UU FA Communications Comm. Zoom call
2019-09-30 19:00 - 20:00 (America/New_York)

Disrupting Environmental Inequality – Film: MANN V FORD
2019-10-04 19:00 - 22:00 | Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, 113 Cottage Place, Ridgewood, NJ, 07450, United States
The Environmental and Racial Justice Committees of the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood invite you to “Disrupting Environmental Inequality,” a Social Justice Weekend at the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood.
FRIDAY, OCTOBER 4th FILM: MANN V FORD
Ramapough Tribe’s legal fight with Ford Motor Company over the contamination of Ringwood, NJ.
Discussion following film led by USR member John Nolan.
7:00 pm in the Fellowship Room
SATURDAY, OCTOBER 5th: PANEL DISCUSSION
Panel discussion on how environmental racism allows our neighbors to suffer disproportionately from pollution and environmental hazards featuring Jeff Tittel, Director, New Jersey Sierra Club, Chief
Vincent Mann, Turtle Clan, Ramapough Lenape Nation, Amy Goldsmith, State Director New Jersey
Clean Water Action, and Steve Kehayes, Paterson Habitat for Humanity.
Light supper served, $10 suggested donation. Reservations for dinner: usr.secretary@gmail.com
Doors open at 6:00pm, speakers 7:00pm in Anderson Auditorium

National Solar Tour
2019-10-05 - 2019-10-06 | Find on Web Site
See what it’s like to live solar. Solar homes, businesses, schools, and more will be opening their doors and answering your questions about what it’s really like to generate your own electricity with solar panels during the National Solar Tour. Find an event near you and see for yourself!

NJDEP Fall Forestry Festival 10 a.m. to 3 p.m.
2019-10-05 10:00 - 15:00 | Forest Resource Educatino Center, 495 Don Connor Blvd, Jackson Township, 08527
The New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection will celebrate trees, autumn and New Jersey’s outdoors with the 25th Annual Fall Forestry Festival on Saturday, Oct. 5 at the Forest Resource Education Center in Jackson. The festival, featuring a variety of outdoor-themed activities for children and adults, will be held from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m., rain or shine. Admission and parking are free.“We’re thrilled to celebrate the Fall Forestry Festival’s 25th year,” said Division of Parks and Forestry Director Olivia Glenn. “We invite nature lovers, families and scouts to get outside, enjoy the fall weather and scenery and participate in the festival’s array of nature-themed activities.”

Disrupting Environmental Inequality – Panel Discussion
2019-10-05 18:00 - 22:00 | Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, 113 Cottage Place, Ridgewood, NJ, 07450, United States

Public Forum: Proposed Gibbstown LNG Export Terminal
2019-10-07 18:30 - 20:30 | Cherry Hill Public Library, 1100 Kings Highway North, Cherry Hill, 08034
A public forum on the Gibbstown Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) export terminal in Gloucester County, NJ will be held on Monday, October 7 in Cherry Hill, NJ to examine and discuss the operations that are proposed, the potential impacts to the environment, public health and safety, and the status of the project. Expert speakers include Fred Millar, LNG and environmental and transportation safety expert.
New Fortress Energy and Delaware River Partners are proposing to add a dock with two more shipping berths to the Gibbstown terminal’s one dock already under construction, potentially tripling the activity at the facility and requiring approximately 1,650 truck trips every day and 24-36 ship passages of loaded LNG or natural gas liquid (NGL) vessels on the Delaware River each year. Rail transport may be added and a new access road built. The Gibbstown site is located adjacent to the residential community of Gibbstown, including schools, playgrounds, and public buildings. Transport by truck and rail will require this flammable and potentially explosive cargo to be carried 125 miles or more through Pennsylvania and New Jersey communities. The highly dangerous loading of LNG directly to ships by pipes will be a continuous operation 24/7, 365 days per year. NGL will be stored on site in an old underground cavern. The entire property is a polluted superfund site that was owned by DuPont as an explosives-manufacturing plant and by other industries that added to the pollution.

Coalition of UU Social Action Networks (CUUSAN) monthly conference call
2019-10-09 08:00 - 09:00, 2019-11-13 07:00 - 08:00
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

UU Social Action Networks: "Capacity Building in Your State" webinar
2019-10-09 12:00 - 13:00
Join Rev. Rob from UU FaithAction and other UUs across the US involved in state-based UU social justice to share best practices and help build up our own capacity to be effective in our faithful social justice witness here in the Garden State. From 12 noon to 1 p.m. C’mon down!
Look back here for call in information.

