone Blast! Jailed Forest Defenders Are Being Denied Bond and Medication! Call Dekalb County Jail and demand: 1. They give Ayeola Whitowrth her medication immediately! 2. They release the 5 people arrested yesterday for protesting Cop City! Jail Hotline: 404-298-8400 / Medical Hotline: 404-298-8525 / Bond Dept: 404-298-8195. Cop City Will Never Be Built!”
The campaign to Stop Cop City is not about one single issue but about resisting the systems designed to make us all less free in the United States and around the globe.
Commit to joining the movement to Stop Cop City! Join our weekly Action Hour on Thursdays at 3 p.m. EDT.
Over the past few years, we’ve witnessed the criminalization of voting, protests, abortion, and trans and gender-expansive bodies. We’ve witnessed book bans and the rejection of facts and history in American public schools. Doctors, teachers, librarians, and poll workers are being threatened with violence and losing their jobs. As Unitarian Universalists, we not only condemn these actions, but we support people and communities through mutual aid. We build power for justice through collectivism and deepen our relationships and capacity for liberation through social solidarity. These practices are the expression of the core principles we uphold as covenantal faith. The care for our communities is central to a democracy that is truly for the people and by the people. It is what we do when we love one another, in public and in community.
In faith & solidarity, Side With Love & UUSC: Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Democracy is not a crime: join the movement to Stop Cop City
This can be a bittersweet time of year for so many, but we are taking joy in what UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt reminds us is the time when we “come back to each other in our congregations and communities.”
Whether you are coming back to your community after a long time away or whether you have been there all summer, we are grateful for your shared ministry toward collective liberation and beloved community.
This summer, Side With Love program and field staff created a wealth of events, resources, and opportunities to balance the need to rest and play with the necessity of honing our skills and staying informed and prepared to respond to the ongoing attacks on communities and people beloved of us.
Whether you need a space to grieve and pray, the opportunity to gather with others doing the work, or dedicated time to learn, we have something that will serve you.
Learn
Image description: Graphic with an illustrated cloud of Zoom screens with people waving, posing, and showing off their pets. Text reads, “Fall 2023 Skill Up Series. Summoning Courage. Oct. 15: Risk Discernment for Congregations. Nov. 19: Faith Out Loud. Jan 21: Community Safety & Security.”
Skill Up Series: Summoning Courage
Skill Ups are our monthly training series on various organizing skills to help strengthen our congregational and community justice teams. These trainings incorporate spiritual fun and hands-on exercizes to help deepen the lesson. Skill Ups occur every 3rd Sunday for 90 minutes, starting at 4 ET / 3 CT / 2 MT / 1 PT.
Image description: Graphic with a candle painted in warm watercolors on a beige watercolor background. Text reads, "Faithful Grounding. Monthly virtual gathering. 4th Thursday of the month. 4:30 PT / 5:30 MT / 6:30 CT / 7:30 ET. An hour of spiritual sustenance & grounding with others organizing on the side of love."
Faithful Gathering
Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love.
Show up as you are, with whatever is in your heart, and have your camera on or off as you need.
Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer.
We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together.
This gathering happens monthly on the 4th Thursday of the month at 4:30 PT / 5:30 MT / 6:30 CT / 7:30 ET.
Image description: Graphic with tangerine and white nodes and links forming a network on a black background. Text reads, "Side With Love Monthly Mixer. Monday, September 11. 5pm PT / 6pm MT / 7pm CT / 8pm ET."
Monthly Mixers
Following the success of our virtual and in-person mixers for General Assembly, we're thrilled to announce our virtual monthly Side With Love Mixer.
This mixer will be held the 2nd Monday of every month at 5pm PT / 8pm ET.
We know that these times ask a lot of us -- and we know we need one another to stay in the work with hope, joy, impact, and accountability. Join us if you are doing the work on the ground; if you are showing up for and with Side with Love; and/or if you are just learning about Side with Love. Come connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff.
We continue to be committed to our four intersectional justice priorities, work that is even more urgent as we daily see attacks against our climate, democracy, reproductive rights, and our trans and non-binary beloveds.
Create Climate Justice
Image description: Green and white graphic showing an equation made up of Side With Love logos and text, reading “Side With Love + Climate Justice = Create Climate Justice.”
Register for our Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meetings, view past trainings, download our Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care toolkit, subscribe to our dedicated email newsletters for climate justice and the Green Sanctuary 2030 program, and plan a screen of our powerful event, Abolitionist Visions on Climate Justice, with UUA President Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt. Learn more.
UPLIFT Action
Image description: Dark blue and white graphic showing an equation made up of logos and text, reading “Side With Love + Reproductive & Gender Justice (Including Trans Rights) = UPLIFT Action.”
Sign up for our dedicated email on reproductive and gender justice (including trans rights), download our Congregational Reproductive Justice Action Guide, learn about our monthly gatherings for Trans/Non Binary+ UUs, and view our past trainings including Responding to Far Right/White Christian Nationalist Threats; “Moral Obligations Transcending Legal Codes”: The Clergy Consultation Service on Abortion; and The Body Politic: Faithful UUs Showing Up for Trans Justice. Learn more.
Love Resists
Image description: Red and white graphic showing an equation made up of logos and text, reading “Side With Love & UUSC + Decriminalization = Love Resists.”
Find spiritual practices for challenging moments, connect with Stop Cop City organizing, subscribe to our dedicated Love Resists newsletter, download our curriculum for the 2021-2022 Common Read Defund Fear: Safety Without Policing, Prisons, and Punishment; and view our training on arrestee support, What do we do when our conscience goes to jail?: UUs showing up for UUs who show up. Learn more.
UU the Vote
Image description: Light blue and white graphic showing an equation made up of logos and text, reading “Side With Love + Democracy & Voting Rights = UU the Vote.”
UU the Vote is now a proactive, year-round program to advance voting rights and democracy. Subscribe to our dedicated newsletter for campaign updates, learn about how UUs are protecting democracy throughout the year, and stay up-to-date on events and trainings. Learn more.
Fall Programming from Side With Love: Learn, Gather, and Connect
If you aren’t already, start talking to your elected officials about climate justice. As we mobilize to end the era of fossil fuels, the People vs. Fossil Fuels Elected Officials pledge is a great way to connect with city, county, and state officials to build relationships for ongoing engagement on local climate action, energy, pollution, and climate disaster preparedness plans.
Use the Side with Love Click to Call to connect with state senators and representatives, and reach out personally to your city and county officials to sign this pledge. We need as many elected officials as possible to join us in pushing President Biden to end the era of fossil fuels ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit and March to End the Era of Fossil Fuels in New York this September. Learn more about these efforts at SideWithLove.org/UUClimateJustice.
Last week was the one year anniversary of the most ambitious climate policy and clean energy investment in history. The Inflation Reduction Act includes incentives to make the clean energy transition and a decarbonized life easy and financially smart. With discounts and tax credits for home owners and renters and a 30% direct pay option for congregations, the IRA is a game changer. I’ve heard from so many UU congregations looking into solar, energy efficiency, and our IRA Peer Learning Circle Team of energy wonks are hard at work figuring out the best options for our people. Go team!
Friends, I invite you to think even bigger. What about all of the things we can do to decarbonize our communities to make sure that these federal funds help our neighbors most at risk of climate disruption? Always when we’re doing climate work, we need to think about what climate injustice looks like in our communities. Who are the most impacted by climate disasters, extreme heat, winter storms, or floods? Where are the “sacrifice zones” in your community? Who is impacted and how? Who are the people organizing in those communities? Find the harm, then ask those closest to it how you can help. Racial justice is climate justice. Although the IRA has tremendous potential, we’ve got miles to go to achieve the equitable transition to a clean energy future we need.
We need to embrace a visionary approach as we put our faith into action to ensure those most impacted by climate disruption benefit the most from federal clean energy funding.
New Date: Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding Webinar
Image description: Graphic with an illustrated planet Earth in shades of green, placed in a bed of leaves and flowers, with smaller leaves and stars swirling above it. Dark blue and black text says, "Webinar. Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding. Date TBD" Logos: Create Climate Justice, Interfaith Power & Light, Blessed Tomorrow, Unitarian Universalists for Economic Justice, Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice, Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth, Unitarian Universalist College of Social Justice.
We are working on a new date for our Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding webinar, which will provide a framework of abundance with justice at the center.
Learn about the ways your congregation can advocate to electrify low-income neighborhoods, partner to weatherize low-income homes, and leverage our power to ensure that federal clean energy funding decreases disparities, builds community resilience and advances clean energy as a human right.
RSVP now to be notified when we finalize the date in September!
Tell Your Elected Officials: End Fossil Fuels!
If you aren’t already, start talking to your elected officials about climate justice. As we mobilize to end the era of fossil fuels, the People vs. Fossil Fuels Elected Officials pledge is a great way to connect with city, county, and state officials to build relationships for ongoing engagement on local climate action, energy, pollution, and climate disaster preparedness plans.
Use the Side with Love Click to Call to connect with state senators and representatives, and reach out personally to your city and county officials to sign this pledge. We need as many elected officials as possible to join us in pushing President Biden to end the era of fossil fuels ahead of the UN Climate Ambition Summit and March to End the Era of Fossil Fuels in New York this September. Learn more about these efforts at https://SideWithLove.org/UUClimateJustice
Green Sanctuary 2030 Congregational Community Training in September
Image description: Graphic with a white background and a paint smear in the upper lefthand corner. Green text reads: Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting with the logos for Green Sanctuary and Side With Love on each side of the text. In blue text, it reads Navigating Conflict in our Climate Work with Restorative Conflict Circles. In black text, it reads September 20 4PT / 5MT / 6CT / 7ET. There is the logo for Create Climate Justice and then a light green paint smear in the lower righthand corner.
This work is hard, but together we can shape a future with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all communities thrive. Our last Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Surprise Lessons in Congregational Transformation, provided excellent perspective on ways to work together to advance climate justice and increase collaboration in our congregations and communities.
As Unitarian Universalists, our faith calls us to be agents for change. However, sometimes this work can feel lonely, draining, daunting, or disconnected from our spirituality. UUMFE’s Action-Reflection Circles address both the yearning to tie our work to Unitarian Universalism and the call to transform ourselves and the world. Join with other UUs on a regular basis to share stories about your actions and strategies, restore your resilience, deepen your solidarity skills, and tap into our UU faith tradition as a source of strength.
There is so much to be done, and it is so much more joyful when we do the work together.
In community,
Image description: A white person wearing dark frame glasses, with shoulder length light brown hair, stands surrounded by tall ferns. They are wearing a black Side With Love t-shirt and a jacket. They are smiling.
Rachel
Rachel Myslivy
Climate Justice Organizer, Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team
Unitarian Universalist Association
Embrace a Visionary Approach to Clean Energy as a Human Right
The Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice framework guided the First UU Congregation of Ann Arbor's climate leaders to change the way they look at their work... or make that the congregation's work. UUAA has a history of environmentalism that has mostly focused on mitigation: on decreasing their carbon footprint. Enrolling in GS2030 guided them to rethink things -- to look more at climate justice (yikes! that's hard!) and congregational transformation (what is that?) As a result, they have sparked more cross-group collaborations, increased our community outreach activities, and, well, maybe they're having more impact!
The discussion, led by Sandy Simon and Edward Lynn of the First Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Ann Arbor covered so much ground! From Radical Welcome to Racial Justice to Relationships to Visioning Processes to Energy Wonk questions, this was one incredibly informative conversation. Check it out:
As we think about how to transform our congregations through climate justice, relationships are key. And anytime you're building relationships, there is potential for conflict. Our September GS2030 Community Meeting will cover Navigating Conflict in Our Climate Work with Restorative Conflict Circles with Wendy Weirick. RSVP today!
Also, don't forget to RSVP for Visionary Approaches to Federal Clean Energy Funding on August 29 to learn how your congregation can put your faith into action to advance visionary approaches to clean energy funding with justice at the center.
Surprise Lessons in Congregational Transformation: August Green Sanctuary Community Meeting
The regressive politicians who would force pregnant people to bear children against their will know their position is unacceptable to most voters. Accordingly, they’ve engaged in a systematic campaign to undermine the ability of citizens to use the ballot initiative process in the 24 states that enable proactive initiatives.
Thankfully, many states only allow elected officials to propose changes to the initiative process and empower voters to accept or reject the proposal. Those states include Ohio, where voters overwhelmingly thwarted a referendum last week that would have raised the threshold to pass a ballot measure from a simple majority to a rarely-achieved 60 percent. The referendum was placed on the ballot by Republican legislators with the intent to stop Ohioans from passing an initiated constitutional amendment in November that would embed abortion rights in the state constitution.
By a 14 percent margin, Ohioans voted down the invitation to undermine their own political power (Issue 1 on the ballot). While the GOP deliberately scheduled the referendum for a time with notoriously low turnout, voters showed up in force, more than quadrupling turnout from 8 percent last August to 38 percent this year.
Another state battle looms as Missouri Republicans also are seeking a way to obstruct the passage of an expected abortion rights initiative there. Such supermajority requirements are one of three broad categories of tactics currently in use to strip citizens of their lawmaking ability, along with erecting barriers to initiatives reaching the ballot and corrupting voters’ intent post-passage.
As with Issue 1, Unitarian Universalists will be working to register Ohio voters and encourage them to use their democratic power to enact policies reflecting their values and their communities.
Randy Partain, Minister at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Cleveland (a hub for signature gathering), notes that many of the folks gathering signatures to place the reproductive rights amendment on the ballot went through Side With Love’s organizing school last fall. They came through with hope, enthusiasm, and a new set of organizing tools,” said Partain.
Taking the Offensive to Protect Voting Rights
Of course, attacks on voting rights aren't limited to direct democracy, and when Congress returns from vacation in September, one of our key tasks will be to refocus their attention on the recently reintroduced Freedom to Vote Act (FTVA).
Attempts to pass restrictive, anti-voter bills, driven by GOP legislators, continue nationwide. At least 11 states already have enacted 13 restrictive voting laws this year, creating barriers for many eligible voters but disproportionately (and intentionally) impacting youth, voters of color, and voters with limited mobility. The FTVA is one essential piece of legislation to fill the gaps created by the U.S. Supreme Court's sabotage of the Voting Rights Act ten years ago with its Shelby v Holder ruling, which enabled states to enact many previously banned voter suppression schemes.
We expect the John Lewis Voting Rights Advancement Act, which will implement other needed voter protection measures, to be reintroduced this fall. The Unitarian Universalist Association is part of a team of more than 100 pro-democracy organizations that have united via Declaration for American Democracy, We also have great news to share! As of September, we’ll transform UU the Vote from a bi-annual campaign to a proactive, year-round program to advance voting rights and democracy as we add a Democracy Strategist will join the team.
Along with protecting citizens from being denied their vote, the FTVA includes key actions to shrink the influence of big money in politics, guarantees congressional districts provide fair representation for all, and creates national standards to ensure the integrity and security of federal elections. While the bill fell short of passage last year, it’s far too important to let go of. Please review the key elements of the FTVA, reach out to your community, and contact your federal representatives to demand passage of the FTVA.
Victory for Democracy and Reproductive Rights in Ohio!
For the past few weeks, Side With Love has been organizing UUs and other supporters in the Cop City Vote referendum campaign. This effort would allow Atlanta voters to decide if the City of Atlanta can lease 381 of forested land for a $90 million police training complex backed by corporate interests that will cost over $30 million in tax dollars.
It feels good to be working on such a deeply meaningful campaign. Here in Southwest Atlanta, the Cop City Vote referendum campaign operates from the American Friends Service Committee office. The walls are covered with posters from past campaigns emblazoned with powerful messages that proclaim the dignity of workers, the right to housing, and the end to war. Also on this wall is a wood turtle with a painting of Tortuguita, the climate activist killed by police on January 18th of this year in the Weelaunee forest. Tortuguita was protesting the harm and environmental degradation caused by the planned development of this vast, militarized law enforcement training compound.
In this room, each poster, each weathered clipboard, and boxes of t-shirts are quiet reminders of the life, love, and legacy that make this space powerful.
In this space, we are surrounded by a legacy of activism, community building, and radical hope that makes justice movements unstoppable. In this space, we seek to create collective care, mutual support, non-carceral solutions to conflict and harm, and cooperative economics. In this space, we answer the call of our ancestors and defend the future of our descendants.
Neighbors drop by after work to sign the petition. Canvassers funnel in and out with clipboards and “LetAtlantaDecide" t-shirts to talk to voters in torrential downpours and intense summer heat. Artists, fathers, data managers, youth, trainers, grandmothers, community organizers, and faith leaders all huddle in different corners of the office, strategizing on how we will protect democracy. We talk about what $30 million dollars could do for this community and the communities surrounding the Weelaunee forests that do not include giving money to the private Atlanta Police Foundation.
This community is an embodiment of resilience. They’ve been on the front lines of resisting gentrification, housing displacement through eminent domain, and police violence. It is the home of beautiful cultural events in Adair Park, local businesses, historic churches, and public art memorializing community members, proclaiming Black Lives Matter, and demanding to #StopCopCity.
Supporting the campaign reminds me that politics are not only what you do at the voting booth or even who holds elected office. We exercise our political power when strangers share experiences of using public transit, or how they unionized their workplaces. It’s neighbors showing photos of their children talking about their hopes for their schools. It’s walking in to be greeted with a warm and familiar welcome, and leaving hearing “Thank you, sis.” This campaign is a fight to defend the forests, to take back power and let voters decide, and to resist growing investment and militarization of the police. And the reason this city has erupted with activity to collect 70,000 signatures is simply a love that is rooted and cultivated in the legacy of struggles for justice won and lost on southern soil.
Unitarian Universalists are showing up in beautiful and creative ways. We are knocking on doors and talking to folks at supermarkets and parks. Volunteers enjoy fresh fruit provided by High Street Congregation in Macon, while climate activists connect with our Northwest UU Congregation to print zines for a mobilization this weekend. Our Side With Love staff, Rev. Cathy Rion Starr and Racheal Myslivy are building systems to help Atlanta voters fix errors in their petition signatures and joined a team of 20 UUs as we canvassed at the Day of Action on August 5th. It is an immense honor to co-lead and collaborate in this work.
We have 4 more days to get on the November ballot, but the relationships we've built and the commitment we have made will continue beyond this campaign. The love we have for one another is felt in our commitment to show up and preserve our collective well-being.
I know there are many struggles our fellow UUs are fighting right now. This referendum campaign, like the Floridians Protecting Freedom campaign and Ohioans’ rejection of Issue 1 is a struggle to return power to the people. It is not just about a single issue, but the expression of love and care for our communities. I ask that you take a moment to witness the transformational love that is moving through your communities, your work for justice, and your hearts. Thank you for your love and support of Side With Love.
