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.
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:
Attacks on trans lives and reproductive freedom are escalating—but so is collective care. This week, if you are able, we invite you to put money where care is: consider giving $5–$25 to a local trans mutual aid fund, an abortion fund serving your region, or a bail or legal defense fund supporting LGBTQ+ people targeted by the state. If donating isn’t possible, sharing a fund is still a powerful act of solidarity. To stay informed, we recommend reading Samantha Fields’ reporting on how doctors and nurses are continuing to provide gender-affirming care for trans youth despite federal threats and investigations aimed at cutting off Medicaid and Medicare funding. We also encourage learning from the ACLU of Texas’s Fighting Local Anti-Abortion Laws toolkit, which outlines how municipalities are being pressured to criminalize abortion at the local level—and how communities can resist. Every body is sacred. Solidarity is both our moral calling and our strategy.
Take Action:
Put Money Where Care Is
If you’re able, make a small but meaningful contribution—$5 to $25—to a fund doing real, embodied care in your community: a local trans mutual aid fund, an abortion fund serving your region, or a bail or legal defense fund supporting LGBTQ+ people targeted by the state. And if donating isn’t doable right now, amplify a fund so others can step in and support.
Resources:
Read: “Trump is trying to end gender-affirming care for trans kids. Doctors and nurses are working hard to keep offering it.
Soon after taking office last January, President Donald Trump issued an executive order aimed at ending gender-affirming care for transgender children and teenagers under 19.
Since then, the administration has launched investigations of several hospitals that provide that care, and in December, the Department of Health and Human Services proposed a new rule that would ban hospitals offering that care from receiving Medicaid and Medicare funding, for anything.”
Learn:
From ACLU Texas: Fighting Local Anti-Abortion Laws in Texas: a Toolkit for Reproductive Freedom
“Anti-abortion extremists are crisscrossing the state, pressuring Texas municipalities to adopt ordinances that would criminalize abortion in our communities. These ordinances would criminalize abortion within city and town limits in the event that Roe v. Wade was overturned by the Supreme Court. Waskom, Texas was the first city to pass the proposed local abortion ban. The all-male town council voted unanimously to outlaw abortion, with conditions so severe that, if and when the ordinance is enforced, a person won’t even be able to get emergency contraception at a local pharmacy. Since Waskom passed its ban, multiple other cities in Texas have followed suit.”
TOOLKIT FOR REPRODUCTIVE FREEDOM
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:
While the Trump administration engages in political theater of taking Agent Bovino out of Minneapolis, ICE abductions and deportations continue from Minneapolis to Maine. Meanwhile, per UUSJ’s summary, “the Senate passed funding bills for human needs programs and other expenditures, while separating Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding under a two-week Continuing Resolution (CR) that includes funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) and Customs and Border Protection (CBP).” ICE’s violence and our collective response of outrage and actions is changing the public narrative. Our moral voice and strategic organizing are making a difference, and we need to keep up the heat to topple the deportation machine.
Take Action:
UU Solidarity Initiative ICE Out! Week of Action, Feb 2-7. In this time of moral crisis, our faith calls us to live our values through courageous and prophetic action. Join Unitarian Universalists across the country for a national Week of Action against the violent, immoral actions of ICE. The week will include a 40-hour phone call blitz to Congress, five straight days of virtual action hours led by UU State Action Networks, and the kick-off session of the UU Solidarity Initiative.
Tell the House: ICE Out! No DHS funding! No more attacks on our communities; not immigrants or their allies!
Resources:
Read:
Maine faith leaders speak about being arrested at Portland protest
Texas: On Saturday January 24th, families held at Dilley Detention Center in Texas protested their detainment shouting "Libertad para los niños" or "Free the children!" in the midst of horrific, inhumane conditions. Last week, UUs and other people of faith and conscience held a vigil and procession to the Dilley Detention facility. Since then, 5-year old Minnesotan Liam Ramos has been released from Dilley, but measles have broken out at the Detention Center. Read more about the action and what you can do.
Learn: Signal is an encrypted messaging app used for more and more organizing – but it is only as secure as the people using it. If you are using Signal, check these tip sheets for your Signal settings and Signal Dos & Donts
Join:
UU Solidarity Session, Thursday, February 5, 4:30ET, 1:30 PT
Solidarity Sessions are an opportunity for folks working for immigrant justice to connect with one another, take action, and learn about the most recent changes in immigration laws and policies. First Thursdays will include top-level updates and time for connection and shared learning. Third Thursdays will be deeper dives into the administrative updates and the impact the changes they will have on folks seeking immigration relief.
