Unitarian Universalist FaithAction NJ

Reproductive Justice Task Force Monthly Call
2022-05-23 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-04-25 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York) | Zoom
The monthly conference call to update and strategize around reproductive justice and rights in New Jersey. Join us monthly on the fourth Monday, 7-8 PM.
For Zoom invitation and agenda, please email reprojustice@uufaithaction.org attn. Carol Loscalzo, Task Force Chair.
Carol A. Loscalzo (The Unitarian Society of Ridgewood) is Task Force Chair. For more information on reproductive justice, please email reprojustice@uufaithaction.org attn. Carol Loscalzo.
For general inquiries about our Task Forces, email admin@uufaithaction.org.

The GVRC Research Day
2022-05-20 09:00 - 15:45
Welcome to The GVRC Research Day! During this free event on May 20th, we will showcase gun violence research being done by our leadership team, GVRC post-doctoral and doctoral students, community partners, and researchers we have funded this year. This conference is not looking to engage with simply an academic audience. Instead, we’d like this to be a truly community-engaged event, with community members, those involved in violence interruption work, policy makers, journalists, students, educators, the military, and others attending.
Opening Remarks by Senator Cory Booker and U.S. Representative Bonnie Watson Coleman.
Register here: https://hopin.com/events/the-njgvrc-research-day/registration

Who we are

The New Jersey Gun Violence Research Center (GVRC) is one of just three state-funded gun violence research centers in the entire country, which means we have an important role in gun violence prevention and research. The goals of the GVRC are to conduct and fund cutting-edge scientific research on gun violence prevention, and also serve as a voice that makes scientific information available to all communities impacted by gun violence. We believe that everyone should have access to information that can save lives. The GVRC will focus on all aspects of gun violence, including both suicide and interpersonal violence. We are committed to combating racial disparities that leave Black and brown communities shouldering a disproportionate level of the burden of interpersonal gun violence, and we also aim to partner with groups like our service members and veterans who are so heavily impacted by firearm suicide.

Reparations Task Force Monthly Call
2022-05-17 19:00 - 20:30, 2022-04-19 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
The Reparations Task Force convenes monthly, for Unitarian Universalists to strategize around advancing reparations for New Jersey. Newcomers are warmly welcome!
Read and sign the petition.
For more info and to join the call, contact Task Force Chairs Rohn Hein (reparations@uufaithaction.org) or administrator Emily Parker (admin@uufaithaction.org).

IMAGINE MORE: Racial Justice Begins with Us
2022-05-17 18:00 - 19:15, 2022-04-26 18:00 - 19:15 | Zoom
IMAGINE MORE: Racial Justice Begins with Us
6-part series
IMAGINE MORE: Racial Justice Begins with Us challenges us to imagine racial justice as integral to the future of New Jersey.

CLICK HERE for information on the full series including the following sessions.

Eliminating the Racial Wealth Gap and Ending Poverty – February 24
Disrupting the Criminal Justice System – March 15
Achieving Safe and Healthy Homes for All – April 26
Reaching Equity in Education – May 17
Ensuring Health for All – June 21
Building Political Power of the Most Impacted – July 21

Attendance is free and open to all.

IMAGINE MORE: Racial Justice Begins with Us brings together one of the largest and most diverse lineups of New Jersey organizations and voices from across the ideological spectrum to develop an action plan for racial justice and reparations. Participants include national thought leaders, philanthropic and community-based organizations, policy advocates, jurists, and local activists who have been directly impacted by injustice.

Criminal Justice Reform Monthly Conference Call
2022-05-16 19:00 - 20:00, 2022-04-18 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
Join us on the third Monday of the month from 7–8 PM for our UU statewide Criminal Justice Reform call, where we strategize around issues like racial justice, mass incarceration, prison conditions and more.
For the Zoom or phone dial-up information to join the call, and/or to get on the email list for upcoming meetings and events, please contact admin@uufaithaction.org.

Annual Meeting
2022-05-14 10:00 - 11:30 | Zoom
Our UU FaithAction NJ Annual Meeting is Saturday, May 14, 10–11:30 AM! The event is virtual via zoom.
The meeting will feature reports from our task forces, Executive Director, President and Treasurer. Our Annual Meeting is free and open to the public, and all NJ UUs are encouraged to attend!
There is no cost to attend the annual meeting, but your sign-up is greatly appreciated. Click the button below to sign-up form and receive the Zoom link:
Sign Up

FAIR (Youth Group)
2022-05-12 20:30 - 21:30, 2022-04-14 20:30 - 21:30 | Zoom
F.A.I.R. is an interfaith group of youth in grades 8-12 from across NJ and PA. Our goal: To work to incorporate racial bias education into NJ and PA school systems and provide educational opportunities to our community’s on the topic of race.
We meet every other Thursday at 7:30 PM on Zoom. Sign up here!
Find us on Instagram @faithactionyouth_
Contact us at fair@uufaithaction.org if you have any questions or concerns!
Contact our adult advisors: Rev. Rob Gregson at rob@uufaithaction.org, or Laura Kushner at laura@uufaithaction.org.

