Category: Liaisons Only

AGENDA:

Introduction of new staff and interns: Rev. Craig introduced Laurice Grae, the new administrator from the Montclair Congregation, and Richelle Perry, the summer intern from Jefferson City, Missouri. Richelle will work 25 hours a week this summer.

Congregations Check-in:

• Diane (Montclair)reported that Montclair has been doing letter collecting for the environment and mass incarceration. They have a Congregational meeting on Sunday for planning.
• Frances (Princeton) reported that bail letters were signed in Princeton and two action alerts, on the bail issue and fracking rally, have been sent to congregational mailing list.
• Jeri (Newton) mailed Craig bail reform letters and sent follow up email to Congregation. Fracking alert was emailed to the environmental group.
  Frances reported action alerts only went to liaison.
• Craig asks that liaisons distribute action alerts to their congregations at this time while the new administrator updates SALSA and the transition between administrators eases.

Task Force Updates:

• Fracking : Thursday, June 12 is lobby day, with events taking place in Trenton all day. Craig is the opening speaker at the rally at 12:30. We need people to be present. Action alert has gone out to register. Frances: Sent alert to congregation, got a response saying it was difficult to register. Registration is via Facebook.
• Bail Reform:   Al: Current issue of a bill meant to change discriminatory bail reform system in NJ. Detainees who can’t afford bail end up stuck in the system for up to a year awaiting trial. The bill would provide non-monetary options based upon risk assessment. Al will not be in Trenton on June 5. Bills went through judiciary and are in Senate Budget Committee on June 5 with a hearing at 1:00. It is suspected that changes have been made to the bill, making it less effective than the original version. Drug Policy Alliance called for people to testify before the budget committee.
  Opportunity to Compete Act addresses the restrained opportunity for employment for previously incarcerated people. “Ban the Box” seeks to eliminate the question regarding criminal background on initial employment applications. Background checks could only be conducted after a job offer is given, with some exemptions. 1 of every 4 New Jerseyans has a criminal record.
  Both bills have support in the legislature and therefor a possibility to get them passed.
  Craig testified last week regarding the constitutional amendment required for bail reform. Currently the New Jersey constitution gives everyone the right to bail. There is concern that the current wording, “released as soon as possible”, could lead to abuse later. There are likely changes now that have not been seen.
  Diane suggested a possibility for minimal bail options to avoid the constitutional amendment.
• Gun Violence: Diane: Bill to reduce magazine cartridges from 15 to 10 passed the senate and the assembly. Gov. Christie is the big obstacle, likely to veto. Now is the time for letters and phone calls to the Governor. Diane will be working on drafting a letter for the congregations. Plans to begin work with New Jersey Together organization, urging municipalities to only purchase guns from safe and responsible manufacturers and distributers. Craig hopes to get a letter on SALSA by weekend.
  Diane rewrote webpage information on Tuesday.
• Economic Justice: Encourage people to visit their legislators at this time regarding affordable housing. Craig and Lorraine Wearley met with Assemblyman Bramnick and Senator Kean (both of District 21) who were both responsive. Thursday, June 5, 2014 is lobby day for poverty and affordable housing in Trenton. Sandy recovery funds and ways to deal with vacant homes and homes on the verge of foreclosure are key issues. Possibility for the creation of a land bank between community municipalities and developers.
  Citizens United materials are still available. On the national stage, support for a referendum supported heavily by the Democratic party to limit campaign finance contributions.
• Immigration: Drivers license and wage theft will likely not come up until the fall

New Business

• Mark your calendars! September 27, 2014 conference in Paramus. Udi Ofer, Exec. Director of New Jersey ACLU will be the guest speaker.
• General Assembly: Thursday June 26, State advocacy network workshop 10:15-12. 5:30 UULM reception in the Omni UUA Reception Room. Liaisons all invited.
• For more information regarding the New Jim Crow task force, contact A Stawsky.
• Any interest in Princeton cable access show, contact Nick Wellis. Working on half hour presentations with a study guide as an educational/outreach tool in congregations.

There will be no Liaison conference call in July.  Our next conference call will be Aug. 6 at 8 PM.

