Justice

About the Justice Team

The Justice team is a thinking, planning and oversight group keeping an eye on the overall picture while the on the ground work of Justice is done by the congregation through the task forces, partnerships and rapid response. The Justice team performs these administrative tasks:

• Communication – Follows the activities of our task forces, partners, UU-affiliated groups, and informs the congregation of their respective activities and needs.
• Evaluation – Evaluates the progress of the task forces in achieving their goals and objectives and recommends approval or disapproval of the renewal of the task forces. The team also evaluates the strengths of our relationships with our partners.
• Share the Plate – Oversees the selection process and selects monthly recipients.
• Justice Calendar – Maintains an online Justice Calendar for the congregation to review and participate.
• Community Forums – Sponsors forums on timely topics based on congregational interest.
• Rapid Response – Mobilizes Rapid Response initiatives as proposed by the congregation.

Task Forces are created to focus congregational justice work on clear and measureable goals. To see the UUCM policy on Task Forces, click here. Briefly, a Task Force must consist of at least 5 UUCM members who are willing to actively work on the task force and 5 additional members who actively support the task force. The proposed task force must submit to the Justice team a petition to establish a task force, along with a strategic plan with the accountable goals and strategies and tactics to achieve these goals. The team recommends approval or disapproval of the proposed task force to the Board of Trustees, with the final decision for or against the formation of the task force to be made by the full congregation at an annual Congregational Business Meeting. Previously, the Carbon Dividend and the Stop the Mine, and Nisenan task forces were approved and they successfully met their taskforce goals.

Currently, the Justice Team has one taskforce:
Bending the Arc Toward Racial Justice Task Force

When UUCM members and friends are called to respond quickly and nimbly to injustice in areas that fall outside the work of the Task Forces, the Justice Team mobilizes a Rapid Response.

For the approved procedure for Rapid Response click here

Recently the congregation mobilized a Rapid Response to assist a Haitian family in resettling in Nevada County. The family was fleeing Haiti and was accepted under the Emergency Humanitarian Parole program. For a description of the congregation’s successful efforts to support the family click here.

While the creation of task forces is a key component of our Justice Ministry, UUCM’s partnerships with local non-profit agencies and UU-affiliated organizations is another way for the congregation to be involved with Justice work. Partnerships are fundamentally different from task forces: partnerships do not require a set number of participants and the partnership is based on committed relationships rather than specific outcomes. The only criteria for a partnership is that the organization’s mission is consistent with UU values and if possible at least one UUCM member is actively working with the organization.  Our partners include but are not limited to our annual Share the Plate recipients which are selected by the congregation.

For a list of the 2024-25 Share the Plate recipients, click here.
For a description of the Share the Plate selection process, click here.

Congregants work for these partners and others in a variety of ways. Examples include preparing lunches for Habitat for Humanity workers, cooking dinners for Hospitality House guests, and participating in a work group at Interfaith Food Ministry.