All are invited and welcome to experience, return, and give to the BIPOC community. Join for worship!
Wednesday, May 19th, 2021
8:30 pm Eastern via Zoom
Registration link: http://bit.ly/may19druumm
Charles Loflin
Criminal Justice Reform: Take Action to Expand Re-entry Services
As UUs we know that our entire society is improved when everyone has a chance to change and grow. Expanding reentry services and insuring that those released from incarceration receive timely and effective help will go a long way towards supporting them to develop their gifts and talents, and become contributing members of their community.
Our 2021 Gala Gift Baskets Auction is now OPEN for bidding!
The 2021 Justice Gala includes an online auction of social justice themed gift baskets donated by individual UU congregations. While we encourage everyone who can to attend the online Gala, the basket bidding is open to all.
Bidding will be open from 7:00am on Tuesday, February 16 until 12:05pm on Wednesday, March 3. There are 13 baskets, so please be sure to scroll all the way down the page, so you don’t miss what could be your favorite!
Tell Assembly Law and Public Safety Committee members that you support A4685 to provide re-entry services
Here in New Jersey, we continue the important work of undoing decades of mass-incarceration. We know that the over-reliance on punishment and retribution, including harmful policies like mandatory minimum sentencing, has led only to over-crowded prisons nationwide, and devastated families and communities in their wake.
Support the Reproductive Freedom Act (S3030/A4848)
Tell lawmakers that now is the time to protect the fundamental and constitutional right to full reproductive freedom. The Reproductive Freedom Act (S3030/A4848) will expand and protect access to reproductive health care for all New Jerseyans.
Support Restorative and Transformative Justice for Youth
If passed, the Restorative and Transformative Justice for Youth and Communities Pilot Program (A4663/S2924) will establish pilot programs in Paterson, Newark, Trenton and Camden. These pilot programs will assist young people after they are released from juvenile facilities, and will also focus on keeping young people from entering the criminal legal system in the first place.
Wraparound services for youth after release would include mental health services, substance use disorder treatment, and life skill supports– all with the goal that they will get a fresh start and fully develop their potential in a positive direction. The second part, centered on keeping youth out of detention and/or the adult system, establishes “restorative justice hubs” where youth and their families can heal, build healthy relationships, and, if necessary, address any harm to individuals or community through dialogue, accountability, and repair.
Help us now by sending a letter to members of the Assembly Law and Public Safety committee and the Senate Judiciary committee to urge their quick action on this bill. The Assembly will hear the bill this coming Wednesday, so please take action quickly.
Registration Now Open
Registration Open for the UU Justice Gala 2021
Our major, most important, super big fundraiser of the year!
Please join us for UUFANJ’s UU Justice Gala 2021. We’ll gather in fellowship at this virtual event to celebrate what we have accomplished through Faith Action. Racial Justice has been chosen as the theme to highlight the overarching goal of the dismantling racism work across all our Task Forces.
New Jerseyans Need The Reproductive Freedom Act
Thrive NJ, a coalition of advocates across the state, calls on lawmakers to pass the Reproductive Freedom Act (S3030/A4848). It has been one year since Governor Murphy declared in his 2020 State of the State address that New Jersey must protect the ”fundamental and constitutional right to full reproductive freedom.” We call upon our leaders in the State Senate and Assembly to join the Governor and take a stand against these injustices by advancing the Reproductive Freedom Act. The first step is hearing the bill in committee, which they must do in a timely manner.
Rev. Rob Gregson is quoted in a press release from Thrive NJ:
“We at UU FaithAction NJ are proud to stand in a long line of religious individuals and groups who across generations and faiths support initiatives like the Reproductive Freedom Act. We call for the RFA to be debated and then passed into law swiftly in New Jersey, ensuring that the fundamental right to decide for oneself and one’s family the most intimate and delicate decisions about health, dignity and one’s own body remain the prerogative of each New Jerseyan–not shackled by a philosophy foreign to one’s own conscience.”
You can read the full text of the press release here.
We call on our representatives to recognize the urgency of need, and commit to enacting the Reproductive Freedom Act expediently.
New Jersey Clean Energy Equity Act (A4185)
Please help ensure that New Jersey’s communities of color are included in the move to renewable energy. Governor Murphy’s New Jersey Clean Energy Act is a first step toward a renewable energy future in New Jersey, but we must be explicit and deliberate in ensuring that all New Jerseyans benefit from a clean energy future and are not burdened by health-harming pollution.