Leadership Appeal for Justice

1 April 2024

Dear Justice Seekers!

We are happy to announce that on March 19th the Board of Trustees entered into a covenanting agreement with Bridges: A UU Network (BridgesUU) effective today, April 1st 2024 as a means to reduce our expenses and grow our outreach to you. 

Our new covenanting relationship  with BridgesUU will strengthen our present way of working by developing  new ways to handle the “business” of UUJMCA and serve our Mission:

“to advance justice in our state by cultivating and connecting leaders and communities, and by empowering the public voice of those who share Unitarian Universalist values and principles.”

While our Executive Director, Pastor AJ Blackwood, has brought a new level of professional leadership to the struggle of justice across a number of fronts including Climate Justice, Immigrant, Queer (LGBTQ+), and Reproductive Rights, as well as, addressing housing affordability, racial injustice, hate speech, at the local and statewide levels, it has become more and more apparent that bulk of the work, Pastor AJ is attending to is dealing with the mundane challenges of fundraising, maintaining the financial books, and keeping our database up to date. This has made it increasingly difficult to communicate with our UU congregations and you.

As we are developing this new model of administration, we will transfer the “business” of the organization away from Pastor AJ and to BridgesUU: “a modern approach to the Unitarian Universalist movement centered in covenantal relationships between local communities, congregations, and partners.”

This will allow us to bring on two Community Organizers to serve you in our UU congregations across the state. Our new Community Organizers will be available to meet with you on Sunday’s  and assist with deepening our relationships with your congregation’s social justice committees as we grow a more equitable and just California.

The work of creating our New Leadership Model doesn’t end here!
We invite you to share your time and talent!

We are currently working to increase the membership of our Board of Trustees, Vision & Values Team, and Justice Action Teams as well as in the next month bring on the two Community Organizers.

While we do not have an issue of current leader interest and involvement, we do have a concern most importantly about the limited number of justice leaders serving in our senior leadership positions and on our Board of Trustees. While we are inviting you to join our leadership at any level of interest. We have an immediate need to increase our number of  board members to be involved in our ministry with enthusiasm and commitment to justice leadership. 

If you are interested in taking on a larger statewide leadership role in justice across California please reach out to me (president@uujmca.org) for more information about serving on our Board of Trustees, or Pastor AJ (aj@uujmca.org) for any of our other teams. Click here to learn more about our Teams:

As we look forward to the balance of 2024 and into 2025, we look forward to your involvement for justice with us!

With warmest regards and our hope for a more just California,

Tom Loughrey
President
UU Justice Ministry of California

PS: Please consider making a financial contribution to UUJMCA by Clicking Here!