Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we’ll share:3
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.
Take Action:
NO KINGS National Day of Mobilization 10/18/2025
The Unitarian Universalist Association has signed on as an official partner of the No Kings National Day of Mobilization on Saturday, October 18. Building on the momentum from the first No Kings protests in June, we are mobilizing for another mass day of resistance, resilience, and action. Our commitment to building a multiracial democracy shows up in how we resist the abduction and deportation of our immigrant community members; how we resist voter suppression in the legislature and at the ballot box; how we celebrate our LGBTQ+ kin and communities - and on October 18, shows up in how we collectively cry out No Kings!Find an action near you on October 18 using this map.
Hosting or organizing a #NoKings event that day with your UU congregation? Register your event here to receive training and resources.
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: The Department of Education has proposed a rule that could exclude nonprofit employees from Public Service Loan Forgiveness if their organizations are seen as having a “substantial illegal purpose”—a vague standard that could target groups supporting immigrant justice and reproductive rights. Submit your public comment by Wednesday, September 17 to oppose this harmful change. To help organizers navigate today’s risks, join Nicole Pressley for Grounded, Resilient, Responsible on Tuesday, September 30 at 7pm ET (register by September 28). Also, check out the latest episode of The Fascism Barometer podcast for practical strategies on collective safety. In legal news, the Supreme Court has upheld a lower court ruling allowing a transgender student in South Carolina to use the boys’ bathroom while litigation continues.
Take Action:
Protect Nonprofits & Their Employees - Submit a Public Comment by Wednesday, September 17 to the Department of Education
The Department of Education has proposed an amendment to the Public Service Loan Forgiveness Program that would “exclude employers that engage in
activities that have a ‘substantial illegal purpose.’ The vague descriptions of what are considered “illegal activities” are little more than a smokescreen to punish nonprofits and employees who may support immigrant justice, bodily autonomy, and more. Read the instructions for how to submit a public comment and send in your faithful objections today!
Resources:
Join:
Join Nicole Pressley, Director of the UUA’s Side With Love Organizing Strategy Team for the final installment of the Faithful Futures Training Series. In a time when reproductive justice organizing carries both profound moral clarity and real political risk, how do we move forward with courage, care, and collective strength? This training is designed to help individuals and communities assess and navigate risk in today’s climate. Together, we’ll explore spiritual, embodied, and practical tools to support wise action; deepen our ability to discern what’s needed and what’s possible; and share resources for communicating clearly and showing up responsibly with others in shared struggle. Come ready to root in your values, reflect on your context, and rise in community. Registration closes September 28!
Listen:
Episode Description: “Ejeris Dixon welcomes abolitionist safety practitioner Che Johnson-Long and technologist-lawyer Ken Montenegro back to The Fascism Barometer for a grounded, practical guide to resisting in a fast-shifting landscape. They unpack how fascism feeds on panic and isolation—and how all of us can respond when we examine risk, create shared tools, and take care of each other. Homework includes: broaden trusted information sources, join an organization, and start an actual risk plan.”
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:
“As the weight of violence presses more heavily on our world, many of us are carrying grief, outrage, and weariness. In times like this, it helps to remember these words from our Side with Love Organizing Strategy Team:
Our faith does not retreat. It rises.
Unitarian Universalism is a living tradition shaped by generations of prophetic thinkers and activists—rooted in covenant, grounded in love, and committed to giving life the shape of justice.
Affirming the worth and dignity of every person is more than a slogan—it is a mandate we live every day. In the face of suffering and oppression, our faith responds with courage and compassion. We move forward together, guided by fierce love and unwavering hope.”
In that vein, today we share some stories of hope and building our communities, like the dismissal of RICO charges against 61 people who stood against Cop City in Georgia.
Take Action:
Deploying the Mmilitary Domestically: What you should know about Chicago - Resource doc from Muslims for Just Futures
Build Community. Reach out to a neighbor. Call a friend. Go to worship. Connection is an antidote to despair and fascism.
Resources:
Read:
Cop City RICO: Fulton County Judge intends to dismiss 61-person racketeering indictment. The Georgia Attorney General did not have the authority to indict 61 people on racketeering and arson charges in August 2023, judge says. Georgia law requires the state attorney general to obtain authorization from the governor for those charges. Article by Atlanta Press Collective
United We Dream drops the first in their “A Letter To...” poetry series "We Hold the City," part of our new series of poems dedicated to the people who power our country! This powerful poem by Massiel Alfonso reminds us of a truth: WE, the working people, power this country. We are the backbone of every city, every neighborhood, every dream. Share this poem online to shine the spotlight on your friends and neighbors who show up daily to care for our community: On Instagram, On Facebook, On TikTok, On Threads
Join:
Self Paced Workshop: BUILDING A BIGGER "WE": ORGANIZING CONVERSATIONS THAT HELP GROW OUR MOVEMENTS: Organizing is about listening to people, identifying what they care about, presenting a vision for what is possible, and moving people to action. It is also about bringing in people that don’t agree with us on everything. To build a bigger “we,” we need to identify ways to connect with people across differences, focusing on where there is common ground. This workshop offers an outline and tools for facilitating conversations that move people to collective action.