Environmental Justice TF Video Conference Call
2019-10-09 15:30 - 16:30
Would you like to join in the conversation, find out what’s going on *now* in New Jersey around environmental justice? Join our statewide call held the 1st Thursday of every month at 12 noon sharp. All are invited.
To join the video conference insert the link below in your computer search/browser window and follow the instructions (This is our preferred way to conduct the call. You can join using your desktop, laptop or smartphone camera and the free, downloadable Zoom app.)
Call hosted by Environmental Justice Task Force co-chairs, Peggy Middaugh (UU Congregation of Ocean County) and Ray Nichols (UU in Princeton Congregation). For questions, please contact Peggy Middaugh at peggymiddaugh@gmail.com or 508-864-3489

Use this link to join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/712490459

Or Telephone (please note the Meeting ID number below the dial in number):
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 669 900 6833 or +1 646 876 9923
Meeting ID: 712 490 459

Or iPhone one-tap :
US: +16699006833,,712490459# or +16468769923,,712490459#

NJ Sierra Club Central Group Meeting
2019-10-09 18:30 - 20:30 | Mercer County Community College Student Center, 1200 Old Trenton Rd, West Windsor, 08550
Tim Dillingham of the American Littoral Society will discuss the protection of horseshoe crabs and endangered shorebirds: habitat restoration, fisheries policy and management, aquaculture, and other conflicts in critical foraging areas of the Delaware Bay. We have a lot to talk about, including economics and the environment.
Pizza will be served.
RSVP kipatthesierraclub@gmail.com

Green Cleaning Community Forum
2019-10-13 12:15 - 14:00 | St. John’s Lutheran Church, 587 Springfield Avenue, Summit, 07901
A panel on environmentally responsible home cleaning.

2019/20 Annual Fall Issues Conference
2019-10-19 10:00 - 15:30 | Central Unitarian Church, 105 Fairview Ave, Westwood, 07675
Our annual opportunity for UUs and our allies from across the state to discuss the most important policy and social justice issues of the day. Come join the conversation and help determine the course that UU FaithAction, through its Task Forces, will take legislatively and in its intersectional social justice advocacy in the Garden State!

Register here:http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/51510/c/301/p/salsa/event/common/public/?event_KEY=11572

Planned Parenthood Monmouth County Community Action Team Night
2019-10-24 18:30 - 19:30 | Planned Parenthood Shrewsbury, 69 East Newman Springs Rd, Shrewsbury, 07702
Want to take action to help make real, lasting change in your community while protecting and advancing access to reproductive health care? Join Planned Parenthood Action Fund of New Jersey for our monthly Community Action Team (CAT) meeting. We will provide updates on the current state of play around reproductive health access, make plans and take action!
Our community activists help protect reproductive health through advocacy and engaging other community members around Planned Parenthood’s mission, services, and more. By engaging with our Community Action Teams, you will play an integral role in ensuring access to reproductive health care. No experience required; just a desire to make a difference and protect reproductive health and rights in your community!

What's In Our Drinking Water?
2019-10-25 08:00 - 18:00 | Rutgers Law School, 123 Washington Street, Newark
Rutgers Environmental Health Summit on Emerging Concerns in NJ

Movie "True Justice" & Discussion Night at Pilgrim Baptist Church, Red Bank
2019-10-25 18:30 - 20:30 | Pilgrim Baptist Church of Red Bank, 172 Shrewsbury Avenue, Red Bank
Screening of the 2019 documentary, True Justice, produced by The Equal Justice Initiative and presented by the New Jersey Social Justice Remembrance Coalition. The film will be followed by a discussion about the 1886 racially-motivated lynching in Eatontown, NJ of a former slave and the Coalition’s efforts to place a historical marker at the site of the lynching.
For further information please contact Tim Hartley (UU Congregation in Princeton) at dafthartley@gmail.com

Reproductive Task Force Monthly Conference Call
2019-10-28 19:00 - 20:00, 2019-11-25 19:00 - 20:00 | NJ, United States
The monthly conference call to update and strategize around women’s reproductive justice and rights in New Jersey. To join the call via phone or video, please see details below.
Carol A. Loscalzo (The Unitarian Society of Ridgewood) Task Force For more information, please email reprojustice@uufaithaction.org attn. Carol Loscalzo, TF chair

Welcome to the Reproductive Justice Task Force monthly call!
Time: this is a recurring meeting Meet anytime
Join from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android: https://zoom.us/j/153587254
Or iPhone one-tap :
US: +16465588656,,153587254# or +16699006833,,153587254#
Or Telephone:
Dial(for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location):
US: +1 646 558 8656 or +1 669 900 6833
Meeting ID: 153 587 254
International numbers available: https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=K4sSO3ip6lRKzBkWCjs05g64KmjSSP3Q

Women of Faith Conference
2019-10-29 17:30 - 21:00
This conference is hosted by the Union County Interfaith Coordinating Council and Community Access Unlimited. Location will be announced closer to the time of the event.

