Mission: To act to make a difference in our congregation, the larger community and world. Our Social Justice Program is guided by our Unitarian Universalist principles. We seek to work for the vulnerable in our community in areas such as housing/homelessness, immigration/racial justice and environmental justice. Towards this end, we collaborate with other community groups whose goals intersect with ours.

UU Marin is an integral part of the Marin Organizing Committee (MOC), a broad-based network of local institutions–faith-based, non-profit, educational, labor, and civic organizations– that come together to develop leaders, identify shared issues affecting our community and take action around these issues. Several of our members have been actively involved in the Affordable Housing Team and have advocated for various affordable housing projects as well as for permanent supportive housing throughout Marin. Other leaders have engaged with the Aging and Disability Team and other members support the two other primary areas of MOC concern—Aging and Youth Mental Health Teams–as their time allows.

The COVID pandemic forced some of our community partners to scale back programs that provide meals to the homeless. Nevertheless, we still bake cookies for the Street Chaplaincy and will reconnect and expand our connections with Mill Street as well when these programs return to in-person help. Along with several faith congregations under the auspices of the SPAHR Center, we provide meals every other month to the Trans HeartLine safe house, which provides housing for those recovering from gender-conforming surgery.

We connect with Elders Climate Action to support environmental justice, work with Marin Promise Partnership to promote educational equity and publish and encourage participation in SURJ Marin’s racial justice advocacy.

For several years we have participated in non-partisan postcarding during election cycles to encourage participation in the electoral process by urging voter registration and getting out the vote in various districts across the country. We coordinate the basket share program to support other nonprofits as varied as the Partner Church in Sovata, Romania; Reclaim Our Vote; Enriching Lives through Music; the UU Ministry for earth; and Ukrainian refugees through the UU Service Committee.

Each spring we present the Side with Love Award to recognize an individual from our congregation or from the larger community who demonstrates outstanding commitment to social justice and to the UU values of individual dignity, compassionate human relations, universal acceptance, the right of conscience, liberty and peace in the world and respect for the interdependent web of life.

During the incursion of ICE into the lives of our neighbors, we became active in seeking oversight of the Marin Sheriff and opposing his cooperation with ICE and the turning over of individuals who had been arrested but had not necessarily been charged or convicted. We have worked with the Marin Interfaith Council and the Sanctuary Congregations Network to provide accompaniment, advocacy and networking to undocumented immigrants in our community.

The Social Justice Team meets on the third Sunday of each month at noon. We invite people of conscience to join us in our ongoing advocacy and to seek our support for new ways to promote peace and justice.

Chair: Linda Haumann

Information: socialjustice@uumarin.org