From the Director

What a few weeks we’ve had! Below you’ll see some updates of what the Justice Center is doing and some the impact we’re continuing to have.

As you likely noted, The Justice Center was not able to participate in Give for Good this year. I appreciate those of you who pivoted and gave directly to the Justice Center through All Peoples donation platform. We plan to be part of Give for Good in 2025!

We’re excited about what we’re doing for the rest of this fall, and look forward to continuing our relationships with many of you!

Thank you all for your continued support for the work of the Justice Center and I look forward to more progress alongside you all!

On Sept 28 & 29 the Justice Center, along with First Unitarian Church and All Peoples Congregation, held a “Climate Justice Revival.” This was an event organized by our denomination and several hundred congregations throughout the US and Canada participated.

25 people from First Unitarian Church and All Peoples Congregation attended the Revival event on Saturday where we spent the day visioning for 2050  — what is the community adn world that we want to breathe into existence by then?

I have captured some of the main visions that we collectively created and we have set up a working group who will be working on putting this vision into a plan of action.  The intention is to support the Unitarian Universalists to come to a collective plan and then integrate this plan into the other work these congregations are a part of.

The Justice Center is a part of the Kentucky Unitarian Universalist Justice Action Network (KUUJAN). KUUJAN leads the organizing of our state-wide Get out the Vote efforts, which the Justice Center then works to support locally.  A main focus of KUUJAN efforts this year has been mailing postcards. Through September, we focused on postcarding to swing states in order to encourage people to register and get to the polls in November. KUUJAN distributed more than 5000 postcards, the Justice Center distributed 2000 of these.

In October, KUUJAN pivoted the focus to  Kentucky and mobilizing to defeat Amendment 2.  KUUJAN distributed an additional 7500 + postcards, of which the Justice Center, with our congregational partners, mailed out over 3000 postcards.  The Justice Center also distributed a couple hundred yard signs throughout the area.

In addition to these efforts, we were able to engage in direct voter outreach efforts by tabling and canvassing.

IEAN is planning to host an environmental action summit this spring.. This summit will be an opportunity for us to deepen our relationships with each other, share some of what we (as congregations and communities of faith) have learned in our efforts to become more environmentally sustainable, and begin crafting a collective agenda.  Stay tuned for more details to come.

Join hundreds of your community members as we walk for the earth! This annual avent brings us together as a community and helps raise necessaary funds for ten area organizations working to make our community better for all!  This year’s walk includes musical performances by Mighty Shades of Ebony plus information tables from local environmental and justice groups before and after the walk.

You can register at https://louisvilleearthwalk.org/registration/ or make a donation at https://louisvilleearthwalk.org/donate/.

Environmental Justice Conference on Oct 19 from 9:00 AM  to 3:00 PM at the University club (200 E Brandies Road, Louisville, 40208.)

Go here for more information and to register

Anne Braden Institute Memorial Leccture  Thurs Nov 7 at 6:00 pm

Featuring Andrea Armstrong. See info below. Go here to register

Join participants and activists in this summit exploring the intersection of food systems, climate reslience, and social equity.

Go here for more information and to register.