Watch/Listen:
This July 2024 webinar is still very relevant: “Political Violence and the 2024 Presidential Election” moderated by Erica Chenoweth, Academic Dean for Faculty Engagement and the Frank Stanton Professor of the First Amendment at the Harvard Kennedy School.
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: Historically Black neighborhoods are experiencing new nearby developments that will likely make flooding worse. Sea levels are rising, and the residents of the historically-Black Rosemont neighborhood in Charleston, SC are already feeling the effects. “Charleston is one of the nation’s fastest-growing cities – and one of the most flood-prone.” In an effort to accommodate population growth and reduce flooding - at least in areas the city and federal governments deem worth saving, “the city and the federal government are planning a $1.3bn sea wall to defend the iconic downtown peninsula with its regal, pre-civil-war mansions and majestic moss-covered live oak trees.” Under the current plans, “the wall would not extend to lower-income neighborhoods like Rosemont, a historically Black community bordered by a freeway and hemmed in by industrial sites. That could leave those families more exposed to rising waters than ever.”
A sea wall is a type of artificial levy - it places a hard boundary between land and sea that interrupts sediment and nutrient exchange. This imposed boundary impedes the long-term process of natural coastal defense formations, like sand dune ecosystems and coastal marshes. The purpose of the artificial levy is to temporarily protect some places from rising sea levels; these levies usually come at the expense of historically marginalized and disenfranchised communities. In the case of Charleston’s long history of governance by means of white supremacy, that includes “regal, pre-civil-war mansions” at the expense of historical Black communities.
This intentional tactic of placing greater environmental and health burdens on marginalized, working poor communities is well-known in the environmental justice movement. In the 1970s, activists raising awareness about this pattern gave what happens to communities in these areas a just name: sacrifice zones. “Due to redlining, low property values, and other social factors, these communities have historically consisted of low income and/or minority populations.” That makes them a target for the “pipelines, refineries, and compressor stations don’t get placed in the fancy parts of town” because they “have historically been subject to economic and political exclusion at the hands of racially discriminatory or economically exploitative policies.” At the same time, it makes them a target for development with little to no environmental protections. This is the case with Charleston’s planned $1.3 bn sea wall. As a result, sacrifice zones are more vulnerable to environmental disasters while the people living in them carry greater environmental toxic burdens.
Act:
Do a deep history reflection of where you live: How has systemic oppression locked in for people of color in your area? Was yours a sundown town or county? Which neighborhoods were redlined? What treaties were violated when your community was established? Whose land are you on? How are immigrant communities treated? Take the long view and scan all the way up to modern times. Consider, in the past few years when your community experienced a flood, wildfire, tornado, hurricane, or other natural disaster, which of your neighbors lost their homes? When the grid fails, who is at risk of the deadly combination of power outages and extreme heat? You can also see this exercise in the Climate Disaster Preparedness for UUs toolkit.
Submit a public comment urging the EPA to uphold the Endangerment Finding. The Environmental Protection Agency aims to repeal its own 2019 Endangerment Finding which forms the foundation for the EPA to regulate polluting greenhouse gas emissions and meaningfully respond to the climate crisis. The EPA is accepting public comments through September 22. Review the Federal Register guidance for public comments. You can read Pres. Sofía’s call to action to ground your comments in UU values and use the Climate Action Toolkit to prepare your comments. Submit commits online on the Federal Register website and Regulations.gov.
Read:
‘Entire neighborhoods will have to move’: growth collides with rising seas in Charleston
Why marginalized communities pay the highest price for climate change
Systemic redlining and utilizing the three dimensions of environmental justice
Learn:
Get updates on the latest development with EPA’s ‘endangerment finding’ and what you can do at https://sidewithlove.org/endangerment-finding.
Watch:
Climate at the Intersections videos - an ongoing series about how climate justice intersects with other issues of justice.
Join:
UUA Strategies to Advance Climate Justice - Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting
September 17, 2025 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET Online
President Sofía’s UU Climate Justice Working Group was established to identify where our faith calls us to lead, beyond narrowly defined “net zero” goals towards equitable decarbonization, community resilience, and a just transition from fossil fuels to a clean energy future. Join Mathew Jensen, UUA Senior Investment Officer, and Rachel Myslivy, UUA Climate Justice Strategist, to learn about the Working Group’s Draft Commitments for Culture and Resources. Come together for shared learning and mutual supports with other UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice. Green Sanctuary 2030 community meetings take place on the third Wednesday of the month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET for 90 minutes.
Make Billionaires Pay
September 20th
Join a Make Billionaires Pay event near you. On September 20th world leaders will be gathering in New York City for the UN General Assembly and Climate Week. This is a critical moment for us to show the world we are revolting against Trump and the Billionaire Class. Make Billionaires Pay is part of a series of international mobilizations for climate justice happening 9/19–9/21 entitled Draw the Line. Authoritarian regimes are on the rise but people are fighting back. We are uniting across the world to demand a better future for our communities and for all living beings.
Together, we practice the world we long for. Together, we win.