Download 20th Anniversary Program Guide

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20th Anniversary Celebration

Celebrating Twenty Years of Collaboration, Education, Witness, and Advocacy

Saturday, Dec. 12
4-6 pm ET

Event is online via Zoom

Any donation gets you in, $50 suggested, more graciously accepted

PANELISTS & PARTICIPANTS

CASA – Elizabeth Alex

Ms. Alex came to CASA in 2005, and since then has played a critical role in expanding the organization and developing member leaders, including opening offices and creating new member committees in eleven counties in central Maryland and south-central Pennsylvania. Under her leadership, CASA piloted successful membership, racial justice, and youth programming initiatives, which developed to be core elements of CASA organization-wide, and developed a formal member leadership structure to ensure that all strategic organizational decision making is guided by robust member input and fed by a democratic member decision-making process.

Faith in Public Life – Sara Benitez

Faith in Public Life is a national movement of clergy and faith leaders united in the prophetic pursuit of justice, equality, and the common good. Together, we are leading the fight to advance just policies at the local, state, and federal levels. Our network of 50,000 leaders engages in bold moral action that affirms our values and the human dignity of all. Sara Benitez, VP of Organizing and Campaign. Sara directs the organizing department where she works to empower clergy and lay leaders of all faith traditions to lead in their communities and promote their values. She is frequently humbled by the many faith leaders who selflessly serve and mobilize their communities for social justice.

Poor People’s Campaign, Repairers of the Breach – Rev. Kazimir Brown Kazimir

Brown was born and raised in San Francisco, CA. At an early age, Kazimir knew that she was called to a life of public service. It is from this call that led her to pursue a Master of Public Policy from U.C. Berkeley and a Master of Divinity from Yale Divinity School. Kazimir is an ordained reverend in the African Methodist Episcopal church. She currently serves as the National Director of Religious Affairs for the Repairers of the Breach and the Deputy Director of Religious Affairs for the Poor People’s Campaign: A National Call for Moral Revival. It is in these capacities that she is able to live out her calling by serving as a conduit between community, faith, and politics.

Reeb Project for Voting Rights – Pamela Coukos

The Reeb Project for Voting Rights is dedicated to increasing voter participation. We work in solidarity with other UU congregations and progressive partner organizations that center the leadership of people of color, work in communities with historically low voter participation, and advocate for changes to oppressive voting laws. Pamela Coukos is a co-founder of the Reeb Project for Voting Rights at All Souls Church and a longtime member of All Souls Church. She has deep experience in organizing and mobilizing for electoral and issue advocacy campaigns, including working for national, state, and local candidates across multiple cycles and organizing on the ground and online to support the 2009-2010 fight to enact the Affordable Care Act. She is also CEO and co-founder of Working IDEAL, where she advises organizations on inclusive workplaces, pay equity, and gender and racial justice at work.

Forward Together – Lisa Garcia-Sampson

A progressive, faith-based, nonpartisan, nonprofit organization working to “give life the shape of justice” by supporting the social justice work of individual UUs and UU congregations in North Carolina, co-founder of Working IDEAL, where she advises organizations on inclusive workplaces, pay equity, and gender and racial justice at work.

UURISE – Katia Hansen

The organization empowers immigrants and refugees in the U.S. by offering direct legal services, particularly to those who have few resources to obtain legal assistance. UURISE actively contributes to the national discourse on immigrant rights and immigration reform and works with state, county, and local officials to provide education and real-life examples related to policies that impact the health and wellbeing of our communities. Katia is a member of the Unitarian Universalist Association’s Standing on the Side of Love Creative Advisory Team, the Social Justice Coordinator for the FarmWorker CARE Coalition, and represents UURISE on the Advisory Board of the San Diego Immigrant Rights Consortium.

UUSC – Josh Leash

UUSC advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. Our work is grounded in the belief that all people have inherent power and dignity. Josh Leach supports UUSC’s programs and communications teams through analysis, writing, and digital engagement. As Policy Analyst, he monitors developments in federal and state governments affecting UUSC’s human rights objectives, identifies and supports opportunities for digital advocacy and mobilization, and works closely with UUSC’s partners to advance shared initiatives

UU Ministry for Earth – Doris Marlin

Caring for the interdependent web of life is a core spiritual practice of Unitarian Universalism. UUMFE is firmly rooted in the long history of our faith’s prophetic action on environmental and human rights issues. The mission is “To be a wellspring of spiritual and educational grounding and practical support for bold, accountable action for environmental justice, climate justice, and the flourishing of all life.” Doris is on the Board of Directors of UUMFE and has been Unitarian Universalist since 1985. She is a member of All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, DC. She is also a UUSJ Advocacy Corps member, Green Sanctuary Advisory Board member, and Lay Leader for Strengthen Local Climate Commitments (SLCC), a national campaign within Create Climate Justice.net. Retired from federal service, she has an academic background in water resources management and is credentialled in project and risk management.

UU the Vote – Nicole Pressley

Engage Unitarian Universalist individuals, congregations, and institutions in bringing their values to the public square in the 2020 elections, through deep partnerships with local and national front line organizations. Previously Nicole was organizer and communications strategist working with the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Atlanta.

Side with Love – Everette Thompson

Everette brings over 15 years of experience in community organizing, organizational development, and movement building. He is a Southerner by birth and choice and has dedicated his career to strengthening organizational infrastructure in the South. He currently serves as a consultant specializing in intersectional movement strategy, faith organizing, and grassroots leadership development. Everette has a wide array of experiences serving different types and forms of organizations.

CUUSAN – Laura Wagner

CUUSAN is an association of Unitarian Universalist state witness, advocacy, and action organizations from Florida to Washington and Maine to California that are working to give life the shape of justice. Laura has been a Unitarian Universalist for over 20 years. She has held many lay leader positions but her primary focus has always been social justice.

Unitarian Universalists for a Just Economic Community (UUJEC) – Adam Wasserman

The mission of UUJEC is to engage, educate & activate Unitarian Universalist individuals and congregations, social justice groups & community partners to fulfill our vision of positive systemic change. Using the dynamic process of study, strategy, direct action, and reflection. Adam Wasserman has been a UU for 12 years with three different congregations: UU Congregation of Fairfax in Northern Virginia, UU Fellowship of Montgomery in Alabama, and most recently the UU Congregation of Santa Fe in New Mexico. While living in the Washington DC area he chaired a working group on economic justice as part of UUSJ.

UUA – Rev. Ashley Horan

Rev. Ashley Horan is the Organizing Strategy Director of the UUA, where she works with a team of faithful organizers and movement builders to shape the justice work of Unitarian Universalism to be spiritually grounded and politically effective. Prior to this role, Ashley served for five years as the Executive Director of MUUSJA – the Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance, and for seven years as core staff with the Beloved Conversations program. She lives in Minneapolis with her partner, Rev. Karen Hutt, and their children, Aspen and Zi.