Executive Director’s Report, Fall Issues Conference 2019
It has been an eventful spring and summer 2019 for UU FaithAction NJ…which begs the question: when has it been an uneventful season where social justice ministry is concerned?
One way to track our goings-on since last April’s Annual General Meeting is through pictures. I hope you enjoy this pictorial timeline made possible by our new eco-friendly digital format. They help to describe some of the key actions and relationships that have shaped my work and our “ministry of the whole” over the past 6 months.
| Social Justice Writ Large |
Since last April two critical bills UU FaithAction supporters have championed for years were passed: Reforming Solitary/Isolated Confinement in our state and county jails and prisons and the passage of the very first UU-researched, written, sponsored and championed legislation, Address Confidentiality for Reproductive Health Clinic Staff and Clients.
Our Volunteers Who Help Make it All Happen
It is important to mention early on the many volunteers who contribute to compassionate and justice-making social change in the Garden State. Special kudos this round go to Reproductive Justice Task Force (RJTF) Chair, Carol Loscalzo (Unitarian Society of Ridgewood), who proved instrumental in getting the above mentioned reproductive rights legislation passed and signed into law, with a great deal of help from Legal Advocacy Project (LAP) pro bono attorneys. Our current LAP director is Lina Genovesi (UU Princeton) who remains on retainer and has already helped us join a legal challenge as “friends of the court” (amici brief) to Pres. Trump’s diversion of funds to build a border wall. This year RJTF will be working to help pass The Dignity for Incarcerated Parents Act as well as working with the Right to Thrive Coalition’s interfaith mobilization efforts in the face of national challenges to Roe v. Wade.
Gratitude as well to the chair of our Criminal Justice Reform Task Force (CJRTF), Susan MacDonnell (UU Princeton) and special Solitary/Isolated Confinement advocate, Trish Idrobo (Beacon UU/Summit) for their roles in ensuring UU voices were heard around conference tables and in Trenton when pushing to enact some of the most progressive reforms in the United States around the use and abuse of solitary confinement. For the remainder of this year and into 2020, CJRTF will continue to work on Voting Rights for the Incarcerated, following up on their important effort (alongside the Legal
Outgoing Gun Violence Prevention chair, Jeannine Clayton-Coyne (UU Church in Cherry Hill) and incoming GVP chair, Kathy Allen (Beacon/Summit) have helped immensely to push for sensible, life-saving gun violence prevention measures and raising the UU profile among other GVP groups including Moms Demand Action and the Brady and Giffords campaigns. Keep an eye out for the Guns/Ammo Safe Storage bill which we have helped craft and which may need some extra pushing to get through this next legislative session.
On-going advocacy on behalf of immigrant and detainee rights and dignity remains both a point of pride and heartbreak for many of us. Several of us took part in a press conference and demonstration in the Assembly visitors’ gallery demanding that Speaker Coughlin (D-Woodbridge/Dist. 19) allow a vote on Drivers’ licenses for those with limited documentation.
While some of our coalition efforts proved successful–for example, voting an additional $2.1 million budget appropriation for Universal Legal Representation for migrants held in NJ based detention centers, an effort UU FaithAction advocated for at a leadership level both this year and last–other important have been delayed ad infinitum by Democratic leadership, in particular the driver’s license bill which we will continue to advocate for in the current lame duck session. Many UUs have also been deeply involved in trying to highlight the many abuses occurring in county and state level detention centers (i.e. jails) and hold those in power to account.
Members of the Immigration Justice Task Force (IJTF) and staff worked alongside 2 Immigration Justice interns on what we loosely call the “3 Things You Can Do to Help Migrants” project. Funded by a generous grant from the UU Funding Panel, the brochure (shown) will aid the new IJTF Action Committee recruit volunteers across the state for direct support opportunities during this time of crisis and massive scapegoating.
Finally, the Environmental Justice Task Force, ably chaired by Nancy Griffeth (Beacon/Summit) and vice chaired by Ray Nichols (UU Princeton), has pushed hard and will continue to push to ensure that the state’s draft EMP (Energy Master Plan) is both presented to UUs and our allies as an important method of combating climate change and pollution here at home. They have also raised in their work as part of the Jersey Renews Coalition for 100% Renewable Energy Sources by 2035 our UU commitment to racial and economic justice. Our call to the BPU and EMP Commission to electrify mass transit more rapidly and ensure fair access to Community Solar building projects is also grounded in our antiracism pro-equity vision of justice for all. Many UUs have responded with gusto and deep concern over many years on the effects of runaway greenhouse gas emissions on the Earth, including recent marches in NYC and across the state in support of the Student Climate Strike.
Internal Affairs
UU FaithAction continues to grow, working hard to maintain a leadership role on issues like our national anti-racism, anti-oppression education and activism including a full day of Board/Task Force Chair/VC/Committee Chair and Staff antiracism/anti-oppression training this July led by UU minister, Rev. Rob Keithan funded by a grant from the New York State Universalist Convention. The current Board, enlarged to 11 members from 8 with Pres. Tim Catts (Beacon/Summit) at its helm works alongside myself and our able Outreach Coordinator, Clara Jenkins, to steward our resources and provide strategic vision as we move to implement this year’s goals:
- Increasing visibility and engagement within UU congregations, in particular those without active congregational liaisons
- Ensuring that an anti-racist, anti-oppressive lens is evident across all functions and relationships internally and with our coalition partners
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- Developing a process whereby the Executive Director’s time is spent as efficiently and effectively as possible, with guidelines for specific “foci” to be reviewed and evaluated on a yearly basis.
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It remains a privilege and welcome responsibility to work with my fellow UUs, both lay and clerical, able and willing to put time and energy (and treasure!) into this vital ministry. Without it, we would be poorer indeed both as a spiritual movement and in the movement of justice and compassion within the larger community. I hope to continue to build on the 10 year old legacy of UULMNJ, now UU FaithAction NJ, so that we can say with real conviction in 2030 at our 20th anniversary, “We have made a measurable difference in the state of justice, mercy and love here in the Garden State.” As we like to say in our congregations at the end of things, “May it indeed be so!”
Respectfully submitted,
Rev. Rob Gregson, Executive Director
October 2019