9.29.26 Action Center Update

Written By Side With Love

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 Trainings & Webinars.

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.

The Update:
As people of faith, we believe democracy is a sacred process where all share in the co-creation of our world. Honoring the inherent worth and dignity of all requires us to make sure every voice is heard. Unfortunately, this regime and the Roberts court continue to threaten that sacred process. Last week, the U.S. Supreme Court temporarily cleared the Trump administration to use an expanded version of the Department of Homeland Security’s SAVE system to check state voter rolls against federal immigration, Social Security, and citizenship data. At the same time, a federal judge dismissed the Department of Justice’s lawsuit seeking Washington state’s complete voter-registration database, including sensitive information such as birth dates and partial Social Security or driver’s-license information.

This past week made the stakes in the struggle for a multiracial democracy even clearer. As those in power seek to consolidate authority in the hands of the few and reshape the systems that determine who can participate in our democracy, people across the country are organizing in solidarity to protect our elections and defend the right of every eligible voter to participate.

Again and again, history teaches us that democracy is not secured by courts or institutions alone. Pro-democracy victories are made possible by organized people acting together. We will experience victories and setbacks in the courts, but our power has never rested there alone.

Right now, one of the most powerful ways we can defend our elections is by building a mass mobilization of voters, election protection volunteers, faith communities, and neighbors prepared to protect access to the ballot and accompany one another through this election season. Democracy is something we practice together. And in this moment, solidarity is how we defend it.

Join No Kings for trainings and resources leading up to the Oct 17 national day of action. 

Join an upcoming UU the Vote Solidarity Summit to build skills, relationships, and strategy at the local level. 

Get out the vote at the next LGBTQ Taskforce faith text bank on Oct 6. 

Join us for a UU the Vote national day of action to mobilize voters with New Voices for Reproductive Justice on Nov 2. 

Organize a Party at the Polls mobilization to bring joy and community to the ballot box. 

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:
Detentions and surveillance continue to escalate, but so too does our resistance to them.   From small towns to large cities, everyday people are saying NO to immigration camps, surveillance cameras, and kidnapping of neighbors.  Meanwhile, conditions on immigration camps is horrible and ICE violence has not stopped.  That’s why we must continue to speak out and take action to build a world where everyone has safety, belonging, love, and family. 

Take Action:

Resources:

  • Read:

    •  Learn more about how police use surveillance tools to enact gender-based violence and what you can do about it in Interupting Criminalization’s report Shrouded in Silence and the accompanying curriculum Breaking the Silence.

  • Learn:

  • Join: 

    • The Gathering: Honoring 10 years of the Standing Rock Movement, October 12, 8 ET   10 years after the Water Protectors began their encampment at Standing Rock, Joseph McNeil (Dakota) joins us to reflect on energy sovereignty work today, the No Dakota Access Pipeline movement of 10 years ago, and longtime Dakota/Lakota/Nakota values and cultural practices.  The Standing Rock camp was destroyed by collusion between law enforcement and corporations – a collusion that continues to threaten movements today. Side With Love's monthly event to strengthen your spirit, make sense of the threats to democracy, and take meaningful action alongside others! Join us live or watch the recording later.

    • Building Informational Power to Resist Authoritarianism: A Skill Share, October 10th online 

  • Watch/Listen: 

    • Fascism Barometer Podcast by Ejeris Dixon: There Is No Opting Out with Tarso Ramos, Ejeris welcomes back researcher, strategist, and longtime movement advisor Tarso Ramos for a sobering and clarifying conversation about authoritarian consolidation, democratic renewal, and what it means to stay in the fight. Tarso and Ejeris explore why the barometer reads differently depending on the community you belong to and the dangers you face. Together, they examine the warning signs of rising fascism and an increasingly consolidated authoritarian state, the escalating attacks on targeted communities and social justice organizations, and the urgent need to shift from protest to challenge.

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:

This past summer was the hottest on record for the contiguous United States.  A deadly Nor’easter flooded communities from Virginia to Maine this past weekend.  It’s no longer a matter of if a disaster is going to strike my community, it’s when, how bad, who will be hurt worst, and how prepared we will be.  We do not need to leave each other behind when the fires burn, blizzards come, or the flood waters rise.  We can keep each other safe through community care, justice-rooted preparation, and faithful response.   

The good news is that much of what we are already doing helps us create climate resilience in our communities. In our communities and congregations, we already have much of the infrastructure we need to keep everyone safe in a disaster.  Our job is to strengthen that infrastructure, nourish our networks of community care, and fill the gaps so no one is left behind.  Offering our congregations as hubs of climate resilience is a powerful way that we can respond to the ways our world is transforming and the ways our congregations can help make sure everyone is safe and protected.  

As Dorothy Swain, a UU lay leader in Grants Pass, Oregon and a Side with Love Climate Resilience Hubs WAVE Cohort member, teaches us, “Resilience hubs operate on three different time scales: before, during and after a disaster.  It's important to meet the day to day needs of community members before a disaster by just being good neighbors for each other. [...]  We already know how to care for each other.  A resilience hub mindset can add to that by providing a framework that helps us to share ideas and resources, and reminds us that we're all in this together and we can learn from what other people are doing.”

