August 2011 Issue: Getting Ready for the 2011-2012 Church Year!

Dear Congregational Leaders:

We hope you are having a great summer and that you are planning for your justice ministries in the coming year. Our mission in Multicultural Growth and Witness is to help you connect with other UU congregations and partners in our efforts for multicultural social justice.

To help you in that effort, in this issue you will find:

MGW August Congregational Bulletin with news of upcoming campaigns and resources for the fall on economic, environmental, LGBT, and immigration justice and for strengthening congregational social justice programs.

MGW Justice Calendar with upcoming campaigns for the year. A Word .doc version is also available so that congregations can include your own name and customize with your own events.

Congregational Best Practice: First Unitarian Universalist Church in Rochester, MN is the 2011 winner of the UUA Congregational Social Justice Award. In announcing the award on June 14, Susan Leslie, UUA Congregational Advocacy and Witness director, said: “Your mission statement, ‘To be a Compassionate, Welcoming Community that Nurtures Spiritual Growth and Practices Justice,’ is clearly being practiced in the outstanding work you have done to stand on the side of love. Your participation in congregation-based community organizing, your work for LGBT equality and racial justice, and your emphasis on interfaith efforts as well as working with your UU state network are models for congregational service, education, advocacy, and witness.”

Please join us in welcoming our new Witness Ministries Director, Rev. Craig Roshaven, who joined our staff on August 1st. Craig comes to us with years of experience as a UU parish minister and as a practitioner of congregation-based community organizing at the local, state, and national level.

As always, please let us know what your congregation is doing. We can help you with your programs and we would love to feature you best practices!

In faith,
Susan, Audra, Kat, Dan, Taquiena, and Craig

See www.uua.org/justice for resources, campaign stories, and more!