[JTWNews] Celebrating Love & Actions for Justice

[Susan Leslie]

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JOURNEY TOWARD WHOLENESS (JTW) - NEWS
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Dear JTW-News Readers:

As Marriage Equality Week 2006 continues, religious leadership-in
interfaith coalitions, legislative rallies, and public witness
settings-has continued to show that Unitarian Universalists choose to
stand on the side of love. Read new stories on marriage equality action
in Massachusetts, where the Religious Coalition for the Freedom to Marry
honored the Rev. Fred Small and the Arlington Street Church; in
Virginia, where UUs are opposing restrictive "defense of marriage"
legislation and affirming loving relationships; and in Washington, where
UUs have been key players in achieving civil rights for g/l/b/t
individuals.  See http://www.uua.org/ for more stories and information.

Love, Susan

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Also in this Issue:

(1) Socially Responsible Investing Workshop Teleconference Update
(2) Resource for Moving Congregational Social Justice Work into the
Whole Congregation
(3) Send Your Stories and Share Your Actions on www.uua.org
(4) New Blog on Journey From Calgary: An Unfinished Dialogue, A history
of the UUA's efforts to become an anti-racist, anti-oppressive,
multicultural institution

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(1) FREE SRI WORKSHOP TELECONFERENCE ON SAT., FEB. 18th, 1-2 PM EST

It's not too late to join the next Socially Responsible Investing
Teleconference Workshop on Saturday, Feb. 18, 1:00-2:00 PM EST (Details
below)presented by members of the UUA Committee for Socially Responsible
Investing (CSRI).

The UUA Committee on Socially Responsible Investing held a very
successful workshop teleconference on Community Investing on Saturday,
Feb. 4th.  UUs from over a dozen states around the country (including
New York, California, Ohio, Wisconsin, Michigan, Texas and Florida)
joined the teleconference from the comfort of their homes.  And at least
two groups gathered around a speaker phone at their congregations in
Wyoming and Massachusetts, while others gathered at each other's homes.
Participants listened to a 45 minute presentation by UU community
investing experts and viewed an accompanying Power Point Presentation
posted on http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/. (Also posted as a PDF).  This
presentation was followed by a 15 min Q & A session.

This workshop was one of a first (and will be repeated) in a series of
workshops designed to bring hands on information about the various
aspects of and opportunities for socially responsible investing to a
large audience, utilizing new low-cost technology.  The phone service
allows up to 1,000 callers!

**Please join CSRI for our second Free Telephone Conference Workshop
which will be on Investment Screening this Saturday, Feb. 18th,
1:00-2:00 PM EST.***

To join the teleconference just call in at (866) 868-1054, code 1571617.


The accompanying Power Point presentation (as well as a PDF version) are
now up on our website at: http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/.

Details for all the teleconference workshops on the flyer posted at
http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/SRI-TeleConference-Flyer.pdf.

Please register with Audra Friend at afriend at uua.org. 

The theme is "Making a Difference with Ideals, Impact and Involvement."

Each one hour session teaches one of the key strategies of the socially
responsible investing movement. You'll learn concrete steps to get
strategies implemented in your personal life or within your
congregation.

Impact - Community Investing -- Saturday, February 4th, 1pm EST (Repeat
Date TBA)

Ideals - Investment Screening -- Saturday, February 18th, 1pm EST

Involvement -- Shareholder Activism -- Saturday, March 4th, 1pm EST

Visit our website for news and resources at
http://www.uua.org/finance/sri/.

To sign-up for SRI-News (an announcement only list that comes out 9
times per year) go to http://lists.uua.org/mailman/listinfo/sri-news.  

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(2)LEARN WAYS TO BROADEN YOUR SOCIAL JUSTICE PROGRAM BEYOND YOUR SOCIAL
ACTION COMMITTEE

Sustainable Action: Planting the Seeds of Relational Organizing
By Rev. Louise Green

Louise is currently Director of Social Justice Ministries at All Souls
Church,
Unitarian in Washington D.C. She is a community organizer and UCC
minister who worked for 10 years with the Industrial Areas Foundation, a
congregation-based, multi-issue power network with over 60 affiliates
around the country. The ideas below come from her IAF experience and
training, particularly through Michael Gecan, National Staff for the
Metro
IAF in New York, Philadelphia and Chicago. For an in-depth look at this
method of community organizing, read Gecan's Going Public, published by
Beacon Press.

http://www.uua.org/programs/justice/relationalorganizingplantingseeds.pd
f

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(3)  SEND YOUR CONGREGATION'S STORIES & SHARE YOUR NEWS

Let us know about a project or work that your congregation is doing that
makes you proud!  If you have digital photos to go with it, even better.
We'll post your story as a best practice on the UUA Justice website at
Congregational Success Stories
http://www.uua.org/programs/justice/congstories.html.

Share Your News -- You can post listings of your activities, resources,
and ask for help at:
http://www.uua.org/programs/forums/index.php?action=vtopic&forum=1.

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(4) NEW BLOG ON UUA ANTI-OPPRESSION, ANTI-RACISM MULTICULTURAL
INITIATIVE

UUA's Skinner House will be publishing a new book that's working title
is: Journey From Calgary: An Unfinished Dialogue, a history of the UUA's
efforts to become an anti-racist, anti-oppressive, multicultural
institution by Rev. Leslie Takahashi-Morris and Dr. Leon Spencer and
Chip Roush.  Leslie and Leon were both involved in the UUA's Journey
Toward Wholeness initiative in many capacties on the district and
national level. Chip Roush is is a theological student and active UU.
 
They will be presenting the outline of the forthcoming book at the
upcoming mid-size congregations conference in Phoenix March 2-5 - see
http://www.uua.org/cde/midsize2006/.
 
They have a blog where they discuss the book and the issues they are
addressing - see http://journeyfromcalgary.blogspot.com/


Susan Leslie
Director for Congregational Advocacy and Witness
Unitarian Universalist Association
25 Beacon Street, Boston MA  02108
(617) 948-4607; sleslie at uua.org
www.uua.org/justice
Subscribe to SAC-News, Advocacy-News, JTW-News & SRI-News at
www.uua.org/mailman/listinfo