Fund raising is a real necessity for the upcoming year. Therefore, the quieter summer months were a time for grant development. UULMNJ received a Congregational Based Community Organizing Grant from the UU Funding Program. This grant covered half of the CBCO training costs for up to five participants. Two participants attended the NJ Regional Coalition community organizing training event in Valley Forge, PA, in August, one from Cherry Hill and one from Washington Crossing. I, along with two other individuals will be able to take advantage of the grant in the next CBCO training probably taking place next Spring. If you are interested, drop me an email at director@uulmnj.org.
Keep your fingers crossed! An application for an Infrastructure Building grant was submitted to the UU Funding Program on September 15. Thank you to two members of the UULMNJ finance committee, Carolyn Musser and Amy Tiedemann, who assisted in the grant writing. Another grant letter of inquiry was submitted to The Funding Exchange (FEX.org), a funding consortium that specializes in funding advocacy and activists.
This is the second year of the two-year legislature, which means Trenton will be scrambling to pass existing legislation before they have to start over in January. An important issue, and one UULMNJ will look at, is that of Health Care Exchanges. The decisions of how individuals and small businesses can pool resources and the oversight of that process will be decided within the next three to nine months. You will be receiving regular updates as we proceed.
Finally, I just want to take a moment to thank all the hard working board, task force and liaison volunteers who have so graciously helped acclimate me to our state-wide advocacy movement. This is truly a collective effort.
I look forward to seeing you at the Fall Issues Workshop in October.
In faith,
Rev. Craig Hirshberg