Welcoming our new team members!
As we enter the season of reflection and intention, I’d like to share some exciting news and deep gratitude for this community. This year was a stretch! Together we reached towards the highest aspirations of our faith; modeling commitment, grace, partnership and adaptation to answer the call of love and justice.
Side With Love’s power comes from our collective commitment to rise to the challenge and beauty of building Beloved Community. Today, as the world around us continues to grapple with crises fueled by hatred and indifference, we have a moral mandate to embody the principles of justice and compassion in all that we do. Together, we can be the architects of a more just and equitable future. By rooting in our faith--embodying our values through care, political action, and deep learning--we can imagine a new world and call it into being.
Like you, the Side With Love team at the UUA is growing our capacities to support the work for this long haul and that means growing our team. I am overjoyed to announce two new additions to our team.
Image description: Blue background. At the top of the imagine, in white text, reads” “Welcome” with a triple line flourish around the words. Beneath, light blue text reads “to our new team members!” There are two round photographs, headshots of each staffer: Rev. Brandan Robertson, Senior Communications manager, who is standing against a beige background with short dark blond hair, smiling, wearing a denim shirt unbuttoned and an olive green t-shirt underneath. Next, is G Williams, Sepcial Projects Administrator. They are standing in front of greenery, wearing a black top and a white and pink jacket, their hands at their hips. They’re smiling and wearing red lipstick and thin wire frame glasses.
Welcome Rev. Brandan Robertson as the new Sr. Communications Manager! This role is designed to help us keep our communities connected and informed, tell the powerful stories of our work, and build faithful and libertory narratives of the world we are building. I am overjoyed that Rev. Brandan Robertson has joined the Side With Love team at the UUA as our new Sr.Communications Manager. Rev. Brandan brings a wealth of strategic communications and advocacy experience from United Methodist Church, Faith in Public Life, and his award-wining work and ministry of LGBTQ inclusion. We are excited for all that he brings to our team in helping us articulate and connect with our values in the world.
From Rev. Brandan:
As a progressive Christian pastor, activist, and organizer, I have long admired the work of Side With Love and the broader Unitarian Universalist Association. It is a true honor to now get the chance to partner with this incredible team to help share our vital work and message with the world in the days ahead. I look forward to all of the good work we will do together as we trouble the waters to bring healing, liberation, and justice to our world.
Welcome G Williams as the Special Projects Administrator.
This is a part-time role that helps us respond to the emergent needs and opportunities of this moment. G will play a key role in supporting internal infrastructure building as well as rapid response work. G brings a variety of technical skills and organizing experience from their work at The Trevor Project and justice work in Unitarian Universalism. Most recently they have co-founded Camp Ground, a multi-religious adult summer camp that provides a retreat for folks who do the work of justice in their day to day lives. G Is a seminarian at Starr King School for the Ministry and a member of the Trans Seminarian Cohort with The National LGBTQ Task Force. They are currently working on our asset map survey which will serve to mobilize resources and activate leaders to support bodily autonomy, and immigrant and gender justice work in the coming months. If you haven’t completed it yet, please email love@uua.org to request the link.
From G:
I have spent my life in service to the communities that nourished me into being, working not just towards the absence of oppression but for the presence of justice and the hope for peace. It is both an honor and a blessing to continue that work with the incredible Side With Love team and the broader UUA. At a moment when I am certain what awaits us will bring many challenges, I take heart in knowing that we are a people whose faith calls us to action, and that when I wade into the deep to meet each challenge, I will not be alone in the water.
At the heart of our work lies the profound power of love. Love serves as both a catalyst for action and a source of solace for our communities in times of need. In these times where we are told the lie that our individual thriving requires someone else's suffering, love is the promise of Beloved Community, where all of us are whole and worthy.
Thank you for your support in the ever-evolving work and staffing of Side With Love.
Love and courage,
Nicole Pressley
Resources for continuing the work.
Partnership is critical to work. I want to lift up some opportunities and resources to help our communities remain resilient and get ready for the work ahead.
Give: Donate to Pink Haven, National Network of Abortion funds, Side With Love
Complete: Community Care and Resilience Survey (email love@uua.org to get the link)
Take action: AFSC ceasefire action hour, 10 thing to do that are not voting or protesting
Check out the new UUA Community Resilience Hub