Better Angels Debate on Guns in America
2019-10-29 19:00 - 21:00 | Beacon (Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Summit), 4 Waldron Avenue, Summit, 07901, United States
Better Angels Debate on Guns in America: Tuesday, October 29, 2019, 7 – 9 PM, Summit, NJ

You are invited to a Better Angels Debate on Guns in America to be held on Tuesday, October 29, 2019 from 7 – 9 PM, hosted by Beacon UU Congregation in Summit and the Summit NJ Better Angels Alliance.
A Better Angels Debate is a different kind of debate in which a group of people bring their views, and think together about a difficult question. There are no winners or losers. The purpose is to express your views AND listen to others’ views. More information about Better Angels Debates, including a video, can be found at www.better-angels.org/debates/.

We use a modified parliamentary procedure, which helps us speak respectfully and listen carefully to each other. A specific issue on the general topic of guns in America will be chosen through this registration process, phrased in the form of a Resolution. At the debate, participants will express their thoughts For or Against the Resolution. It is also okay, actually encouraged, to express doubt or nuance, and even to change your mind. At its best, this debate is a collective search for greater understanding about an important issue through a vigorous, passionate airing of views, without descending to personal attacks.
There are three goals here:
– To better understand our own views
– To better understand opposing views
– To form stronger relationships with those around us.
After the debate adjourns, we’ll take a few minutes to share what we found surprising, and what we enjoyed.
We hope you find this intriguing and will decide to contribute your thoughts to this exchange of ideas. If you do plan to attend, complete this registration form, including the survey (do not complete the survey if you do not plan to attend). This debate format works best with a moderate number of participants, so attendance will be limited to 45 people, on a first-come, first-served basis. If you want to come, register soon.
The debate also works best when the group is divided on the issue, with half in favor of, and half opposed to, the resolution. The survey is intended to see which of the following Resolutions: a) interests people most; and b) splits opinion closest to 50%-50%. For each of the Resolutions we are considering, we will ask:
– your level of interest in discussing the resolution.
– your position (agree, disagree, neutral) on the resolution.
The survey closes Friday, October 18, at midnight.
We’ll send an email during the week of October 20 to let you know which resolution we’ll be debating, and ask you to confirm that you will attend. Then we will follow up with any last-minute instructions.
If you have any questions about this event or Better Angels, email: betterangelsworkshop712@gmail.com.
Thank you for your interest!

* Required

Author Reading: P Is for Palestine
2019-11-01 18:00 - 19:30 | Palestinian American Community Center, 388 Lakeview Avenue, Clifton, N.J.
We are invited to a reading of the alphabet book P is for Palestine by the author, Dr. Golbarg Bashi. This children’s book has been controversial, and the Highland Park Library scheduled an author’s reading, cancelled it, and finally held it just last weekend. Read more about the event and the controversy here:
https://mondoweiss.net/2019/10/c-is-for-censorship/
Come out to meet our Palestinian neighbors and the author, and hear the alphabet through a Palestinian lens.
Bring your friends. Bring your children!

Criminal Justice Task Force Monthly Call
2019-11-05 20:00 - 21:00
Held the 1st Tuesday of every month, 8 p.m. to 9 p.m., please join us on the UU statewide call to strategize around issues like mass incarceration, prison conditions, solitary/isolated confinement and more. To join the call via phone or video use dial-in instructions below.
For more information or to get on the email list for upcoming meetings and events, please contact Susan MacDonnell, Task Force Chair susmacdonn@gmail.com(UU Congregation in Princeton) or Anne Houle, Vice Chair, annehoule0102@gmail.com (UU Congregation of Monmouth Co, Lincroft)
Topic: Criminal Justice Reform TF meeting
Time: Every first Tuesday evening of the month, 8 to 9 p.m.
Preferred! Please try to join from your PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android using this video link so we can see who you are: https://zoom.us/j/185324449
Smartphone: the meeting ID is automatically dialed when you cut and paste one of the following two sequences onto your screen: +16699006833,,185324449# or +16465588656,,185324449#
Telephone: Dial (for higher quality, dial a number based on your current location): US: +1 669 900 6833 followed by this Meeting ID when prompted: 185 324 449
International numbers available: https://zoom.us/zoomconference?m=3Y5zCDC0Pfwes4YTVDALak3Ja5cqdVFx

FILM: A Plastic Ocean
2019-11-08 18:45 - 21:45 | Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, 113 Cottage Place, Ridgewood, NJ, 07450, United States
The Environmental Justice Committee of the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, Green Ridgewood, and Ridgewood Parks and Recreation invite you to experience
A PLASTIC OCEAN an award winning documentary revealing the global effects of plastic pollution and highlighting solutions that everyone can do to create a greener ocean. Learn why Ridgewood’s new ordinance banning single use plastic bags is so important.

