Thank you for your interest in Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ). With the active participation of our individual and congregational members, UUSJ works to help our Federal Government adhere to the practice of democracy and the dignity of all people—and other principles that we UUs hold dear.

UUSJ works to make our Federal Government fairer and more inclusive through the following actions:

1. Selecting issues strategically that are moving in Congress and making it easy for UUs to express their views to Congress on those issues. This is called Write Here! Write Now! (WHWN), and UUSJ typically does it every other month. Email anna@uusj.org to be informed of WHWNs.

2. Arrange meetings with Congressional staff so UUs can talk to Congress. These meetings have expanded virtually so everyone nationwide can meet with their legislators! The meetings typically happen in the second half of a Write Here! Write Now! Month, and are usually aimed at the same topic. Email anna@uusj.org to be informed of upcoming meetings. You will be told about upcoming meetings if you are already signed up to be notified about WHWNs.

3. Publicizing Action Alerts, where individual UUs may sign a letter to their Congressional representatives advocating for a solution to a particular injustice. These differ from WHWN letters in that they arise quickly and require no customization. Just enter your name/address and send. Look on the uusj.org home page for current action alerts.

4. Maintaining Issue Action Teams on priority issues — currently, the Immigration Action Team, the Democracy Action Team, Climate & Environment Group, and Economic Justice Group. The priority issues usually change every two years and will change next in 2022. Any member can join an Issue Action Team. Email info@uusj.org to indicate interest in joining a team.

5. Conducting workshops and webinars to educate members on emerging issues and how to advocate more effectively, including periodic meetings for Social Justice ministers and committee chairs. For example, UUSJ recently offered an excellent virtual workshop on Storytelling for Advocacy, demonstrating stories that have been effective in meetings with legislators and providing practice sessions.

6. Organizing witnessing activities, including the Women’s March and the Poor Peoples’ Campaign. These are timely, life-changing events to join with other UUs when writing is not enough and to let their voices be heard. Check out uusj.org to find out about any current witnessing opportunities.

UUSJ is positioning itself to realize its potential through our strategic planning initiative. We have identified our moral owners to include UUs and UU congregations and impacted communities and organizations that represent those communities. We have engaged with the moral owners to focus our advocacy, increased the diversity of our Board of Trustees, and partnered with UU and non-UU organizations to become more effective at moving our Federal Government to better laws and practices for social justice.