“Racism and white supremacy culture is killing our bodies, killing our spirits, and killing our humanity.”
– Rev. Jen Crow, First Universalist Church of Minneapolis
Through long-term education, service, advocacy and witness, UUCF is dedicated to the following mission:
- Understanding the root causes and effects of racism.
- Working to dismantle racism through individual and congregational actions.
- Developing partnerships with other institutions working to dismantle racism, particularly institutions led by people of color.
- Increasing the congregation’s diversity.
UUnite for Justice
UUCF is led in this work by UUnite for Justice, a committee formed in February 2025 by merging the former Social Justice Advisory Team and the Racial Justice Steering Committee. UUnite for Justice is the main planning team for UUCF’s social justice ministries. This team takes an intersectional approach toward understanding and taking action to alleviate social injustices such as racism, homophobia, transphobia, authoritarianism, classism, and environmental harm. This is an open committee composed of about a dozen members, including UUCF’s senior minister. The group meets on the third Monday of each month and welcomes new members committed to this mission. For questions please contact Social Justice Coordinator Andrew Batcher.
UUCF Racial Justice Initiatives
Act for Racial Justice
Please consider taking part in the following actions and opportunities.
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Resources
- Showing Up for Racial Justice in Northern Virginia. Activates white people to work for racial justice in Northern Virginia. SURJ NoVA also developed these great alternative resources to calling the police for mental health issues, mediation, domestic/sexual abuse, substance abuse, etc. They also offer tips on making the decision about whether to involve police.
- The Community Justice Exchange is a national hub for developing, sharing and experimenting with tactical interventions, strategic organizing practices and innovative organizing tools to end mass incarceration. They provide support to community-based organizations that are building a new vision of community justice through bottom-up interventions in the criminal legal and immigration detention systems.
- Color of Change designs campaigns powerful enough to end practices that unfairly hold Black people back, and champions solutions that move us all forward.
- ACLU “Know Your Rights at Demonstrations and Protests” information to help you plan to attend a demonstration or protest.
- ACLU criminal justice reform campaign information.
- NPR article “To Reduce Gun Violence, Potential Offenders Offered Support and Cash” about Operation Peacemaker Fellowship in Richmond, CA, and other “violence interruption programs.”
- Cure Violence Global stops the spread of violence using the methods and strategies associated with disease control: detecting and interrupting conflicts, identifying and treating the highest risk individuals, and changing social norms. The organization was founded in Chicago 20 years ago but more recently has been heavily defunded.
- Stop Police Terror Project-DC (SPTDC) in the Washington, DC, area is committed to changing the system of racist, militarized policing in the nation’s capital. The organization works to not only oppose police abuses, but to advocate for alternatives to policing and help build community-led peacekeeping efforts designed to place the power over public safety squarely in the hands of Black and oppressed communities. SPTDC and others are working to create a violence interruption program through the Neighborhood Engagement Achieves Results (NEAR) Act of 2016, the product of a District-wide conversation around policing and public safety. The law, which passed the D.C. Council unanimously, seeks to establish a framework to ensure residents safety while also addressing police abuses.
- Impact Justice is a national innovation and research center advancing new ideas and solutions for justice reform. It was founded in 2015 on an idea: to create an organization that would imagine, innovate and accept absolutely nothing about the status quo of our current justice system.
- Systemic Racism Explained. Video clearly and succinctly helps explain systemic racism.
- Black-Owned Bookstores listed by state.
DMV-Specific Resources
- Anti-Racist Resource Guide created by Victoria Alexander, M.Ed.
- Talking About Race from the National Museum of African American History & Culture.
- Black-Owned Businesses list from the Northern Virginia Black Chamber of Commerce.
- Mental Health Issues Facing the Black Community from Sunshine Behavioral Health.
Resistance links
- Indivisible Guide – best practices for making Congress listen.
- Jennifer Hofmann’s action checklist for Americans of conscience
- Women’s March on Washington – Actions to reflect and resist
- Find Your U.S. Representative
- Find Your U.S. Senator
- Town Hall Project. Find a congressional town hall meeting near you.
- How to attend a town hall meeting. Tips on participating in your representative’s town hall meeting.
- Virginia Interfaith Center NOVA Chapter. Through advocacy and grassroots partnerships, empowering faithful advocates to learn about and act on issues challenging our communities.