I’m excited to share the fall Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting Schedule, which will include explorations into congregational transformation, conflict resolution, pathways to net zero, and worship resources. Please share these events with your congregation!
RSVP for the August 16 GS2030 Community Meeting: Surprise Lessons on Congregational Transformation!
The Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice framework guided the First UU Congregation of Ann Arbor's climate leaders to change the way they look at their work... or make that the congregation's work. UUAA has a history of environmentalism that has mostly focused on mitigation, on decreasing our carbon footprint. Enrolling in GS2030 guided them to rethink things -- to look more at climate justice (yikes! that's hard!) and congregational transformation (what is that?) As a result they have sparked more cross-group collaborations, increased our community outreach activities, and, well, maybe they're having more impact! RSVP today! Read on for the full community meeting schedule.
Does this opportunity have your name on it?
The GS2030 Community is growing! As a result, I’m looking for folks to help organize our community. This could look like volunteering to do the spiritual opening and closing, helping plan community meetings, and whatever else comes up.Let me know if you’re interested in joining the GS2030 Planning Team!
Send us your surveys!
Have you ever wished there was a go-to survey to gauge interest and activities in your congregation’s Green Sanctuary work? Have you used a survey that was awesome? Please send surveys you’ve used to Environment@UUA.org. And then…help us create a model survey! As we collect these surveys, we’d like a few folks to help draft a model survey all congregations could use for their GS2030 work. Let me know if you’re interested in helping out!
If you use this form to report your GS2030 Actions, it can eliminate the need for a final report. Yay, less paperwork! It also helps me see the exciting things happening in our community. Check it out!
This has been a hard summer. We’ve experienced some of the worst extreme heat on record: July 2023 is the hottest month on record, and 2023 is on track to be the hottest year ever. In Texas, incarcerated human beings have been struggling to endure the extreme heat without air conditioning. Agricultural workers, construction workers, roofers, outdoor workers, and those who work in unairconditioned spaces are all at increased risk of heat-related illness and death with no federal protections for heat. Temperatures are too high for birds and other wildlife to cope. Ocean temperatures exceeding 100 degrees threaten marine life. As of today, the US has had 15 confirmed billion-dollar weather/climate disaster events, including 1 flood, 13 severe storms, and 1 winter storm resulting in 113 deaths.
This is just a small sample of the climate disasters we’ve experienced. It’s been a hard summer in a hard year on top of so many hard years.
Sometimes it just feels like too much. As I’m writing this, my heart is racing, my shoulders tensed up, my jaw is clenched, and I’m holding my breath.
Let’s pause to breathe together. Take a moment to relax your shoulders, gently move your head in a slow circle, take a breath as you’re able, and slowly, slowly, slowly exhale. Let’s hold in our hearts our neighbors who are suffering. In your mind’s eye, picture a living being or place that makes you smile. I’m picturing the Roseate Spoonbill that recently graced Wisconsin with its presence for the first time in over a hundred years.
Now, imagine that creature or sacred space thriving.
Even as climate disasters wreak havoc on our communities, even as we take action for climate justice, we need to resource ourselves and nourish our spirits. (Rev. Sofía Betancourt, Ph.D shared prayers for those impacted by extreme climate in one of her first statements as UUA president.)
It’s important that we are grounded in the present as we dream of a better world.
Without a clear vision of the world we want, we run the risk of prioritizing short-term gains and false solutions. Where we mistakenly advance legislative goals disconnected from cultural shifts and get derailed by things that divide our focus and distract us from long-term goals, and we run the risk of our movements unintentionally upholding injustice.
Here at Side With Love, our Climate Justice Campaign uses spiritual grounding & nourishment, political education, skill building, leadership development, and mobilization with the goal of supporting Unitarian Universalists (UUs) in cultivating thriving communities that advance a just and equitable transition to a clean energy future. We facilitate shared learning, mutual support, and collective action as we work together to realize a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right, and all communities thrive.
I’m proud to share the ongoing work held by our collective climate justice and Green Sanctuary congregations, communities, and organizations. In particular, our events hold the precious hope that will sustain us while we use the various tactics and campaigns to allow that hope to flourish into the future. I hope I’ll see you at one or more of these events.
Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice Community Meetings offer spaces for shared learning and mutual support for anyone working to transform our congregations through climate justice.
We invite you to join any one of our amazing fall offerings to explore:
Get to know the new Green Sanctuary! Join us for a Community Meeting on the 3rd Wednesday of the month or an Orientation on the 1st Wednesday of the month.
Clean Energy as a Human Right
To realize a world where all communities thrive, we need to advance clean energy for all. While congregations are excitedly learning about the funding opportunities for solar, energy efficiency, and more through the Inflation Reduction Act and other federal funding opportunities, we must continue to center justice in our efforts.
Join Sylvia Chi, Just Solutions Collective; Sonia Kikeri, Emerald Cities Collaborative; Jamal Lewis, Rewiring America; and Miguel Yanez, Energy and Environmental Study Institute to learn how your congregation can put your faith into action to advance visionary approaches to clean energy funding with justice at the center.
No More Fossil Fuels!
Side With Love continues to Mobilize UUs to End the Era of Fossil Fuels! In New York this September, the United Nations Secretary-General is hosting a first-of-its-kind Climate Ambition Summit to demand that nations stop the fossil fuel expansion that is driving the climate emergency. Thousands of will march to demand President Biden take bold action to End Fossil Fuels.
Urge Your Elected Officials To Take The Pledge to Phase Out Fossil Fuels!
I write to you from my home in Alabama where last fall, I assisted at the first birth in a birth center in our state, and where the state of safer birth is now in jeopardy.
The Alabama Department of Public Health has proposed a draft of birth center rules and regulations that are discriminatory, outdated, and non-evidence based. These proposed rules and regulations will prohibit many eligible families from being able to afford and access birth centers in any of the proposed (and already operating) birthing centers in the state.
Earlier this week, I was interviewed on our local TV station about our opposition to these new rules.
Alabama has among the highest rates of maternal death and infant death of all states. For women of color, the outcomes are worse. 37% of our counties are maternity care deserts. We need MORE skilled providers serving our communities - not unnecessary restrictions.
Freestanding birth centers staffed with midwives, including Certified Professional Midwives, aren’t a problem; they’re a solution. Birth Centers have demonstrated positive outcomes for pregnant people and their babies.
Our goal at Side With Love is to make sure that Alabama families who desire birth center births, are able to make values-aligned decisions about their birth settings and that those decisions are affordable and accessible to all. This is what bodily autonomy looks like. This is what it means when we say “Every Body is Sacred.”
Help us flood the Alabama Department of Health with public comments to ensure that all of Alabama’s families who desire the midwifery model of care in birthing centers are allotted that opportunity.
Thank you for taking action for birth justice.
Charity Howard Reproductive Justice Organizing Intern Side With Love
Our Collective Voices Are Needed for this Quick Action for Healthy Birth in Alabama
Today marks the 33rd anniversary of the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) - a monumental milestone in the journey towards a more inclusive and equitable society!
The ADA, signed into law on this day in 1990, has been a powerful force for positive change, breaking down barriers and opening doors for millions of individuals with disabilities. It's not just a piece of legislation; it's a testament to the power of empathy, understanding, and the belief that every person deserves equal opportunities.
The work isn't over, today, we recommit ourselves to deeping our understanding of the intersectionality of disability and race, gender, and sexuality. By furthering the goals of the ADA and ensuring that every person, regardless of their abilities, can participate fully in all aspects of society we work towards a society that honors the worth and dignity of all. Let's keep pushing for better accessibility, not just in physical spaces but also in technology, education, employment, and beyond!
Join us in celebrating this momentous day and advocating for a world where diversity is cherished and accommodated.
Rev. Amanda Schuber Disability Justice Associate Side With Love
Pictured: Rev. Tyler Coles & Rev. Misha Sanders collecting referendum petitions last weekend, holding clipboards with images that say "Let Atlanta decide." Nora Rasman and Rev. Jonathan Rogers rounded out the UU contingent. Will you join them?
One of the nation’s most culturally consequential referendums is underway in Atlanta.
Locals, professional UU organizers, other spiritually grounded activists—including your fellow volunteer UUs—and others from around the world are actively leaning into the work, going door-to-door and busy community sites to collect the signatures needed to bring this issue to a vote.
The City of Atlanta will contribute nearly $70 million to the deletion of at least 13,070,000 square feet of the Weelaunee Forest—developing it into a training ground that militarizes and equips police forces with the skills of insufficient care that (ironically) threaten the safety of the officers and (unironically) threaten the security of the community—if we don't collect enough signatures.
You can contribute to this referendum from wherever you reside, when—and how—you feel called. This is what UUs do.
Join us for the Week of Action July 27th - August 5th
#LetAtlantaBreathe: A UU’s contribution to the #StopCopCity & #DefendTheForest movement.
The UU principle of interdependence may sequentially follow those of justice, peace, and dignity, but respecting, “the interdependent web of all existence” may be the bedrock of those other principles. Can you think of it as the unsurfaced molten rock, the magma of the other principles? Interdependence generates heat, heat generates energy, energy that is transferred to our work in human and environmental rights. What energy will you transfer on?
You have breathed the oxygen made by the trees of the Weelaunee Forest and you’ve felt the rain drops made by its water, too, regardless of where you live.
Such is the interdependence of things.
If the forest is disassembled and replaced by a “city” that trains police but is unable to house the many unhoused, if it is forced to relive being kidnapped from Native stewards and plundered for gain, then its energy is being mis-transferred and misused.
The idea of this development sprung from the protests following George Floyd’s murder. The corporate sponsors and police want to protect their interests, property and capital. We must protect and defend our collective interests: clean air, responsible stewardship of the land, safety and care for our neighbors, and a democratic and accountable government. For all of our collective interests, this project is an immediate threat.
We must #LetAtlantaBreathe.
Responding to the call to contribute, no matter where you are.
#StopCopCity & #DefendTheForest is historic, and you belong in its fold. This is what UUs do.
This referendum will be a first in the city’s 186-year history. Referendums are relatively common in other parts of the United States—particularly the west—but Georgia and the majority of southern states don’t have citizen-led processes like these because most states with enslaved people did not want to create the opportunity for people to directly decide on policies.
As Unitarian Universalists, we recognize the momentum of collective action to demand social change, and we call upon the UUA and its member congregations to stop Cop City;
As Unitarian Universalists, we will take action through self-organized phone zaps, mass email campaigns, personal and institutional divestment from banks funding Cop City construction, and other solidarity actions against investors, funders, and other corporate partners across the U.S. and Canada;
As Unitarian Universalists, we will support those engaged in direct action to stop Cop City with spiritual and material resources, by writing letters to incarcerated activists and calling for their immediate release from jail, demanding that all charges against them be dropped, and providing spiritual care for protestors and survivors of police violence; and
As Unitarian Universalists, we will continue to deepen our theological grounding in issues of environmental justice and policing.
The success of our movements depends on our capacity to hold a larger vision of what we seek to build, not just what we work to dismantle. Yes, fascism on a wider scale is a real threat–one that many of us did not and do not want to believe is possible. This is not a light thing to hold. And as we engage in collective learning about fascism and how we dismantle the systems of oppression that feed anti-democratic movements, we must also find collective space to imagine and build the world where we all live in the fullness and wholeness of our worth and dignity.
That has been the beautiful work of our faith and of UU the Vote. We are growing our capacity to imagine a new world and building the skill and will to cultivate it in our institutions, our communities, and in our larger world.
If we solely focus on blocking or dismantling we reject love, sustainability, and the interdependency that anchor our faith and the very idea of beloved community. I am overwhelmed by how our UU the Vote community has consistently held this essential balance. I believe it is why we continue to grow and welcome new folks into our work. We are not just preparing to fight. We are preparing to win! Thank each of you for joining in and creating a program that embodies the discipline of hope. I hope this is what you find as you engage in the amazing resources and opportunities we have coming out of this year’s General Assembly.
I believe that we will win!
In faith,
Nicole Pressley
Field and Programs Director, UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team
We hope those of you who attended GA – either virtually or in person – enjoyed your experience. Our staff was grateful for the opportunities to showcase our work for the last year with UU the Vote at our workshop – attended by nearly 1000 people! – as well as our Side With Love Morning Mixer for congregational justice leaders.
We’re especially excited to share the gorgeous visual notes from our UU the Vote workshop (see the gallery at the bottom of this post), created by Phoebe Dubisch, Senior Graphics Editor and Internship Coordinator with Unitarian Universalist Justice Arizona Network (UUJAZ). They so beautifully articulate the joys and lessons from our past work and help us imagine what UU the Vote will be doing in 2024.
Thursday, July 20th at 8pm ET / 7pm CT / 6pm MT / 5pm PT
We know that these times ask a lot of us and that we need one another to stay in the work with hope, joy, impact, and accountability.
We had the pleasure of gathering with congregational justice leaders while in Pittsburgh, and we’re eager to meet with those who we’re not about to join us in person.
We’re inviting leaders doing the work on the ground and showing up for and with Side With Love to an online mixer so that you can connect with one another, build community across issues, and have some facetime with our staff.
Join us Thursday, July 20th at 8pm ET / 7pm CT / 6pm MT / 5pm PT.
We are so grateful that one of the dedicated General Assembly collections was for our programs! If you are able, we’d be grateful for your gift! Support both UPLIFT Action for LGBTQIA+, Gender and Reproductive Justice, our campaign for UUs to take action in support of trans rights and reproductive justice; and UPLIFT Ministries' direct ministry to and with LGBTQIA+ UUs.
In her 2023 Berry Street essay, the Rev. Cecilia Kingman reflects upon the rise of authoritarianism, right-wing ideology, and fascism both within Unitarian Universalism and in the wider world. In this first session, join Rev. Kingman and the Side With Love team for an interactive opportunity to engage with this essay and the kinds of faithful responses it demands on behalf of our UU faith.
PRE-REQUISITE:Watch or read the 2023 Berry Street essay, “My Little Pony Was Right: Reflections on Fascism Without & Within” by the Rev. Cecilia Kingman
As UU congregations are increasingly being targeted by right-wing hate, all of our congregations should be prepared to respond to threats with skill and courage while also remaining grounded in our values. In this space for all religious professionals, UUA staff from Congregational Life, LGBTQIA+ & Multicultural Ministries, Safer Congregations, and Side With Love shared observations about trends on the national scale, offered resources for assessing security threats/creating safety plans/discerning and growing risk tolerance, and building connections to fight back against overwhelm, fear, and isolation.
Find our catalog of extensive resources and recommendations at our Responding to Threats page (found under the Programs & Resources menu).
Responding to Far Right/White Christian Nationalist Threats - Webinar & Resources
We know we need to focus on climate justice, but where do we start? For many Green Sanctuary Teams, the Justice campaign is the most challenging and also the one with the most room for growth and collaboration. View the recording for our June community gathering in which we discussed and brainstormed how to enact climate justice in our congregations and communities.
by Rev. Ashley Horan, Organizing Strategy Director for Side With Love, Unitarian Universalist Association
In 1975, in the wake of the Roe decision, Anne Nicol Gaylor wrote Abortion is a Blessing as an antidote to the already-fervent activism of the radical religious right, working relentlessly to limit and ultimately eliminate the right to legal abortion in the US. In her introduction, she writes:
"The historic, compassionate Supreme Court ruling of Jan. 22, 1973, freed millions of women from sexual servitude and from the dangerous, traumatic search for illegal abortions. This ruling, our country's greatest step forward in social and moral progress since the abolition of slavery, must be protected politically by the activism of individuals who write letters to legislators, attend hearings, visit their Congresspersons, and support groups working to keep abortion safe and legal.
For the past five years I have been in daily contact with women seeking abortions, and I have learned, as I could in no other way, of the tragedies that have been avoided because abortions are available. The stories of the hundreds of women that I have counseled personally, and the thousands of women from all over the country that I have talked to on the phone, have resulted in my clear understanding that abortion is a positive thing, a cure, a blessing.
I have become impatient not only with those religious zealots who tiresomely hiss "Murderers, " but with those apologists who, while granting the right to abortion, insist that somehow a woman must feel guilt and remorse. I have come to suspect that the persons who refer to abortion as "a tragic option, " or "a terrible alternative, " hold allegiance not to women's freedom but to a male-dominated world gone by.
While recognizing that safe, sure contraception is a preferred alternative to abortion, I deal daily with the casualties of our "modern" contraceptive methods, and I recognize reality, that abortion does what contraception does not necessarily do: it works. I am further aware of the rigid, religious prohibitions against contraception of which certain women remain the victims. I know that far too many women in our country find contraception unavailable, especially if they are young or poor. I know that the teen- aged victim of incest can hardly be expected to be practicing contraception. And I have never heard of a rapist who used condoms.
In a sense I have been privileged to see firsthand the great need for abortion, and I have written this book to share my feelings and experiences so that others might come to see why abortion is a blessing, not only for women but for society. It is my hope that those who read this book will join in the effort to keep abortion safe and legal until that idealistic time when education, medical research, and human behavior combine to make abortion obsolete. "
When the Reproductive Justice movement was founded by twelve Black women activists, theologians, and organizers in the 1990s, they argued that the frame of "choice" -- including arguments that abortion should be "safe, legal, and rare" made by the (largely white, largely-upper-class feminist) pro-choice and reproductive rights movement -- was irrelevant for many people, particularly Black women, for whom the "choice" to get an abortion was never possible, regardless of legal status, because they could not gain access to abortion care. Instead, they argued, "Reproductive Justice is the human right to maintain personal bodily autonomy, have children, not have children, and parent the children we have in safe and sustainable communities. " Bodily autonomy -- the right to not only make choices about what happens to one's own body, but the resources and support to follow through on those choices and thrive -- is a basic human right, and liberatory in and of itself.
The pro-choice movement has, unfortunately, bought into the frame and the premise set by the radical right. Frequently, liberals have implicitly given credence to the right's false arguments about abortion causing medical and psychological trauma by talking about abortion as a "last resort. " The Reproductive Justice movement teaches us that stigmatization of abortion -- alongside all the societal factors that make every choice in an unwanted pregnancy a difficult one, from a broken healthcare system to religious intolerance to lack of support for parents to poverty to mass incarceration -- are actually what is traumatizing to people who do not want to be pregnant.
Religious people of many traditions have frequently said that because of all this, abortion is indeed a blessing. Access to safe and compassionate medical care, the ability to have agency over one's own body, the dignity of self-determination for oneself and one's family, direct experience and conscience as profound sources of wisdom in living our lives -- all of these are gifts endowed upon every human by the creative force of the universe and the spirit.
