All members & friends are welcome to join the efforts of the Social Justice Outreach Team
Social Justice and ARE Teams are temporarily meeting in joint session. The sessions are scheduled at 1 pm on the first Wednesday of each month. Due to rising Covid-19 counts, we are returning to the ZOOM only virtual format for the September 1 meeting.
All are welcome to attend; these meetings are your chance to provide input and contribute to our UUFH justice efforts. Contact Charlotte Corrigan for more information – i.e., agenda, prior minutes, Zoom link – if you would like to participate.
ARE updates and news should be sent to Charlotte Corrigan for inclusion in emails, eBlasts and Justice Worker News.
The monthly RACIAL JUSTICE FORUM series will resume in the fall.
A SPECIAL REQUEST:
UUFH Social Justice and ARE teams agreed at our July joint meeting to seek your input for our OUTREACH COLLECTIONS for the coming year.
In the last few years our collections have included Dream Scholarships, Feed the Kids Coalition & Backpack each year as well as Habitat for Humanity, Housing Assistance Corporation, Creation Care Alliance, Pisgah Legal Services, El Centro, and the UUA Disaster Relief Fund.
In addition, holdback funds were donated to many other groups (MLK Breakfast & Day of Service events, You Can Vote, UUJMNC, IAM, BRCH, NC NAACP, Smart Start, International Rescue Committee, Empty Bowls, TrueRidge and Grow our Own Scholarship Fund).
What would you choose or add for 2021-2022? Your Input is needed: contact Charlotte Corrigan with your choices or suggestions.
UU Forward Together — The UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina
NAME CHANGE
Announcement from Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson, Executive Director, UU Justice NC:
We have a NEW NAME! While our full legal name is “The Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry of North Carolina”, for the past four years, we have commonly referred to ourselves as UU Forward Together. This name has reflected our being a part of a larger movement in North Carolina and while we remain in partnership with organizations who are known for this slogan (NC NAACP, Poor People’s Campaign and others), we recognize the need to establish a distinct identity for ourselves.
And so, we are now UU Justice NC – reflecting our core identities: We are Unitarian Universalists, working for Justice, in North Carolina.
Join UU Justice NC’s New Facebook Group!
This week, our newly renamed state justice ministry – UU Justice NC launched their new Facebook Group! The goal is to create a virtual community space where NC UUs can connect, celebrate our wins, share news about justice issues and promote opportunities to learn and take action. If you haven’t already, click here to join the growing community!
Subscribe to UUJMNC to receive the monthly newsletter and action alerts at www.uuforwardtogether.org
UUJMNC: OPPORTUNITIES FOR ACTION
from Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson, Executive Director Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry of NC
FRIDAY ACTION HOUR
Join UU Forward Together every Friday at 11:00am for Friday Action Hour. Gather in community to recap the week and take action on issues impacting our state and country.
Redistricting Letters to the Editor. This week (8/13), in partnership with All on the Line we’ll be writing Letters to the Editor to advocate for fair voting maps. Join us via this Zoom link.
Does the Friday session not work for you? You can still act; the link below will give you the talking points, addressee contacts and actions for this week’s Action Hour session.
Action(s) of the Week –
Remove Anti-Voter Provisions Hidden within our State Budget. This week, call on your State Legislators to remove the anti-voter provisions hidden within Senate Bill 105 (2021 Appropriations Act). These provisions are not related to our state’s funding priorities and should not be in the budget. Hiding them within the 400+ page budget bill is a clear attempt to limit public knowledge and substantive debate on our state’s election laws. Click here to Take Action
More UU JUSTICE NC ACTION
Democracy NC Phone Bank – Calling Purged Voters. On Tuesday, August 24th at 6:00pm join our friends at Democracy NC and get trained to call North Carolinians who have been removed from the voter rolls. 2019 & 2021 resulted in the largest voter roll purges in North Carolina history. This year, over 300,000 folks were removed from the list. Democracy NC will train you to call through a list of folks who they believe are likely still here and help them re-register to vote! Register for the Training Here
CLIMATE JUSTICE CONGREGATIONAL PROJECT
At our June 13 Annual Meeting, a UUFH vote okayed another year for this vital project.