New Jersey: Slave State of the North
2022-05-12 19:00 - 21:00 | Zoom
May 12th, 7-9 PM
Join the Zoom at tinyurl.com/NJSlaveState
The purpose of the program is to introduce you to the difficult history of slavery in New Jersey.
Featured Speakers:
Gail R. Safian, Author of Slavery in New Jersey: A Troubled History
Samuel Still Ill, Chairman of Dr. James Still Historic Office Site, Medford
Followed by:
Q and A time and “What Can We Do?”
For more information, please contact reparations[at]uucch.org
Sponsored by the Reparations Task Force at UUCCH (Unitarian Universalist Church in Cherry Hill)

UUFANJ Board Meeting
2022-05-12 18:30 - 20:30, 2022-05-10 19:30 - 21:30, 2022-04-14 18:30 - 20:30, 2022-04-12 19:30 - 21:30 | Zoom
Members/supporters of UU FaithAction NJ are welcome to attend our monthly all-volunteer Board meetings. To access online meetings (all meetings from March 2020 onward will be conducted online) via the Zoom conferencing platform, please contact Board President Mia Morse, at mia.morse19@gmail.com, or board member Nick Lewis, at ozballnick@gmail.com, and request the Zoom login code. You must give at least 48 hours notice to request the code to allow our volunteer board members enough time to reply.
In the event you do not hear back with 48 hours notice, please contact Executive Director Charles Loflin, at execdir@uufaithaction.org or at (908) 376-6535.
As per our bylaws, the board leadership reserves the right to call an executive session of the board to discuss matters not appropriate for a more public conversation.

Common Read: "The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome" by Alondra Nelson
2022-05-11 19:00 - 20:30, 2022-04-27 19:00 - 20:30, 2022-04-06 19:00 - 20:30 | Zoom
Registration is now open for for the six session common read of The Social Life of DNA, sponsored by the UUFANJ Reparations Task Force. Sessions will be conducted over Zoom on Feb 23, March 9, March 23, April 6, April 27, and May 11 from 7:00-8:30pm.
The common read curriculum is prepared with leadership by Dionne Ford, author, and Dr. Mahdi Ibn-Ziyad, Reparations Task Force Co-Chair.
Sign up!
Course outline:
Feb. 23, Preface and Introduction (29 pps)
March 9, Chapters 1 & 2: Reconciliation Projects & Ground Work (24pps)
March 23, Chapter 3 & 4: Game Changer & The Pursuit of African Ancestry (41 pps)
April 6, Chapters 5 & 6: Roots Revelations & 6 Acts of Reparation (27 pps)
April 27, Chapter 7 The Rosa Parks of the Reparations Litigation Movement (20 pps)
May 11, Chapter 8 & 9: DNA Diasporas & Racial Politics After the Genome (26 pps)
About The Social Life of DNA
In The Social Life of DNA: Race, Reparations, and Reconciliation After the Genome, Alondra Nelson details how DNA testing is being used to grapple with the unfinished business of slavery: “to foster reconciliation, to establish ties with African ancestral homelands, to rethink and sometimes alter citizenship, and to make legal claims for slavery reparations.” In her deep dive into the intersection of genetic ancestry and racial politics, Nelson gives an overview of US reparations projects over the past century including one in our backyard – the African Burial Ground in New York City. Now a national monument and the oldest and largest known excavated burial ground in North America for both free and enslaved Africans, the African Burial Ground was a major factor in the development of consumer DNA testing, a multi-billion dollar industry.
Teaming up with Source of Knowledge
UU FaithAction NJ is working with Source of Knowledge—a Newark-based bookstore and community center that centers Black art, Black literature, culture, and community—to stock copies of The Social Life of DNA for our members. Price is $20, plus $4 shipping if you do not pick up at their shop in Newark. Please indicate your intention to purchase from Source of Knowledge; copies have been ordered, and we will contact our members as soon as they are available.
Alternatively, paperback copies are available from Beacon Press ($20), and E-Book copies are available from Bookshop.org ($10).

Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America
2022-05-11 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
The Reproductive Justice Team of The Unitarian Society of Ridgewood presents a book discussion with author Lauren Rankin:
BODIES ON THE LINE

At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America

Wednesday evening, May 11, 2022
At 7pm on Zoom*

*RSVP required:
Carol Loscalzo closcalzo@aol.com
Regina Branca rghb65@gmail.com

Lauren Rankin is a writer, speaker, and activist. Her work has been featured at the Washington Post, The Cut, Fast Company, Teen Vogue, Cosmopolitan, NBC News, Refinery29, Rolling Stone, and many more. Her debut book, Bodies on the Line: At the Front Lines of the Fight to Protect Abortion in America, out on April 5, 2022, is available for pre-order now. She served as a volunteer clinic escort at a New Jersey abortion clinic from 2014-2020, and is a board member of A is For, a reproductive rights advocacy organization.