To share a bit of my personal story, I myself have had three abortions in the course of creating my family -- two after what are known as "chemical pregnancies, " when an embryo fails to develop and ends in miscarriage, and another that saved my life when I had an ectopic pregnancy that ruptured my fallopian tube and almost killed me. Those were three of the most difficult and painful experiences of my life -- and I am incredibly clear that abortion is what allowed me to survive, and to go on to give birth to my youngest child.
My partner openly shares the story of being 15 in 1973, knowing she was queer, and having sex with a boy to "try it out, " and getting pregnant; with the help of a neighbor, she was able to get a safe, newly-legal abortion at a local clinic. She reflects on how the entire trajectory of her life would have been different -- so much harder -- had she not received the blessing of an abortion then. We both celebrate abortion as a blessing that has allowed us and our family to "have life, and have it more abundantly, " to quote the Christian scriptures.
There are so many reasons abortion can be a blessing in someone’s life:
Abortion is a blessing to the person already parenting three children and worrying about how they will buy their groceries if they have one more mouth to feed.
Abortion is a blessing to the person who has never wanted and will never want to be a parent, for whatever constellation of reasons.
Abortion is a blessing to the person whose mental health is dependent on medications that they would have to stop taking to have a baby.
Abortion is a blessing to the person who receives the gut-wrenching news that if they carry their much-wanted pregnancy to term, their child will be born with a medical condition that is incompatible with life, and they would have to experience their child dying in their arms minutes after birth.
Abortion is a blessing for the high schooler who desperately wants to be a parent someday but knows they will be able to give their children a much more stable life and a much more mature parent if they wait until theyre older.
Abortion is a blessing to the person who has just been diagnosed with cancer, and would have to put off life-saving treatment to carry a pregnancy.
Abortion is a blessing to the person who is clear they are done having children, and their energy is devoted to their career or their art or their adolescent kids or taking care of their own aging parents.
Of course people who have abortions experience a wide range of emotions before, during, and after, for a myriad of incredibly complex reasons. There are certainly a very few people who regret abortion afterward (folks the religious right loves to lift up), but the majority of people who experience sorrow, grief, despair, and isolation are mourning not abortion itself, but the circumstances in which the abortion became the right or only decision for them. Violence, abuse, trauma, poverty, instability, racism, ableism -- these are the real causes of despair.
Blessings are not always joyful, but they always support human thriving and freedom. As Rev. Katey Zeh, CEO of the Religious Coalition for Reproductive Choice (RCRC) puts it, What I've learned in talking to people is that abortion can be a blessing. [... ] Abortion can save lives. Abortion can affirm life. Abortion can be a positive parenting decision. So using a word like rare in that context is actually quite harmful to the broader reproductive freedom movement.
As Unitarian Universalists, we believe that every person is endowed with inherent worth and dignity, which means that our bodies and our spirits are sacred -- we are created for thriving, for pleasure, for freedom. And, we believe that all of us are endowed with the twin gifts of agency and conscience, which means that we are born with both free will and the ability to discern, individually and in community, how to use that freedom. In the context of this theological anthropology (what we believe about human nature and our bodies), we absolutely believe that abortion is a blessing because it is one of many many many pathways toward honoring the sacredness of our bodies and helping us create lives of freedom and thriving.
Why We Proclaim "Abortion is a Blessing": Context, History, Theology
As we approach the one-year anniversary of the Dobbs Decision (June 24) overturning Roe v. Wade, Side with Love offered this webinar to highlight reproductive justice and faith organizing on the ground in Pennsylvania and Ohio. Our speakers shared their proactive ongoing work, reactions to the new environment post-Dobbs, and what support and partnership looks like for them. Facilitated by Rev. Ashley Horan, Director of Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team; and Rev. Rob Keithan, Interim Steering Committee Co-Chair of SACReD, the Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Dignity and Minister of Social Justice at All Souls Church Unitarian in Washington, DC.
For those of you registered for the UUA General Assembly 2023, make sure to log in to the Whova app and check out our Side WIth Love/UPLIFT Action on-demand workshop, “Organizing Your Congregation for Reproductive Justice.”
As UU congregations are increasingly being targeted by right wing hate, we anticipate an uptick in attention and disruptive tactics heading into Pride month. In this informal space for religious professionals, we will share some observations about patterns we're seeing on the national scale, point toward some existing resources for support, identify gaps, and make connections to fight back against overwhelm, fear, and isolation.
This was an informal gathering of religious professionals of many stripes from across the US, and we spent time sharing observations about the national context and emerging patterns among our congregations, offering some resources for congregations as you make plans for security and crisis response, and engaging one another’s experiences, wisdom, and questions to both foster connection and shape future resource and training creation at the UUA. We were grateful for all those who gathered in real time and are happy to share the video and collected links and resources offered yesterday.
NOTE: Many of these resources recommend or mention involving police or other law enforcement as a part of security responses. Rooted in our UU values and an ethic of aspiring abolitionism that yearns for a world in which policing and systems of punishment are not central to our society, we highly recommend ongoing conversations and praxis to help our UU communities understand safety differently and to move away from depending on law enforcement as our only form of crisis response. And, we recognize that in certain cases – sometimes at the urging of our partners – we do not currently have access to alternative infrastructure and viable safety structures, and therefore must work with police and other law enforcement. We urge UU communities and congregations to think critically and in advance about whether and when to engage with law enforcement, and to take into consideration the ways in which police often make people from targeted communities – especially trans and queer people – inherently more unsafe by their very presence.
Protecting Pride, An organizing guide for safely and successfully celebrating LGBTQIA2S+ joy in these times
Southern Poverty Law Center & Polarization & Extremism Research & Innovation Lab: Two resources, one for Parents/Caregivers and the other for communities, which lay a foundation for understanding the nature of extremism, dynamics of radicalization, and steps you can take to prevent them from taking root in your community.
Imagine it's 2050 and we've achieved all of our wildest hopes for climate justice...what does it look like? The abolitionist movement imagines a future without police and prisons, drawing on deep convictions, faith, imagination, and hope to do so. The climate justice movement is diverse, vibrant, and equally hopeful: but do we UUs have a vision of what a just climate future is? Without a clear vision of a world where all can thrive, we run the risk of prioritizing short-term gains, false solutions, legislative goals disconnected from cultural shifts, and distractions that divide our focus.
Watch the recording of this radical gathering of thinkers for abolitionist visions of climate justice. Facilitated by Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy, the panel will include Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, Ecowomanist theologian and sole candidate for UUA President*; Dr. Rashid Shaikh, director of science emeritus at the Health Effects Institute in Boston and co-convenor of the Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Caucus on Climate Justice; and Antoinette Scully, Faith-Based National Organizer for the UU Women's Federation.
* NOTE: This event was sponsored by Side With Love and was not a campaign event
Recording for Abolitionist Visions on Climate Justice
As local governments are wielding extreme power over weak and vulnerable people, we need to be efficient and precise in our efforts to fight back and protect at-risk communities. Oftentimes, those who are in a position to support those who are at risk are not directly impacted by the harms that put them at risk. This can result in wasted energy, time, and resources. In this Skill Up, we will explore how we might ensure that our organizing/strategy efforts are rightly aligned so that impacted communities get what they need and that our energy, time, and resources are most effective.
Skill Ups are our monthly series of trainings on organizing skills to help build our UU the Vote and Side with Love Volunteer Squads and help YOU build stronger teams in your congregation and community. We'll start the session with some spiritual fun and then launch into our training. Find all our past trainings at sidewithlove.org/previous-skill-up-trainings
Recording for Skill Up: What Do Impacted Communities Need? How Would I Know!?
I love a good post-apocalyptic story. I grew up on movies like Mad Max, BladeRunner, and Soylent Green. When Cli-Fi (Climate Fiction) became a named genre, I was elated to find a host of books curated for my particular weirdness like N.K. Jemisin’s Broken Earth series, Tatterdemalion by Sylvia Linsteadt, and of course, the life-changing Earthseed series by Octavia Butler. (I confess, I don’t know if this prepares me for a lifetime working on climate justice or if it just gives me a reference point of “Whew, it’s not that bad, yet.”)
Our society loves a good story of survival after collapse, but what about a vision where all beings thrive?
It seems easier to imagine the end of the world than to imagine a world without fossil fuels. If we can so creatively imagine collapse, what would it look like if we similarly imagine renewal? What if climate activists embraced the visionary reimaging we see in the abolition movement? How can we reimagine a world with no fossil fuels, where clean energy is a human right and all beings thrive?
These are the questions of our times.
“In order to build the movements capable of transforming our world, we have to do our best to live with one foot in the world we have not yet created…” Aurora Levins Morales
Imagine it's 2050 and we've achieved all of our wildest hopes for climate justice...what does it look like? Do we UUs have a vision of what a just climate future is? Without a clear vision of a world where all can thrive, we run the risk of prioritizing short-term gains, false solutions, legislative goals disconnected from cultural shifts, and distractions that divide our focus.
I invite you to tune into Abolitionist Visions of Climate Justice this Thursday, May 25 at 7ET with Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt, Ecowomanist theologian and sole candidate for UUA President*; Dr. Rashid Shaikh, director of science emeritus at the Health Effects Institute in Boston and co-convenor of the UU Ministry for Earth Black, Indigenous, and People of Color (BIPOC) Caucus on Climate Justice; and Antoinette Scully, National Organizer for the UU Women's Federation.
Together, these UU leaders will share their own abolitionist vision of climate justice while discussing what it means for UUs to hold these radical visions and what we need to do to realize this flourishing world.
Following the webinar, Side With Love will host workshops to support UUs to host similar visions of climate justice in our own communities. These visions can guide our conversations and shape our work to ensure that our movements are building a thriving future for all.
* NOTE: This event is cosponsored by Side With Love, UU College of Social Justice, UU Ministry for Earth, UUs for Social Justice, and UUs for a Just Economic Community; and is not a campaign event
Are you wondering if Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) funds can transform your congregation? They can! With 30% direct pay options for churches and nonprofits, IRA funds present a great opportunity for UUs to reduce our carbon footprint while cultivating communities of care and prioritizing climate justice. Even better, the UUA has funding options to help you maximize IRA funds!
In this webinar, join Carey McDonald, UUA Executive Vice President, to learn about how you can leverage UUA funding options with IRA funds for an even bigger impact.
The Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team is hiring!
Our Democracy Strategist will work with Unitarian Universalist individuals, congregations, and institutions to equip, engage and mobilize them for impactful, values-based pro-democracy organizing. This person will deepen collaborative organizing partnerships with secular and multifaith coalitions and organizations who are working on voting rights, electoral justice, building multi-racial democracy, and fighting authoritarianism and fascism.
If you have 5+ years’ experience with electoral and/or voting rights campaigns at the local, regional, and/or national level, look at the job description and apply!
Democracy Strategist
Title: Democracy Strategist
Location: Open*
Hours/Week: 35, with benefits
Purpose
To equip, engage, and mobilize Unitarian Universalist individuals, congregations, and institutions for impactful, values-based pro-democracy organizing through Side With Love’s campaigns and programs. To maintain and deepen collaborative organizing partnerships with secular and multifaith coalitions and organizations working in the areas of voting rights, electoral justice, building multi-racial democracy and fighting authoritarianism and fascism.
Principal Responsibilities
1. Serves as the lead strategist of the UU the Vote campaign; designs and leads the execution of a national, multi-strategy, hybrid program that engages our base to build power, deepen leadership capacity, and take impactful action in alignment with Unitarian Universalist values and pro-democratic movements for justice. Convenes the SWL team and related UUA partners to execute the strategy.
2. Creates year-round programming that incorporates longer-term democracy organizing with short-term campaign work related to electoral cycles, including primaries, direct democracy campaigns, ballot initiatives and referenda, and general elections.
3. Manages and develops strategic partnerships. Nurtures and serves as primary liaison for partnerships between UU congregations and statewide, regional and national partners within the broader ecosystem of pro-democracy and voting work.
4. Designs accessible, inspiring volunteer recruitment and training strategies that allow UUs with diverse identities, skills, capacities, and passions to meaningfully participate in electoral and pro-democracy work.
5. Identifies strategic opportunities within the democracy and voting rights landscape to mobilize UU communities for concrete, impactful, on-the-ground engagement with non-partisan campaigns in key places. In consultation with the Field Organizing team, identifies and provides direct support to these congregations/communities to develop leadership, grow capacity and skill, and mobilize in support of local and state campaigns and movements.
6. Engages in regular assessment of program effectiveness and impact, including qualitative and quantitative metrics. Provides comprehensive annual analysis and reporting on the overall program.
7. Oversees online programs that support UU the Vote leaders around the country, including coaching, political education, organizing training, and spiritual grounding. In consultation with Field Organizing Team, develops training programs to equip volunteer leaders and congregational teams with the concrete skills needed to develop organizing plans for their own religious communities, and effectively recruit and mobilize fellow congregants to carry out those strategies.
8. Plans and executes in-person and online gatherings to train, coordinate, and mobilize UUs and their partners at critical moments.
9. Supports the use and implementation of voter contact tools and other technologies, such as dialers, mobile apps, and the voter file for UU participants.
10. Stays up-to-date on electoral landscape and provides briefing for UUA staff, UU partners, and congregations.
11. Researches and analyzes electoral and voting rights landscape of target states.
12. Supervises UU the Vote Fellows, interns, and other UU the Vote-specific paid or volunteer staff.
13. Other responsibilities as assigned.
Qualifications
This is exempt Grade 12 position (expected hiring range of $62,000-$70,000 depending on experience). Note that qualifications may be met as a result of lived experience, volunteer work, professional experience, and/or formal or informal training. Requirements include:
Must be able to work independently and be highly self-motivated, demonstrate creative problem-solving and excellent professional judgment, possess resiliency and ability to work in a rapidly changing and fast-paced environment
5+ years’ experience with electoral and/or voting rights campaigns at the local, regional, and/or national level
Experience managing program or organization budgets
Preferred proficiency with digital tools critical for organizing, such as EveryAction, VAN, Slack, dialers, Google Suite and social media platforms
Excellent skills in building and maintaining partner and constituent relationships, including strong preference for experience working with faith leaders, congregations, and coalitions
Commitment to developing organizing strategies and partnerships that align with Unitarian Universalist values and principles.
Ability to act collaboratively and flexibly as a member of a remote staff team, including proficiency with technologies such as Google docs, Slack, Asana, Zoom, etc.
Solid verbal, written, and interpersonal communication skills.
Proven ability to design and facilitate group experiences (in person and remotely) that engage, educate, and empower participants to deepen their leadership skills and mobilize others to work for justice.
Deep commitment to countering systems of oppression and leading with intercultural fluency and humility. Worked or lived experience with Black/Indigenous/communities of color, LGBTQIA+ communities, and poor and/or rural communities is of particular value.
Exceptional oral and written communication skills.
Ability to travel if and when pandemic conditions allow
Willingness to work with volunteers whose schedules require convening meetings and events on evenings or weekends.
* Location is open in the continental United States. You should have easy access to a major airport due to the travel requirements of this position.
How to Apply
People with disabilities, people of color, indigenous people, Hispanic/Latinx, and LGBTQ candidates are encouraged to apply. The UUA is committed to developing a diverse and talented staff team. If you are excited about this role, but are unsure whether you meet 100% of the requirements, we encourage you to inquire and/or apply. Send cover letter and résumé—indicating “Democracy Strategist ” in the subject line—via e-mail to careers @ uua.org, via fax to (617) 948-6467, or to Human Resources, UUA, 24 Farnsworth Street, Boston, MA 02210. E-mail submissions preferred.
About the UUA
The Unitarian Universalist Association is a progressive religious denomination headquartered in Boston’s waterfront Fort Point Innovation District. Our faith community of more than 1,000 self-governing congregations brings to the world a vision of religious freedom, tolerance, and social justice. Our normal workweek is 35 hours, we pay 80% contribution towards health insurance premiums, 10% towards retirement (after one year), and have generous paid time-off policies.
We are a great place to work and we value diversity. The UUA is an Equal Opportunity Employer and is committed to the full inclusion of all. As part of this commitment, the UUA will ensure that applicants and staff with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations.
If reasonable accommodation is needed to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment, please contact the Office of Human Resources at (617) 948-4648 or humanresources@uua.org.
Proof of a full course vaccination against COVID-19 is a requirement of employment, in alignment with the UUA's commitments to science and equity, protecting those who are most vulnerable. Medical exemptions are considered upon recommendation from a provider.
Please contact the Office of Human Resources at (617) 948-4648 or humanresources@uua.org. For more information on the UUA, visit us online at UUA.org and uuworld.org.
Support for the Mission and Values of the Association
The Unitarian Universalist Association is a progressive and historic religious denomination. While it is not generally required or expected that an applicant/employee identify as a Unitarian Universalist (UU) or be a member of a UU congregation in order to work at the UUA, all UUA staff members are expected to perform their job duties in accordance with the UUA’s values, principles and mission. In particular the following points, drawn from the Seven UU Principles, are of particular importance for the UUA’s work environment and staff culture:
The inherent worth and dignity of every human being: We affirm the need for a human-centered workplace that allows our diverse staff to flourish. We also understand that our wider culture and society oppresses and denies human dignity, and we seek to counter the effects of that oppression in our hiring and workplace culture so that each person feels whole and valued.
Justice, equity and compassion in human relations, and the goal of world community with peace, liberty and justice for all: We speak openly and publicly of our support for social and political issues, including LGBTQ equity, racial justice, climate justice, gender equity, and reproductive justice.
The interdependent web of existence: We recognize that the liberation of all people is interwoven, and we work to counter patriarchy, white supremacy, colonialism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, environmental exploitation, and other interrelated systems of marginalization.
As part of this commitment, the UUA will ensure that applicants and staff with disabilities are provided reasonable accommodations to participate in the job application or interview process, to perform essential job functions, and/or to receive other benefits and privileges of employment.
Before the landmark 1973 ruling in Roe v. Wade made abortion legal across the United States, clergy from a wide variety of religious traditions developed a coordinated, skilled, responsive underground network that supported people experiencing "problem pregnancies" to access abortion care from trustworthy doctors and medical professionals. This network of more than 1400 clergy and hundreds of providers -- which included many Unitarian Universalists -- helped hundreds of thousands of people access safe abortions before the Roe decision.
Now, we look back at the Clergy Consultation Service to learn so we can prepare and coordinate to take risks again for reproductive justice. Let's learn our history to plan for our future.
If you were in the Clergy Consultation Service or were helped by them and want to share your story with Dr. Gillian Frank, please feel free to reach out at gfrank @ princeton.edu.
Biden promised to be a climate president – yet under his watch, the U.S. continues to be the biggest producer of oil and gas in the world. In the first few years of his term, he approved more lease sales for new oil and gas drilling on federal lands and waters than Trump. And his administration has approved new oil and gas projects, like the Willow oil drilling project in Alaska and multiple oil and gas export terminals in the Gulf. Global scientists have been abundantly clear – we cannot avoid the very worst impacts of the climate crisis if we allow for anymore fossil development.
