As Unitarian Universalist organizers, MUUSJA staff and volunteers connect, amplify, sustain, and deepen justice work within, among, and beyond issues, teams, and congregations.
OUR GROUNDING
As Unitarian Universalists, we aspire to be…
…skilled, accountable, faithful partners with broad movements working for justice and collective liberation.
…in solidarity with communities both locally and in the broader public sphere who seek to bend the arc of the universe toward justice.
…rooted in understanding of the inherent worth and dignity of all humans, and our radical interdependence with all of creation.
…actively and accountably dismantling racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.
OUR APPROACH
Collective power emerges when people gather and learn from one another.
CONVENING
bringing people together within, across and beyond congregations
MUUSJA exists because together UU’s are smarter, louder, and stronger. From Bismarck to Winona, from fellowships of 10 to churches of 1000+, MUUSJA reminds us we are stronger together and we are not alone. We link with community experts on an array of issues, including reproductive, sexuality and gender justice, anti-racism and climate justice, decarceration and immigration witness, fighting hunger and homelessness, defending democracy and combating hate. When we team within, across, and beyond congregations, the work persists and grows.
CAPACITY BUILDING
developing skilled. spiritually grounded, leader-full justice teams
We all have something to teach and something to learn. MUUSJA shares strategies for effective advocacy, authentic partnerships, sustaining resilience and claiming the power within each of us. Shaping justice for the earth and its peoples requires self-exploration, relationship-building, perseverance, resources, knowledge, and skills. It can feel lonely, overwhelming, exhausting, sometimes even hopeless. As Unitarian Universalist organizers, we bring our identities and learnings, joyfully and humbly, into community circles that nurture hope.
OUR VISION
We are UUs from across the states of Minnesota, North Dakota and South Dakota — diverse, spirited, and deeply
committed. We are firmly grounded in our UU principles of world peace, justice, and
sustainability. We work collaboratively on focused programs of education, witness, reflection, and
advocacy, to create a world that works for everyone.
Knowing that communities are stronger together, a key MUUSJA goal is to weave and strengthen connection
amongst UU’s within and among congregational groups who may feel geographically or spiritually isolated. Whether
you are from Mankato, Minneapolis, Winona, or International Falls, you are welcome in our
spaces of care and support where relationships blossom and imagination flourishes. We
aspire to deepen our collective religious voice, and to bring this voice to the public
sphere. We follow and team with multi-faith and secular organizers beyond UU congregations, seeking accountable relationships that embody Beloved Community.
In working to build a lasting social justice organization, we team with UUs to use an
action, reflection, collaboration approach to social change:
- ACTION to combat root causes of injustice
- REFLECTION to ground our work spiritually and evaluate our progress
- COLLABORATION to maximize our power and impact
Our collaborative work includes developing a social change infrastructure that shifts the
political climate toward a social agenda that serves the common good.
OUR HISTORY
The first UU multi-congregational organizing effort in Minnesota began in 2000 with the UU Affordable Housing Partnership, an effort that brought together UUs from the metro area who shared a concern about the affordable housing crisis. UUAHP’s success with this single issue inspired the formation of the Metro UU Social Justice Alliance, a multi-issue UU social justice organization, in 2001. UUAHP became a working group of MUUSJA in 2002. In 2006, successful state-wide UU organizing on the issue of same-sex marriage equality inspired the name-change to Minnesota UU Social Justice Alliance. In 2020, as our organizing shifted increasingly towards on-line and hybrid meetings during the COVID pandemic, it became more possible to connect Minnesotans statewide as well as North Dakota and South Dakota. In recent years, MUUSJA has organized with partners and congregational teams to celebrate Pride festivals and fight for reproductive justice across the region; resist pipeline construction and honor our treaties with Indigenous peoples; advocate for affordable housing, sick leave, and childcare; learn and reflect on racial justice, decriminalization, abolition and decarceration; register and inform voters to defend a multicultural, multiracial, multigenerational democracy.