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Wednesday, May 7th, 2014

Liaison Conference Call Minutes

Attending:

Craig Hirshberg (Executive Director), Nick Mellis (Washington Crossing), Lorraine Wearley (Summit), Cecilia Costa (Montclair), Denise (last name/congregation?), Ann Perry (Somerset Hills), Frances Prestianni (Princeton), Peggy Woods (Wayne, Lakeland)

 

Action Alerts current as of May 7: Liaisons are asked to promote these in their Congregations

1. Send letters to legislators to oppose repeal of Realty Transfer Tax.   View Action Alert

2. Liaisons—please send to Craig letters you’ve collected to ask Sweeney and Prieto to support Bail Reform legislation.  View Action Alert

3. Work with municipalities for gun safety features by manufacturers.   View Action Alert

Congregations’ Highlights

• Washington Crossing: climate scientist will speak on Monday night (May 12) and will video for Princeton public TV; a new minister has been chosen, Rev. Kim Wildszewski

• Summit: had second of three lectures on gun violence; programs broadcast to Montclair and Morristown UU congregations; full house and very active discussion went on to 3 pm; topics included safety of fire arms and rules of hunting, safety course

• Princeton: good response to bail reform; 50 letters to each Legislative Leader.

• Montclair: good response to bail reform 90 to Sweeney and 75 to Speaker Prieto

• Wayne: Peace, Shalom, Salaam which is designed to promote dialogue on Israel and Palestine conflict; 2 congregation members went to DC to rally against Pipeline
• Craig was part of a group who spoke with Senator Menendez on immigration.
• Gave testimony at the first meeting of COAH; new rules have been released; there will be a public meeting in July on these regulations.
• Participated in news conference on immigration issues-how to control phone rates for telephone calls inside NJ; it can cost $17 to make a simple call inside the state; will submit request to Board of Public Utilities which regulates these rates.
• Bail reform issue may come up in a legislative committee next Thursday, May 15, 2014; this has been a major issue for UULM through the Criminal Justice Reform Task Force.

Report on Plenary

High attendance, almost 80 people; 19 of 21 NJ congregations were represented which is very good; this was the 5^th anniversary celebration; raised almost $4,000 which is a record for fund raising at statewide meetings; Gordon MacInnes gave a wonderful talk on budget issues is NJ; task forces had very active discussion; we will be providing a list of Task Force issues.

Craig’s Activities

New Action Alert-Economic Justice Task Force: Action to ask Legislature not to repeal the realty transfer tax; a portion of that tax goes to affordable housing trust fund used which is used to maintain current housing and build new housing.

New Action Alert on Fracking: A bill which will ban storing fracking waste in NJ will come up at environmental committee on Monday, May 12. Action Alert asking for letters will be sent.

How to add people to our Salsa Lists: the question is how do we get more people on the list. Suggestions: create a flyer on UULM giving information and asking people to give us contact information; put sign-up sheet at Action Table and ask people to sign up; Summit has started doing this; Princeton has used this approach for a number of years.

More visibility for UU ideas: Nick Mellis talked about creating more visibility for UU and UULM ideas; he suggested working through Princeton community TV to create programming; this will create more awareness of our faith within the community; Nick is willing to work on this; Princeton community TV is open to new programming and over the past two years, has scheduled our UULM programs on immigration reform and Citizen’s United Supreme Court decision.

Next year’s schedule for Craig preaching: has commitment to speak at every congregations every two years; Next year will be busy next year since Craig spoke at many congregations two years ago; it would be helpful for liaisons to speak to the worship committee or the minister to suggest that Craig speak at the congregation next year (2014-2015); these requests should be submitted quickly since congregations tend to set up this schedule way in advance; there was general agreement that this is a very good way to make UULM more visible and support local UULM congregational activities.

The Next Liaison Conference Call – Wednesday, June 4, 8:00pm. For more liaison information about how to be included in these calls, please contact Executive Director Craig Hirshberg.

Thank you for your participation!

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Wednesday, April 2nd, 2014, Liaison Conference Call was not held as the Plenary meeting was Saturday April 5.

