UU the Vote is moving with purpose: November 2025 Update
Last week, we celebrated the bold action of Illinois UUs who anchored protests outside AT&T, calling on the company to end its contract with ICE. On December 12, we’re partnering with UU Justice NC for a national call advancing the campaign to stop Avelo Airlines from carrying out deportation flights.
Across the country, UUs are tracking critical Supreme Court cases, taking to the streets, holding leaders accountable, and building networks of care through mutual aid and community defense. Because if we believe people should be in charge of their own lives, then we must challenge the political and corporate pillars propping up an anti-democratic regime.
Our democracy work is bigger than elections.
It’s about people, our agency, our dignity, and our mutuality. To build the democracy where all thrive, we must build, organize, and leverage our collective power. And that means knowing our people, assets, and opportunities to use them strategically. We’re asking everyone to complete the UUA Community Care and Resilience Skills Survey. Take 10 minutes to identify the strengths, skills, and resources in your congregation and community.
Together, we build the bigger we. Stay tuned. Stay grounded. Stay ready.
Introducing the new UU the Vote 2026 Leads
We’re investing in the foundations of a democratic society–care, relationships, safety, and collective action. UU the Vote 2026 will feature two critical elements to advance our values:
Voter Contact : Scaling our impact to reach millions of voters, combat suppression, win critical ballot measures, and fortify state and local partnerships.
Community Mobilization: Organizing public actions and gathering to build relational power, and creating hubs of democratic activity that last far beyond Election Day.
Community Safety: Equipping our communities with tools, training, and strategies to stay safe—at the polls, in the streets, and wherever democracy is under threat.
Meet our new UU the Vote Staff
Image description: On a navy blue background, white text reads: UU the Vote next to a modified UU the Vote logo in light blue. Beneath, in white text, reads: Introducing our 2026 Team. Below are headshots for Caitlin Breedlove, India Harris, and Samm Pheiffer. Each photo has a yellow starburst motif on it, and each person's name is in blue against a light blue box.
Caitlin Breedlove, Community Engagement and Mobilization Strategy for Week of Action
Caitlin Breedlove has been organizing, supporting movement building, and writing in red states since 2003: working across race, class, culture, gender, sexuality, and faith. Caitlin is the former Co-Director of Southerners On New Ground (SONG), where for almost a decade she co-led innovative intersectional movement-building work in the LGBTQ sector. Caitlin began her work in the South doing popular education and organizer training at the historic Highlander Center in Tennessee. She is the former Deputy Director of Women's March, where she co-led decentralized organizing, specializing in mobilizing those new to social change. She is the former Campaign Director of Side with Love at the Unitarian Universalist Association, where she served as a bridge between grassroots social movements and the denomination. Caitlin also served as Vice President of Movement Leadership at Auburn Seminary where her work included resourcing and supporting frontline organizers while co-creating containers for them to do their best work. She is the Former Board President of Equality Arizona and former host of the podcast ‘Fortification‘, which interviewed movement leaders and organizers about their spiritual lives. Her first book All In: Cancer, Near Death, New Life was published in 2024 by AK Press. Her path has led her to live and work in red and purple states: Wisconsin, Tennessee, North Carolina, Georgia-- she currently lives in Phoenix, AZ with her two children.
India Harris, Safety and Security Strategy for Electoral and Movement Support
India has over 15 years experience in community safety: training safety teams, leading teams during political actions, community events and conferences. Over the years, India’s engaged in direct service, activism, community organizing, advocacy and education. Currently, India co-leads a community organizing center for LGBT People of Color in New York City. Her previous career entailed serving in youth and young adult ministry for Unitarian Universalist congregations. India is passionate about being a Community Herbalist with a deepening commitment to the ancestral wisdom, traditions of our elders and offerings from the natural world.
Samm Pheiffer, Voter Contact Training and Mobilization Consultant
Samm Pheiffer (she/her) is a Philadelphia-based organizer, mother of twin boys, and survivor of domestic and state violence who’s turned personal healing into collective power. She builds campaigns at the intersections of reproductive justice, harm reduction, faith, and abolition, helping communities strengthen their political power and hold institutions accountable.
Her experience spans union organizing, base building, and voter engagement in Pennsylvania, Colorado, and Houston. Samm’s approach centers people most impacted by criminalization and poverty, blending relational organizing with strategy to shift power and create lasting change.
Samm roots her organizing in words of Audre Lorde: “I am not free until every woman is free, even when her shackles are very different than my own.”
