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Dear Friends of Social Justice:

This year's annual report provides details of our efforts to advance the cause of social justice in our area, and we commend it for your perusal. Many thanks to our staff, the Rev. Terry Ellen and Rev. Cyn Snavely, whose tireless dedication and diligence clearly make a difference to so many. They are especially adept at sorting through the many competing priorities, which Pogo once termed "insurmountable opportunities." Thank you Terry and Cyn!

Social justice work is alive and flourishing, if this year's UUSJ annual meeting is any indication. With a theme of "Inspiring Ideas, Sharing Resources, Working Together," the widely varied presentations by social justice advocates from member congregations were designed to share innovative approaches to address social justice priorities. Stimulating the conversation was a keynote talk and workshop by Christopher Simms, the Joseph Priestly District's Director of Young Adult and Campus Ministry. Topics ranged from developing anti-racist, anti-oppression strategies, to support of human rights in Guatemala, to involving young adults in social justice work. Turn-out was excellent, and we know that a good deal of the expertise and energy present has been shared with other congregations as they consider adopting these promising practices.

While there is no shortage of needs to be addressed, our financial resources do not permit us to take on all that we would like. Early in the year we recognized the immediacy of this challenge, and now, due to the wisdom and energy of Hal Fuller and Terrie Barr, we have a development plan that is both thoughtful and bold. If we fully implement this plan, which calls for concerted action by UUSJ leadership and board members, we should be able to put UUSJ back on a stable financial footing. A key element of this plan is a financial assessment, if we might call it that, of each of our member congregations, believing that some means to equitably share the financial obligation is the only fair way to carry on. And the flexibility of the plan, allowing a congregation to meet its goal in any combination of ways, from individual memberships and donations, "share the plate" collections, and/or social action budget allocations, should allow the leadership of each congregation to design its own approach. We encourage your study of this development plan, and we welcome your feedback on this vital issue.

A key challenge for us in support of our development plan is to find a way to tell the UUSJ story in a compelling way. That is -- what value does UUSJ bring to our stakeholders? While the enclosed reports and the list of accomplishments nicely document our efforts, how can we best make the case that UUSJ addresses a niche and is worthy of support, given the demand on all of us to support so many good causes? This is a particular challenge in an election year. Many of the contributions of UUSJ are near-invisible to people who favor social justice causes, simply because our efforts seldom take place unilaterally within the bounds of a particular congregation. That is, our two-fold strategy of congregational support and regional leadership does not get the high-profile visibility of congregational events, and thus does not generate the broad-based financial support necessary to continue our work and respond to the demand for our services.

As we move into the election season, we are increasingly aware of the work that needs to be done to advance social justice issues. Anti-racism and anti-oppression work is a high priority, especially as our communities become more diverse and economic challenges affect us all. This important work deserves our highest level of commitment, and we will recognize such commitment during our first-ever UUSJ Social Justice Awards event on October 12.

We hope that you, as social justice champions, will support UUSJ through your talent, time and treasure. As always, we want your feedback and dialogue. Please feel free to email or call us at any time.

Blessings to all,

Pat Karlsen, co-chair
Bob Denniston, co-chair

This was a year of major transitions for UUSJ. Following the recommendations of our Strategic Planning Committee, we changed our whole governance model to involve and empower the Board by meeting more often and downsizing to a number suitable for a working Board.   We correspondingly began lessening the role of the Executive Committee. With grandfathered/mothered terms involved and new protocols, as well as tough financial times, it’s had some rough edges, or at least one quorum issue. But dedicated people, as in the past, have pulled us through as we performed our networking, programming, and cooperative functions. Looking back, a lot has been accomplished.

At General Assembly, besides co-hosting a booth, UUSJ was part of a meeting looking at the whole status of Independent Affiliates, of which we have been one, with the UUA. I have continued talks with other Affiliates as the whole structure is simplified. Since we are not national, how we will come out is unclear still. Also, I represented us at a gathering at GA of over forty people about the Virginia marriage referendum. With such turnout, clearly a Legislative Ministry is slowly emerging there. UUSJ is the communications center for that.