 

Action Alerts current as of April 5: Liaisons are asked to promote these in their Congregations

1. Reinstate NJ membership in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. View Action Alert

2. Prevent Fracking in the Delaware River Basin. View Action Alert

3. Work with municipalities for gun safety features by manufacturers. View Action Alert

4. UULM and UU Service Committee ask for federal minimum wage raise to $10.10. View Action Alert

April 5 Plenary Highlights

1. Business Meeting: Election of Trustees, Thanking outgoing Trustees, Approval of FY 2014-2015 Budget

2. Keynote Speaker: Gordon MacInnes, President, New Jersey Policy Perspective

3. First constituting of Task Force Criminal Justice: End the New Jim Crow, Al Stawsky, Chair alynways@gmail.com

4. First constituting of Task Force Healthcare: Reproductive Justice, Rev. Kathleen Green, Chair uurevkathleen@gmail.com

5. Training for Liaisons and volunteers on the moral imperative and practicalities of managing congregations’ advocacy.

The Next Liaison Conference Call – Wednesday, May 7th 8:00pm. For more liaison information about how to be included in these calls, please contact director@uulmnj.org

Thank you for your participation!

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Wednesday, March 5^th, 2014

Liaison Conference Call Minutes

Attendance:

 Action Alerts for March: Liaisons are asked to promote these in their Congregations

1. Reinstate NJ membership in Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. View Action Alert

2. Immigration Task Force calls attention to detention conditions in NJ. View Action Alert

3. Prevent Fracking in the Delaware River Basin. View Action Alert

4. Work with municipalities for gun safety features by manufacturers. View Action Alert

5. UULM and UU Service Committee ask for federal minimum wage raise to $10.10. View Action Alert

Other request for Liaisons:

Liaisons are asked to attend and ask congregants to attend the UULMNJ 5^th Celebration & Annual Meeting and Liaison & Volunteer Training. Register now!

Congregational Updates

Palisades began a reading circle on the New Jim Crow and held an event with Mr. Clinton Rice, past Deputy Commissioner in New York City, who spoke on race and ethnic issues in the criminal justice system.

Princeton: Sunday, March 2 Action Table activities included letter writing for federal Minimum Wage increase and promoting NJ’s participation in REGGI, and asking for names of those interested in the Gun Violence Prevention initiative of municipalities inquiring about safety features from gun manufactures. There was a computer demonstration on Health Exchanges and insurance sign up, and information was available on the Jim Crow program it’s volunteer opportunities.

Montclair had a lull this month at their Action Table and continues their work on Gun Violence Prevention with like minded collaborators.

Summit is compiling a list of volunteer jobs in their Social Justice area which includes opportunities to participate on the UULMNJ Task Forces and working on the initiative of municipalities inquiring about safety features from gun manufactures.

Task Force Issues Updates

 Criminal Justice Reform: Ending the New Jim Crow

This is our newest task force approved by the Board in February. Read the Policy Brief.

There is a hearing on Monday March 10 at 10 am in Trenton on the Daily Form Act about persons arrested who cannot afford bail, waiting in jail for up to a year. (Al Stawsky alynways@gmail.com)

Economic Justice, Affordable Housing

COAH Hearing: Lorraine Wearley and Rev. Craig Hirshberg attended the hearing in Newark on March 5 about the NJ administration’s failure of having representatives on COAH to come up with guidelines as required by the courts. Fair Share Housing suggested the court appoint a master/monitor to oversee this process. A decision on the process will be issued in the coming days by the judge.

Gun Violence Prevention

The Gun Violence Prevention Network of churches and other community collaborators are having a telephone conference and talk “Protect Our Children from Gun Violence” by Rev. Shannon Daley-Harris at the Summit Unitarian Church on March 23. PDF of slides are available for other locations by teleconference. Diane Finn finnflynn@verizon.net

Other: Liaisons and other Training after the April 5 Annual Plenary 2:15 to 3:15

Managing Your Congregation’s Advocacy

The Moral Imperative. Articulating, Educating and Advocating by Rev. Craig Hirshberg.

Using SALSA demo

Keeping abreast of issues

An example of an Action Table set up

The Next Liaison Conference Call – Wednesday, April 2nd, 8:00pm.

For more liaison information about how to be included in these calls, please contact director@uulmnj.org

Thank you for your participation!