UUs, it’s time to show up!
This June, People vs. Fossil Fuels are mobilizing to turn up the heat and make Biden take real climate action – by ending the era of fossil fuels. Join us for a national week of action June 8th - 11th 2023 to demand Biden use his executive powers to end the era of fossil fuels and declare a climate emergency!
With mobilization tools like individual coaching, communication templates, action plans, and more, PvFF and partners are supporting folks to host bold, creative, and disruptive actions to lift up their local fights against oil and gas developments.
May Mobilization Call
Join Side With Love, UUMFE, and People vs. Fossil Fuels for a conversation about the campaign, distributed actions, and supports available, including coaching and movement chaplaincy for UUs. This will be an open space for UUs to come together and discuss plans for End the Era of Fossil Fuels Distributed Actions
Michael Cohen, Solar United Neighbors, gave an overview on Solar for congregations and share a little about the process the First Unitarian Church of Orlando is going through to consider installing solar with IRA funds.
What next? Join us in May to learn about how you can leverage UUA funding options with IRA funds for an even bigger impact. On May 17 at 7ET for Carey McDonald, UUA Executive Vice President, will discuss IRA funds and UUs: Funding Clean Energy and Climate Solutions! With 30% direct pay options for churches and nonprofits, IRA funds present a great opportunity for UUs to reduce our carbon footprint while cultivating communities of care and prioritizing climate justice. Even better, the UUA has funding options to help you maximize IRA funds! Register Now
About Green Sanctuary 2030
Are you thinking about joining the Green Sanctuary 2030 process? Come to an orientation to learn more and get started! Orientations are the first Wednesday of each month at 7ET. Sign up for these and all Climate Justice events at https://sidewithlove.org/climatejustice.
Find our other climate justice and Green Sanctuary 2030 webinars here.
Green Sanctuary 2030 Monthly Gathering for April: Solar 101 + IRA Funds
Everywhere you look the world is on fire! Sometimes you just want to scream at the top of your lungs, “Everything is bad! Do something! AAUGH!!!!” That urgency is real, and also maybe not the best way to communicate about the issues - or to take care of yourself! In our April Skill Up, learn some ways to manage yourself and engage others as you effectively advocate for justice and work for a thriving world for all with Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy.
This Followup to April's Skill Up is a practice session for folks who came to the Skill Up live or have watched the recording. If you did not attend live, please watch the recording prior to this session. Come practice having conversations that effectively engage others and keep you grounded as we together seek to effectively advocate for justice and work for a thriving world for all. Register to join live.
Happy Earth Week! For environmentalists, the month of April means there’s an event every day of the week - sometimes several! With all of the Earth Day Celebrations, we wanted to pop into your inbox to highlight a few of our favorites.
In collaboration with UU organizations and national partners, Side With Love is here to help you balance the urgent need for political education and mobilization with spiritual nourishment and leadership development. This week, you can nourish your spirits at the Active for Earthcare Service with the UU Ministry for Earth, develop your leadership skills at the Side With Love April Skill Up: Facing the Apocalypse with a Smile with yours truly, educate yourself on Solar 101 + IRA funds with the First Unitarian Church of Orlando, and mobilize with UUs for Social Justice on the Farm Bill, and with People vs. Fossil Fuels to End the Era of Fossil Fuels! Join us!
In community,
Rachel Myslivy
Spiritual grounding & nourishment
UU Ministry for Earth Earth Day service: April 20 at 5PT - 6MT - 7CT - 8ET
Our faith calls us into relationship with the sacred elements of Earth and to put power in the hands of the many and not the few. This Earth Day, join the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth in meditation, song, and stories to honor nature’s elements and become Active for Earthcare – a call to engage in the face of the climate crisis. This worship structure may be a bit different from what you are used to — lean into it and enjoy the journey!
You can join the service live on April 20th, 8pm EST/7pm CST/6pm MT/5pm PST or use the resources on whatever Sunday works best for your congregation’s worship calendar. Once your congregation is registered, the videos will be sent to you on April 7, 2023. Register today!
Political education
Solar 101 + IRA funds: April 19 at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET (90 mins)
Michael Cohen, Solar United Neighbors, will give a quick primer on Solar for congregations and share a little about the process the First Unitarian Church of Orlando is going through to consider installing solar with IRA funds. Join the Green Sanctuary Team meetings for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 7PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs. Register today.
Skill building & leadership development
Facing the Apocalypse with a Smile: April 23 at 1PT - 2MT - 3CT - 4ET
Everywhere you look the world is on fire! Sometimes you just want to scream at the top of your lungs, “Everything is bad! Do something! AAUGH!!!!” That urgency is real, and also maybe not the best way to communicate about the issues - or to take care of yourself!
Rachel Myslivy, Side with Love Climate Justice Organizer, will help you learn ways to manage yourself and engage others as you effectively advocate for justice and work for a thriving world for all. Our Unitarian Universalist faith calls us to be lifelong learners, and organizing traditions teach that we need to share what we know for our movements to grow. Our Squad Skill Ups are a monthly series of trainings on organizing skills to help build our UUtheVote and Side with Love Volunteer Squads and help YOU build stronger teams in your congregation and community. Skill Ups occur the 3rd Sunday of most months. Register today.
Take Action
Mobilize with UUSJ to Advocate for the Farm Bill
The Farm Bill presents a critical opportunity to advocate for a climate-smart agricultural sector that advances justice. We want and need a proposal that moves the agricultural sector in a sustainable and regenerative direction. As faith advocates, we have a moral imperative for a greener Farm Bill and kick-start a multi-cycle effort to push the sector and our food systems in the direction of solutions.
The 350 Network Council, Center for Popular Democracy, Climate Organizing Hub, Honor the Earth, and People vs Fossil Fuel partners are co-hosting the Era of Fossil Fuels Mobilization Call on April 19th at 5pm PT/ 8pm ET on Zoom. This call is meant to welcome folks who have been brought into the movement by the Biden Admin’s disastrous decision to approve the Willow project in Alaska and help them plug into the movement to End the Era of Fossil Fuels around the country. This event will inform attendees about the PvFF campaign and our broader strategy–particularly our commitment to climate justice and solidarity with Black and Indigenous leaders who have driven this work for generations.
(Yes, we know this conflicts with our Solar 101 + IRA Funds! You can join Solar 101 first, then hop over to this one!)
Celebrate Earth Week with Action, Worship, & Education
UUs have long been part leaders in powerful multifaith movements fighting for trans and queer rights and liberation. Join UPLIFT Action and Side With Love staff for this webinar, lifting up the faithful work UUs are engaging in right now in the context of the wave of hateful legislation and violence against trans and queer people. We'll hear stories from congregations and State Action Networks on the ground, and point toward ways you and your community can take meaningful action.
On Monday, three adults and three children were killed at an elementary school in Nashville, TN in a mass shooting that also left the shooter dead. With rage and heartbreak, we acknowledge this horrific act of violence: both the unique, precious lives taken and the all-too-common manner in which this violence was perpetuated.
Our hearts are with the loved ones of those who were killed; with the school and the community who must pick up the shattered pieces in the wake of tragedy; and with all those for whom this latest act of violence will re-expose layers of trauma and grief caused by too many other similar atrocities.
As a nation, we have developed patterns when it comes to acts of mass gun violence generally (this is the 130th so far in 2023), and school shootings particularly. We now have muscle memory of what it will feel like in the coming days as we watch pundits argue about gun control, assault weapons bans, mental health services, school security, and the Second Amendment.
And, because the Nashville shooter has been identified as a transgender person, the white nationalist Christian right is already spewing bigotry and fear to further promote their deadly anti-trans and pro-gun agenda. By focusing on the identity of the shooter in this case and ignoring the fact that the vast majority of mass shooters are white cis men, the forces of white nationalist Christianity are working to intentionally distract us from their own culpability in creating the very conditions that enable attacks like this.
This is a moment in which there are significantly more mass shootings in America than days in the calendar year. It is a moment in which physical, legislative, religious, and political attacks against trans and nonbinary people are rampant. And it is a moment in which both gun violence and trans identity and rights are starkly polarized issues being weaponized by politicians while real people die.
In this cultural context, it is our moral duty to declare that the real threat to the safety of our children and our communities comes from white Christian nationalism, not trans and nonbinary people. Let us be clear: if we truly want all of our children to be safe, we must fight to eradicate the intertwined cultures of gun worship and transphobia that permeate this country.
To our trans and nonbinary beloveds: as our friends at the Trans Resistance Network noted today, “It is a testament to the inner strength and beauty of transgender people, that despite the overwhelming odds of homelessness, job discrimination, and constant anti-trans bigotry and violence, so many of us continue to persevere, survive, and even thrive. We will not be eradicated or erased.” Please consider joining our monthly UPLIFT gatherings for trans and nonbinary UUs to build connection, community, and mutual support. Celebrate trans resilience at our upcoming Trans Day of Visibility celebration for trans/nonbinary families, and learn more about the faithful work UUs are doing right now in the context of the current wave of anti-trans violence and legislation. If you are struggling and need crisis support, find a variety of offerings listed on this page (NOTE: scroll to the bottom of the page for links).
In the midst of all we are up against, we are grateful to be in the struggle together with you, today and for the long haul.
In faith and solidarity,
The Side With Love Team
A Statement in response to the Nashville School Shooting
Providing honest, caring, and timely feedback is essential to nurturing trust. That’s why we believe Evaluation is an act of Love.
We need to be able to speak directly and frankly to each other about what we want and need from each other, what we think could be done differently, as well as celebrating our successes. Every time we love one another enough to offer debrief and appreciation, we deepen our relationships and the power of our collective. We can create groups and communities grounded in relationship and trust. Thus, we can meet the justice work of the moment powerfully and nimbly. In this skill-up, you will practice ways to bring debrief culture and loving feedback to your own context.
Sarah Berel-Harrop, Side with Love Squad and Texas UU Justice Ministry Leader
About Sarah
I'm the Intern Minister at the Texas Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry and a seminarian at Meadville Lombard Theological School. I grew up UU in Houston, Texas. During the 2020 election cycle, I became deeply active with UU the Vote and appreciated the leaderful learning culture. I'm passionate about nurturing groups and communities grounded in relationship and trust that offer alternatives to paradigms of domination and control.
This month's Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, Connecting with State Action Networks on Climate Advocacy, highlighted ways to engage with UU State Action Networks to advocate for policies that reduce emissions at the local, state, and national levels. Special thanks to Deb Cruz from JUUstice Washington and Rev. Lisa Sampson-Garcia from UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina for leading the conversation!
UU State Action Networks do powerful justice work across the country, and they offer timely information on actions affecting your community, including:
Resources and research on justice issues.
A community of like-minded folks you can activate for specific events.
Support and guidance for getting your congregation involved in justice work at the local level.
Justice-oriented worship services to inspire and inform your congregation.
Professional development and networking opportunities.
If you’re interested in getting involved with legislative advocacy and justice work that impacts your local community, find the SAN nearest you or consider starting your own!
What’s Next?
We've got some excellent opportunities for shared learning and mutual supports in our upcoming Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meetings! RSVP today!
April 19: Solar 101 + IRA Funds! Michael Cohen, Solar United Neighbors, will give a quick primer on Solar for congregations and share a little about the process the First Unitarian Church of Orlando is going through to consider installing solar with IRA funds.
**We're planning to host peer learning circles to support congregations considering IRA funding for clean energy & Climate solutions. Email Environment@UUA.org for more info!
June 19: Climate Justice Brainstorm!For many Green Sanctuary Teams, the Justice campaign is the most challenging and also the one with the most room for growth and collaboration. Bring your questions and ideas and join the conversation!
While I wish I had something pretty or pithy to observe about spring in the Northern Hemisphere, I’m mostly thinking about the amount of live programming blossoming right in front of us. Through partnership with congregations, individual UUs, and our UU State Action Networks, we’re all able to “take shifts for the revolution,” as Rev. Ashley Horan says. I see the evidence of that daily in the stories and updates from around the country of UUs and other people of faith and conscience who are fighting for our trans beloved and who are fiercely resisting legislative attacks on climate, decriminalization, and trans children and families. (If you haven’t yet, read the beautiful op-ed by Rev. Sara LaWall from Boise Unitarian Universalist Fellowship, ID about why her faith demands she protect and affirm her trans child.)
This month, we have opportunities for faithful and faith-filled actions for justice and rejuvenation. Please share in your congregation and community.
In faith and solidarity,
Audra Friend
Digital Communications, Data, and Technology Specialist
Side With Love
Wednesday, March 15, 2023 7 - 8:30 PM ET / 6 CT / 5 MT / 4 PT
UU State Action Networks do powerful justice work across the country. How can your congregation engage with your State Action Network on climate justice advocacy and actions? Join Deb Cruz and Rev. Lisa Sampson Garcia to learn more! --- Join the Green Sanctuary Team meetings for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs. Register here.
Sunday, March 19, 2023 4 - 5:30pm ET / 3 CT / 2 MT / 1 PT
In this skill-up, you will practice ways to bring debrief culture and loving feedback to your own context. We need to be able to speak directly and frankly to each other about what we want and need from each other, what we think could be done differently, as well as celebrating our successes. Every time we love one another enough to offer debrief and appreciation, we deepen our relationships and the power of our collective. We can create groups and communities grounded in relationship and trust. Thus, we can meet the justice work of the moment powerfully and nimbly. Register here.
Wednesday, March 22, 2023 8 - 9:30 PM ET / 7 CT / 6 MT / 5 PT
UUs have long been part leaders in powerful multifaith movements fighting for trans and queer rights and liberation. Join UPLIFT Action and Side With Love staff for this webinar, lifting up the faithful work UUs are engaging in right now in the context of the wave of hateful legislation and violence against trans and queer people. We'll hear stories from congregations and State Action Networks on the ground, and point toward ways you and your community can take meaningful action. Register here.
Thursday, March 23, 2023 7:30 - 8:30 PM ET / 6:30 CT / 5:30 MT / 4:30 PT
Join our Side with Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad for an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love. Come drink in the music, meditation, play, and prayer. We end with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need. Register here.
As legislators pass harmful laws in states all across the country and as people of faith and no-faith fight back, we want to remind transgender/nonbinary families that they are not alone. Register here.
As Unitarian Universalists we believe that every body is sacred. This will be a time of reflection, celebration, and renewal as we prepare for what is and whatever is coming our way.
*NOTE: This space is intentionally multi-generational. It is open to and welcoming of trans/nonbinary elders as well as children, youth, and young adults. Standard UUA online safety measures apply to ensure all people under 18 are able to attend. We're glad to have you here!
This year's UU@UN Intergenerational Spring Seminar has the theme of “Demilitarization & Abolition: Resist Policing and Empire,” and takes place both in-person in Minneapolis and online April 1-3.
As an intergenerational event, Youth are especially encouraged to attend!
Militarized policing is a dire problem both in the U.S. and globally, and this year's Seminar aims to help us increase our understanding of abolition and equip ourselves with skills to take action. Our keynote will be given by Andrea Ritchie, co-author of No More Police, and other programming will offer a mix of workshops, worship, and debrief.
Registration is tiered with a free, no-cost option for those who need it! Learn more and register here.
This month: faithful action on trans rights, climate justice, and decriminalization
On February 21, 2023, Side With Love Create Climate Justice, Interfaith Power & Light, and others hosted a webinar on Planning the Energy Future of Your Congregation.
Learn about the importance of benchmarking your facilities’ energy use to shape your congregation’s plan to cut energy costs and care for our sacred Earth. This is the first step to making a plan to take advantage of federal funding, like the Inflation Reduction Act. Presenters include: Jerry Lawson, National Manager of EPA’s Energy Star for Small Businesses and Congregations; Sarah Paulos, Interfaith Power & Light’s Cool Congregations Program Director and Tom Hackley from People’s Church of Kalamazoo, MI. This webinar is part of a series hosted by Interfaith Power & Light and our faith partners.
Big kudos to the People's Church of Kalamazoo Michigan, a UU Society, for sharing their journey to Net Zero! If you were there live, you probably noticed how many UUs were in attendance! Go team!
Are you an energy wonk with a knack for navigating federal policy? Do you love helping others brainstorm opportunities for clean energy upgrades? Or maybe you're just really excited about the IRA and other federal funding opportunities for equitable decarbonization? We're looking for a few good UUs to support shared learning around federal opportunities to fund the clean energy transition. Email Environment@UUA.org for more information.
Recording and resources from Planning the Energy Future of your Congregation Webinar
led by experienced facilitators Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, Side with Love Leadership Development Specialist; and Elisse Ghitelman, Side with Love Squad Leader
CFJ's Facilitation Tips (from Californians For Justice, where Rev. Cathy got their organizing training)
Welcoming and Warming up Participants
Make people feel welcomed. Go up to people you don’t know, talk, make sure no one feels left out or alone – help cliques break up.
Pick an effective icebreaker. Get people to loosen up, and interact with each other. Re-seat people and mix up groups so they get to know each other.
Do a team building activity. This gets people involved together in a group activity and creates the importance of group teamwork. Debrief and reflect!
Setting the tone
Lively facilitation. You have to convey your own energy and commitment for the topic that you are facilitation so others feel it too.
Speak clearly and loudly. So that everyone can hear.
Pace your presentation so that it is not rushed. Give participants time to absorb and think about it so that they have time to ask questions before you move on.
Set agreements and stick to them! Use agreements to keep people on track. You can set agreements at the beginning of the session.
Encourage participation and listening
Reinforce participation. Look at participants when they speak. Nod in agreement. Smile!
Keep order. If there are many people that want to speak, say & write their names down in a “stack” & call them to speak in order.
Diversify speakers. Make sure that the order you choose has a balance of men, women, people of color, youth speaking, etc. Make sure you are valuing a diversity of opinions.
Make sure people can hear each other. Ask a participant who is speaking quietly to speak up . Say things like “Did everyone hear that?
Make sure that participants respond to each other’s comments. Keeps the participants responding to each other rather than to just the facilitator.
Call for a go-around. If you want to make sure everyone has a chance to speak to the topic, call for a “go-around” to have each participant speak, or pass
Presentation and Move it Forward Tips
Use visual aides to help clarify points and make things more interesting. Write legibly and large and make sure everyone can see it.
Summarize main points to move discussion forward. After everyone has spoken, pause and summarize the main points so that people have a clear idea of what has been said.
Find the proposal. The facilitator’s job is to “find” the proposal – to pull together ideas and present it to the group.
Keep comments to the point. If someone brings up an issue that doesn’t relate to the topic, respectfully ask them to hold that point, or “park it” for later discussion.
