Advocacy Program

 

Over the past few years, AUUC has become increasingly involved in advocacy at the Federal, state, and local levels.

At the Federal level, we have worked with Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) by participating in the Write Here/Write Now letter-writing campaigns, advocacy on Capitol Hill, and ‘witnessing’ events.

At the state level, we have worked with the Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), ARC of Northern Virginia, Virginia Interfaith Power & Light(VAIP&L), Equality VA, and other groups — participating in email campaigns, making phone calls to state legislators and participating in their various lobby days in Richmond.

Locally, we have actively supported Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE), having as many as 45 people at some of the VOICE Actions and Faith Alliance for Climate Solutions.

 

Make Your Voice Heard at the Federal, State & Local Levels: Join the AUUC Advocacy Team!!

The Virginia General Assembly is January through March each year and we support many partners (e.g., Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP), ARC of NoVA, Equality VA, Justice Forward VA, Social Action Linking Together (SALT) ) who work with legislators to craft legislation supporting our UU values.  Our support includes sending emails, making phone calls to state legislators, and even meeting in-person with our legislators to advocate for policy positions and legislation.

AUUC is also heavily involved in advocacy at the Federal and local levels.  At the Federal level, we work with Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) by participating in the Write Here/Write Now letter writing campaigns and meetings with legislators; locally, we actively support Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE) on issues such as affordable housing and mental health.  This work goes on all year long.

Accotink is known by our partners as a congregation who punches above its weight.   If you would like to have your voice heard, join the AUUC Advocacy Team so you can get information on advocacy opportunities…..then you can make an informed decision on what you want to do: call, email, attend a meeting…. or nothing at all.

To become part of the AUUC Advocacy Team or to learn more about it, contact John P or Ed K. Get in touch through justice@accotinkuu.org.

Advocacy Partners

These are some of the primary organizations we partner with on advocacy initiatives

Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice

UUSJ aids UU’s and UU congregations to get their views heard in our nation’s capital. It does this in four ways:

  1. Maintaining study groups on the priority issues–currently Immigration, Environmental Justice (including Climate Change), Defending Our Democracy, and Economic Justice. Anyone can join a study group.
  2. Selecting issues and making it easy for UU’s to write letters on those issues to Congress. This is called Write Here! Write Now!, and UUSJ does it once a month most months.
  3. Arranging meetings with Congressional staff so UU’s can talk to Congress. Now with COVID, these meetings have expanded virtually so that everyone across the nation can meet with Congress!
  4. Publicizing Action Alerts, where individual UU’s can sign a letter to their Congressional representatives advocating for a solution to a particular injustice.

Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

UUSC is a voluntary, non-sectarian organization working in partnership with grassroots organizations in the US and abroad to confront oppression and advance justice throughout the world. We support them through yearly contributions, occasional Outreach Collections, Guest at Your Table boxes, and Fair Trade sales.

Virginia Interfaith Center for Public Policy (VICPP)

Founded in 1982, VICPP is the largest statewide advocacy voice for the faith community in Virginia with over 25,000 members, which includes 750 faith communities, 1,000 clergy of all faiths, ten chapters and many partner/affiliate organizations. VICPP is non-partisan and focuses primarily on issues of racial, social, and economic justice.

Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE)

Founded in 2008, VOICE is a non-partisan coalition of almost 50 faith communities and civic organizations in Northern Virginia working together to build power in middle and low-income communities. AUUC has been a member of VOICE since 2011. VOICE organizes in Prince William, Fairfax, and Arlington counties as well as the City of Alexandria uniting people across lines of race, class, religion, political party and geography to take action on key issues in our community including but not limited to affordable housing, access to health and dental care, and immigrant rights. VOICE has deepened our relationships with faith communities across the region.