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Wednesday, February 5th

Liaison Conference Call Minutes

 Attendance:

Congregational Updates

Paramus (Sally) World Book Night is in April, and Central Unitarian Church is participating. This is a literacy campaign tied in with Shakespeare’s 450th birthday.

Princeton Frances is exploring possible collaboration with an organization that educates people about how to enroll under the Affordable Care Act.

Summit (Lorraine) The congregation is sending 15 people to the “Moral March” rally this weekend in Raleigh, N.C.

Montclair (Cecilia, Diane) Montclair organized a social justice themed Sunday service, and prepared a survey on UULMNJ and how people can get involved. As yet relatively few people have replied to this survey, and the social action committee is considering next steps.

Washington Crossing (Lynn) – The congregation has prepared a survey to solicit feedback about the UUA’s congregational study issue.

Issue / Task Force Updates

The New Jim Crow (Jim deBoer)

Work continues to move towards the creation of a separate task force for this issue. The position paper is almost complete and ready for submission for the Board’s consideration at its February meeting. Please let task force chair Al Stawsky know if anyone in your congregation might like to get involved with this (alynways@gmail.com).

Sandy Relief (Lorraine)

The state Department of Community Affairs has recently released its proposal for how it intends to spend the next round of federal Sandy relief funding. Its technical title is “substantive amendment #7”. Our partner organizations, the Housing Development Network of New Jersey and Fair Share Housing, are critical of this proposal, in that it doesn’t sufficiently address the needs of those who need replacement affordable housing, those who are renters, or those who are minorities.

There are three public hearings scheduled for next week on this proposal; those underlined havevolunteered to attend:

Tuesday, Feb. 11th: Stockton University, Atlantic County (101 Vera King Farris Drive, Galloway, NJ 08205; Performing Arts Center; 4–7 pm)

Wednesday, Feb. 12th: The NJ Institute of Technology, Newark (150 Bleeker Street, Newark, NJ 07102; Campus Center; 5:30–8:30 pm) Sally Gellert and Jim deBoer

Thursday, Feb. 13th: Brookdale Community College, Monmouth County (Robert J. Collins Arena; 765 Newman Springs Road, Lincroft, NJ 07738; 4–7 pm) Lorraine Wearley and Rev. Rosemary Newberry

As you can see, we need someone for the first session in Atlantic County! It is very important that we participate in this process because of the numerous problems in how the state expended the initial round of Sandy funding. In addition to the issues mentioned above, African-American and Latino applicants were turned down at substantially higher rates than Euro-Americans. And, of those whose initial requests were denied, 80% had their requests accepted upon appeal. This raises the question of how thorough the initial application review process was — presumably if uniform standards had been applied, we would not have seen such a disparity between initial determinations and subsequent post-appeal determinations.

The task force is preparing talking points for people willing to give testimony. If you are interested, please register online: http://bit.ly/SandyPublicHearings.  In addition to next week’s hearings, we have until March 5th to submit written comments by email: sandy.publiccomment@dca.state.nj.us  or by mail to Gabrielle Gallagher, NJ Department of Community Affairs, 101 South Broad Street, P.O. Box 800, Trenton, NJ 08625.

Minimum Wage (Lorraine)

A request has come in from the national level for us to contact Senator Menendez to encourage him to sign on as a co-sponsor of the federal minimum wage legislation, and also for us to send letters of support to local newspapers. We are unsure however what the timing is of this legislation. Please stay tuned for more details.

Gun Violence Prevention (Craig and Diane)

The winter agenda will include several bills that are being re-introduced in the state legislature, involving magazine limits, background checks, and safety training. We are hopeful that many of these bills will again find support among the legislature, and are considering how to encourage the governor to support these measures as well.

Meanwhile, New Jersey Together (a faith-based community organization) is asking mayors and town councils to evaluate their gun procurement policies. Of all guns sold in this country, 15% are bought by local law enforcement, and 25% are purchased federally. Our goal is that as municipalities put out bids, they ask gun manufacturers how/whether they are:

• developing smart gun technologies that use biometrics to make sure that guns are only used by the people to whom they have been issued
• microstamping of bullets
• monitoring of the distribution of the guns they manufacture

At this point, the goal is to obtain some baseline information. Perhaps later on, we can think about beginning to make purchasing decisions based on the gathered information. West Orange recently passed such an ordinance, requesting the information from its suppliers.

