Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we’ll share:
A brief analysis of critical issues in this political moment
Immediate actions you can take
Resources to deepen knowledge and strengthen our collective work to side with love
Nothing is inevitable. Justice movements are built by ordinary people who come together to defeat oppression and nurture a loving world. You are not alone. We have power. Together, we can create a just and thriving future.
Movements are strongest when we act together. Organize with your teams and networks, and take these actions in community. For practical tools, see our Organizing School and Skill Up resources.
Democracy
Core Principle: Democracy is not a destination but a practice rooted in interdependence and the worth and dignity of all. While authoritarianism consolidates power, we are the majority—and we must organize to build a truly multiracial democracy.
The Update:
As the nation prepares for the 2026 midterm elections, the battle for the terrain on which we fight is happening now. The looming SAVE Act, Trump's ongoing threats to dismantle vote-by-mail, to the race-based gerrymandering in Louisiana, make it clear that this regime seeks to eliminate free and fair elections. While we may live under authoritarian conditions, the promise and the practice of democracy lives on through our actions. Many UU’s are joining the Oct 18 No Kings mass protest, declaring that we the people will be ready to build power and a mass pro-democracy movement we need to build a multiracial democracy. As we prepare for this longhaul work, a critical element of our work is keeping people safe. Check out resources on safety and security to skill up on risk discernment, digital safety and safety at protests.
Read: Grounded, Resilient and Responsible: Responding and Organizing in Authoritarian Times
Watch: Side With Love’s Risk Discernment for Congregations
Take Action: Practice recommendations in the Digital Security Checklist for Activists
Gender & LGBTQ Justice
Core Principle: Every body is sacred. We affirm that trans people are divine, abortion is a blessing, and no one is disposable. Attacks on identity are designed to divide us—solidarity is our moral and strategic mandate.
The Update:
Prophetic voices are rising from this moment: the spirit of justice is stirring in the crossroads of faith, body, and freedom. What was once divided—religion from rights, medicine from mercy, identity from belonging—is being woven together by those who refuse to abandon love as their guiding truth. As courts debate the bounds of speech and conscience, and as resources for the most marginalized shrink, a new moral imagination is awakening—one that insists liberation is sacred work.
Take Action:
Donate to SACReD (Spiritual Alliance of Communities for Reproductive Rights - “It takes a whole village to change the culture around faith and reproductive freedom in this country. Now more than ever, we need your help to build the multi-faith, multi-racial movement of SACReD. Make your tax-deductible gift today and help strengthen our movement.”
Resources:
The ruling could affect whether states can ban conversion therapy for minors, especially licensed therapists, and how much “religious freedom” or “free speech” can be claimed to justify practices criticized as harmful.
“As countries strive to improve access to quality family planning and comprehensive abortion care, competency-based education for key health care providers is emerging as a critical strategy to ensure they are not only knowledgeable, but also practically equipped to deliver respectful, women-centered, rights-based care to everyone, everywhere.”
Tools for transformation: To support this shift, WHO and HRP have developed a three-volume toolkit:
Volume 1: Defines the essential competencies for family planning and comprehensive abortion care.
Volume 2: Offers a curriculum development guide based on a new educational design model.
Volume 3: Provides a framework for dissemination, implementation, monitoring and evaluation (DIME).
These resources are designed for a wide range of stakeholders – educators, policymakers, regulators, and civil society organizations – who play a role in shaping the health workforce.”
Join: Join Reproductive Freedom for All on Tuesday, October 7 at 5:00 PM PT/8:00 PM ET to take action for reproductive freedom!
“Feeling fired up with everything going on? Turn your anger into impact. We're building a movement, one text at a time. Join us as we check in with folks, engage in meaningful conversation, and empower them to take action with us in our journey ahead.”
Watch/Listen: From TransLash - Funding Trans Movements Podcast
“As attacks on our community continue to escalate, trans-led organizations are facing a double crisis: rising needs and shrinking resources. In this episode, Imara examines the state of funding for queer and trans issues with two insightful interviews. First, Alexander Lee from Funders for LGBTQ breaks down who’s getting funded – and who’s not – in the current philanthropic landscape. After that, Marin Watts from the Trans Justice Funding Project gives insight into how grassroots trans organizers are continuing to do life-saving work with minimal support. He also makes the case for using community-led, charitable trust systems and explains how this model can help move more money faster than traditional institutional philanthropy”
Decriminalization & Immigration
Core Principle: Criminalization and dehumanization deny the dignity of our communities. Safety cannot come at the expense of others. As people of faith, we proclaim a future of care, abundance, and mutuality—not domination.
The Update:
This week, we have seen a continued escalation of federal forces terrorizing neighborhoods in Chicago and beyond. As UUs, we believe that all people deserve to be treated with dignity and no one deserves to have their home terrorized by black hawk helicopters, whether in Chicago or Gaza. We also believe in the strength of community: from the beautiful solidarity of the over 400 participants in the Global Sumud Flotilla to the ordinary neighbors who protect each other when ICE comes calling. We hope that you are finding your way to act with strategic courage in your local community.
Take Action:
Tell Congress: Don’t silence dissent with tear gas. Tear gas is a chemical weapon banned for use in warfare by both the Chemical Weapons Convention and Geneva Protocol. But those agreements don’t apply to domestic law enforcement. If tear gas is too dangerous for a battlefield, it has no place on our streets.
