{"id":21315,"date":"2019-12-10T07:00:01","date_gmt":"2019-12-10T12:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/?p=21315"},"modified":"2019-12-10T14:03:27","modified_gmt":"2019-12-10T19:03:27","slug":"doris-marlin-on-raising-our-uu-voices-in-the-nations-capital-why-i-participate-with-uusj","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/doris-marlin-on-raising-our-uu-voices-in-the-nations-capital-why-i-participate-with-uusj\/","title":{"rendered":"Doris Marlin on Raising Our UU Values and Voices in the Nation\u2019s Capital (Why I Participate With UUSJ)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Doris Marlin,\u00a0member of All Souls Church, Unitarian, DC. Doris is a\u00a0green lay leader activist\u00a0and retired water resource expert.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This Unitarian Universalist journey of mine has taken me to many places.\u00a0 I have voiced my UU values at Fort Benning, Ga. at the School of the America\u2019s Watch, joining with thousands holding crosses and calling out the names of the disappeared.\u00a0 I stood with the International Faith contingent in Morocco declaring \u201c<\/span>We<\/span> Are Still In\u201d with thousands when the current administration began turning its back on climate justice, withdrawing from the Paris Climate Agreement.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Sometimes my role is using a pen, a voice, or being another face in the crowd. Living in the Nation\u2019s Capital, I feel a unique responsibility to my UU family who cannot be here in person.\u00a0 Volunteering as a Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) Capitol Hill Advocacy Corps member, I can take a seat at the table every month to talk with our elected official\u2019s team. I can help lift your UU voices.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

So they hear <\/span>our<\/span> concerns in person, <\/span>our<\/span> collective values and <\/span>our<\/span> edits to national legislative priorities–so they hear our voices. \u00a0 Inspired by our 5th UU Principle, UUSJ provides a direct way for every UU to participate in the democratic process on the national level.\u00a0 Doing so, we are all advocating for the rest of our Principles.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

That\u2019s why I give my time, money and creativity to the Unitarian Universalist for Social Justice. UUSJ truly delivers UU advocacy in the Nation\u2019s Capital, lifts our voices on Capitol Hill.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yet UUs don\u2019t have to live here in the Capital to have impact. You can participate in UUSJ letter-writing campaigns. Your letters with mine are hand-delivered to elected representatives and their subject-matter lead staff.\u00a0 Monthly, we build relationships with every office on the Hill, hold strategic conversations and explain how our UU values and Principles tie to the policy and actions we\u2019re advocating — all supported with your personal letters.\u00a0 This is not about becoming personal friends, this is about holding elected officials accountable–be they like-minded or not.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

In doing this work, UUSJ collaborates with many other faith legislative experts on the Hill.\u00a0 We unite strategically with a spectrum of faith organizations to identify legislative action with the greatest potential for success. This coalesces into monthly communication.\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

We close the UUSJ letter delivery meetings by asking for the staff\u2019s insightful feedback. Above all, they constantly remind us of how important our letters are to our members of Congress. Our personal stories from home are critical and continue to help shift the country\u2019s future.\u00a0 This is not the only step or action that is needed, to be sure. I believe we need to witness, rally and educate as well. I have done all these and love doing them and do them well. But we can\u2019t lose sight of the advocacy.<\/span><\/p>\n

Supporting the work of UUSJ makes this possible. Together we are linking UUs in DC with UUs across the nation for social justice. That is a needed and worthy goal.<\/span><\/p>\n

In gratitude,<\/p>\n

Doris Marlin<\/p>\n

*\u00a0Please consider making a donation to UUSJ to support our work into 2020<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0*<\/p>\n

——————<\/p>\n

Doris Marlin<\/b> has been Unitarian Universalist since 1985. She is a member of All Souls Church, Unitarian in Washington, DC.\u00a0 She is also a UUSJ Advocacy Corps member, Green Sanctuary Advisory Board member and the UU Ministry For Earth (UUMFE) 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.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This Unitarian Universalist journey of mine has taken me to many places.\u00a0 I have voiced my UU values at Fort Benning, Ga. at the School of the America\u2019s Watch, joining with thousands holding crosses and calling out the names of the disappeared.\u00a0 I stood with the International Faith contingent in Morocco declaring \u201cWe Are Still … Continue reading Doris Marlin on Raising Our UU Values and Voices in the Nation\u2019s Capital (Why I Participate With UUSJ)<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[97,1934,29,16,31,12,13,1952,14],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21315","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-advocacy","category-democracy","category-economic-justice","category-environment","category-human-rights","category-interfaith","category-politics","category-testimonials","category-volunteer"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21315","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=21315"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21315\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":21321,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21315\/revisions\/21321"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=21315"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=21315"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/uusj.net\/wp1\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=21315"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}