Online Action Events for UU Justice Makers
Online Community Action Circles are an easy and engaging way to connect, collaborate, and create justice grounded in our UU values with supportive community. Initially launched by the UU Service Committee & UU College of Social Justice, these circles have become a UUJMCA and congregational favorite! With faith-grounding & interactive tech, these one-hour Community Action Circles are meaningful & effective spaces for taking online action for justice, helping you and your community take dozens of actions for justice in one sitting!
Themed for Campaigns & Communities
UUJMCA’s Community Action Circles are intentionally crafted to engage issues and campaigns from partners and frontline organizers. Each circle is “themed” to focus on one of our core issue areas – immigrant justice, climate justice, economic justice, and racial justice & abolition. Of course, we know these issues intersect, so often times the actions we engage touch on more than one of them! Some circles can go even more specific in the selection of actions we take, such as focusing on campaigns that are part of the #FreeThemAll effort, or Medicare for All in California. Because the liberation landscape is constantly shifting, we update our circles with new campaigns each time we offer them, so no two circles are exactly alike.
What Happens During an Action Circle?
Using a special interactive slide deck, every Community Action Circle includes spaces to do deeper check-in, relationship building, accountability naming, and spiritual grounding. Facilitated by trained volunteers, circle participants are able to connect to the what and why of our justice making, and not just the actions themselves. Following these centering activities, we then engage in a set of pre-determined online actions, complete with links, instructions, and tech support, all while on a Zoom call together!
How Can I Participate In A Circle?
Ready to take action? You can find out when the next circles are by checking out the UUJMCA Event Calendar and seeing when the next one is scheduled & sign up! Our next two community action circles will be on:
1) Tuesday, February 16 @ 12-1pm Pacific
2) Tuesday, March 16 @ 12-1pm Pacific
Can I Host a Circle?
ABSOLUTELY! After each circle, participants get access to a “clean” template slide deck to use for their own circles (in addition to the one we used that day to share actions with others). If you are ready to confidently use that tool to host circles of your own, go for it (and they don’t have to be just UU communities)! If you want a little more training, our volunteer facilitation team will be hosting an Action Circle Facilitation Training in the spring of 2021 (March and/or April). You can let us know you are interested in attending that training and getting information about it by emailing us at info@uujmca.org. And if you have a circle set up and want to encourage others to attend, submit your event to the UUJMCA Calendar so we can publicize on our site for you!