February Gathering: Stories of Faith over Fear on the frontlines against ICE, Monday, February 9, 8:00ET, 5 PT. One year into this administration, we will lift up stories of resistance and resilience - your own, and those of SF Bay Area court watch vigils and UU presence at Chicago's Broadview Detention Center. Songs for Liberation will grace us with the music they share outside Broadview and at so many other actions. The Gathering is Side With Love's monthly event to strengthen your spirit, make sense of the threats to democracy, and take meaningful action alongside others! Join us live or watch the recording later.
Watch/Listen:
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:
Last month, the EPA made another move to de-valuing life while prioritizing industry profits. When setting pollution limits, the EPA will consider only the cost for industry, not the value of saving human lives. “The Trump administration is saying, literally, that they put zero value on human life,” Marshall Burke, an environmental economist at Stanford University, said in an email. “If your kid breathes in air pollution from a power plant or industrial source, E.P.A. is saying that they care only insofar as cleaning up that pollution would cost the emitter.” This will lead to looser controls on pollutants from coal-burning power plants and industrial sites which ultimately will result in dirtier air, more asthma and heart disease, and unnecessary loss of life. This is all part of the Trump administration’s push to unleash dirty energy on our communities with no accountability.
But there is always something good, always something to celebrate! Today we want to highlight three:
Last week, Side With Love hosted the fourth-annual Green Sanctuary Celebration. Twenty congregations shared their Green Sanctuary 2030 actions in quick 3 minute presentations. From partnering with Indigenous communities to fighting against fracking, our congregations are taking action on the four Essentials of Climate Action: Congregational Transformation, Community Resilience, Justice, and Mitigation. Watch the video to get inspired by the ways our congregations are creating climate justice in their communities!
At the Celebration, we unveiled the long-awaited searchable database of Green Sanctuary 2030 actions. When a congregation shares an action via the Action Report Form, it populates the GS2030 Actions database. You can search the database by keyword and filter by Essential or State to get ideas and connect to other GS2030 Teams. You can access the database in the "Sharing Our Progress" section of the Green Sanctuary 2030 Materials. If you don’t have access to the materials, sign up to receive them.
Juristac is protected from the proposed mining project! For years, the Juristac Coalition has fought against a mine which would have included three massive mining pits, a processing facility the size of 46 football fields, and many other pieces of infrastructure, including sand and gravel processing that would have wasted 76,000 gallons of water each day. Thanks to decades of leadership from the Amah Mutsun Tribal Band, coalitions of environmental and Indigenous rights advocates, and finally the acquisition of 2,284 acres of land, the heart of the Juristac Tribal Cultural Landscape will be protected into perpetuity. “The protection of Juristac is a culmination of more than a decade of work by our Tribe and many dedicated partners, guided by the power of our ancestors who honored this land since time immemorial,” said Amah Mutsun Tribal Chair Ed Ketchum. “Our hearts are full of gratitude for the thousands who stood with us in calling for the sacredness of Juristac to be respected.”
Take Action:
Watch the Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration recording and check out the database of Green Sanctuary actions to learn from other congregations and get some inspiration for ways you can create climate justice in your community.
Resources:
Read:
Green Sanctuary 2030 Office Hours
February 4, 2026 6:00 PM - 7:00 PM CT - online
Did you know that the completely revitalized Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice has just one requirement for annual Recognition? Monthly Office Hours are here to anyone with questions on how Green Sanctuary 2030 can support UUs to transform our congregations through climate justice. Review the short Orientation Video then come to the office hours to get all your questions answered. Current Green Sanctuary 2030 Teams, this time is for you, too!
Green Sanctuary for our Kids: Green Sanctuary Community Meeting
February 18, 2026 7:00 PM - 8:30 PM ET online
Creating Climate Justice is not just for adults! Our Green Sanctuary activities can engage with our children and youth programs, and those programs can also shape our Green Sanctuary work. Come learn from Julie Rigano, Director of Family Ministry at the UU Church at Washington Crossing in New Jersey, who will share her experiences on how the GS work with children and youth, especially the Climate Justice Revival materials, has enhanced programming for all. Let’s Reimagine Together not only our future but how we get there together. Come together for shared learning and mutual supports with other UUs transforming our congregations through climate justice. Green Sanctuary 2030 community meetings usually take place on the third Wednesday of the month at 4PT - 5MT - 6CT - 7ET for 90 minutes
Watch: the fourth-annual Green Sanctuary 2030 Celebration
Together, we practice the world we long for. Together, we win.