Create Next Steps: never let anyone leave the meeting before reaffirming the commitments (sign ups) they have made.
Thanks to Cal Ball, Paige Bacon, Barb Rodman, Lora Powell-Haney, and Wendy Weirick for volunteering with our Squads to make our training smooth.
When you see something that is not right, not fair, not just, you have to speak up. You have to say something; you have to do something. – John Lewis
Today would have been John Lewis’ 83rd birthday. Millions of people have been inspired by Lewis’ courageous commitment to racial justice and electoral justice. Along with other people of faith and conscience like James Reeb and Viola Liuzzo, John Lewis is a spiritual elder and ancestor who invites us to side with love rather than fear.
Last year, hundreds of UU congregations and individual UUs worked tirelessly ahead of the 2022 election, which helped us reach more than 2 million voters during a time when voter suppression was strong. Inspired by Lewis’ famous quote – Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble. – UU the Vote debuted Good Trouble Congregations, an ambitious effort for congregations to support democracy in their communities with the following goals:
Average 20 postcards or letters per member
Average 200 text messages per member
Average 20 calls per member
Average 20 doorknocks per member
Reach 20 percent volunteer engagement
Average 2 newly registered voters per member
At least 2 congregants are line warmers, poll workers, or poll watchers
We are delighted and thrilled to announce the congregations who fulfilled 4 or more of the above criteria to become Good Trouble Congregations.
Aiken Unitarian Universalist Church (SC)
All Souls Church Unitarian (DC)
All Souls Unitarian Universalist Congregation (CO)
Bay de Noc UU Fellowship (MI)
Borderlands UU (AZ)
Chalice UU Fellowship of the Conejo Valley (CA)
Georgia Mountains Unitarian Universalist Church (GA)
High Plains Church Unitarian Universalist (CO)
Olympia Brown Unitarian Universalist Church (WI)
Unitarian Society of New Haven (CT)
Unitarian Universalist Church of Surprise (AZ)
Unitarian Universalist Church of Spartanburg (SC)
Unitarian Universalist Church of Worcester (MA)
Unitarian Universalist Community Church of Santa Monica (CA)
Unitarian Universalist Community of the Mountains (CA)
Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Westport (CT)
Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Frederick (MD)
Unitarian Universalist Society of Schenectady (NY)
Universalist Unitarian Church of Farmington (MI)
UU Congregation of Caldwell County (NC)
UU Congregation of Phoenix (AZ)
UU Fellowship of Marshfield (WI)
UU Westside Congregation (NM)
Valley Unitarian Universalist Congregation (AZ)
Join us on February 28 at 7:00pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT for the Good Trouble Congregation Celebration. Come hear from partners, President Susan Frederick-Gray and keynote speaker Tiffany Flowers from The Frontline. There will be a special recognition ceremony for congregations as well as folks who served as poll workers and Election Defenders.
It's an exciting time to be a climate activist. After years of fighting for federal support for equitable clean energy, we're seeing historic investments with enormous potential. For UUs, who have been leaders in the faith climate movement, now's our time to shine. Think big. Think systems. Think resilience. Think love. Think of all the ways our congregations can be hubs of climate resilience and community care.
How can we build our capacity as UUs to faithfully respond to these opportunities? What would our communities look like if clean energy was a human right and all people could thrive? With trainings on benchmarking and UU-specific funding strategies and leadership opportunities, we're skilling up to rise to the challenge!
At the same time, we can't let our guard down in the fight for a future without fossil fuels that honors the interdependent web of existence and the inherent worth and dignity of all. Join the movement to Stop Cop City with a week of Solidarity Actions - February 19-26. Make the connections between Stop Cop City and the fight to stop the Mountain Valley Pipeline with a teach-in hosted by Protect Our Water, Heritage, Rights (POWHR). Advocate for those impacted by the catastrophic environmental disaster in East Palestine, Ohio.
When it comes to climate justice, we need to multitask. With multiple, overlapping crises - healthcare, attacks on trans lives, housing inequality, racial injustice, threats to our democracy, and climate disruption everywhere we look, we need intersectional solutions informed by the lived experiences of those most impacted. How can we do this when our volunteers are overextended, budgets are tight, and the problems are so complex? Join other UUs transforming their congregations through climate justice. Green Sanctuary 2030 (GS2030) provides a flexible, manageable, and impactful process to transform our congregations through climate justice. GS2030 teams come together for shared learning and mutual supports on topics like Young Adult Engagement, Collaborating on State Advocacy, and more.
Together, we can advance a just and equitable transition to a fossil fuel free future where clean energy is a human right and all communities thrive.
Join us!
In community,
Rachel Myslivy
Climate Justice Organizer
UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team
Webinar: Young Adults in UU Congregations: Not Just Committee Members!
Come learn from Zoe Johnston, UU Young Adults for Climate Justice, about ways to engage young adults in your congregation, especially with your Green Sanctuary 2030 and other climate justice organizing.
How do we get young adults involved? Where do we find them?
How can UUs access federal funding for solar or energy efficiency projects?
With Justice 40, the Inflation Reduction Act, and the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA)there are so many opportunities for our congregations to be leaders in the transition to a just and equitable clean energy future! There are opportunities for individuals, buildings, communities, and state/county/city level advocacy. The UUA is partnering with Interfaith Power and Light, the Energy, Environment, and Study Institute and others to help UUs learn about and access these funds.
Stay tuned for future webinars and learning opportunities!
Are you an energy wonk with a knack for navigating federal policy? Do you love helping others brainstorm opportunities for clean energy upgrades? Or maybe you're just really excited about the IRA and other federal funding opportunities for equitable decarbonization?
We're looking for a few good UUs to skill up our congregations on these amazing opportunities!
Volunteer to help support shared learning and facilitate an emerging peer learning circle around federal opportunities to fund the clean energy transition. Ready to jump in? Email Environment@UUA.org!
Get to know the new Green Sanctuary!
Are you thinking about joining the Green Sanctuary 2030 community? GS2030 offers UU congregations a flexible, manageable, and impactful process to transform our congregations through climate justice. GS2030 teams engage in four intersecting campaigns to advance climate justice, congregational transformation, adaptation and resilience, and mitigation.
We hold GS2030 Orientations on the first Wednesday of the month and Community Meetings on the Third Wednesday of the month, both meetings are at 7ET. Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice!
Come learn from Zoe Johnston, UU Young Adults for Climate Justice, about ways to engage young adults in your congregation, especially with your Green Sanctuary 2030 and other climate justice organizing.
How do we get young adults involved? Where do we find them?
How do we support them?
In this Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting, we learned from Zoe Johnston with UU Young Adults for Climate Justice about ways to engage young adults in our congregations, especially with Green Sanctuary 2030 and other climate justice organizing.
Zoe shared some helpful framing for effective YA leadership, including:
Timing: hold meetings outside of school and work hours
Accessibility: hold meetings on Zoom or in physically accessible spaces
Focus: the work of your group speaks to the lived experiences and material reality of young adults
Dynamics: Name any possible power dynamics that are play. When we are transparent, we can build deeper trust.
Value the presence, input, and perspective of young adults!
Join the Green Sanctuary Team meetings for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs. Find past meetings and register for upcoming ones at sidewithlove.org/climatejustice
Recording for Webinar: Young Adults in UU Congregations: Not Just Committee Members!
Beloved, do you find yourself in need of grounding in the love that allows you to act for justice?
I invite you to join me at this month's Side with Love Faithful Grounding Hour: an hour of spiritual sustenance and grounding with others organizing on the side of love hosted by our Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad.
Faithful Grounding begins with brief worship led by Rev. Kristina church and ends with a Connection Cafe for those who wish to talk together. Show up as you are, whatever is in your heart, and with your camera on or off as you need. This is a live, dynamic (and unrecorded) monthly gathering on the 4th Thursday of each month. Join us!
If you can't make it, or want more, our 30 Days of Love recordings are available to help nourish your spirit and give gratitude and affirmation.
May we, together, help Love flourish in private and in public.
I came to activism late in life after retiring from a career in music and then technology. I didn't know anything except that I wanted to do something to contribute to making the world more equitable for all. Armed only with my lofty goals, I reached out to folx in the UU community, a little intimidated but willing to learn. I was met with welcome, patience, humor and support by some extraordinary folx that had been doing this work for years.
Now I coordinate Side With Love’s Skill Up Series, our monthly trainings on organizing skills to help YOU build stronger teams in your congregation and community. When I think about our Skill Ups, they mirror my experience: welcoming, fun, and educational offerings to help all of us get to a higher level in this work that we cherish of harnessing love’s power to stop oppression.
This Spring, our Skill Up Theme is "How to Talk About Hard Things.” You are heartily invited to attend these very informative and rich workshops that not only cover high-level concepts but also offer practical guidance and hands-on practice. Each topic will be delivered by experts and long-time organizers with special knowledge and experience presenting:
Feb 19 - Facilitation: Leading Gatherings with Grace and Impact, led by experienced facilitators Rev. Cathy Rion Starr, Side with Love Leadership Development Specialist; and Elisse Ghitelman, Side with Love Squad Leader
Mar 19 - Evaluation is an Act of Love, led by Sarah Berel-Harrop, Side with Love Squad and Texas UU Justice Ministry Leader
All Skill Ups run 90 minutes starting at 4 ET • 3 CT • 2 MT • 1 PT
These topics cover some of the most daunting challenges that we face going out in the world to do this work. How can I design and hold really fun and impactful meetings - even when the subject matter is hard? How do I give my colleagues feedback in a way that is loving and builds us up? How in the world can I talk about climate change without sounding all doom and gloom? How can I know what impacted folx really need before even thinking about how to engage?
Our Unitarian Universalist faith calls us to be lifelong learners, and organizing traditions teach that we need to share what we know for our movements to grow. We begin each session with grounding from our Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad volunteers and then dive into the training content.
Our Skill Ups are our invitation into a regular practice of learning together. Join us for one or all of these wonderful workshops!
You can view and sign up for the events at sidewithlove.org/skillups. We post all of our Skill Up recordings, slides and worksheets there too – so browse our Skill Up Library for more resources!
We look forward to seeing you as we come together to learn and be energized!
In faith, love & learning,
Cal Ball
Side with Love Squad Skill Ups Coordinator
Cal joined the First Unitarian Universalist Society of San Francisco in 2020 and since then, has worked as a squad volunteer with Side With Love supporting voting rights and voter mobilization initiatives through the UU the Vote campaign. In his career, Cal worked as a professional musician and producer. He was a staff songwriter for EMI Music Publishing and recorded albums for Atlantic, Universal Music Group, and Curb Records. Prior to his retirement, Cal also worked for a variety of technology companies in the California Bay Area.
Side With Love Spring 2023 Skill Up Series: How to Talk About Hard Things
We are delighted and honored to announce The Frontline’s Campain Director Tiffany Flowers will be the Keynote speaker for our Good Trouble Congregations Celebration on Tuesday, February 28 at 7pm ET/4pm PT.
She will join Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray and other special guests, including our Good Trouble Congregations!
The Frontline was our lead partner in training crucial Election Defenders in 2020 and 2022, and is a powerful coalition made up of Working Families Organization, Working Families Party, United We Dream Action, and by the Movement for Black Lives Electoral Justice Project.
“Speak up, speak out, get in the way. Get in good trouble, necessary trouble, and help redeem the soul of America.” Late Rep. John Lewis’ words call on us to find the moral courage to build democracy and society where all of us can thrive. It calls on us to be uncomfortable, to take risks, to engage our communities and face injustice with prophetic imagination and action.
From phonebanks, talking to neighbors, and showing up at the polls and drop boxes to protect voter access, the stories and activities of our UU the Vote community has been inspiring. On February 28, let us share those stories, celebrate our work, and prepare for the work ahead. Join us on February 28 at 7:00pm ET/6pm CT/5pm MT/4pm PT for the Good Trouble Celebration.
In their recently-released draft of the new Article II of our UUA bylaws, the Article II Commission writes, “The purpose of the Unitarian Universalist Association is to actively engage its members in the transformation of the world through liberating Love.” I’ve heard many folks ask, “What do we mean by ‘liberating Love?’” The A2C writes:
Love is the power that holds us together and is at the center of our shared values. We are accountable to one another for doing the work of living our shared values through the spiritual discipline of Love.
At its core, the work of Side With Love is to be a hub for connection, growth, nourishment and action that allows Unitarian Universalists and our partners to live out our values in the world. Together, we deepen our political analysis, sharpen our skills, articulate our theological grounding, and mobilize our communities to build a world in which all of us are free and thriving.
And – we are so aware that the work of transforming the world through liberating love is something that started long before any of us was born, and that will carry on long after we have become the ancestors of memory. The work is shared, and it is unending – as the oft-quoted truism of Rabbi Tafron in the Jewish Mishnah text Pirkei Avot goes, “You are not required to finish the work, but neither are you free to abandon it.”
We hope, then, that you have found some nourishment for the long-haul work of liberation during these 30 Days of Love. We have been so blessed by the weekly offerings from this diverse group of bold, loving, faithful religious leaders. We hope as you’ve taken moments to drink in these blessings and practices and prayers and stories, you have felt as wrapped in love and as buoyed by feeling the web of connections that exist among us as we have. Please feel free to keep coming back to these resources throughout the year ahead – use them to start your day in your own spiritual practice, to provide grounding to your group before the meeting or workshop, or as an offering in communal worship.
This week, we offer you a few final gifts: a prayer from Rev. Sofía Betancourt, a body practice from Rev. Leela Sinha, and a grounding meditation from Rev. Lynn Gardner . May they bless and fortify you.
Beloveds, we are so grateful to be in the work of love and liberation together with you. Thank you for all the faithful ways you show up throughout the year, struggling for justice and blessing the world with care, hope, and love.
In January, Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy hosted the Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration. The event spotlighted the amazing work UUs are doing through the Green Sanctuary 2030 program.
We heard from about twenty Green Sanctuary 2030 congregations on their successes, challenges, and everything in between. It was inspiring and exciting to hear all of the great things happening in our congregations. Thank you all for your excellent work!
Did you miss the celebration? Or wish you would’ve taken notes on that one awesome presentation? You’re in luck!
Each month, we hold Green Sanctuary 2030 Orientations on the first Wednesday of each month and GS2030 Community Meetings on the third Wednesday of each month at 4PT-5MT-6CT-7ET. You can RSVP for these events and all Side With Love Climate Justice events at SideWithLove.org/ClimateJustice
Reverend DC Fortune and Sara Phinney Kelley, Director of Religious Growth and Learning at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of the Susquehanna Valley in Pennsylvania, were looking for inspiration as they brainstormed developing a multigenerational, interactive service preceding Martin Luther King Day this year. They discussed incorporating New Year’s resolutions into the sermon but sought to find a way to make the discussion something that would involve UU justice priorities and stick with participants, rather than just spark momentary ideas.
The resulting project had an unlikely source of inspiration: a 1972 Playboy magazine interview with Buckminster Fuller, the architect, inventor, and philosopher (among other roles). Fuller compared the challenge of steering an ocean liner to bending the arc of history toward justice. Rudders on these ocean vessels extend several stories in height and weigh many tons, so moving them directly would require huge amounts of force and fuel.
But the invention of trim tabs—basically small plates attached to the rudder—solved this challenge. When the ship's captain turns a steering wheel, it slightly rotates these small plates, which disrupts the water pressure just enough to enable the giant rudder to move easily.
As individuals, Fuller explains, few of us have the power to move the rudder on societal injustices directly, but we can disrupt the status quo in small ways that facilitate much larger movements. Fuller believed in this concept so deeply that his gravestone and adjacent plaque were inscribed “Call Me Trimtab” upon his death in 1983.
In preparing the service for the Susquehanna Valley UU, Fortune and Kelley seized upon a Fuller invention, the geodesic dome. Fuller conceived the domes as a lightweight, inexpensive, and energy-efficient home design, though numerous drawbacks ultimately precluded mass adoption. Combining the geodesic model with the idea of trim tabs, Fortune and Kelley imagined building a complete geodesic sphere, not as a shelter, but as a physical expression of individuals' resolutions for ways in which they will positively impact issues they care deeply about. It would be a way to engage folks physically as well as intellectually.
After finding an online calculator to provide the needed number and dimensions of triangles for the five-foot diameter sphere, Fortune purchased light plywood and zip ties, cut the triangles, and drilled holes for connections. For the engineers and geometry fans out there, the dome required a combination of 60 isosceles and 20 equilateral triangles, as shown in the photo below, and used five sheets of plywood.
Fortune recalls, “we had the good sense to do a trial run” of their plan before the service and realized constructing the sphere would take much longer than the course of the service. Fortune, Kelley, and volunteers built the sphere prior to the service and rolled it into the sanctuary. Each congregant was asked to pick one of more than 100 triangular pieces of paper and write a particular justice issue, a hurt of the world that needed to be addressed but that just felt too big for them, and write it in the middle of the triangle. An array of choices for paper and marker colors added to the appeal. Though Fortune and Kelley had kids in mind, Fortune noted, “Omigod--adults fight over marker colors more than kids!”
Participants then were asked to place in each corner of their triangle one small “trim tab” action they would take to help make a small difference on their priority issue. Everyone proceeded to stick their ideas and resolutions onto one of the triangles on the sphere, which will remain in place until after the conclusion of the annual 30 Days of Love campaign, another inspiration for the sermon and activity. Kelley says they also made it easy for remote participants, who simply typed their issue and trim tab ideas into the chat box for on-site volunteers to add.
“We’ve been striving to make services more interactive,” said Kelley, but expressed concern about how the activity would be received. “Universally, people said this was fun and interesting,” said Kelley. Many senior congregants mentioned their enthusiasm for seeing kids involved in the service. All who missed the MLK weekend service are invited to add their ideas to the sphere through mid-February and subsequent sermons by Fortune and lay leaders reference the concerns and resolutions it contains.
Once it’s removed from the sanctuary, Kelley will inventory the ideas congregants placed and she believes the record will provide valuable guidance for decisions about which justice issues the congregation tackles collectively. Climate Justice is one oft-cited concern and Kelley mentioned they now are exploring UUA’s Green Sanctuary program. Kelley also mentioned how many young people cited capitalism and excessive wealth disparities as a concern. Many congregants’ resolutions included speaking out more and immersing themself in material presenting issues from the perspective of oppressed people.
Fortune shared an interesting observation from the dome construction process, noting, “the dome was totally unstable when it was almost done.” Not until the 80th and final piece was connected did the sphere have the structural integrity to cohere when moved.
You can watch or listen to Rev. Fortune’s MLK Day service on YouTube.
Susquehanna Valley Congregation Aims to Transform Intimidating Challenges into Approachable Actions
The climate crisis isn’t happening in a vacuum. With attacks on Black lives, trans kids, and reproductive justice all in the face of increasing fascism and white supremacy, rampant gun violence, and ongoing pandemic, sometimes it feels like tragedy is everywhere all the time.
