News and Alerts

June 2 – Gun Violence Prevention Day

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New Jersey has some of the toughest gun was in the Nation.  However, according to Governor Murphy, 77% of the guns used to commit crimes  in New Jersey in the first quarter of this year came from out-of-state.

Attorney General Gurbir Grewal is quoted as saying that these guns are pouring in from other states: “In places like North Carolina, places like Georgia, where they have weak gun laws. This quarter, 7 states alone accounted for 326 of the crime guns we recovered on the streets of New Jersey.”  He went on to say “Grewal says the scope of gun violence is immense and no community is immune from the problem. He says there were 93 shooting incidents in the state last month, 17 of them murders.”

The week of June 7 launches this year’s Gun Violence Prevention week.  However, on May 6, at 6:40 pm, join us at the Town Council meeting for Mayor Lempert’s Wear Orange 2019 proclamation!

nj-mercer-princeton wear orange 2019 proclamation

Princeton Township Municipal Building, 400 Witherspoon St, Princeton, NJ 08542)

Please arrive by 6:45pm so we can get a photo before the meeting begins, then stay for the announcement of June 7 as National Gun Violence Awareness Day in Princeton. This is a family-friendly event – and remember to wear orange!

We are asking you to WEAR ORANGE – a color often associated with the hunter’s that wear orange vests so other hunters know not to shoot them, on JUNE 2 and June 9th to your congregational meeting and to any of the events below.

nj-union-peace march for gun violence awareness

Echo Lake Park

Springfield Ave
Mountainside, NJ 07092
When: Saturday, June 8, 9:00 AM

Please join us for a Peace March and Rally with local politicians for Wear Orange/Gun Violence Awareness Weekend.

nj-morris county- turn south street orange for gun violence awareness

Morristown City Hall

200 South St
Morristown, NJ 07960
When: Friday, June 7, 10:00 AM

Join us for Morris County Moms Demands Action Wear Orange (WO) Gun Violence Awareness Event. We will meet on the steps of Morristown Town Hall and we will”paint” South Street Orange by decorating the steps of Town Hall Orange, tying ribbons around lamp posts, changing church spotlights to orange and having store owners hang WO placards in their storefront window.

nj-middlesex wear orange day of empowerment

Memorial Square Park

2 Livingston Ave
New Brunswick, NJ 8901
When: Sunday, June 9, 1:00 PM

Join Moms Demand Action for an Interfaith Community Gathering as we celebrate Wear Orange Weekend. We will honor survivors of gun violence, educate and participate in activities about gun violence awareness, and commit to action in the Gun Violence Prevention Movement! All ages welcome!

nj-bergen-wear orange family day

Wood Park (behind Leonia Library/Rec Center)

370 Broad Ave
Leonia, NJ 07605
When: Sunday, June 9, 1:00 PM

Celebrate with us! Moms Demand Action along with Leonia Action Alliance is hosting a Wear Orange Family Fun Day! Will will honor our community in our efforts to end gun violence. Music, speakers, kids’ crafts, food trucks and more.

Plenary 2019 Documents

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This year, UU FaithAction NJ is attempting to conduct all of our conferences in the “greenest” way possible. We are eliminating the conference packets, which are usually distributed on the day of the event at the registration table. Instead, all documents are emailed to those individuals that pre-register. Before each event, in this case Plenary 2019, the documents will also be found on the main page of our website. We ask that you read all reports, articles, biographies either via the website or the emailed documents. Of course, you are free to print whatever documents you would like.

Plenary 2019 Reports:

Chuck Collins 2019 Plenary Keynote Speaker

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Chuck Collins is an author and senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies in Washington, DC, where he directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good. He is also co-founder of Wealth for Common Good. He is an expert on economic inequality in the US, and has pioneered efforts to bring together investors and business leaders to speak out publicly against corporate practices and economic policies that increase economic inequality.

Collins has written a number of books about inequality, tax policy and social change philanthropy. In 2000, he co-authored the book, Robin Hood Was Right: A Guide to Giving Your Money for Social Change. In 2000 (revised in 2005), he co-authored with Felice Yeskel Economic Apartheid in America: A Primer on Economic Inequality and Insecurity.  Collins is coauthor, with William H. Gates Sr, of the 2003 book, Wealth and Our Commonwealth: Why America Should Tax Accumulated Fortunes, which argues that the estate tax is both fair and necessary. In 2013, he authored 99 to 1: How Wealth Inequality is Wrecking the World and What We Can Do About It. His most recent book is Born on Third Base: A One Percenter Makes the Case for Tackling Inequality, Bringing Wealth Home, and Committing to the Common Good.