We’ll move forward with some of the on-hold activities and seek new opportunities for congregational education and action including use of UUA/ & UU Justice NC resources and continue UUtheVote advocacy with a focus on FAIR REDISRICTING and voter rights.
We’ll add a new emphasis on the 8th principle per a separate vote held at our Annual Meeting.
REDISTRICTING: CALL TO ACTION
UU Justice NC Is partnering this summer and fall with “All on the Line NC” for a campaign to ensure fair redistricting by our legislators in Raleigh.
A special message and CALL to ACTION for all members of UUFH (not just our Justice Workers or Social Justice team members) was announced at our 08-08 Sunday service
(per excerpts from Kitten Bulen’s announcement):
You all voted to renew our Congregation Climate Justice Project for this year.
Since the poor and people of color are those most unjustly affected by global warming/climate change/environment issues, pursuant to UUA principles, we are committing to work on redistricting aka fair mapping, so all voices can have an impact
First go back two years to pre-Covid, Rev. John Saxon, then executive director of our state action network, now called UU Justice NC, came here to give a workshop on “becoming a justice-making congregation”. About 60 UU’s from 6 WNC congregations attended. Following this, your social justice team members presented topics for a congregational project. In February of 2020 you adopted climate justice for our collective focus. Also in 2019, i was appointed to our UU NC Justice board and presented a service on how growing up Unitarian caused me to choose teaching and law professions so i could represent poor and black and brown people. At the end of that service, I challenged you to learn and do more with our UU regional, state, and national organizations and to step out our doors to do more justice work. And you did!
So many of you answered the call! 50 of you attended the January 2020 voter registration training with the director of You Can Vote and made my heart sing and therefore i called you my wild things. Then covid hit. Revamping plans, with UU Justice NC, our congregation partnered with NC non-profits You Can Vote and Democracy NC and the national non-profit Reclaim Our Vote. You sent over 4,500 voter registration postcards, more than any other NC congregation, and made hundreds of calls, texts, and emails. Some of you also made calls with the UUA UU the Vote. Obviously our faith’s commitment to action made a difference in the elections. Donations were made to our endowment fund because of the work we did.
Now comes our NEW call to action!
Across our nation voting awareness was expanded, but here in NC we still have much work to do.
PART 1
For Part one of our Congregation Climate Justice Project, we, along with our other NC UU congregations, are being called to work drawing voting district maps, called “redistricting.” This is a short term time sensitive project, thanks to the pandemic. 10 years ago we had 5 months to redraw maps. This year we have one month since the census was delayed 4 months. Raw data will be released and put in some kind of order. Then we have a month to respond. Without fair map districts, registered voters lose their impact, so we need to jump on this.
introductory video and the training registration:
Video (Youtube):
registration link to our September 8 Redistricting event:
https://uuforwardtogether.salsalabs.org/98westernncredistrictingevent
(You will receive the Zoom link via email upon registering.)
Mark your calendars and register for Wednesday September 8th from 7:00 – 8:30 p.m. We are co-hosting the fair mapping training workshop on zoom with the Asheville UU church and other WNC congregations given by the national organization – All On the Line.
In NC gerry-rigging districts was a major case before the U.S. Supreme court which they labeled the worst ever seen in our nation, designed to entrench the people in power, especially in the past ten years as well as supreme pattern of intentionally diluting the minority vote. The US and NC courts have now spoken saying these communities should not be broken up. So, after training, when the narrow window of public comment time arrives, we do! There is no constitutional requirement that we be heard. We have to make them listen – with the help of All On The Line! Our comments go to the judges. We are also partnered with Jews for Justice, American Friends Society, and others.
PART 2
Part two of our Congregation Climate Justice Project will take place January – March 2022. Together we will study the 5 topics in the UUA Ministry for the Earth (UUMFE) entitled “Our Place in the Web of Life”.
PART 3
Our Climate Justice Project will culminate in April with a coup. Named one of the top 15 religious environmental justice leaders in the world, UUA Minister UUMFE and Minister of Music, Rev. Fred Small, has agreed to come from Boston to us – via Amtrak – not flying to lessen our carbon footprint – to present a Climate Justice Workshop (April 9, 2022) and the Sunday Service (April 10).