And yet, so is love. So is courage. So is resilience.
Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy’s reflection for this week considers the way Resilience is found in our work for justice, including climate justice.
Later, she writes: “The strength of “what if” is what helps us continue in this work. And so, what is our resilient, loving way?”
This week’s offerings for 30 Days of Love includes pieces we hope bolster, strengthen, and encourage our collective resilience: a blessing by Rev. Leah Ongiri, a body practice by QuianaDenae Perkins, a new Time for All Ages by Yvette Salinas, a prayer by Rev. Terri Burnor, and another grounding practice by Lora Powell-Haney. We hope these continue to nurture you.
Week Four of 30 Days of Love 2023 focuses on Resilience and Climate Justice
We are heading into our final week of 30 Days of Love, but we still wish to celebrate and honor all of the individuals, families, religious professionals, partners, and communities that embody our values and work for justice and liberation year-round. Join us for these two amazing events that promise to fill you with joy and, we hope, feel like a big hug from us to you.
Nourish’s Dinner Church Worship Service for 30 Days of Love
Sunday, February 12, 2023, 7:00 PM - 9:00 PM ET
In this challenging time, let your souls rest as you experience powerful, embodied worship and connection. Join the Revs. Emily Conger & Aisha Ansano of Nourish for a worship service to hold your tender heart, offer you respite, and nourish you in body and in spirit.
In our time together, we'll join in embodied ritual, music, small group discussions, & opportunities to name the challenges we face and to bless one another. We invite you to bring a chalice and at least a bite of food, a warm drink, or your whole meal (real or imaginary).
Beloveds, a place is set for you - come feed your body and spirit!
The first 25 confirmed registrants will receive a SnackMagic gift card for this event from Side With Love -- a hug from us to you! Nourish's Dinner Church worship services feed bodies and spirits through food and ritual. Nourish leverages the ancient spiritual technology of connection through gathering around a table and adapts it for modern contexts. You can learn more at nourishuu.org.
Celebration of UU the Vote Good Trouble Congregations!
Tuesday, February 28, 2023 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM ET
Despite widespread attempts at voter suppression and election subversion, UU individuals and congregations around the US collectively reached over 2 million voters last year. Hundreds served as poll workers and election officials, and our partnerships and values won critical ballot measures all over the country.
We are excited to honor and celebrate the work, partnerships and moral courage of our community who got into #GoodTrouble in 2022. Let’s come together to honor our collective work, share powerful stories, and call down joy as we move into the work ahead.
In this week’s reflection, Side With Love Field and Programs Director Nicole Pressley writes:
Cornell West famously reminds us that justice is what love looks like in public. As Unitarian Universalists, our work for justice is an expression of deep belief that all people are worthy of love and liberation. Today, that work often looks like resisting the criminalization of people’s identities, their bodies, and their communities.
In recent years, this has looked like Unitarian Universalists supporting people seeking, aiding, and performing abortions in Texas, Kansas, Michigan and Kentucky when abortion has been criminalized. We’ve raised money to bail out Black mothers and Water Protectors. We’ve supported ballot initiatives to decriminalize marijuana in Oregon and Colorado, and paid off fines so returning citizens can vote in Florida.
As a strategy, decriminalization sets us on course to heal, to be held accountable, and to be fully human with one another. Decriminalization cultivates the conditions for wider and deeper transformation.
Decriminalization is a crucial response to the horrors of the prison industrial complex – the web of forces including the legal system, policing and law enforcement, and mass incarceration whose main goal is the oppression of many for the benefit of a few. Increasingly, our laws make it a crime to be fully human – to be homeless, to seek and provide healthcare, to ask for asylum or to migrate, to be Black or brown, to honor our children’s evolving genders, to teach the real history of this nation. In the US, the criminal-legal systems collude to diminish the power and autonomy of the body politic, whether by disenfranchising entire communities through mass incarceration and voter suppression, or literally wiping people out of existence through both death sentences and extra-judicial killing.
But decriminalization isn’t only about policy wins; it is about the victory of literally being withour people once again.
The theme of our third week of 30 Days of Love explores the intersection of Healing and Decriminalization. We have moving offerings that we hope will educate, inspire, and refuel you as you explore what it means to heal communities and families. We have a prayer from Rev. Jason Lydon, a blessing by Rev. Kierstin Homblette Allen, a body practice from Rev. Sky Williams-Tao, a grounding meditation from Side With Love Fun and Nourishment Squad Member Lora Powell-Haney, as well as a Time for All Ages story by Erica Shadowsong. Find all of these here.
Week Three of 30 Days of Love focuses on Healing :: Decriminalization
For generations, UUs have been jailed for our conscience in resisting systems of oppression. As our tradition becomes more justice oriented, rates of UU arrests are on the rise. How does our conscience also call us to be there for those whose bodies are on the line?
Learn how UUs are building capacity to support and share the load in the face of mass arrest. Find out more about how to organize support for those who are arrested and jailed as a conscientious form of protest. Join our virtual training on February 7 at 4pm - 5:30pm PT / 7pm - 8:30pm ET. Presenters: Rev. Karen Van Fossan, Antoinette Scully, Rev. Dr. Clyde Grubbs, and friends.
UUs have been engaged in social change efforts, including nonviolent civil disobedience, for many generations. Today, it seems that UUs who resist injustice are being arrested and detained at increasing rates. This is due, in part, to an enhanced partnership between corporations and the state in criminalizing dissent.
The sustainability of UU activism, as well as the sustainability of UU activists, well may depend upon the capacity of UU entities to provide a spectrum of support for those at the frontlines.
RT @UUA: Our hearts mourn for the people of the community in Monterey Park.
It does not have to be this way. Our leaders must act. Unitarian Universalists are ready to work with elected and community officials to support responsible gun legislation measures.
“Grounding ourselves into a deep gratitude for the miracle of our bodies - however they look, move, and interact with the world around us - includes not only a celebration of our individual physical beings, but also a deep reverence for the intimacy of our connections. After all, our bodies do not exist in a vacuum - we physically interact with countless structures, systems, and communities each day that impact, and are impacted by, our flesh, bones, and spirit. For some of us, these interactions are predominantly empowering moments of welcome and respect. And for some of us, we encounter confusion, denial, and outright rejection as our norm.
As Unitarian Universalists, we have historically embraced the breadth of our lived experiences of the world as a faithful teacher, crossing the permeable barrier between sacred and profane to deepen our embodiment of liberating and life-affirming holy truths.”
from Rev. Ranwa Hammamy’s Reflection on Embodiment
Our second week of 30 Days of Love feature resources focus on the intersections between the spiritual theme of embodiment and Side With Love’s work on LGBTQIA+, Gender & Reproductive Justice. Offerings this week include a blessing from Julica Hermann de la Fuente, a Time for All Ages from Rayla Mattson, a prayer from Adrian L. H. Graham, a body practice from Leika Lewis-Cornwell, and a grounding movement meditation from Canedy of our Fund and Spiritual Nourishment Squad. Rev. Ranwa Hammamy, Side With Love Congregational Justice Organizer, opens with a reflection on this week’s theme. See all of this week’s fantastic resources at our website.
Week Two of 30 Days of Love focuses on Embodiment :: LGBTQIA+, Gender & Reproductive Justice
Faith leaders and congregants are expanding their abortion-rights curriculum, partnering with clinics and abortion funds, and ramping up spiritual counseling services for pregnant people who want abortions.
For that reason, we are back again with our transformative three-part Reproductive Justice Congregational Organizing Series.
This work is not new. It is part of a long history where people of faith work to protect reproductive freedom. For this series, we are strategically identifying teams within congregations to be part of a mobilization strategy to support abortion care networks. In many of our religious traditions, our sacred texts always depict sacred people who resist unjust laws to do justice and to show kindness and compassion to our fellow people. It’s now on us to be the next chapter in history books. We hope that you would consider joining us, once more, and participate with other members of your congregation in our upcoming series.
Whether you have participated in this series before or are new to reproductive justice organizing, we hope you will join us! Please recruit your congregational team/group and make sure your teammates register for the series by the morning of 1/27/23.
Reproductive Justice Congregational Organizing Series for Teams
Sundays January 29th, February 12th, & February 26th from 4pm - 6pm ET / 3 CT / 2 MT / 1 PT
As we digest the impact of the fall of Roe v Wade, we know that there will be a huge need for local organizing, resource sharing, and collective action as abortion becomes criminalized in various places. By signing up for this three-part series, you are committing to being a part of organizing a TEAM in your congregation that will organize the congregation for specific action(s) in support of abortion access and Reproductive Justice in your community. Everyone who signs up for this series is expected to bring at least one other person from their congregation, with whom you will apply the learning from these sessions immediately in your own context. Facilitated by Rev. Ranwa Hammamy and Charity Howard of the Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team.
Session 1: The Role of Faith Communities in a Post-Roe World : With SCOTUS overturning Roe, what are faith communities that support Reproductive Justice called to do? We will explore the range of possible responses, and help you make a plan to begin organizing your team, your congregation, and your community.
Session 2: Discerning Risk, Accessing Courage: To work effectively in solidarity with movements, faith communities need to be clear about our capacity, our commitments, and our boundaries. We will talk about levels of risk associated with various kinds of congregational organizing for reproductive justice after abortion is criminalized, and provide tools to map your congregation's resources and risk tolerance so that your community is prepared to respond quickly and clearly to opportunities for action.
Session 3: Making an Organizing Plan: Using the learning from sessions 1 & 2 about which actions your faith community/congregation is prepared to take, we will talk about how to create a work plan and strategy for your particular congregational context.
Whether you are in a state where abortion has been criminalized, or a state to which people will come seeking abortion care, there is a role for all of us–and all our congregations–to play, starting right now. The fight is far from over, but we’re grateful to be in it for the long haul with you.
Register for our Reproductive Justice Congregational Organizing Series for Teams!
Happy 2023, Beloveds, and welcome to 30 Days of Love, Side With Love’s annual month of spiritual nourishment, political grounding, and shared practices of faith and justice!
Having recently marked both the Winter Solstice and Gregorian New Year, this is a period of pause and contemplation – a time to reflect upon what has been, take stock of what is, and dream about what could be. And as we do so, both individually and collectively, we are all aware of how hard it is to be human in these times: to maintain hope for a just and sustainable future in the face of all the broken systems that surround us, to muster compassion for one another in the midst of extreme polarization, to find the energy to keep fighting for liberation when our bodies and our spirits often feel so depleted.
At its core, the work of Side With Love is to build communities of relationship and power that tap into the power of Love to both sustain and free people. Through our many programs and campaigns, we invite UU individuals, congregations, organizations, and movement partners to collectively ground our spirits, grow our skills, and act for justice. And, we are keenly aware that the world we are fighting for is literally and metaphorically on fire – which often means that we struggle to find the time to cultivate the practices and seek the spiritual nourishment that will sustain us in our long-haul work for justice. We too often are compelled to address the urgent at the expense of the important.
In that context, this year’s 30 Days of Love is an offering to our whole community – a love letter, a warm hug, a spiritual balm for all of the individuals, families, religious professionals, partners and communities that embody our values and work for justice and liberation year round. It is an invitation to slow down, to create that “clearing in the dense forest of your life and wait there patiently,” as the poet Martha Postlethwaite writes.
Each week will be grounded in a spiritual theme overlapping with one of Side With Love’s intersectional justice priorities, and will feature an array of offerings to help nourish your spirit and give gratitude and affirmation. We invite you to engage with and share these resources as part of your daily spiritual practice, around the family dinner table, in communal worship, in committee meetings – however feels useful to you and your community. Read more about this year’s weekly themes and the kinds of resources you can expect.
This first week of 30 Days of Love, our resources focus on the intersections between the spiritual theme of Interdependence and Side With Love’s work on Democracy, Voting Rights, and Electoral Justice. We are delighted to offer you a blessing from the Rev. Duncan Teague, a Time for All Ages from JeKaren Olaoya, a body practice from Katie Resendiz, a prayer from the Rev. Wendy Bartel, a grounding practice from Canedy and our Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad, and a reflection on the week’s themes by the Rev. Ashley Horan. See all of this week’s fantastic resources at our website.
Do you want to get a text when we update each week? You'll only receive five texts, which will arrive on a Monday after 12pm ET. If you're interested, text 'days of love' (without the quote marks) to 866-533-1494. You can quit getting updates anytime by replying STOP.
For our communities to thrive in a fossil-free dream world, we must have robust, equitable clean energy systems that center justice and the lived experiences of those on the front lines of climate change. Focusing on clean energy as a human right elevates just and equitable clean energy strategies like energy justice, energy democracy, community solar, energy efficiency, and more. As many of our congregations are gearing up to apply for Federal funding for clean energy projects, it’s important that we embrace a visionary and prophetic approach that ensures a clean energy future for all - no sacrifice zones! Stay tuned in 2023 as we dig into these issues to help UUs decarbonize our communities, not just our sanctuaries!
UU Ministry For Earth is hosting a special Solstice celebration December 21 that invites us all to pause, reflect, and honor all that life brings. Register here to join.
Transforming our congregations into clean energy hubs
We need to dramatically reduce emissions by 2030 to avert the worst impacts of climate change and preserve a livable planet. It’s critical that we do this work in a way that prioritizes justice. The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) has the potential to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by up to 44% by 2030. With funds for churches and nonprofits to implement clean energy projects, the IRA is a great opportunity for UUs to reduce our carbon footprint while cultivating communities of care. Now is the time to think big and broad as we consider these clean energy projects in our communities.
How can UU congregations transform to clean energy hubs or centers of community care? Think big!
Pair solar with energy storage to offer our buildings as community resilience shelters during severe weather or other emergencies causing power outages.
Energy efficiency upgrades in our buildings improve air quality, community health, wellness, and resilience, all while saving money and reducing emissions. Empower the energy wonks in your congregation to work with lower-income housing groups or neighborhood associations to increase energy efficiency in your community.
As our UU teams become experts on the opportunities (we all will, right?), we can partner with other churches or nonprofits in our community to share the knowledge, learn together, and expand access to clean energy.
Form (or revitalize!) your Green Team, and launch Green Sanctuary 2030 in your congregation. GS2030 will help you form a balanced approach to climate action, ensuring justice is at the center. Get a good team inspired and ready to go - with regular support from our monthly community meetings that are open to anyone working on congregational transformation through climate justice.
Side With Love is thrilled to announce 30 Days of Love 2023! Our annual month of spiritual nourishment, political grounding, and shared practices of faith and justice, 30 Days of Love will go from Martin Luther King, Jr. Day (January 16) through Valentine’s Day (February 14).
This year’s 30 Days of Love is a gift to our whole community: a love letter, a warm hug, a spiritual balm for all of the individuals, families, religious professionals, partners and communities that embody our values and work for justice and liberation year round. Each week will feature a spiritual theme overlapping with one of Side With Love’s intersectional justice priorities, and we'll share an array of offerings to help nourish your spirit and give gratitude and affirmation.
BONUS DAYS (February 13-14): Blessings :: Liberatory Intersections
Each week, you can expect to receive several different kinds of offerings, each from a different voice within Unitarian Universalism. Each week’s resources will be published by 12pm ET every Monday:
A weekly Side With Love message, grounded in personal story and offered on our blog and via email and socials, reflecting on the week’s spiritual and justice issue themes
A Time for All Ages grounded in the week’s theme, presented in video and written form, available for free use in your congregation this week or any week it works for you
A video of Body Practice, suitable for all ages and with attention paid to accessibility for people of varying abilities
A thematic Prayer, available for use in both video and text formats
A thematic Blessing, available for use in both video and text formats
A Grounding Practice to offer at the beginning of gatherings or meetings from our Side WIth Love Fun & Spiritual Nourishment Squad, available for use in video and facilitator guide formats
We offer these resources knowing various people will use them in a range of ways. Individuals may take a quick break during their lunch hour to watch a video blessing or read the week’s prayer; religious educators might use the Time for All Ages in worship, or encourage teachers to start their classes with the Body Practice; families might start a family meal reading one of the written reflections and then engaging in conversation; Board members and committee chairs might use the Grounding Practice to kick of that week’s meeting agenda. Please note that while we are not offering a full worship service as a part of 30 Days of Love this year, we hope that many of these weekly resources can be useful in your worship planning now and throughout the liturgical year.
However you use these resources, we are proud to bring you the love and wisdom of some of our most compelling UU voices, and are thankful for this annual opportunity to collectively nourish our spirits and love each other up for the long haul.
In 2012, Minnesota become the first state in the nation to defeat an anti-gay marriage bill – a massive campaign and a watershed victory, won in large part by progressive religious folks having one-to-one conversations about their values with tens of thousands of people across the state. When Karen and I moved to Minneapolis in 2014, however, the new availability of marriage to queer folks meant that if we didn’t choose to get legally married, I (and our soon-to-be-born second child) couldn’t access health coverage through my partner’s job, along with many other legal protections and benefits available only through state-sanctioned marriage.
Photo of the author, Rev. Ashley Horan (left) with Justice of the Peace (center) and Ashley’s spouse Karen Hutt (right).
Karen and I were clear that our covenant was between ourselves and the Holy – not the State. We would not have chosen to participate in the institution of legal marriage if we felt like we had a choice. While it was wildly unfair that the benefits conferred upon married people weren’t available to so many of our beloveds for an array of reasons, we also knew that refusing to protect ourselves and our children on pure principle would not bend the arc toward justice. So, on a lunch break on a November Tuesday, when I was 37 weeks pregnant, we had a perfunctory wedding in front of a judge at the Minneapolis courthouse and signed the paperwork making our union legitimate in the eyes of the law.
The following summer, infant child in tow, we were at UUA General Assembly the day the Supreme Court announced their decision in Obergefell v. Hodges, making “marriage equality” the law of the land. Unitarian Universalists had been on the frontlines of this issue for years, and the decision was received by the several thousand UUs gathered in the Portland Convention Center with utter jubilation. While I celebrated alongside my siblings in faith – especially the gay and lesbian elders for whom this victory was profoundly significant – I also remember thinking, “What would be possible if Unitarian Universalists gave as much energy, money, and organizing to other struggles for justice as we have for marriage equality?”
What I feared back then was that we as UUs–like many liberal advocacy groups at that time– would receive the Obergefell decision as an indicator that the work for LGBTQ+ justice was over; that our organizing energy would dissipate, instead of charging forward to organize for protection and rights and safety and freedom for trans people, BIPOC communities, disabled folks, people in a variety of family configurations–everyone who wouldn’t benefit equally from “marriage equality.”