Does your congregation have a food ministry?  A weekly dinner?  A free fridge?  A community garden?  Do some members of your congregation know how to cook for a lot of people?  Fantastic!  During a bad storm, a power outage, or an economy where nearly half of Americans can’t afford groceries, making sure that people are fed is one of the most important care and resilience efforts we already do.  If our beloved neighbors come to our congregations when they’re hungry, they will also come to our congregations when they are soggy from a flood or overheating during yet another heat wave.  Are we prepared to love them?  Have we asked them how they cope during a heat wave?  If our congregation does not feed our neighbors, who does?  Can we strengthen their food ministries?  What are the relationships our congregation currently has with the community?   What relationships are missing?

Does your community have a Rapid Response Network?  If your community has trusted networks that act when our government is trying to kidnap our neighbors, your community also has reliable people who can help neighbors who don’t have transportation evacuate before a dangerous storm strikes.  Whether it’s to stop a detention or muck out a basement, the safest communities show up for each other. 

Who do you reach out to when your kid is sick and you can’t leave work to pick them up from school?  Who do you text when you just can’t remember if you closed the garage door?  Who do you ask for help when you need to pick up your latest thrift shop masterpiece and it won’t fit in your trunk?  Who seems to always know what is happening in the neighborhood?  These people are some of your most trusted community connections.  What if you began discussing climate resilience plans with them?  What if you began mapping out your neighborhood, gathering together to identify what each could offer and what each would need?  What if your whole block did this?  What if every block in your congregation did this?

Do you love to sing? Whether it’s in your congregation’s choir, a protest music collective, a community sing, a porch fest, or exclusively on road trips, many UUs love to make music.  What would it mean to gather to sing songs about the climate?  Tend to our griefs, hopes, and fears in the loving atmosphere created by many voices?  How can we support not just physical resilience, but also spiritual and emotional resilience?  What practices could we bring to our gatherings to carry us through difficult times including celebration, rest, and reflection?  Could we sing together?

When you want to be around other people and don’t want to make plans, where do you go?  Do you go to your public library?  A local coffee shop?  A playground?  Do you sit on your stoop?  Where does your larger community congregate?  These natural gathering places are key social infrastructure.  When engaged in disaster planning efforts, these locations can serve as meeting spots.  What if you made safety plans around this location? What if your community gathered here to ask the question, What does our community need for everyone to be safe and protected in the face of climate disruption?

Take Action: 

  • Explore our Four Essentials of Climate Action!  The new Green Sanctuary 2030 orients around Four Essentials: Community Resilience, Justice, Congregational Transformation, and Mitigation.  Our monthly community meetings explore one Essential.  Of course, the Essentials are intersectional, so the others will show up, too.  Here are some ways to take action on the Four Essentials today:

Resources:

Wednesday, October 7, 2026 7:00 PM -  8:00 PM ET (Please note the Time Zone!)

Drop into any of our monthly Office Hours to ask questions, learn what other congregations are doing, and get the support you need to create climate justice in your community. Offering shared learning and mutual supports, the new Green Sanctuary 2030 process and community of practice are here to support any UU working on climate justice. 

Guided by UU values, the Green Sanctuary 2030 community nurtures resilient, thriving communities through climate actions that prioritize justice.  When we gather to celebrate progress together, we create a community of shared learning and mutual support.

To prepare for our time together, please review our short Green Sanctuary 2030 Orientation Video and FAQ.

Wednesday, October 21, 2026 7:00 PM -  8:30 PM ET (Please note the Time Zone!)

The Trump Administration has removed protections from more than 86 million acres of public lands, and millions more of our beloved landscapes and wildlife are in imminent danger of expanded mining, drilling, and timber harvests with limited consultation with Tribes and Nations and public comment. As our lands, waters, and habitats are under attack, UUs passed the 2026 AIW to Defend Against the Assault on Environmental Protections: Public Lands Rules and the Endangerment Finding. As part of our Standing Rock Anniversary events, join Deb Cruz from JUUstice WA, for a discussion about current issues and how we can protect public lands from the onslaught of logging, fossil fuel and other extractive industry projects.---Guided by UU values, the Green Sanctuary community nurtures resilient, thriving communities through climate actions that prioritize justice. All are invited to join our monthly community meetings to learn together, support each other, and celebrate progress.

  • Watch/Listen: Creating Hubs of Climate Resilience and Community Care: September 2026 Green Sanctuary Community Meeting Climate disasters are only getting worse and more frequent. Creating hubs of climate resilience is a critical way our congregations can keep our communities safe. UUs everywhere are rising to the challenge. As part of our Climate Resilience Peer Learning Circle, UUs collaboratively explored possibilities for creating hubs that center love & prioritize justice. These congregations are creating hubs that are “not a bunker, a beacon” grounded in UU values & responsive to their community’s needs.  During our September 2026 Green Sanctuary 2030 Community meeting, we learned how and why these congregations are doing this important work. 

 Together, we practice the world we long for. Together, we win.

Side With Love
Next

9.22.26 Action Center Update