6.23.26 Action Center Update
Welcome to the Action Center Weekly Update. Each week, we’ll share:
A brief analysis of critical issues in this political moment
Immediate actions you can take
Resources to deepen knowledge and strengthen our collective work to side with love
Nothing is inevitable. Justice movements are built by ordinary people who come together to defeat oppression and nurture a loving world. You are not alone. We have power. Together, we can create a just and thriving future.
Movements are strongest when we act together. Organize with your teams and networks, and take these actions in community. For practical tools, see our Organizing School and Skill Up resources.
Democracy
Core Principle: Democracy is not a destination but a practice rooted in interdependence and the worth and dignity of all. While authoritarianism consolidates power, we are the majority—and we must organize to build a truly multiracial democracy.
Take Action:
Our partners at the American Friends Service Committee invite us to join in their Declaration of Resistance as the United States approaches its 250th anniversary, and communities across the country are confronting a widening gap between the nation’s stated ideals and lived reality.
The Declaration is the central vehicle of this moment, a shared moral commitment that invites people
across the country to name where they stand and what they are building toward.
It affirms:
• We will protect people and communities
• We will resist authoritarian government
• We will build a free, equal and just future
You can sign the Declaration, and show up July 4th at one of many Love as Action Vigils around the country or at their July 4th People’s Parade in Philadelphia
Resources:
Learn:
Watch/Listen:
UUA President Sofía Betancourt in conversation with Tahil Sharma (National LGBTQ Task Force), and Rev. Jacqueline Brett (Eno River UU Fellowship) engaged in a profound conversation about how we live our UU value of Pluralism in Side With Love’s Declarations of Democracy Series
Decriminalization & Immigration
Core Principle: Criminalization and dehumanization deny the dignity of our communities. Safety cannot come at the expense of others. As people of faith, we proclaim a future of care, abundance, and mutuality—not domination.
The Update:While folks around the country celebrated Juneteenth, the Movement for Black Lives reminds us “The end of slavery did not come with reparations. Black people in the U.S. are still owed acknowledgment, compensation, restitution, and rehabilitation for all the harms that flowed from our enslavement, and for all the wealth built on our stolen lives, labor and torture.” That torture continues in the form of police violence, including the police murder of 1 year old Kohen Wiley last week.
As people who put love at the center, we each have a role in dismantling white supremacy. Scot Nakagawa writes that Solidarity is the “mechanism by which movements redistribute risk.” May we each find our role in redistributing risk so that all may be safe and loved.
Take Action:
Sign the Movement for Black Lives pledge to learn more about reparations, tell your Members of Congress to sponsor and pass HR40, and get your community involved in the fight! From M4BL’s post about Juneteenth and Reparations.
Choose one action from the 2022 Action of Immediate Witness “Anti-Racism and Reparations Via Restorative Justice”
Resources:
Read:“Solidarity is not a Feeling” - Scot Nakagawa
Learn:
If an agent knocks: While federal agents have long targetted Black organizers, they are ramping up their scare tactics more widely. Now is the time to make sure you and all of the people you are organizing with know some basic protective tips for dealing with agents of the state. Please review these resources from the Catalyst Project and share them with people in your organizations, mutual aid groups, families, and affinity groups. This is especially important if you’re organizing with people newer to activism who don’t yet know their rights.
Join:
Watch/Listen:
New Film: Si Pudiera Quedarme / If I Could Stay This film follows Jeanette Vizguerra, a mother of four from Mexico, and Ingrid Encalada Latorre, a mother of three from Peru, as they enter sanctuary at two UU congregations—First Unitarian Society of Denver and UU Church of Boulder, respectively—to avoid deportation and separation from their children.
Incredible Panel with the Filmmaker and OrganizersVizguerra; the film’s co-director, Theo Rigby; Rev. Deborah Lee, co-executive director of the Interfaith Movement for Human Integrity; and Rev. John Fife, a retired minister of Southside Presbyterian Church in Tucson, Arizona, and a leader in the sanctuary movement.
Don’t forget to Take Action to support Jeanette as well!
Climate Justice
Core Principle: A just and loving world is also a flourishing one. A fossil-free future is possible, where clean energy is a human right and all beings thrive. To get there, we must create new systems, norms, and practices.
The Update:Some good news for environmental justice and clean energy this week! Clean energy trounced coal in the US electricity mix last month. For the first time ever, solar generated more energy than coal. According to Ember, solar supplied 12.8% of US electricity while coal supplied 12.2%. Solar output exceeded last year’s May levels by 17%...and experts anticipate these records could be broken this summer because solar usually peaks in June and July. The Trump administration has consistently worked to prop up the dying fossil fuel industry while discriminating against wind and solar. Most recently, the administration has used taxpayer money to stop wind development by buying back offshore wind leases. According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, three of these deals cost us $1.8 billion dollars - almost the exact amount of cuts to healthcare recently passed by the House. proposed cuts in healthcare funding. Despite the attacks on renewables, the industry continues to grow. In the first quarter or 2026, solar remained the leading source of new power added to the grid, surpassing 6 million installations.
In another win, a Federal court agreed that the EPA illegally withheld the Environmental and Climate Justice Block Grants. Part of the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, Congress appropriated $2.8 billion for financial assistance and $200 million for technical assistance to carry out environmental and climate justice activities. Right after taking office, Trump targeted the program with an executive terminating all “environmental justice” office and positions, clawing back the funding, and leaving communities in the lurch. US District Judge Richard Gergel ruled that the EPA’s decision was “arbitrary and capricious and unlawful” and that communities that lost funding received an “injury”. Unfortunately, the judge stopped short of ordering the program to resume because the agency’s capacity to manage the program is diminished due to reduced staff. This lawsuit is a win, and, according to the Center for Economic and Policy Research, further lawsuits lead to restitution for applicants and awardees.
Resources:
Learn: How are you Mobilizing for Climate Justice in your community? Side With Love’s resources are designed to support your congregation to take balanced climate actions that advance justice in your communities. Check out the completely revitalized Green Sanctuary 2030 process today. Share your Actions, learn from other congregations, and create climate justice together.
Join:
Green Sanctuary 2030 Office Hours
Wednesday, July 8, 2026 7:00 PM - 8:00 PM ET (Please note the Time Zone!)
Did you know that the completely revitalized Green Sanctuary 2030: Mobilizing for Climate Justice has just one requirement for annual Recognition? Monthly Office Hours are here to anyone with questions on how Green Sanctuary 2030 can support UUs to transform our congregations through climate justice. Review the Orientation Video on the Side With Love Website then come to the office hours to get all your questions answered. Current Green Sanctuary 2030 Teams, this time is for you, too!
Watch/Listen: Have you watched or listened to our Climate at the Intersections videos? As part of our ongoing commitment to root our climate actions in justice and understand how climate justice is connected to all of the UUA’s justice priorities, this series of short videos explore climate justice as racial justice, gender justice, disability justice and more. Check them out, host a watch party, and start making the connections!
Together, we practice the world we long for. Together, we win.
