Fall 2025 Events & Updates from UPLIFT Action
This fall, UPLIFT Action invites you into a season of deep care, courageous action, and collective resilience. Whether you are seeking sacred space for trans and non-binary individuals and their families through The Woodlands, organizing for Reproductive Justice with Faithful Futures and Faithful Majority, building climate resilience with your congregation through Green Sanctuary, or showing up in solidarity with movement leaders like Deepa Iyer at The Gathering—there is a place for you here.
Each of these offerings is rooted in the belief that spiritual care and justice work are inseparable—that none of us are meant to navigate this world, or tend to its deep needs, alone. Join us this season as we connect, learn, grieve, celebrate, and co-create the world we know is possible.
With care,
Rev. Jami Yandle (Transgender Support Specialist)
on behalf of your UUA Side With Love Team
The Woodlands
A new all-ages virtual pastoral care program for trans people and their families
We are honored to announce the official launch of The Woodlands, a new all-ages virtual pastoral care program for trans people and their families, beginning this Fall. We recognize that threats to trans and non-binary people have risen; as such, we do not want you to feel isolated or alone in these times. The Woodlands was created with trans and non-binary UU's in mind, and their families.
We will meet monthly online; our 90-minute session will begin with a shared message and grounding ritual, followed by breakout rooms tailored to different communities within our grove. We’ll then come back together for a collective release.
Each breakout room—co-facilitated by two experienced chaplains—offers space for meaningful check-ins, where we can honor our grief, celebrate our joy, and support one another. The spirit of each room will reflect the people within it.
🌿 Breakout Rooms Include:
Saplings – Trans Youth Room (ages 13–18, or currently in high school)
Sycamores – Trans Adults Room (ages 18+)
Sequoias – Adult Caregivers/Parents (trans or not trans) of trans children and youth, attending without their children
Sequoias Jr. – Adult Caregivers/Parents (trans or not trans) attending with trans children
📅 Our first gathering will be on Sunday, September 7 at 4 PM ET / 3 PM CT / 2 PM MT / 1 PM PT / 12 PM AT / 10 AM HT
🔁 Sessions will continue on the first Sunday of each month.
We are so excited to welcome you into this new space of care, connection, resistance, and community. Learn more and register to join.
Faithful Futures: Empowering Action for Reproductive Justice
Eager to translate your faith into action to support Reproductive Justice, but not sure where to start? Curious about how faith has and can serve as a crucial resource in building a world of justice, liberation, and possibility? Ready to directly support people seeking and providing abortion access in your community?
Image description: purple background with neon white text, outlined in pink, that reads: "Faithful Futures: Empowering Action for Reproductive Justice" with the logo for the Renewed Clergy Consultation Service. The rest of the image is a table of dates for upcoming sessions with the titles and hosts. All sessions are from 7-8pm ET. August 12, The Fierce Urgency of Now: Practical Support for Abortion Seekers, Faith Choice Ohio. August 19, Pro-Choice Catholicism 101, Catholics for Choice. September 9, SACReD Congregations for Reproductive Justice, SACReD. September 16, Supporting Abortion Seekers with Information and Compassion, West Virginia Free. September 23; Grounded, Resilient, Responsible: Risk Discernment for RJ Action; Side With Love.
The Faithful Futures series is for you! Join us to learn from several organizations, including Side With Love, that are at the front lines of supporting Reproductive Justice as a matter of faith. This multifaith series is designed to help you develop new tools and skills to organize and take action, joining in the work for bodily autonomy and reproductive freedom that is already happening where you live.
So many of us are called (by faith, by our values, by Spirit) to join in the collaborative building of justice, but sometimes we don’t know where to start.
Through this series you’ll learn:
About the long history of Reproductive Justice work and how you can join in by building trusting relationships, mutuality, accountability, and amplifying local resources.
Firsthand lessons from people supporting those seeking abortion care in vulnerable contexts
Skills for providing informed, culturally-aware spiritual support for folks on their reproductive journeys
How and why the fight for bodily autonomy connects to all justice frameworks and requires that we work for racial & gender justice and disrupt Christian Nationalism.
Some participants may be invited to join geographically-based cohorts to deepen local relationships in their RJ ecosystems, grow leadership through group coaching, and develop concrete strategies for meeting local needs
Webinar: Creating a Hub of Community Resilience
📅 Wednesday, August 20
7 PM ET / 6 PM CT / 5 PM MT / 4 PM PT / 3 PM AT / 1 PM HT
Image description: Yellow background with illustrated plants and leaves in each corner. Green text reads: Creating a Hub of Community Resilience in Clemson, South Carolina. There's an image of a brown-skinned person with a yellow cap and vest holding buildings and gently pacing one on a hilltop. Next to the image reads: "Wednesday, Aug 20: 4pm PT / 5pm MT / 6pm CT / 7pm ET" with the logos for Side With Love and Green Sanctuary 2030 below.
Turning our congregations into Hubs of Community Resilience is an opportunity to steward our resources for the good of our broader community. Learn more about one congregation’s work to do so by joining the August Green Sanctuary 2030 Community Meeting. While this is focused on actions taken by the congregation for climate justice, the tips and tactics for becoming a hub of community resilience can be applied to any crisis or emergency situation. Register to join.
PS: curious about the intersection of climate justice and gender justice? Check out our video with Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer Rachel Myslivy and UU Women's Federation National Organizer Antoinette Scully as they discuss how climate is a gender justice issue! (We have a whole series on climate at the intersections!)
The Gathering: Fortifying Ourselves for the Long Road Ahead
📅 Monday, September 8 at 7 PM ET / 6 PM CT / 5 PM MT / 4 PM PT / 3 PM AT / 1 PM HT
Live music from Parker Woodland and a conversation about Solidarity with Side With Love’s Nicole Pressley and Deepa Iyer, author of this year’s UUA Common Read Social Change Now: A Guide for Reflection and Connection. As Nicole said after a conversation at General Assembly, “Deepa’s work at the intersections of solidarity, social change ecosystems, and movement building has been an important roadmap for so many of us navigating the complexity and urgency of this moment. Her reflections on grief, solidarity, and sustainable activism are brilliant and grounding.” Join us to continue the conversation!
