Political Education

These issue-based webinars feature our partners and offer background on our four intersectional justice priorities as well as opportunities for action. Join or view our Skill Ups for skill-based trainings!

Climate Justice

WEBINAR: CLIMATE DISASTER RESPONSE FOR UUS

Climate disasters impact our communities - how can UUs be prepared? Join this hands-on workshop with activities to help you identify the climate risks, understand who is most at risk, and how your community will be impacted. From there, make a plan to prepare for and respond to climate disasters in your neighborhood. This workshop is a follow up to "Fostering Local Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care." Attendees are encouraged to watch the video of that training in advance of this workshop. Invite your congregation to watch with you! View the presentation.

Webinar: Climate Resilience through Disaster Response and Community Care

From wildfires to floods, climate disasters impact our communities. How do we cultivate community care in response to climate disasters? Join Rev. Karen Hutt, Unitarian Universalist Trauma Response Ministry; Halcyon Westall with the UUA Disaster Relief Fund and Faithify; Rachel Myslivy, Side With Love Climate Justice Organizer; and Rev. Cynthia Cain to better understand the threats to your community and the resources available to help UUs show up for their communities. View the presentation.

Webinar: 2022 Congregational Climate Convergence

The Congregational Climate Convergence is a virtual day of networking and support for local UU climate organizing with Side With Love and the Unitarian Universalist Ministry for Earth. Join us for community nourishment and skill building for green teams, eco- & social justice lay leaders, and religious professionals. View the presentation.

Webinar: E Ala E! Red Road to DC Totem Pole Journey

Indigenous sovereignty is critical to Climate Justice, one of the UUA's four intersectional justice priorities. The Red Road to DC and corresponding mural emphasize the need to protect gravely imperiled Native American sacred sites, lands, and waters across the United States. In 2021, a 24-foot-long totem pole carved around seven visions by Master Carver Jewell James of the Lummi Nation in Washington State, was taken on a 20,000-mile epic journey across the United States. This historic journey brought attention to the need to protect gravely imperiled Native American sacred sites, lands and waters across the United States. It also called for genuinely engaging in the principle of full and prior informed consent. At every event, people were also invited to participate in the creation of a sixteen-by-sixteen-foot commemorative mural guided by the highly-acclaimed social artist Melanie Schambach. This creative process engaged hundreds of participants who expressed in their images our ancient love affair with—and sacred obligation to—Mother Earth. View the presentation.

LGBTQ+ Justice

Webinar: Speak Up for Trans Lives: Spokesperson Training

One of the most impactful ways for allies* to combat the wave of anti-trans legislation sweeping the country is to show up in public to articulate our values, unequivocally affirming that trans and nonbinary people are beautiful, sacred, and loved. Whether it's lobbying our state representatives, testifying in a legislative hearing, making a public comment at a city council or school board meeting, or writing a letter to the editor, we can fight for our trans and nonbinary kin to have access to the rights, protections, and resources they need to flourish. Join Side With Love and our partners at The Trevor Project to grow your own skills for speaking publicly in a values-aligned way, and find out how to get connected with opportunities to leverage your voice for justice. View the presentation.

Webinar: Combatting Anti-Trans Legislation 101

Currently, there are approximately 150 anti-transgender bills moving through state legislatures across the country. From banning participation in sports to so-called "bathroom bills," to legislation that criminalizes providing life-saving gender-affirming health care, these bills are deadly for trans and nonbinary people of all ages. View the presentation.

Democracy

Webinar: #VoteLove in 2022

When we organize, we build power in our communities for justice, accountability, and healing. In the last two years, UU the Vote has built new networks of spiritual and political communities to #VoteLove and #DefeatHate. We know what's at stake; LGBTQ rights, abortion access, voting rights and democracy itself are all on ballots all over the country. With UU the Vote 2022 we’re organizing on the state and local levels to fight for fair elections, advance voting rights, protect abortion access, and resist the targeting and criminalization of Black, Indigenous, and people of color communities. View the presentation.

Webinar: Building Power and Democracy

Two years ago, UUs committed to #VoteLove and #DefeatHate by expressing our values through electoral engagement in the 2020 election. Together with partners and our faith community, we supported the largest voter turnout in U.S. history, through advancing our values in local primaries, helping communities register to vote, and reaching out to voters to support them in navigating the increasingly complex terrain of voter suppression. But what does it mean to build power for a multiracial democracy? Join UU the Vote and local partners and activists for discussion about how movements have articulated a vision and strategy for political agency and democracy. Let’s learn how this current phase of the battle for voting rights and electoral justice fits into the larger goal of democracy and collective liberation. View the presentation.

Decriminalization

Webinar: Safety Beyond Policing: Organizing Lessons from Minneapolis

In the wake of George Floyd's murder in 2020, organizers in Minneapolis built on years of cultural change work and strategic organizing to propose an amendment to the city charter that would have made it possible to disband the Minneapolis Police Department and create a new Department of Public Safety. While this groundbreaking initiative did not pass in 2021, it put abolition and true community safety squarely in the national conversation and paved the way for future organizing in Minneapolis and across the country. Join Side With Love for this conversation with Sheila Nezhad and Jonathan Stegall of Reclaim the Block and Yes4Minneapolis as they reflect on long-term cultural organizing, building strategic values-based campaigns, abolitionist dreams of a world without police, and the possibilities that lie ahead. View the presentation.

Reproductive Justice

WEbinar: Heart-to-Heart: Abortion Conversations and Action for a Post-Roe World

As the Supreme Court looks likely to overturn or critically undermine Roe v. Wade in the coming weeks, it seems more and more likely that access to safe and legal abortions will be even further diminished everywhere. Join Side with Love and National Network of Abortion Funds to strengthen our muscles to have deep, connective conversations with people in our communities about abortion (and other issues!). View the presentation.

Webinar: Cut From the Same Cloth: Anti-Trans and Anti-Abortion Movements and How to Fight Back

The past few years have had sweeping attacks on trans and abortion rights. But transphobia in feminist spaces is hurting our ability to unite and fight back. How can we create a united movement to protect our communities? Join this conversation to learn more about trans-centered reproductive justice movement strategy. View the presentation.