Ocean County Environmental Justice Community Engagement Session
2022-05-11 18:00 - 19:30 | Second Baptist Church of Toms River, 2 First Street, South Toms River, 08753
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (NJDEP) is pleased to invite Ocean County residents to attend a community engagement session regarding Environmental Justice with DEP Commissioner Shawn LaTourette and EPA Region 2 Regional Administrator Lisa Garcia.
In-Person and Virtual Options Available
Date and Time: Wednesday, May 11, 2022, 6:00-7:30pm
Location: Second Baptist Church of Toms River, 2 First Street, South Toms River, New Jersey, 08753
Livestream: via Zoom. Click here to register.
In-person attendees will be required to wear masks.
This session is sponsored by the Toms River Area branch of the NAACP.
The community engagement session will provide residents, community groups, and other members of the public a chance to meet Commissioner LaTourette and Regional Administrator Garcia and discuss environmental justice issues in Ocean County. The Commissioner will also provide the community with an update on the Department’s efforts to advance the mission of environmental justice for New Jersey’s overburdened communities.
This community engagement session is part of the Administration’s commitment to promoting environmental justice in New Jersey to ensure that all state residents, regardless of race, ethnicity, color, national origin, or income are able to live, learn, work, and recreate in a healthy and clean environment and to have equal access to green space, clean energy resources, and other environmental benefits.

Coalition of UU Social Action Networks (CUUSAN) monthly conference call
2022-05-11 08:00 - 09:00, 2022-04-13 08:00 - 09:00
Rev. Rob Gregson joins other paid and volunteer staff on this monthly networking call. CUUSAN is the national organization that coordinates state-level UU social justice witness in 25 states across the U.S. If interested in joining the discussion, please reach out to Rev. Gregson at execdir@uufaithaction.org

NJ Communities on Accountable Policing
2022-05-09 18:00 - 19:30 | https://us02web.zoom.us/j/81856954228?pwd=[REDACTED] NJ, United States
West Orange Police Dept and Mental Health Association of Essex and Morris about their Partnership program which was piloted in fall 2019. The zoom only meeting is Monday, May 9th from 6-7:15 p.m
Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 818 5695 4228
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Criminal Justice Reform Monthly Conference Call
2022-05-03 20:00 - 21:00 | NJ, United States
Join us on the first Tuesday of the month from 8 – 9 pm for our UU statewide call where we strategize around issues like racial justice, mass incarceration, prison conditions and more.
For the Zoom or phone dial-up information to join the call, and/or to get on the email list for upcoming meetings and events, please contact Susan M., Co-Chair (UU Congregation in Princeton) at criminaljustice@uufaithaction.org or Anne H., Co-Chair (UU Congregation of Monmouth Co., Lincroft) at annehoule0102@gmail.com

Monthly UUFANJ Board Meeting
2022-05-02 19:00 - 21:00 | NJ, United States
Members/supporters of UU FaithAction NJ are welcome to attend our monthly all-volunteer Board meetings. To access online meetings (all meetings from March 2020 to present time will be conducted online) via the Zoom conferencing platform, please contact the Board President, Mia Morse or Vice President, Nick Lewis, ozballnick@gmail.com and request the “Zoom login” code. You must give at least 48 hours notice to request the code to allow our volunteer board members enough time to reply.
In the event that you do not hear back prior to that 48 hour cut off, please contact the Executive Director, Rev. Rob Gregson, execdir@uufaithaction.org or on the office phone, 908-376-6535.
As per our bylaws, the board leadership reserves the right to call an executive session of the board to discuss matters not appropriate for a more public conversation.

Congregational Liaisons Monthly Call
2022-04-14 19:00 - 20:00 | Zoom
**Rescheduled from April 7th**
Held the first Thursday of every month, our organizing call for all UU FaithAction NJ Congregational Liaisons.
If you are interested in our Congregational Liaisons program, please contact Communications Coordinator Emily Parker at emily@uufaithaction.org or at ‪(908) 767-5145‬.

Spring Beach Sweeps | Clean Ocean Action
2022-04-09 09:00 - 12:30 | NJ, United States
CALLING ALL BEACH SWEEPERS!
Registration is now open for COA’s Spring Beach Sweeps on Saturday, April 9th! Invite a few friends, and make plans to spend a Saturday morning appreciating and protecting our ocean. 🌊
View the list of 70+ cleanup locations along the Jersey Shore and REGISTER here: https://cleanoceanaction.org/aboutbeachsweeps

UU FaithAction NJ Spring Gala
2022-04-09 | NJ, United States
UU Faith Action New Jersey 2022 Spring Gala
For now, we plan on in-person and virtual invitations.
We look forward to reconnecting and being inspired!
Stay tuned for updates.