All of this is an exciting awakening from our covid year.
We are all in this movement together – until the next census in the next decade – so we must use our UU faith. power and numbers in commitment to justice.
We continue our focus of fair elections. The below listed training sessions from UU Justice NC partner You Can Vote will prepare you to be involved in this vital civic work.
YOU CAN VOTE NEWS
2021 SUMMER VOTER EMPOWERMENT TRAINING DATES
As we add in-person volunteer opportunities, be sure you are 2021 trained and come help us educate voters! Folks who have attended the 2021 volunteer training can sign up now!
Saturday, August 14th @ 10am Saturday, August 21st @ 10am Saturday, August 28th @ 10am
LET’S GET BACK OUT THERE & HELP GET OUR NEIGHBORS READY TO #VOTE2021 & #VOTE2022!
A NEW UUFH INITIATIVE – Volunteer Opportunities at Bruce Drysdale School
The UUFH ARE and Social Justice teams have consulted with the leadership at Bruce Drysdale Elementary School to see what help we could provide to the school students and staff. Jan Partin has supplied a message outlining these activities and some key Bruce Drysdale data.
The student population of Bruce Drysdale Elementary is 464 for K-5 students. The school’s minority student enrollment is 55%. The student-teacher ratio is 13:1, which is better than that of the district. The school enrolls 69% economically disadvantaged students. There are 36 equivalent full-time teachers and 1 full-time school counselor.
In Henderson County Schools, 50% of students tested at or above the proficient level for reading, and 57% tested at or above that level for math. Compared with the district, the school scored lower in math and in reading. Only 40% of students scored at or above the proficient level for math, and 36% scored at or above that level for reading.
The teachers and staff are passionate about their desire to help their students do better! Our engagement with the school will give these students and teachers a boost – we can help make a difference in the lives of these young people! Please take a few hours a week to help make that difference by volunteering there!
PTO President Amy Kilpatrick has prepared a list of possible volunteer jobs for volunteers. In order to volunteer, you must pass a background check. It involves filling out a form on line and another volunteer application form that you drop off at Bruce Drysdale School. Once approved, you will receive a volunteer ID card from Secure Volunteer which you will need to bring with you when volunteering.
Contact Jan Partin at janpartin@nullhotmail.com for easy instructions.
Present volunteer opportunities include:
Library- shelving books. This can be a weekly opportunity for a couple of hours. Library book fair-volunteers are needed to sort and keep shelves organized and stocked. Reading to Kindergarten classes. Serving/Setup for teacher lunches. We have about 5-6 teacher lunches a year.Some students need to sit separately to catch up on their class work if they get behind. We occasionally need ones to sit with them to help keep them focused on catching up. Escorting students to and from their classroom for hearing tests. Other opportunities will present themselves through the year and we can add those to this list. Thank you in advance for your help in any of these areas! We look forward to working with all of you! |
NAACP MEMBERSHIP – Henderson County Chapter
A message from Judy Bonner, UUFH SJ Allies for Racial Equity (ARE) leader:
I urgently invite you to join our local chapter of NAACP. It is vital to support our chapter especially at this time. I thank you in advance for your membership.
An Application Form is available from Charlotte Corrigan or Judy Bonner Please complete the membership form and mail with your payment of $30 to:
NAACP 318 N. Main Street Suite #11 Hendersonville NC 28792 Our local unit number is 5477
Check this website to learn about the NAACP mission and vision. https://naacp.org/about/mission-vision Please pass on a copy of the form to your friends. Thanks!
JUSTICE WORKERS EMAIL LIST
We’ve created a new merged list “Justice Workers” as recommended by the leaders of the various groups (SJOT, ARE, Voter & Climate Justice) and approved by our UUFH Social Justice Team; our debut message “JUSTICE WORKER NEWS” was issued on Monday, April 12. The list is comprehensive and contains actions, events, and links that will inform and enable your justice efforts.
The more that we work together, the greater impact we have.
To join the Justice Workers list, contact Charlotte Corrigan with your request to OPT IN.
For information on upcoming training sessions with UUJMNC partners such as You Can Vote and Democracy NC, contact Charlotte Corrigan and/or sign up for weekly Justice Worker News emails.