In September I represented us at the rally on the steps of our Baltimore church following the disheartening ruling of the appeals court regarding marriage. On the 29th, as our part in a cooperative cluster meeting of the Virginia congregations, I hosted a roundtable for Virginia social action committee chairs and representatives to share successes and break out into areas of interest: peace activities, structural/organizational issues in congregational sj work, LGBT issues, environmental issues, and the new sanctuary movement. Over 34 people showed up.

In October I helped staff our D.C. Green Festival booth organized by Ed Butterworth and done cooperatively with Ministry for Earth and Green Sanctuary. This fall we will continue our UU representation at this major regional green gathering with major networking bonuses. On the 13th I was one of several UUSJ representatives at the All Souls Growth rally, half of whose offering went to further our efforts with UU youth, young adults, and Beacon house.   On the 27th I was one of many representatives at the District’s Journey Toward Wholeness rally at Fairfax. We helped with promotion of this event.

Of course the Nov. 1 “Inspired Faith, Effective Action” workshop was a major success. Working with Rev. Bill Sinkford and the UUA Washington Office, we brought the distillation of the very best UUA thinking on effective social justice work to representatives from area social justice committees.   This was cooperative work at its best. The workshop and handbook are our best educational tools on how to do this work effectively and joyously. The next day I met with the social justice committee of the Washington Ethical Culture Society. Bill Sinkford told me before the service he conducted there, as they consider joint affiliation with the UUA, that our workshop had been the buzz of the morning there. On the 8th, Cindy, I and others represented us at the District’s Antiracism gathering in Annapolis, having promoted that regional event. 

On January 5, in lieu of a separate cluster meeting, UUSJ co-sponsored the Arlington gathering on Virginia legislative issues coming up, with presentations, organized by Laura Dely, from the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy as well as LGBT and immigration organizations. This led to subsequent lobbying in Richmond. On the 12th Cindy and I represented us at the regional Green Sanctuary gathering in Annapolis, where GreenLine was present also.

On Feb. 11, many of us attended the LGBT lobby day in Annapolis, which of course we promoted. Mike Benefiel and others organized a full bus to this rally from Cedar Lane, an ecological, community-building, rally-boosting, courageous success. On the 18th I also represented us at the environmental lobby day in Annapolis.

In March, Pat and I represented us at the peace service at All Souls, with Bill Sinkford preaching, as part of an interfaith effort and also in support of our four-year GA Study Resolution on peacemaking.   And then all attention went to the Joseph Priestley District Annual Meeting, with its theme of social justice. Not only did we locate the the speaker for that event, Rob Keithan of the Washington office, but we also put on three events - on civil marriage, New Orleans volunteering, and a social justice chair roundtable – and actively encouraged presentations from the Columbia youth group, on the Peacemaking Study Resolution (I took part), global warming, Beacon House, and antiracism (Pat Karlsen and Gary Mummert). Gary Mummert hosted a GreenLine display at our booth promoting our green buying campaign, and a possible joint fundraising venture with UUSC (Service Committee) and UULM-MD (Legislative Ministry) was hatched at our side-by-side tables. 

The Peacemaking workshop marks an effort for UUSJ to do some programming related to the current General Assembly Study Resolution. As this process has become more intentional and focused, it makes eminent sense that UUSJ should promote congregational involvement in discussion of the issue and then the crafting of the best possible resolution, indicating our faith tradition’s best ethical thinking. This year we worked cooperatively with Mike Benefiel and Robert McClusky, members of the UUA committee encouraging congregational involvement.

On April 19 I attended our Marriage Equality Task Force meeting to take on the next steps as Rev. Phyllis Hubbell steps down from her dedicated chairing of that effort. They are in process of developing a UU adult education curriculum on marriage which has won the support of Keith Kron at the UUA and has a curriculum outline and professional but volunteer writer and editor lined up. On the 27th Lois Hybl and I represented us at the Chesapeake Climate Action Network’s Earth Day celebration with Mike Tidwell, Jim Wallace, Jim Hansen, and Amy Goodman speaking, and Pat Humphries singing.

