| HKonJ Moral March 2021? For the past 14 years, North Carolina UUs have joined the NAACP, labor unions, and social justice advocates for the annual HKonJ Moral March in Raleigh on the first Saturday in February. Details about this year's HKonJ march have not been announced yet so please stay tuned for more details and check the NC NAACP website. NAACP website. |
| | January 2021
In This Issue |
| Forward Together News & Events Spiritual Nourishment for Justice Activists: Jan. 3rd @ 4pm
Forward Together Annual Report
Friday Action Hours
Thank You for Your Support! Justice Partners News & Events UUA Side with Love: Thirty Days of Love
NC General Assembly: 2021 Legislative Session
NC Racial Equity Task Force
Gov. Cooper Extends Eviction Moratorium
NC Council of Churches: Raleigh Report
Everytown for Gun Safety: Preventing Gun Violence in 2021
GreenFaith Community Circle Training
UUA: New Day Rising (Feb. 27, 2021)
GreenFaith: Sacred People, Sacred Earth, (March 11, 2021) Congregations Making Justice |
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UU the Vote in Georgia, Sunday, Jan. 3rd @ 4 pm The UUA Poor People’s Campaign Leadership Council and UUs for Social Justice are kicking 2021 off with a phone bank to Georgia on Sunday, January 3rd from 4-6 pm ET for last UU the Vote phone bank to Georgia and the first collective and faithful act of hope and determination in 2021! We’ll be calling Georgia voters to make sure they have the information they need to vote on January 5th in the Senate run-off election. We’ll let people know where they can vote and what they need to have with them. We’ll provide support and encouragement to help them reach out to others they know who may not have yet voted. Click below to sign up and receive the info and reminders that you'll need to participate. |
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| | Forward Together News & Events |
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| Spiritual Nourishment for Justice Activists After a good year of hard work in 2020, NC UU justice activists are invited to join Rev. Lisa Garcia-Sampson this Sunday, January 3rd at 4:00 pm for Forward Together's monthly Spiritual Nourishment zoom call to care for our spirits and reflect on our justice work through the lens of faith and our spiritual journeys. |
| | Forward Together Annual Report 2020 In 2020, more than 600 North Carolina UUs from 16 congregations worked with Forward Together, Reclaim Our Vote, You Can Vote, Democracy NC, UU the Vote and other organizations to protect voting rights and promote electoral justice! Forward Together's Annual Report for 2020 summarizes all of the great work that we did this past year, with YOUR help, to "give life the shape of justice" in North Carolina. |
| | Friday "Action Hours" Join UUs from all across North Carolina for Forward Together's next Action Hour (January 8th) and every Friday at 11:00 via Zoom, and click here for more information about what we'll be doing every Friday. |
| | Thank You for Your Support! Forward Together thanks the more than 100 UUs from North Carolina (and elsewhere) who gave life the shape of justice by donating almost $22,000 to Forward Together during 2020 and extends an extra special thank you to the six "angel" donors who contributed $12,800 to Forward Together in 2020 and to the twelve "sustaining" (monthly) donors who contributed $2,580 in 2020. Contribution statements will be sent to all individual donors by email (or snail mail if we don't have their email addresses) before January 31, 2021 so they can include their tax-deductible donations to Forward Together if they itemize their deductions on their federal and state income tax returns for 2020 or take advantage of a special rule that allows non-itemizing taxpayers to deduct up to $300 in charitable contributions in 2020 if they take the standard deduction rather than itemizing deductions. Forward Together couldn't have done what we did in 2020 and can't do what we need to do in 2021 without your generous support. So please make your New Year's resolution now to - make an annual contribution of at least $20.21 to Forward Together in 2021,
- increase your 2020 contribution by at least $20.21 in 2021, or
- make a monthly, recurring donation of at least $20.21 in 2021 via debit/credit card.
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| | Justice Partners News & Events |
| UUA Side with Love: Thirty Days of Love in 2021 Thirty Days of Love is UUA Side with Love's annual celebration that runs approximately from Martin Luther King, Jr. Day in January through Valentine’s Day in February. It's an opportunity to lift up the ways Unitarian Universalists and many of our partner organizations are building and organizing by taking bold, courageous action for intersectional racial justice.
In 2021, 30 Days of Love will focus on four themes from Widening the Circle of Concern: - Living Our Values in the World (January 17 – 23)
- Hospitality and Inclusion (January 24 – 30)
- Educating for Liberation (January 31 – February 6)
- Restoration and Reparations (February 7 – 13)
The 30 Days will culminate with a live streamed Side with Love Sunday worship — our 12th annual! — on February 14.
Materials will be posted in the first week of January. Follow Side with Love on Facebook for updates! |
|  | | NC Legislative Session Convenes Jan. 13, 2021 The North Carolina General Assembly will convene in Raleigh for its 2021-2022 legislative session at noon on Wednesday, January 13, 2021. The General Assembly's website is a valuable resource for information about contacting your state Senators and Representatives, legislative committees, and legislation. Stay tuned for more information about how NC UUs can make their voices heard on issues that may be considered, including gerrymandering and redistricting, racial justice, environmental justice, Medicaid expansion, increasing the minimum wage, and more. |
|  | | NC Racial Equity Task Force Gov. Cooper’s task force on racial equity released more than 125 recommendations in a report that called for widespread changes to address racial bias within the state’s policing and criminal justice systems including addressing policies and laws that disproportionately affect people of color, from traffic stops to protest responses, arrests and reentry into the community after prison time as well as - decriminalizing marijuana,
- revising the role of school resource officers and
- increasing oversight and accountability for law enforcement.
