Monthly Liaison Conference Call Minutes
October 5, 2016, 8 PM
In Attendance:
Gene Whitney (Princeton)
Nick Mellis (Washington Crossing)
Laurice Grae-Hauck, Administrator
Rev. Rob Gregson, Exec. Dir.
Congregations Check-in:
- Nick Mellis (Washington Crossing): Charles Stevens preaching this Sunday on the separation of Church and State. Regular FAQ groups on racial justice/Black Lives Matter. Members are split on whether or not to hang a banner on the church. Conversations continue. UUCWC is working with the local police department. Rev. Kim talked about UULMNJ from the pulpit on Sunday.
- Gena (Princeton): Bill has made announcement from the pulpit regarding the Issues Conference. Mark your calendar postcards have been very helpful for tabling.
News:
- Issues Conference We have 49 people currently registered. Please get congregation members to Morristown! Group discount available for groups of 15 or more and for students. There will be a table for congregational events. Please bring flyers or information on events, racial justice activity, etc. if you would like to spread the word.
- Nonpartisan conversations with gubernatorial candidates With 467 days left until Chris Christie leaves office many are looking to prime gubernatorial candidates to step into office and be prepared to take immediate action on progressive legislation. If you have connections, please let us know.
- Local Policing Initiative Looking for key acting members to be a part of the local policing initiative. With lots of initial interest, we are looking for the few committed members of this group to move this task forward.
- Liaison Training November 12 Nick suggest civics 101 training for liaisons. Effective grassroots organizing in congregations. Helping the organization enrich our data landscape.
Task Force:
- Environment: Lead abatement, legal petition to force millions of dollars into action to replace piping in low income and urban communities.
- Economic Justice:
- Criminal Justice: Racial impact statements are at the top of the list. Similar to environmental impact statements, categorical legislation would require a statement of racial impact. Also lots of movement on solitary confinement restrictions.
- Reproductive Justice: Promotion for LARC (Long-acting reversible contraceptives)
- Legal Advocacy Project: Learn more. Previously we have filed amicus briefs in law suits. We are looking to do a pilot program to begin writing our own legislation. One possibility is with the criminal justice task force civilian oversight board for department of corrections. Reproductive Justice task force is looking at a “copy cat” law to protect the information of abortion patients in a manner similar to the contact information of domestic violence victims/survivors. Nick would like to see constitutional protection of abortion access.
Reminders
- Month of Resistance If your congregation is holding any events for the Month of Resistance to Mass Incarceration, please let Laurice know ASAP so your even can be included in the statewide notice.
- Email Signup page is available on the website. Bookmark this and your new supporters go right into our system. If you have taken information on paper and did not capture mailing addresses, type NA in required fields. As we do major fundraising the information on the new user signup page is all important. Thank you in advance. http://salsa4.salsalabs.com/o/51510/c/301/p/salsa/web/common/public/signup?signup_page_KEY=9501
- ACTION ALERTS! If you are printing UULMNJ drafted letters to representatives and mailing them from your congregation it is important that we have the sender information. As we expand our organization we need to have the full breadth of supporter info and engagement for fundraising purposes and efficacy analysis. Please send names and addresses (either street or email) for any of these mailings.
- We will be keeping the 1st Wednesday of the month. We will be pushing the time up by half an hour. Next call will be November 2 at 7:30.
Adjourned at 9:03
Minutes submitted by Laurice Grae-Hauck, UULMNJ Administrator