During the year I spoke at Davies, Towson, Washington Ethical Culture, Easton, Southern Maryland, Cedar Lane (youth group),and Frederick, with Rockville and Cedar Lane coming up.   These appearances educate people about the work of UUSJ and sometimes raise money from plate collections and new memberships as well as giving me a chance to find out more about what the congregations are actually doing.   And it is a special pleasure to welcome the Washington Ethical Culture Society to our membership this year.

The sudden demise of the Maryland Growth meeting in September threw us off course this year, since we give up separate cluster meetings in order to bring social justice programming to regional growth events, normally a win-win. But the advantages of collaboration far outweigh problems such as this as we avoid tripping over other groups in scheduling events, combine our resources, and model respect and harmony.   For instance, instead of hosting a separate Virginia cluster meeting, we instead used our resources to promote the January Arlington meeting on Virginia legislative issues.   We are exploring possible joint fundraising with UUSC and UULM-MD; our marriage task force is working with the UUA on its curriculum development; we tie our anti-racism work into the over-arching work of the District’s task force on this topic; we promote and attend the UULM rallies; we always try to coordinate with (our Green Festival booth) and promote Ministry for Earth and Green Sanctuary, the Growth Committee, Capital Area Interweave, Beacon House, and Open Door. We will especially be working with the District people on youth and young adults to make our justice work less of a grey-hair event. 

Beyond our UU doors, we are members of the Maryland and Virginia state interfaith advocacy groups MILC (Maryland Interfaith Legislative Committee) and VICPP (Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy), and we work closely with broader social justice organizations such as the various Equality groups (LGBT concerns), Chesapeake Climate Action Network (CCAN), the Washington Regional Religious Campaign Against Torture (WRRCAT), Healthcare For All, etc. The Washington Office has consistently found this kind of networking and collaboration to be by far the best practice in effective justice work, rather than the recurring tendency to reinvent the wheel and go off on solo crusades, as has been and still often is our UU wont. The downside is that you do not get as much credit or name recognition as you get for solo events. You instead get cooperative community and increased effectiveness.

Of course one of our main functions is enhancing this kind of effective cooperation by keeping our congregations informed of justice events and resources via our website and biweekly E-News. This is such a constant resource that we can forget how valuable it is. This task of helping lift our congregations out of isolation and into community with each other and the world beyond is mainly the work of our information maven Cindy Snavely and our webmaster Bill Alsmeyer-Johnson. Both place the area justice world at our feet. In addition, we are anew attempting to compile an area resource list for speakers on justice issues, both for Sunday services and for forums and other special events. We are currently surveying our ministers, but will be asking social justice chairs and you all soon. This could be a wonderful boon to lay service and social justice committees. Please help gather it together when we ask for help. 

One great cooperative venture is our Green Buying Program, which has appeared at many congregational coffee hours in the form of Gary Mummert and his GreenLine display table. A letter went out to all ministers, presidents, and social action committee chairs reminding them of the really noxious effects of paper-making and our need to walk our environmental talk as institutions. We’re planning follow-up to see where our congregations currently are on this important issue.

With the leadership of Hal Fuller and Terrie Barr, our Development Committee has put together a major funding initiative based on the idea of a Fair Share for each congregation based on its membership. How the congregation meets that total amount is up to it – individual memberships and donations, plate collections, budgeted amounts or fundraisers. This has been a major effort to get UUSJ on an even financial keel and come back from the reductions in staff hours of recent years. The implementation of the plan is, of course, in the Boards hands, along with my own fund-raising efforts.

Lastly, in addition to the Strategic Plan recently adopted by UUSJ, we will be working on a supplemental statement outlining our vision and justifying our request for fair share contributions from congregations. We have been doing so much else that we need to do more in our publicity and self-promotion with congregations.