The GREEN NEW DEAL: A Resolution Creating Political Will to Save Habitable Earth
2019-11-12 07:00 - 20:30 | Beacon (Unitarian Universalist Congregation in Summit), 4 Waldron Avenue, Summit, 07901, United States
A panel discussion with Dr. Marian Glenn, Ecologist, Rev. Ron Tuff, Outreach for Green Faith, and moderated by Prof. Daniela Gioseffi.

Intersections - Ending Gender Violence, Finding Anti-Racist Solidarity
2019-11-13 20:00 - 21:30 | UU Congregation at Montclair, 67 Church Street, Montclair, New Jersey

Dismantling the Racism Machine, An Interactive Performance
2019-11-15 19:30 | Unitarian Society of Ridgewood, 113 Cottage Place, Ridgewood, NJ, 07450, United States
This Friday evening The Racial Justice Committee of the Unitarian Society of Ridgewood will have an event, “Dismantling the Racism Machine, An Interactive Performance”. We are very excited to welcome Meta Theater . We think it will be an interesting and thought provoking event.

MTC’s performances are original and written from the lived experiences of cast members.
Cast includes women inside/outside the prison walls, as we rehearse weekly at a women’s
prison in New Jersey. They work within a Transformative Justice model, and utilize this model
to discuss issues and write work.

Karen Gaffney, author of Dismantling Racism will be at the performance.

“Value to the Soul: Voting Rights as a Human Right” Ron Pierce, NJ Institute for Social Justice
2019-12-01 09:00 - 10:00 | UU Congregation of Monmouth County, 1475 West Front St., Lincroft, NJ, 07738, United States
Join us at 8:45 am for coffee/tea and bagels. Dialogs begin at 9 am.
Our Dialog series provides a forum for intellectual pursuit and rational thought as integral to our spiritual journeys at UUCMC. We welcome suggestions for speakers and topics. The series runs from October through May.
The right to vote preserves all other rights; it protects from a tyrannical system of government. Generationally silencing communities of color with a variety of techniques has led to segregated schools, segregated housing, segregated neighborhoods and segregated houses of worship. If we take away peoples’ voices, we remove their ability to be productive and they become bargaining chips as they did in the eighties and nineties as Get Tough on Crime rhetoric led to more oppressive laws with greater sanctions to gain a few extra votes, at the expense of the human dignity of those we would not allow a voice.
Ron was incarcerated for 30 years. Through the NJ Step program, he earned college credits, and after parole, received a Justice Studies degree from Rutgers. The New Jersey Institute for Social Justice employs him as the Democracy and Justice Fellow. He has a passion to help lower the recidivism rate by working to change policies that create barriers formerly incarcerated individuals encounter while trying to reenter society. He has written articles, co-written a play, and has spoken in many places.

Accompaniment Training
2019-12-02 19:00 - 21:00 | Temple Ner Tamid, 936 Broad Street, Bloomfield, 07003
Monday, December 02, 2019 at 07:00 PM
Temple Ner Tamid in Bloomfield, NJ

Accompaniment Training

The New Sanctuary Coalition (NSC) accompaniment program recruits and trains volunteers to accompany people facing deportation to their immigration hearings and ICE check-ins. This provides moral support to the person facing deportation and enables volunteers to hold immigration authorities accountable. Standing in solidarity with migrants facing deportation also demonstrates to immigration judges, ICE officers, and government attorneys that there is a community mobilized against their deportation.
The Immigration Accompaniment Program helps support families who are going through the immigration process in 3 ways:

PROVIDES A SUPPORT STRUCTURE to strengthen those caught in immigration proceedings

KEEPS FAMILY MEMBERS INFORMED at every step of the process as their loved ones move forward

HOLDS LEGAL OFFICIALS ACCOUNTABLE for providing accurate information and serving due process

It is a concrete way to extend sanctuary for the most vulnerable among us. Sanctuary is not a physical entity but the spaces wherein all of us can breathe freely and in dignity.
We are building a movement that cares and protects the other, not matter where they are from or who they are.
How does it work?
Training consists of grounding the immigration system’s present moment in its historical and political context, framing our work through NSC’s founding principles, delving into the specifics of what our accompaniment work accomplishes, and outlining strategies for allyship in light of current threats to migrant communities.
Once you’re trained you become part of the accompaniment program. You’ll learn about upcoming accompaniments and can sign up for time slots and locations that work for you. You’ll also leave with resources, information and thought partnership for building a stronger network of allies in your community.

You must pre-register here.

Criminal Justice Task Force Call
2019-12-03 20:00 - 21:00

Sandy Hook Vigil
2019-12-08 16:00 - 18:00 | Central Unitarian Church, 105 Fairview Ave, Westwood, 07675
Main sponsors: Brady Campaign and Moms Demand Action.