Most, if not all of these recommendations will be included in bills that will be introduced in the upcoming state le |
| | Gov. Cooper Extends Eviction Moratorium Governor Roy Cooper signed Executive Order 184 on December 30th, extending North Carolina’s moratorium on eviction proceeding for nonpayment of rent through January 31, 2021. Eviction moratoriums help prevent the spread of COVID-19. States that let their eviction moratoriums lapse saw a COVID-19 incidence rate that was 1.6 times higher than states that kept a moratorium in place. The executive order clarifies and expands the federal eviction moratorium, which was extended by Congress until January 31, 2021. In North Carolina, an estimated 485,000 adults in rental housing reported that they are not caught up on rent and nearly three million adults reported difficulty in covering usual household expenses, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This order also extends protections for individuals applying for assistance through the state’s Housing Opportunities and Prevention of Evictions (HOPE) Program. This program assists North Carolinians facing financial hardship by providing rent and utility payments directly to landlords and utility companies. Over 21,000 renters have been notified that they will receive rent or utility payment help and award notices totaling $37.4 million have been issued as the HOPE Program continues to provide more assistance to its applicants. |
| | NC Council of Churches: Raleigh Report The most recent Raleigh Report (Hard Year's Signposts in the Quest for Justice) provides an excellent review of the struggle for justice in North Carolina during the past year as well as encouragement for the continuing quest for justice in 2021. |
| | Everytown for Gun Safety:
Preventing Gun Violence in 2021 It's been nearly 25 years since Congress last passed a significant federal gun safety law. In 2019, the US House of Representatives passed bipartisan legislation like the bill to require background checks on all gun sales. But the NRA's allies in the Senate refused to prioritize the safety of the American public. Now, more than 100 people are killed from guns and over 230 more are shot and wounded every single day. In 2021, Congress must address the gun violence crisis. The COVID-19 pandemic and surging gun sales have weakened the country's background check system, making the need for action more urgent than ever. Read and share Everytown for Gun Safety's memo today to learn what the 117th Congress can and must do to prevent gun violence and fix the background check system. |
| | GreenFaith Community Circle Training Forward Together Board member, Rev. Amy Brooks, invites North Carolina UUs to sign up for GreenFaith's training for people who are interested in beginning GreenFaith circles in their communities. The focus of this training will be teaching people organizing skills, and helping people connect with others across our global GreenFaith network who are also in the process of starting GreenFaith circles, or who already have some experience. This will be a 3 part training and we are asking participants to commit to all 3 sessions when you sign up: - Wednesday, January 13th, 1-2:30pm US Eastern Time
- Wednesday, January 20th, 1-2:30pm US Eastern Time
- Wednesday, January 27th, 1-2:30pm US Eastern Time
Please sign up for the training here: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSdqjj8wEChsejPythcnC3AJzUwyKtZNTgUlc2OjNYKATBjsSg/viewform |
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| | UUA: New Day Rising (Feb. 27, 2021) Is your congregation ready to take a new step in racial justice work? Want to learn what your fellow congregations are working on, and how you might apply it at home? Join a continent of UUs as we explore next steps in creating Beloved UU Communities. |
|  | | GreenFaith: Sacred People, Sacred Earth On March 11, 2021 people of faith around the world will engage in actions of solidarity to raise awareness and highlight the urgent need for a more just and sustainable world for all. This mobilization is called Sacred People, Sacred Earth, and we invite you to join us! Here's the link for a beautiful video of people from all over the world reading our statement and demands. And here's the link to read and sign onto the statement. Please, share this widely with your faith community. In the last two weeks nearly 1,000 people have signed, including high-level religious leaders whose names you will recognize. In addition, we invite you to join us by hosting an event in your faith community! Visit greenfaith.org to sign up to receive a planning tool kit. Email (amy@greenfaith.org) Rev. Amy Brooks Paradise, a member of the UU Forward Together Board of Directors and the GreenFaith NC organizer, for questions or support. Help us push forward one of the most pressing justice issues of our time! |
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| | Congregations Making Justice |
| Please share your congregation's social justice news by adding UU Forward Together (news@uuforwardtogether.org) to your congregation's social justice mailing list or sending your news to news@uuforwardtogether.org. |
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| Forward Together is the Unitarian Universalist Justice Ministry of North Carolina -
an independent, nonpartisan, progressive faith-based social justice advocacy organization that works with Unitarian Universalists, Unitarian Universalist congregations, and other progressive faith-based and secular social justice organizations to "give life the shape of justice" in North Carolina through education, organizing, mobilization, witness, protest, advocacy, grass-roots lobbying, and direct action. |
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