We are losing some key people after this meeting.   Rev. Phyllis Hubbell, our former Co-Chair, is stepping down from head of the Marriage Equality Task Force as she retires with her husband Rev. John Manwell from the Baltimore pulpit. We’re pleased they will be Interim Ministers at Paint Branch, though, and so maybe still at least partially available to help us. Phyllis’s passion for social justice, especially for the LGBT community, has made her a mainstay at Equality Maryland events, and it was naturally to the safe steps of the Baltimore church that many came to mourn after the disappointing court decision in Maryland. She has further shepherded the marriage curriculum to its present point. We will miss her leadership greatly.

Our Treasurer, Linda Collyer, who has been handling our finances with diligence, great competence, calmness, and humor, when needed, is ending her term. We are just one of the UU organizations she provides with her essential service in this area. The bad news is that her term is up. The good news is that she has agreed to continue keeping the books under the aegis of the new treasurer, so Linda will continue to be a treasure for us if not the treasurer. She is a real unsung hero.

Bill Alsmeyer-Johnson’s term on the Exec is also at an end, but he has indicated that, with help, he will continue to maintain the website, for which we are most grateful. This is an invaluable resource, and Bill has maintained it with quiet competence, patience, and persistence.   It is true to his steady commitment to service that he will continue his help to us. Bill has helped in the drafting of a number of reports and recommendations over his time on the Exec. 

Ed Butterworth’s Executive Committee term (but not Board) is ending. Ed has been a consistent generator of new ideas, new outside-the-box approaches, as well as the main inspiration and organizer of our Green Festival booth and other environmental initiatives as head of the Climate Change Task Force. He’s presently working on new ideas for presenters at Green Festival, so he, too, is still involved.

We also thank departing Board members Bill Curtis (Annapolis), Betty McGarvie Crowley (Annapolis), Steve Jamar (Columbia), and Bill Harris (Columbia) for their service. Betty has long been active with UUSJ and is one of the founders of UULM-MD. We thank them all.      

I also wish to thank Al Robbert, our Secretary (another unsung hero job), and our other unmentioned Exec person, Lois Hybl, for their extra efforts on UUSJ’s behalf.

And lastly, your two Co-Chairs, Bob Denniston and Pat Karlsen, along with your indefatigable Cindy Snavely deserve the great thanks of us all. For in this often difficult work, they have brought exceptional talents as well as humor and steadfastness to the work. Pat’s constancy and passion for weaving an anti-racist perspective into all we do have helped UUSJ move forward in this important area. Bob’s calm clarity and organizational savvy and prioritizing have been wonderful additions to us. And Cindy as always brings her long memory, communications skills, great ideas, humor, and unwavering dedication to her job and to us all. 

If social justice work really is about relationships, those such as these above make the journey one of joy as well as effort. As we each widen ourselves out to include new people, new realities, home at our tables and in our hearts, may we all remember that, behind all the headache and heartache, beyond all the confusions, dilemmas, and organizational quandaries, past the idiosyncratic quirks of each of us, stands the age-old prophetic imperative at the heart of any religion worth its salt - to heal the sick, to help the wounded, to reach out to the neglected and discarded, establish justice and promote mercy, to care for this miracle of our world with at least a modicum of its true worth, to build a beloved community where now we see the various devastations wrought by greed and self-serving, by ignorance and short-sightedness.

Since we meet this time in the midst of a planetary emergency where time is not on our side (for the first time in history), where the laws of physics cannot be bargained with, it is, frankly, required of all of us that we shake ourselves awake and responded as if our lives, and those of all we hold dear and of all creation, too, depended on it, which they do. We may be one small organization, but each of us has influence way beyond our knowing. And if UUs are ever to rise to the moment to claim our historic emphasis on life in this world as the real test of a faith, not life in the unknown next, now is the time. 

Let us do it together, reaching out, reaching in. It’s an honor to be working with you.

Respectfully submitted,

Terry Ellen

In the 2007-2008 Fiscal Year UUSJ: