Social Justice Empowerment Handbook

In order to create an effective social justice program you need to develop structures to carry out the program. As we noted earlier, smaller congregations will work through a social justice committee. Larger congregations will have task forces and a social justice coordinating group. Whether the group you are working with is a committee, a task force, or a coordinating group it is important to have designated leaders, a job description, liaisons who link them to other groups, a calendar for carrying out tasks, networking with other groups, training volunteers, and ways of evaluating your program.

1. COMMITTEE JOB DESCRIPTION – The social justice committee and the task forces should have a job description which includes size, terms of office, leadership, budget, liaisons, and responsibilities.
2. COMMITTEE LEADERSHIP – Leadership of the committee might include:

1. Chair: runs the meetings and coordinates the program
2. Vice-Chair: serves if the chair is absent, and rotates into the chair in the following year
3. Secretary: keeps minutes and committee records; sends out notes of the meetings
4. Treasurer: supervises the budget and keeps financial records

3. COMMITTEE LIAISONS – The committee can have liaisons who link the committee to other church groups or community organizations, including:

1. Board or church council liaisons
2. Other churches, ecumenical or interfaith groups
3. Unitarian Universalist projects such as the UU Service Committee, or the UU United Nation Office
4. Other community organizations

4. COMMITTEE CALENDAR – Certain tasks need to be done at certain times of the year. It may be helpful to create a schedule to ensure that these tasks will be carried out.

• Review job descriptions.
• Determine liaisons to church board and committees, community groups, and interfaith organizations.
• Set meeting schedule for the year.
• Plan fund-raising activities.
• Determine what will be done about announcements in the Sunday Service.

• Plan the budget for the committee and task groups so that it will be part of the congregation’s budget and annual canvass.

• Recruit new members for the Social Justice Committee and the task forces.
• Elect officers for the coming year.
• Have a special session to evaluate the work of the committee for the past year and set new goals for the coming year.

5. IDENTIFY RESOURCE PEOPLE – It helps to identify the people in your congregation who are currently working on social justice issues and what projects they are working on. These people can help you to locate resources, provide information, and facilitate networking.

 

 
 
 

One way to do this is to create a committee of people who know the members of your congregation. Include two long time members and a couple of new members who know some of the newer people. At an evening meeting, have the committee members go through the directory and list beside people’s names the different ways they are involved in the community and support social change groups. This will give you a list of people who will support the congregation’s social justice program.

Another method for identifying who is involved in the community is to roll a large piece of newsprint on a large wall. Then before the worship service, or during the coffee hour, have people write the different ways they are involved in doing social justice work in the community.
 

6. NETWORKING WITH INTERFAITH GROUPS AND COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS – It also helps to identify the interfaith groups and organizations operating in the community that people can work with. Such groups often have information we can use. They may have influence we don’t possess.



 

Often we can form alliances with such groups and together we can achieve what we can not accomplish separately.
 

7. TRAINING – Congregation members need many different kinds of skills to be effective social change agents. Such skills include running effective meetings, lobbying, working with the media, and developing community organizations.

The district leadership schools teach valuable group process skills. Contact your district executive for further information.

The Unitarian Universalist Association’s Office for Congregational Justice Making provides training on how to develop effective social justice programs in local congregations. Email social_justice@uua.org for more information.

The UUA’s Washington Center does training in lobbying and advocacy work. Contact The Rev. Meg Riley at (202) 296-4672 or mriley@uua.org for more information.

The Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) can provide information and training on a variety of social justice issues (domestic and foreign). Call (617) 888-6600 for more information.
 

8. PROGRAM EVALUATION – It is important to evaluate what you are doing on an ongoing basis.

1. Suggestions for an Evaluation meeting:

1. Start the meeting with some social time or a meal.
2. Have a brief worship service to set a positive tone.
3. You may want to have the minister or a member of the congregation give a short talk on how social justice work provides us with an opportunity to express our faith.
4. Engage the participants in a process to determine the strengths and the areas that need to be improved in your program.

1. Give each person a 3x5-index card. Ask them to take five minutes to write three things they like about the congregation’s social justice program.
2. Have participants break into groups of four or five. Have each group chose a reporter to report back to the larger group. Tell the groups to take eight minutes to reach a consensus on three things they like about the program.
3. Bring participants back into the larger group and ask the reporters to report their groups' results.
4. Have someone write the items on newsprint as the reporters from each group share their observations with the total group.
5. Review the items listed. This is a time to celebrate what the group has accomplished during the previous year. Determine some ways that you can share this good news with other members of the congregation and the wider community.

1. After each group has shared:

1. Ask people to turn over their 3x5 card (or give them another card). Invite them to take five minutes to write three things they would like to see improved in the congregation’s social justice program.
2. Repeat steps (b) through (e) above.

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