I’m thankful that since 2015, UU support for LGBTQ+ liberation hasn’t disappeared. We’ve watched the growth of powerful queer and trans leadership within UUism. We’ve deepened our congregational work through the Five Practices of Welcome Renewal program. Congregations and State Action Networks have shown up powerfully at school board meetings and legislatures to fight against laws criminalizing gender-affirming healthcare and teaching about sexuality and gender in schools. Our recent launch of Side With Love’s UPLIFT Action campaign for LGBTQ+, Gender & Reproductive Justice is a testament to what we have built together, and the power of our faithful action to declare that every body is sacred. Given the attacks on queer and trans people occurring everywhere from courtrooms to city council chambers to nightclubs, it’s a good thing we continue to grow our capacity to stay in the struggle for the long haul.
The Respect for Marriage Act is not a victory for LGBTQ liberation – at best, it is harm reduction for a few that leaves the most vulnerable among us behind. Although the mainstream media continues to note that this is “groundbreaking bipartisan legislation,” lawmakers agreed to profound concessions in order to get the bill passed. In effect, this bill will only ensure that should the Supreme Court overturn Obergefell, state and federal governments will be obligated to recognize existing legal marriages. The bill makes it clear that neither churches nor non-profits (like adoption agencies) will face any consequences for denying the legitimacy of same-sex marriages. And just for good measure, the bill reaffirms that legal marriage is defined as the union between two people, explicitly leaving out poly relationships. As one commentator put it, “They’re throwing us crumbs because they can’t serve us safety and dignity.”
Frankly, I’m furious we’re still fighting about marriage at all – that we continue to live in a society in which access to basic human rights and freedoms is doled out via an institution that has never been accessible to all people. I’m furious that progressive movements have poured – and will now likely keep pouring – our energy, our resources, our capacity, and our strategy into the struggle for so-called “marriage equality,” which provides safety and access to so few people. And I’m irate that even if we’re able to protect “equal marriage,” we will still have to keep fighting for financial stability, citizenship, healthcare, recognition of familial structures, and more for entire populations of disabled people, undocumented folks, BIPOC communities, poor people, and people whose primary familial relationships happen not to be a romantic relationship between two people. As many noted warriors for queer and trans liberation have noted, marriage will never set us free.
So what comes next? We get very clear that the fight for marriage rights is not the same as the fight for trans and queer liberation. We sharpen our analysis on disability justice, immigration justice, racial justice, gender justice, capitalism, white Christian nationalism – all the systems that prevent so many members of our communities from accessing the safety and stability that marriage purports to offer. We redouble our organizing for a more just immigration system; for universal healthcare; for life-affirming legislation that protects and affirms queer and trans people regardless of who they happen to be in state-sanctioned relationship with.
To Side With Love means to fight for collective liberation for queer and trans people for the long haul.
In the coming months, we will offer several opportunities to learn, reflect, and take action together. If you haven’t yet, please sign up here to receive updates about our UPLIFT Action campaign for LGBTQ+, Gender, and Reproductive Justice. We’re grateful to be in the struggle with you, beloveds, taking our shifts to get each and every one of us free.
Side With Love is partnering with Interfaith Power and Light (IPL) and the Energy and Environmental Study Institute (EESI) to host a briefing to learn about the benefits included in the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) that can help houses of worship do energy work on their facilities.
The Inflation Reduction Act (IRA) is the most sweeping clean energy and climate legislation in history. With clean energy tax credits for wind and solar, electric vehicles, energy efficiency, heat pumps, and more, the IRA sets a course to reduce greenhouse gas emissions up to 44% by 2030, while saving thousands of lives, creating millions of good-paying clean energy jobs, investing in environmental justice, and reducing energy bills for working families across the country. Although it’s not perfect, the IRA presents an historic opportunity for climate action.
The IRA opens the way for non-profits and houses of worship to access clean energy funds and tax credits. UU Congregations can now leverage federal funds for energy and resiliency improvements. This is a critical time for people of faith to reduce the impact of our congregational facilities through the federal funding opportunities.
Additionally, the bipartisan Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (IIJA) provides the Department of Energy with $50 million over five years for an "energy efficiency materials pilot program" for nonprofit organizations. This new program will provide grants of up to $200,000 to nonprofits to improve the energy efficiency of their facilities.
Join Interfaith Power & Light, the Environmental and Energy Study Institute, the United Church of Christ, and the Unitarian Universalist Association for a briefing on Federal Funding Resources for Nonprofits and Houses of Worship on December 8 at 4pm ET/1pm PT. Learn how to prepare to apply for Energy Efficiency Materials Pilot Program grants for your congregation’s energy efficiency work.
Join fellow UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice. Climate justice calls us to reduce the emissions that cause climate change, adapt to changing climate conditions, and increase resilience to worsening climate impacts through congregational transformation and community engagement. We must balance the urgency of the climate crisis with the need to center justice in our actions. Opening our minds and hearts to learn and collaborate with communities most impacted will ensure a just transition to a clean energy future where all can thrive.
Join the Green Sanctuary community!
Introduce yourself to Green Sanctuary staff and volunteers by emailing UUA_GreenSanctuary@UUA.org.
Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 7ET - 6CT - 5MT - 4PT. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion on pressing needs.
The Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration will spotlight the amazing work UUs are doing through the GS2030 program. Active Green Sanctuary congregations will share their successes, challenges, and ideas. Come to learn, leave inspired! All are welcome!
IPL has created this faith community resource spreadsheet to help houses of worship identify federal grant and tax credit opportunities that are available. Federal agencies are still in the process of developing the guidance and programs for the Inflation Reduction Act. This IPL resource documentwill be updated as new program guidance becomes available.
Now is a great time to benchmark your buildings – line up 12 months of utility bills, find out the construction date of your building, track occupancy rates, and use IPL’s Cool Congregations Calculator to learn more about your congregation’s carbon footprint.
Learn to access Inflation Reduction Act grants for clean energy improvements at your congregation!
This evening, we are still processing the mass murder at Club Q in Colorado Springs overnight even as we commemorate all the trans beloveds whose lives have been stolen on this Trans Day of Remembrance. Tonight, we are reminded yet again of the violence that lies at the core of white Christian nationalism, whether in the form of guns aimed at our queer and trans beloveds, or legislation designed to criminalize our very existence. We at Side With Love will continue to fight for a world in which all bodies are treated as sacred; to join our UPLIFT Action campaign for LGBTQ+, Gender & Reproductive Justice, click here.
To our beloved trans and queer family,
If your heart is broken, we weep with you.
May you sense how fiercely you are held in love.
If your fists are frozen in rage, we scream our fury alongside you.
May you be warmed by the white-hot heat of our righteous solidarity.
If your stomach drops with terror, we tremble with you.
May you feel the strength of the safety we wrap around one another.
If your bones are weary, we sink down next to you.
May deep rest be the companion of your grief.
And, beloveds, remember:
All of us–
the high femmes, the faeries, the twinks, the gender transgressors, the panromantics,
the dykes, the bears, the studs, the butches, the homos, the androgynes,
the aces, the demibois, the zaddies, the graysexuals, the baby queers –
all the delicious, unexpected, gorgeously beloved incarnations of us –
we are made from stardust and and leather and honey
and Love.
Even on the todays,
the mornings when mourning our dead and fearing for our lives
is the metallic aftertaste on our tongues:
We still dance because the surging electric life force
that loved us into being and that pulses through our veins
is too powerful to stay inert and unmoving.
How could we be still?
We still sing because the defiant hymns of our ancestors
reverberate in the tiniest interstices between our cells.
How can we keep from singing?
We still congregate because like root systems and constellations and watersheds,
the molecules of our being only make sense
when we are intertwined and inseparable
and powerfully free in our interdependence.
How could we do other than to claim and choose each other, every day?
We dance our resistance.
We sing our belovedness.
We gather each other up
and we do not let go.
As is our vow, today and all days:
we will mourn the dead and fight like hell for the living.
And all the while, we will repeat this truth
Til it is lodged in our bones and
And undisputed anywhere:
We were meant for life, for abundance, for freedom.
Thank you so much for signing up for “Community Conversation”, the third and final workshop in our series on “Climate Resilience through Disaster Response & Community Care”. Whether you attended in real-time or plan to watch the recording later, we are grateful for your commitment to building communities of care in the face of climate disasters.
How can we continue to grow community around climate disaster preparedness and response? What do UUs need to foster communities of care in the face of climate change? How can we work together to cultivate thriving communities?
Thank you for engaging in one or more of the workshops on Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care. We’ve loved learning alongside UUs across the country on ways we can make our communities stronger and more resilient. For our final workshop in the series,we want to hear from you!
How can we support your Climate Disaster Response and Community Care initiatives?
Please let us know what you learned from the workshops, what challenges you're facing as you organize climate disaster response in your congregation, and - most importantly - how we can help! The Side With Love Team is here for you. Tell us what you need!
We have all sorts of ideas: We could host regional meetings! We could organize gatherings around climate disaster topics like fire or floods! We can put together more resources! The possibilities are endless! Tell us what would be most impactful to your work on these issues. Help us build this work together!
When we launched UPLIFT Action, it was a sacred declaration that our bodies are worthy of protection and love. We reminded ourselves that the movements for LGBTQ+ Justice, Gender Justice, and Reproductive Justice are all rooted in a deep reverence for every person’s right and access to bodily autonomy. We celebrated that our communities are so much stronger and more joyous when we resist together, create for and with each other, and refuse to let anyone convince us that only one of us can win at a time.
Tuesday night, we experienced the complex mix of joy, relief, and anguish that comes from faithfully upholding the truth that our liberation is necessarily collective. Our bodies - our worth - were on the ballot in several ways. From statewide propositions preserving or denying the right to reproductive autonomy and freedom, to candidates who have openly declared their hatred for transgender and queer people, to ballot initiatives deciding whether or not slavery should still be allowed in prisons - this midterm election both buoyed and attacked our shared struggles for our bodies and lives.
We also know that this year is by no means the first time the sacred right to bodily autonomy, and the inherent right to be seen and treated as human, has been on the ballot. What we are witnessing this year is inextricably tied to a centuries-long system and collection of structures designed explicitly to control and criminalize black and brown bodies, disabled bodies, bodies with addictions and mental illness, femme and female bodies - any bodies that do not “fit” into a colonialist, white supremacist, cisheteropatriarchal, and Christian supremacist definition of what is right or worthy. Nor is this the first time our bodies - queer, transgender, and/or potentially capable of supporting pregnancy - have been reduced to the pawns of political manipulation and plays for power.
The reality we are surviving and persevering through is that our bodies have always been subject to literal, political, and spiritual policing. The fullness of humanity has never been fully respected or revered by the laws and institutions we continue to challenge and reshape. This year’s midterm elections include the latest efforts to deny the sacredness of communities and individuals who challenge a narrow, oppressive, and violently evil ideal of what is good.
But within our centuries-long struggle there is a genuine blessing - our growing presence and power. As our movement consistently expands our understanding of who is being denied their humanity, we are also expanding our vision of what true bodily autonomy entails. The collective liberation that our Unitarian Universalist faith tells us is not only possible but necessary offers a nourishing balm that continues to bring more hearts and souls to our movements.
This midterm election, we witnessed how our struggles and visions are capable of bringing us closer to that liberated world our bodies need. Building on our summer victory in Kansas, pro-choice advocates won decisively in all five state initiatives on abortion. Michigan, Vermont and California voters embedded reproductive freedom within their state constitutions, while the people of Montana and Kentucky defeated anti-choice measures. These ongoing, democratically-shaped outcomes protecting the legality of abortion are an undeniable statement that bodily autonomy is majority value. We as a people are growing in our recognition that the policing of our bodies is a violation of their worth, and are changing our laws and institutions as a result.
We also witnessed that there is more struggling and visioning ahead. We know that some of the candidates who have won their races are inciting and codifying violence against transgender and non-binary people, particularly among our youth. We know that we will continue to face those values that are so counter to our understanding of welcome and care, and that it will at times be exhausting and terrifying. But we also know that our shared struggle, our faithful vision, will continue to grow in power and numbers as it always has.
As my colleague, UU the Vote Campaign Manager JaZahn Hicks recently wrote: “As we have seen so clearly time and time again, there is value in the work of faithful organizing. We are not tied to a radical political ideology but an ideology of radical love and faith. [Our work] has always been prophetic and not partisan.”
Let’s bask in this radical love and faith, beloveds, so we are strengthened, supported, and inspired to remember that our – and every – body is sacred.
RT @UUA: Kudos to UU the Vote campaign staff for being ready to take action to support voter access in Philadelphia on #ElectionDay! This great story from the Philadelphia Inquirer shows the impact we can have when we live out our Unitarian Universalist values. https://bit.ly/3hvFx7y
In order to achieve climate justice, we need significant policy shifts supported by powerful grassroots organizing. We must pressure governments for meaningful climate action, while advancing climate solutions in our communities to ensure that all people can thrive. We also need time to regroup, unlearn, and learn anew. With all of this in mind, we invite you to engage in one or all of the exciting climate justice opportunities this month. You could start by joining the final workshop in our Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care series on Tuesday, November 15 at 7 ET, or zoom in to get the latest updates on COP 27 Activities with the UUMFE Daily Discussions on COP27. Last, but not least, we invite you to Rethink Thanksgiving.
Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care: Community Conversation
Climate disasters impact our communities - how can UUs be prepared? This is the third workshop in our series which includes Assessing Climate Impacts & Making Connections, Mobilizing for Action, and finally,Community Conversation, which takes place on Tuesday, November 15 at 7ET. Connect with other UUs to discuss the issues and identify opportunities for learning, reflection, and action with Side With Love.
COP27
The Conference of Parties (COP) of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) is a critical annual convening where the 198 Parties of the UN who signed the Convention on Climate Change meet to negotiate multilateral responses to climate change. The UUA, UUSC, and UUMFE send delegates to COP to represent our UU values.
COP27 will be held from 6-18 November 2022 in Sharm El-Sheikh. The UUA is approved to send observers from civil society to COP 27 through the UU Service Committee (UUSC) and UUA at the UN Office and will elevate these key priorities:
1. Ensure the active & meaningful participation of civil society from the global south.
2. Protect the human rights of civil society and their freedom of expression
Indigenous solidarity is an essential part of the struggle for racial and environmental justice. It is critical that we deepen our commitment to Indigenous Sovereignty in ourselves and in our movements, take collective action towards land rematriation and support efforts to ensure a just and sustainable existence for all of our future generations.
Join American Indian Law Alliance, NDNCollective, Tonatierra, Sogorea Te Land Trust and the Indigenous Solidarity Network (made up of SURJ, Resource Generation and Catalyst Project) for “Rethinking Thanksgiving: From Land Acknowledgement to LANDBACK” on Sunday, November 20 at 1pm PT/4pm ET. This webinar is an invitation to interrogate so-called Thanksgiving, and move beyond the myths of America's history with Indigenous People on Turtle Island.
From tar sands pipelines across Turtle Island to Arctic oil and gas drilling, Indigenous campaigns of resistance continue to lead the way in protecting future generations against the destruction of sacred lands and waterways.
Moving into a deeper understanding of how colonialism is embedded into our frameworks and systems builds our capacity to be better allies to Indigenous Peoples. In this webinar, we will hear from the frontlines of Indigenous efforts to resist violence and colonization fueled by the current extractive economic system and gather ways to further and deepen solidarity with Indigenous resistance including land rematriation.
Live Captioning, ASL and Spanish interpretation will be available on the call. Fill out this form https://forms.gle/zwK4cAsy3wYkBWvi8 for questions about accessibility.
Three Ways We Can Advocate for Climate Justice in November
Thank you so much for signing up for the “Mobilizing for Action,” the second workshop in our series on “Climate Resilience through Disaster Response & Community Care”. Whether you were able to attend in real-time or plan to watch the recording later, we are grateful for your commitment to building communities of care in the face of climate disasters.
Next steps:
Make sure you RSVP for the third and final workshop in this series: Community Conversations on November 15. We encourage you to invite 1 or 2 more people from your congregation to attend, so we can continue to grow our community of support!
Check out the Climate Disaster Response for UUs Guide. This guide is chock full of tools and resources to help individuals and congregations to Assess Climate Impacts and Mobilize for Action. Every community is different, and climate impacts will vary at the hyper-local level. Some neighborhoods may be devastated by a hurricane while others experience only minor impacts. Adequate preparation and response for climate disasters must center the lived experiences and impacts of climate disasters on those most at risk. We’ve paired tools for each section to help you think through every step of the process.
Join the conversation! If you are looking for another place to connect with others working on climate justice, join us on the Side With Love Slack Channel. You can join at this link: http://bit.ly/SideWithLoveSlack. Check out the #climate-justice-general or #climate-justice-green-sanctuary channels to find your people!
Tell us what you’re doing and what you need! We’d love to hear how your congregation is preparing for climate disasters and how we can help! Please email RMyslivy@UUA.org and let us know!
Resources & Materials from Session 2
Linked below are materials & resources from our October 25 session on “Mobilizing for Action.” These resources and more can be found in the UUA Climate Disaster Prep Google Drive Folder.
We invite you to share this recording and these resources with others in your congregation as you explore how to incorporate what was discussed into your own efforts to support your community through any experiences of climate disaster. Consider consulting with key congregational leadership to complete your Congregational Asset Map, or begin to identify who in your broader community has the most direct knowledge and experience of the climate threats in your area.
If you have any other questions or ideas for how we can support your organizing for climate justice in the face of climate disasters, please email us at Environment@UUA.org. We want to hear from you about what kind of gatherings, workshops, or coaching will help you live your UU values to the fullest in community
We look forward to seeing you again on November 15!
If you pay attention to climate issues, you know that not a day goes by without at least one major headline, whether it's a hurricane, wildfire, political posturing, or new technology; climate is in the news. I'll tell you that my heart has been heavy this past week or so because of a headline I saw explaining that animal populations have declined almost 70% since 1970.
One of my mentors used to say that focusing on climate change is too small and sustainability isn’t enough. We also have to think about species extinction, environmental justice, and the many other intersecting social and environmental justice issues.
As for sustainability not being enough: You don't want your marriage to be sustainable; you want it to flourish!
So even as I've been mourning the loss of all of the blessed, beautiful creatures, I've been holding in my mind and heart all of the blessed, beautiful creatures who remain, who make our world the beautiful, blessed place that it is. I’ve been trying to visualize the creatures I love flourishing - the manatees, blue whales, black-footed ferrets, wolves, American burying beetles (I have a soft spot for decomposers), Mead's Milkweed, California Redwoods, and all the others….flourishing. Our world, flourishing.
We know that we are losing so, so much, and so many precious beings, and we must balance that knowledge with a vision of a thriving, flourishing community filled with radical hope and grounded action. As Mariame Kaba said, “Hope is a Discipline.” We can do this together. What is the creature, being, or place that you most want to save, that gives you hope when your heart is weary? What will you fight hardest to save?