Take action to Stop Cop City Hershey, PA - Call the contractors, your representatives and Governor Shapiro to tell them to stop funding the $387 million expansion of the Pennsylvania State police training compound in Hershey, PA. To put it in perspective, PA is spending the same on this facility as it would to fully fund SEPTA (Philadelphia area metro) for two years. It could purchase 4-5 high speed trains or build new schools and hospitals to replace those that have been gutted by private equity.
Send a letter to demand justice for Matyes Getachew who was killed by CHP in May 2025. On May 2, 2025, Matyes Getachew, a 26-year-old Ethiopian American, died after a California Highway Patrol chase in Los Angeles County. His family was not contacted until hours later — and to this day, they have not been told what really happened.
Connect with your local ICE Watch, Mutual Aid, and other local organizing.
Resources:
Read:
It’s important to celebrate the wins when we get them. Thank you to the UUs in Eugene, OR who are core to the winning campaign to get Avelo Airlines to leave their city because of their contract with ICE. Get involved with the campaign to Stop Avelo with Defend and Recruit.
Supreme Court ruling subjects California to what border communities have endured for generations. Important context for the long history of what we are now facing by an organizer who UUs have collaborated with for years.
Learn:
Aiming for Allyship training: a 12-hour multiracial intersectional antiracism training occurring on four Tuesdays from 4:00 PM to 7:00 PM Pacific / 7:00 PM to 10:00 PM Eastern. Note from the DRUUMM hosts: We are prioritizing BIPOC attendance and may ask white registrants to yield space in this popular training to BIPOC folks on the wait list.
Join:
From Slave Patrols to ICE Raids - Wednesday, October 8, 6:30-8 PST From Slave Patrols to ICE Raids is a 90-minute event organized by the Black Alliance for Peace SoCal as part of their No Compromise No Retreat campaign. The program examines the historical connections between slave patrols and modern immigration enforcement, explores why Black communities must view ICE operations alongside all increased domestic militarization as directly impacting them, and provides concrete steps for getting involved with the No Compromise No Retreat campaign to build unified resistance against what is an ongoing system of racial control and an ongoing war on African/Black people in Southern California, domestically, and globally.
Watch/Listen:
Troops in the Street: What Does an Authoritarian Takeover Look Like? Historians for Peace and Democracy and Convergence Magazine are pleased to present live on YouTube at 6 pm Eastern on Wednesday, October 8, 2025 with Barbara Ransby and Barbara Weinstein
Climate Justice
Core Principle: A just and loving world is also a flourishing one. A fossil-free future is possible, where clean energy is a human right and all beings thrive. To get there, we must create new systems, norms, and practices.
The Update:
What’s more important: saving money on reporting or a livable future? The Trump EPA is working to make it easier for large, industrial polluters to pollute with no public accountability. For over 15 years, the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program required more than 8,000 of the highest-polluting facilities and suppliers to report their annual emissions from over 47 source categories. EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin called the reporting program “burdensome” and “nothing more than bureaucratic red tape that does nothing to improve air quality.” This effort aligns with the EPA’s recent move to eliminate the Endangerment Finding which affirms that greenhouse gas emissions harm public health. The Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program is critical to measuring the pollution that drives climate change and disruption; repealing it would hamper climate progress and endanger public health.
Further, because many of the most polluting industrial facilities are placed in low-income communities of color, eliminating the reporting requirement will increase pollution in these beloved communities leading to bad air, water, and soil quality. NAACP explains, “Toxic facilities, like coal-fired power plants and incinerators, emit mercury, arsenic, lead, and other contaminants into the water, food, and lungs of communities. Many of these same facilities also emit carbon dioxide and methane — the No. 1 and No. 2 drivers of climate change. But not all people are equally impacted. Race — even more than class — is the number one indicator for the placement of toxic facilities in this country hit by climate change.” Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice supports UUs to prioritize justice in their climate actions; it’s a critical shift that is increasingly more important with each passing day.
Submit a public comment to urge the EPA to uphold the Greenhouse Gas Reporting Program for our health, for our communities, and for our future. Public comments are accepted until November 3, 2025.
Take Action:
Public Comment
You may send comments, identified by Docket Id. No. EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0186, by any of the following methods:
Federal eRulemaking Portal: https://www.regulations.gov/docket/EPA-HQ-OAR-2025-0186/document. Follow the online instructions for submitting comments.
Mail: U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, EPA Docket Center, Office of Air and Radiation Docket, Mail Code 28221T, 1200 Pennsylvania Avenue NW, Washington, DC 20460.
While it’s best to submit a personal public comment via the instructions above, you can also submit a pre-written comment at the Climate Reality Project.
Resources:
Read:
Learn:
Climate for Health: Climate Solutions Advocacy with Policy Makers
Become a Climate for Health Ambassador with free, self-paced, online courses.
Join:
Claiming Our Power to Fight for a Clean Energy Future - Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting
October 15, 2025 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET Online
Advocating at Public Utility Commissions is an incredibly impactful way to shape our energy future. It's also a hugely overlooked opportunity! Public Utility Commissions (PUCs) regulate utility prices, resource planning and acquisition, reliability and quality of service regulation. If you’re not sure what that all means, you’re not alone! Advocating for fair utility regulations can be intimidating to outsiders, which benefits those who are more concerned with profit than people. PUCs wield significant power and their decisions affect clean energy and air quality, impacting both greenhouse gas mitigation and climate resilience. Learn how the UU Georgia Legislative Action Network is making good trouble for climate justice as they remind the Georgia Utility Commissioners and Elected Officials that people have the power to choose a just and moral path for our energy future.
Watch/Listen:
American Public Health Association’s “Why is Climate change a Public Health Issue?”
Together, we practice the world we long for. Together, we win.