Between 1983 and 1991, Collins worked at the Institute for Community Economics, based in Greenfield, Massachusetts, providing technical advice to community land trusts and mobile home resident cooperatives. Between 1991 and 1995, he was director of the HOME Coalition in Massachusetts and a field organizer for the Tax Equity Alliance of Massachusetts (now the Mass Budget and Policy Center). In 1995, he co-founded, with Felice Yeskel and S.M. Miller, United for a Fair Economy in Boston, Massachusetts, a left-leaning national organization devoted to education about growing income and wealth inequality.

Collins has worked with a number of prominent wealthy individuals, including William H. Gates, Sr. and George Soros, in an effort to promote tax equity. 

In 2005, he became a senior scholar at the Institute for Policy Studies, where he co-edits the web site, Inequality.org and directs the Program on Inequality and the Common Good. In 2008, he cofounded Wealth for the Common Good, which subsequently merged in 2015 with the Patriotic Millionaires.

At the Institute for Policy Studies, Collins’ research has looked at income and wealth inequality and the racial wealth divide. He has co-authored a number of studies including “Billionaire Bonanza” exploring the share of wealth flowing to the top 1 percent and Forbes 400, and the “Ever Growing Gap”, which examines the future of the racial wealth divide.

 

A Statement of Recommitment from Unitarian Universalist FaithAction NJ

by Rev. Rob Gregson Leave a comment

A Statement of Recommitment from Unitarian Universalist FaithAction NJ

In the midst of a wider culture paying attention to voices of the #MeToo movement, as well as Unitarian Universalists’ growing attention to white supremacist patterns present in unbidden, yet nevertheless, true ways, the Board and staff of UU FaithAction NJ is taking action in “our own house.”  Even in the midst of our ongoing and deep commitment to social justice, we are aware that we have not always been doing our own work around race and gender dynamics.

Read More “A Statement of Recommitment from Unitarian Universalist FaithAction NJ”

Op-Ed on Universal Representation

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Unitarian Universalist FaithAction New Jersey’s very own Rev. Rob Gregson pens an OpEd in advance of Governor Murphy’s budget address on expanding legal defense for immigrants who are detained and facing deportation in NJ.

“Deportation is one of the harshest penalties an individual can face under U.S. law. It can mean permanent exile from family and loved ones, loss of livelihood, and in some cases a return to a place where a person risks persecution or death…. We should all call upon the Governor and legislature to fully fund deportation defense for immigrants in New Jersey. In so doing, we can echo Lady Liberty’s timeless, message and disavow the shrill words of the latest political opportunist: immigrants are not–have never been–strangers to these shores.”

The piece can be read in its entirety here: Universal Representation.

 

 

Amazon Smile and UU FaithAction NJ

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Did you know Amazon will give UU FaithAction NJ .05% of every dollar you spend on Amazon…. and who doesn’t spend on Amazon?  It’s easy to set up:  Log onto to smile.amazon.com and under Charitable Organizations search for Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry.  Then, whenever you need to purchase something from Amazon, use the amazon smile site and shop as normal!  Amazon will then send us a check every month for 5% of all sales linked to UULMNJ (our former name). Or you can simply click here.

Join us for Plenary 2019!

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Chuck Collins, author of Born on Third Base: Growing Up Advantaged in a Time of Extreme Inequality, will be the keynote speaker at this year’s annual Plenary to be held Saturday, April 13th from 10:00 am – 3:30 pm.  Join us at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation at Montclair located at 67 Church Street, Montclair NJ. 07042.  Register HERE!

 

Two Sundays, Two Awesome Conferences

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On Sunday, February 3rd, UU FaithAction held the first Justice Policy Update Conference, which featured Professor Meghan Sacks, Criminal Justice Program Chair at Fairleigh Dickinson University.  Professor Sacks talked very knowledgeably and passionately about the legislation that created mass incarceration, the current efforts to amend some of these policies, and the injustice these policies perpetuate.  As one seasoned conference attendee stated, “It was the BEST speaker she had ever heard on this topic.”  Professor Sacks recommends that anyone interested in mass incarceration watch the films 13th and Riker’s Island: An American Jail.

On Sunday, February 10, UU FaithAction held the second Policy Update Conference at the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Princeton.  Our guest speaker was journalist and WNYC on-air correspondent Matt Katz.  Matt Katz has become, over the past three yeas, a leading investigative reporter on immigration, detainees, protective status and refugees in America.  His talk was informative and riveting.  Prior to his deep dive into Immigration, Matt reported on former Gov. Chris Christie and was part of a team of journalists who earned a Peabody award for their reporting.