I invite you to take a moment as you read this to think about the beings that you love, the places that make your heart sing, the things you will fight to save. If you have time, check out this beautiful, challenging, and inspiring video of the UN Climate Summit Poem "Dear Matafele Peinem" Every time I watch it, it fills me with wonder, fear, joy, sadness, anger, and hope - all of the emotions I need to commit again, every day, to climate action.
In our hearts, all climate activists hold the goal of making the world a better place, making it different, and making it so we all thrive. David Graeber says, "The ultimate, hidden truth of the world, is that it is something we make, and could just as easily make differently." How can we make our world differently, together, so all beings thrive?
Here’s one idea: VOTE FOR CLIMATE. Did you know that people who prioritize climate tend to skip midterm elections? There are millions of people who prioritize climate but don’t vote. I know that many of us have been disappointed by the glacial pace of climate change policy. I know we’ve been frustrated that politicians say they’ll act on climate, then we see little change. I know it’s hard to keep trusting in a system that has not adequately responded to the crisis. Believe me, I know. AND STILL, we need to turn out every climate voter this November. Let’s come together this fall to make our world differently, so all beings thrive.
In community,
Rachel
Rachel Myslivy is Side With Love’s Climate Justice Organizer. Get updates from Create Climate Justice by subscribing here.
Let’s come together this fall to make our world differently, so all beings thrive.
We are so excited to organize with Unitarian Universalists like you who are committed to promoting LGBTQIA+, Gender, and Reproductive Justice. With the sacred right to bodily autonomy being attacked on multiple fronts, our presence as people of faith is critical to lives all around the country. Fueled by the joy that is this prophetic and powerful community, it’s time for all of us to take action together! You can find more opportunities to learn & act together at the Side With Love Action Center, but here are some highlights from our launch party from October 13, 2022.
With the 2022 Election season ending in 24 days, it is time for us to QUUer the Vote and make sure all of us have the right to say what happens to our own bodies. With reproductive freedom on the ballot in multiple states, making sure people vote our values is crucial to our collective access to bodily autonomy.
Friday, October 14 Phonebank to Detroiters with MUUSJN & Michigan United to support the Reproductive Freedom for All Act
Monday, October 24 SURJ Phonebank to Kentucky Voters to Prevent the Constitutional Abortion Ban
Weekly Monday UU the Vote Text Banks to Michigan to support the Reproductive Freedom For All Act
Learn & Organize in Your Congregation for Reproductive Justice
The movement for reproductive justice is rooted in bodily autonomy for ANY BODY that can become pregnant and/or parent a child. Abortion access is part of the work, but it’s not the only way our bodies and lives are being restricted in our reproductive journeys. Learn more and mobilize within your congregation by participating in one or both of these upcoming trainings!
In just a few days, the National Center for Transgender Equality, Trans Latin@ Coalition, Black Trans Advocacy Coalition, and National Queer Asian Pacific Islander Alliancewill lauch the 2022 U.S. Trans Survey (USTS). The USTS is the largest survey of trans people in the United States, collecting data that will inform media, educators, policymakers, and the general public, on issues critical to trans lives and experiences. Help be part of this crucial project that covers topics such as health, employment, income, the criminal justice system and more. Learn more here and sign up to phone bank with the USTS starting October 19!
UPLIFT Monthly Trans/Non-Binary Gathering Space
Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings focused on trans, nonbinary, and other not (completely or at all) cis UUs. Join us to connect with other trans/nonbinary UUs and co-create support and community across our faith. All you need to bring is yourself (and other trans/nonbinary friends, if you’d like)!
These gatherings focus on getting to know each other and on sharing our collective dreams, ideas, and talents for this space. Expansive definitions of trans, nonbinary, and UU all apply. If you are interested in this space, and you aren’t cisgender, it’s a space for you.
NOTE: This space is intentionally multi-generational. It is open to and welcoming of trans/nonbinary elders as well as children, youth, and young adults. Standard UUA online safety measures apply to ensure all people under 18 are able to attend. We're glad to have you here!
UPLIFT Action Launch Recording & Opportunities to Take Action Together
Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion.
Earlier this month, Side With Love Congregational Justice Organizer Rev. Ranwa Hammamy wrote: “When our congregations are truly rooted in our Unitarian Universalist values, the work of collective liberation naturally follows. We know that as spiritual leaders and ministers within our congregations, you are shaping communities that, each and every day, strive to deepen their commitment to our faith’s values and calls.”
This ministry has never been more crucial, and we are grateful to be partners with you in this work. In service of justice and liberation, we share some upcoming events we hope will fortify, inspire, and encourage you and your community to live into the hope and courage of our faith.
Join Side With Love for the official launch of our latest organizing campaign, UPLIFT Action! This new campaign focuses on reproductive, gender, and LGBTQIA+ justice. Together we'll honor the sacred importance of bodily autonomy with several of our partners and UUs from around the country who are faithfully organizing for every sacred body. Register at bit.ly/UpliftActionLaunchParty.
October 9, October 23, and November 6 at 4:30pm ET
We are in a critical moment in our country and in our democracy and we’re fulfilling an essential role as trusted messengers to voters all across the country about all things voting.
Not feeling well-versed in electoral matters, though? Introducing Meeting the Moment, a political education series! Join UU the Vote for in-depth conversations on civics, faith-based organizing, and getting out the vote in a fun and engaging way! UU the Vote Campaign Manager JaZahn Hicks will be leading these interactive learning experiences for anyone who wants to be able to talk about the importance of voting, how to discuss ballots and voter guides, and what the various terms related to democracy and voting are. Register for one or all the sessions here.
Sunday, October 9: Civics 101
Sunday, October 23: Faith as an Organizing Tool, with special guest Rev. Ashley Horan, UUA Side With Love Organizing Strategy Director
Sunday, November 6: Getting out the Vote, with special guest Angela Miller, Executive Director of Center for Common Ground
Climate Disaster Preparedness for UUs
October 25 and November 15 at 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET
Over the next three months, we will be holding a Climate Disaster Response series geared towards congregations committed to responding to the needs of their broader communities in times of crisis and disaster. Our approach with this series is honest and full of care: we know that climate disaster impacts all of us in different ways, so how can we face that reality with a prepared understanding of our relationship, responsibility, and power to support those who are most impacted?
From grounding ourselves in the climate risks most prevalent in our communities, to developing plans of action, to staying in conversation with our faith peers, this series turns the overwhelming nature of climate disaster into a better known and collectively addressable entity. Rooted in the belief that shared knowledge and faith are essential to Beloved Community, this series will provide the climate activists and teams in your congregation with essential tools to build a climate disaster preparedness plan that lifts up the best of Unitarian Universalism in your community.
If you missed our first session, you can watch it and start the homework before joining us for the next session:
Tuesday, October 25: Mobilizing for Action (7pm ET / 6pm CT / 5pm MT / 4pm PT)
Tuesday, November 15: Community conversation (7pm ET / 6pm CT / 5pm MT / 4pm PT)
Thank you so much for signing up for the first webinar of our “Climate Resilience through Disaster Response & Community Care” series at Side With Love. Whether you were able to attend in real-time or plan to watch the recording later, we are grateful for your commitment to building communities of care in the face of climate disasters.
Resources & Materials from Session 1
Linked below are materials & resources from our September 27 session on “Assessing Climate Impacts & Making Connections.” Please note that most of these can be found in the UUA Climate Disaster Prep Google Drive Folder, in both PDF & Google Doc formats.
Climate Disaster Response Reflections Worksheet - pdf & gdoc
In addition, you can access a copy of the slide presentation from our September 27 webinar/workshop here, and watch the recording of the entire workshop here.
Next Steps
We invite you to share this recording and these resources with others in your congregation as you explore how to incorporate what was discussed into your own efforts to support your community through any experiences of climate disaster. Consider consulting with key congregational leadership to complete your Congregational Asset Map, or begin to identify who in your broader community has the most direct knowledge and experience of the climate threats in your area.
We also encourage you to share your reflections on your process with us, by sharing your copy of the “CDR/Climate Disaster Response Reflections” worksheet that you may have begun working in during the September 27 webinar. Sharing or emailing a copy to Rachel Myslivy at RMyslivy@uua.orgwill help us understand & better meet your needs, both as an attendee and as a climate organizer in your congregation.
And if you are looking for for another place to connect with others working on climate justice, join us on the the Side With Love Slack Channel. You can join at this link: http://bit.ly/SideWithLoveSlack. Check out the #climate-justice-general or #climate-justice-green-sanctuary channels to find your people!
If you have any other questions or ideas for how we can support your organizing for climate justice in the face of climate disasters, please email us at Environment@UUA.org. We want to hear from you about what kind of gatherings, workshops, or coaching will help you live your UU values to the fullest in community
Join Side With Love for the official launch of our latest organizing campaign, UPLIFT Action! This virtual event will be held on Thursday, October 13th at 5pm PT / 6pm MT / 7pm CT / 8pm MT.
We'll be honoring the sacred importance of bodily autonomy with several of our partners and Unitarian Universalists from around the country who are faithfully organizing for LGBTQIA+, Gender, and Reproductive Justice. Come be a part of this special event where we proclaim "Every Body is Sacred!" and celebrate the inherent worth and dignity of every person and launch ourselves into action!
Redlined communities or “sacrifice zones” also bear the highest energy burdens in the country, with low-income communities spending three times more of their income on energy costs. I’m sure these percentages are much higher now as energy costs have skyrocketed in the past year.
Urban heat islands plus high energy burdens plus poor air quality combine to increase incidents of violence and mental health crises in redlined communities, which leads to increased incarceration and criminalization of people of color. In short, it's impossible to separate struggles for climate justice and racial justice, because they are so deeply intertwined both here in the US and across the globe.
As part of the deal to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, Senators Manchin and Schumer have introduced a separate piece of legislation that would fast-track permit approvals for dangerous fossil fuel projects in September. Thursday was a huge day in the fight against the dirty pipeline deal being pushed by Senator Manchin. This bill would force approval of the Mountain Valley Pipeline, fast-track other fossil fuel projects, and undermine environmental protections and community review.
Will you join us in taking action to Stop Manchin’s Dirty Deal?
We need to be as loud as possible over the next four days and demand that every member of Congress oppose this dirty deal.
Please take 60 seconds right now and call your U.S. Senator! Dial 888-997-5380 and tell them to oppose Manchin's pipeline deal.
The People vs. Fossil Fuels Coalition has released a toolkit to #BlockTheDeal, including supported actions to call or send a letter to your member of Congress and amplify this Toolkit for action.
Workshop: Engaging Marginalized Communities
Thanks to Rev. Ranwa Hammamy for their presentation on Engaging Marginalized Communities in the Green Sanctuary Team Meeting. If you missed it, you can watch the video of the meeting here!
Take (and share!) the Climate Justice Voter Pledge!
Confronting climate change requires electing officials and enacting policies at every level, which means everyone who cares deeply about climate and environmental justice must turn out to the polls. To respond to the climate crisis we must take individual and community action! Share the UU Climate Justice Voter Pledge: https://SideWithLove.org/ClimateJusticeVoterPledge
Tell Congress to Pass The Environmental Justice For All Act
The recent passage of the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022 is a significant step toward greater investment in clean energy. Unfortunately, some provisions of the IRA may stimulate fossil fuel production and worsen pollution in areas already saturated by heavy industry. As part of the compromise that allowed the bill to go forward, Senator Manchin is now proposing loosening procedural protections around energy projects, making it even harder for affected communities to have a voice in approving these projects, many of which inflict environmental harm on communities of color. It is, therefore, more necessary than ever for Congress to pass the Environmental Justice for All Act, introduced in both the Senate and House and recently passed by the House Natural Resources Committee. Email congress: Environmental Justice for All!
Join the Side With Love Slack community!
Connect with others working on climate justice through the Side With Love Slack Channel. You can join at this link. Check out the #climate-justice-general or #climate-justice-green-sanctuary to find your people!
Upcoming Events
Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care
Climate disasters impact our communities - how can UUs be prepared? Join this series of workshops with activities to help you identify the climate risks, understand who is most at risk and how your community will be impacted. From there, make a plan to prepare for and respond to climate disasters in your neighborhood.
This workshop is part of a series. Sessions: All sessions are 90 minutes long and begin at 7pm ET/ 6pm CT / 5pm MT / 4pm PT
Come together for shared learning and mutual support with other UUs working on congregational transformation through climate justice on the third Wednesday of the month at 8PM ET. Each meeting includes a short presentation on a climate justice topic, followed by open discussion.
Interested in transforming your congregation through climate justice? Join this orientation to get a better understanding of the Green Sanctuary program and learn how your congregation can engage. Office hours are held on the first Wednesday of the month from 7-8PM Eastern Time.
Mobilizing UUs in solidarity with Indigenous front-line communities is a critical part of our climate justice work. Communities where Black, Indigenous, and People of Color live are hit first and worst by the impacts of climate change and the pollution that causes it. Our climate advocacy must center the lived experiences and knowledge of these frontline communities.
UUs Beth Ogilvie with Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church and Colleen Cabot with First Unitarian Church of San Jose reached out to Side With Love to share an important call to action from the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band to the Protect Juristac Advocacy Partners Coalition. Please read their update, take the actions they share, and consider what climate justice looks like in your community? Who is most impacted, how, and where? How can you work in solidarity with the people most impacted?
With deep appreciation for UUs doing the good work,
Rachel Myslivy, UUA Climate Justice Organizer
The climate crisis is caused by taking – from the earth and from other beings, human and otherwise – exploiting, extracting, consuming, destroying – without regard to the consequences. Those who have more power take from those who have less, and the taking continues unabated. This system is built on injustice and cannot function without it.
Image: Photo of the sacred hills of the Juristac Tribal Cultural Landscape during the day, with overcast skies and a shadow falling across the foreground. Text: PROTECT JURISTAC. NO QUARRY ON MUTSUN SACRED GROUNDS.
An example of this injustice is unfolding in a place called Juristac, the most sacred grounds of the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, just south of the San Francisco Bay Area. A development company wants to construct a massive open pit gravel mine that would destroy this sacred ground for all time, and with it the spiritual and cultural heart of Mutsun life. It would also block a vital wildlife corridor connecting 3 mountain ranges. Wildlife cannot speak for themselves at Planning Commission hearings, or submit comments on the Environmental Impact Report, but the tribe can, and is, and we are supporting them. Please join us in helping prevent this irreversible injustice, this human rights tragedy. There are other sources of sand and gravel. There is only one Juristac. This 4-minute video tells the story.
Submit a comment on the Draft Environmental Impact Report (DEIR) by Sept 26. The DEIR states that the mine will have “significant impact on the Juristac Tribal Cultural Landscape.” No kidding! Tell the Planning Commission why this is morally unacceptable and the permit must be denied.
If you’re in Northern California, attend the rally in San Jose Sept 10. Details will be on ProtectJuristac.org/deir.
As members of the Protect Juristac Advocacy Partners Coalition, both our churches have passed resolutions supporting the tribe and opposing the mine. We have been taking the Juristac story to churches and other faith communities to raise awareness and enlist support.
We are doing this work as UUs committed to justice and healing, which includes:
Raising awareness of the true history of colonization and conquest and genocide, of extraction and exploitation, and how these patterns continue to this day.
Marshaling support among UUs and other faith communities to support the Amah Mutsun in protecting their most sacred grounds from permanent desecration, and in regaining access so they can restore their culture and their spiritual practices.
Promoting the understanding that Indigenous spirituality is equal to other religions and has a lot to teach about stewardship and reciprocity.
Thank you for your commitment to climate justice through Indigenous solidarity,
Beth Ogilvie with Starr King Unitarian Universalist Church
Colleen Cabot with First Unitarian Church of San Jose
Protect Juristac: No Quarry on Mutsun Sacred Grounds
Climate change is a complex problem. There are no easy answers and often more questions. Holding complexity is part of the work we must do to realize a healthy and resilient future where all can thrive.
The Inflation Reduction Act puts forth the most ambitious climate action to ever pass US Congress. With significant investments in clean energy, transportation, and environmental justice, the IRA is projected to reduce emissions 40% by 2030. It’s historic. It’s exciting. It’s getting us closer to our climate goals. YES!
This legislation will have wide scale and lasting impacts for generations to come. Sadly, those impacts are not all positive or just. The Inflation Reduction Act is an example of the ways advocates and legislators neglect and exploit communities in the search for a win, instead of in search of justice. The IRA sacrifices communities already bearing the burden of climate change. NO!
The People Vs. Fossil Fuels Coalition calls out the IRA’s “poison pills” that will disproportionately impact Black, Indigenous, family farming, people of the global majority and working-class communities, including major handouts to Big Oil, like requiring new oil & gas leasing on 620 million acres of public lands and waters, and permitting for new oil & gas pipelines while supporting false solutions like carbon capture, nuclear, hydrogen, biofuels and carbon trading. NO!
So, while many are celebrating wholeheartedly, I’m conflicted. I’m melancholy. I’m torn. I wonder: is it really a win, if it’s not a win for all of us? NO!
Still, it also has historic investments in clean energy, transportation, environmental justice, and more that we desperately need. Plus, there are lots of other benefits like lowering Medicare prescription drug costs, extending the Affordable Care Act coverage for 13 million Americans, and instituting a 15% minimum tax on billion-dollar corporations. YES!
Although the Inflation Reduction Act is the result of years of organizing from environmental justice organizations, climate organizations, and frontline communities, it muffles the concerns of people fighting on the front lines. Those in power continue to ignore, neglect, and actively harm those most impacted by climate change and the pollution that causes it. The IRA sacrifices frontline communities already bearing the brunt of the climate crisis. This is not climate justice.
No, the Inflation Reduction Act is not enough. Yes, we still need it. Hold this complexity, then let’s get to work.
In solidarity,
Rachel Myslivy
Climate Organizer for Side with Love
Imagine description: Photo shows Rachel Myslivy, a white person, wearing hair in a braid and a yellow Side With Love shirt, standing in front of a wooded area.
Next Steps:
As part of the deal to pass the Inflation Reduction Act, Senators Manchin and Schumer are introducing legislation to fast-track permit approvals for fossil fuel projects. Write your members of Congress to pledge right now to block fossil fuel handouts.
Tell Biden: Choose People over Fossil Fuels. This fact sheet outlines the importance of Biden declaring a national climate emergency.
Encourage your congregation to Tell Congress: Reject Manchin + Schumer’s dirty “side deal” with the fossil fuel industry
National “People vs. Fossil Fuels” Coalition Responds to Inflation Reduction Act; Demands Congress Strike Down Manchin’s Permitting Deal and Biden Take Executive Action
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