Social Justice

Social Justice Committee

Meetings

The Social Justice committee meets via Zoom at noon after the Sunday service on the first Sunday of each month. All meetings are open to Manatee Unitarian Universalist Fellowship members and guests. We encourage our members to be informed and to work towards bringing about social justice changes together as a group as well as through individual efforts.

Education

We invite leaders of local charities to tell us about their program, services and needs on Sunday either by presenting the main address or presenting a thumbnail description of their program. On these Sundays a special collection is taken for that local charity.

Frequently a member writes a thorough paper about an issue chosen in the Social Justice meeting. These Issues are available to members and friends on the website under “Issues.”

The monthly newsletter, UPDATE, gives commentaries about current concerns.

Legislation

Manatee UU Fellowship supports:

• Legislation towards averting climate change.
• Manatee Clean Energy Alliance.
• Efforts to enable ex-felons to vote under Amendment 4
• Black Lives Matter movement.
• Move to Amend.
• The Medicaid for Senior Citizens petition for constitutional amendment to the Florida constitution.
• The Charter Resolution for Manatee County.
• The Ban Assault Weapons movement.

Partners

Manatee UU Fellowship partners with many organizations for improving social justice.

A. We support Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) social justice groups:

• UU Ministry of the Earth – uuministryforearth.org
• UU Justice Florida – uujusticefl.org
• UU Service Committee – uusc.org
• Standing on the Side of Love
• Welcoming Congregations

B. We support local groups and local chapters of national charitable groups. 

• Our Daily Bread
• Turning Points
• Manatee Justice Ministry
• Climate Change activities sponsored by 350.org
• ManaSota-88
• ALSO Youth
• Coalition of Immokalee Workers
• Planned Parenthood
• Southwest Florida Coalition for Peace and Justice
• NAACP
• League of Women Voters
• Unidos Now

Action

Each month our fellowship has a Special Collection to benefit a carefully selected nonprofit organization which shows a genuine need for help and is in alignment with our values. This year, due to the pandemic, adjustments were made and we have donated to:

• Hope Family Services
• Downtown Ministries
• Our Daily Bread
• Healthy Start
• Spanish Community Church (turkeys for Thanksgiving)
• Manatee Justice Ministry
• Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

Through Get Out the Vote we received a $500 grant from UUA which we used to encourage members of the community to vote by distributing formal requests for ballot by mail.

From the UUA we received a $1000 matching grant to accompany member donations towards Manatee Justice Ministry.

In addition to the monetary gifts listed above:

• We provided 500 hygiene kits to the homeless in Manatee County. With the 2020 MLK Day of Service award to Manatee UU Fellowship for Downtown Ministries, the kits were distributed to the needy.
• Helped block a lawsuit preventing the building of a new rural hospital in SE Florida in 2019 through letter writing.
• Enabled our fellowship to meet and maintain Green Sanctuary standards as we show “respect for the interdependence of all existence of which we are a part.” (7^th principle)
• Collected needed tangible items in our Wish List collections for local groups in need.
• Assisted Turning Points, which aspires to provide, coordinate and facilitate services to the homeless and those at risk of becoming homeless in Manatee County.  It’s One Stop Service Center served more than 6,900 persons with 161,100 services in the past year.