How can UU’s get involved? There will be some upcoming training by New Jersey Together. We might also think in terms of a statewide conference call for people to learn more about how to do this in their communities. Diane will develop a list of where New Jersey Together is already active.

Upcoming Action Alerts

Jeh Johnson (pronounced ‘Jay’) is the new Secretary of Homeland Security. The Immigration Task Force would like to write letters to him expressing concern about the immigrant detention policies in Essex County. You’ll get this letter via Salsa, which will enable you to send it directly to him as an email.

The National Day Laborers’ Organizing Network has filed a petition to the government to reduce and halt deportations. There will be a mobilization on April 5th entitled “2 million, Too Many, Not 1 More”. (The figure of 2 million refers to recent deportations.) Sally will keep us posted.

The governor withdrew New Jersey from the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative several years ago. A lawsuit is underway to reinstate REGGI, and we will be circulating a petition in support of REGGI.

Other Notes

Annual Plenary

Coming up soon on Saturday, April 5th, is our Annual Plenary. Please register early! We’re planning a liaison training to take place after the meeting; other details will be announced shortly.

Departure of Jim deBoer

UULMNJ Issues Organizer Jim deBoer is stepping down from the Legislative Ministry at the end of February in order to accept a call as pastor of the Federated Church of Livingston. Thank you very much for an excellent opportunity to learn more about advocacy in our state and to make a difference!

The Next Call – Wednesday, March 5th, 8:00pm

Thank you for your participation!

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Wednesday, January 8th

Liaison Conference Call Minutes

Attendance:

Congregational Updates

Montclair (Cecilia)  Recently hosted Rev. Craig, who preached at a UULMNJ / justice, equality, and compassion – oriented worship service on Sunday, January 5th. In conjunction with this service, the congregation is launching a UULMNJ interest survey through survey monkey. Additionally, back in December members of the social action team tabled at coffee hour in support of Instate Tuition for undocumented high school graduates.

Princeton  In the process of generating enthusiasm for more work on immigration-related issues.

Issue / Task Force Updates

Reproductive Justice

A Task Force is forming on this topic under the leadership of Rev. Kathleen Green. Rev. Green will be a 2014 fellow of the Faith and Reproductive Justice Leadership Institute at the Center for American Progress in Washington, D.C. where she will be developing a plan for UULMNJ’s Reproductive Justice advocacy program. The initial phone call is scheduled for Thursday, January 9^th with nine prospective participants. Liaisons – please think about ways to engage new people with this task force!

Environmental Justice

The efforts towards developing a long-term sustainable energy plan for the state are gathering steam. Several meetings are taking place with one of the public utilities to gauge the possibility of their participation. The draft legislation is expected to become public before long and at that time, congregations will be encouraged to begin contacting their legislators about this.

Mass Incarceration / Racial Justice

A meeting took place on Monday, January 6^th with Rev. Craig, Jim deBoer, Lorraine Wearley (as Chair of the Economic Justice Task Force), Al Stawky, and Emilia Colon. We decided to move forward with plans to explore establishing a separate task force to address this topic. We are inviting people to participate in an initial phone call to take place later this month. During that call, we will begin to prepare an issue statement to present to the board for approval in February or March.

Organizational Development

SALSA Legislative Advocacy Letter for Instate Tuition – a request for emails to state legislators was sent out to our list via SALSA in December generated 150 emails within 24 hours. In Paramus, 6 letters were generated by Sally printing, faxing, and emailing the text to the members of the congregation. One of the best ways to take advantage of this resource is to make a computer available during coffee hour. That way, people could generate their own emails in a quick and reliable manner.

How to make our congregational relations more effective?

–          “Even if there’s only a few of us on conference calls, it’s good information.”

–          “I participate in order to support Legislative Ministry; I’m not coming with the expectation that I’ll gain a great deal of new information from the call. People are interested, but they don’t always have the time. So, how do we stimulate the interest?”

 

Other Notes

Annual Plenary

Please mark your calendar: Saturday, April 5th will be the Plenary / Annual Meeting!

The Next Call – Wednesday, February 5th, 8:00pm

Thank you for your participation!