All member congregations of the UUA must complete the annual Certification of Membership by Feb. 2, 2015, at 5 p.m. PT. Certifying by this deadline is a requirement for congregations to have voting delegates at General Assembly 2015. Find detailed instructions online and log in to your congregation's Data Services account. You will certify the number of members, financial statistics from last fiscal year, and cast a vote in the Poll on the proposed Statement of Conscience (SOC) on Reproductive Justice. You will have the option to submit congregational comments on the SOC, and also the Congregational Study Action Issue, Escalating Inequality.
Please familiarize yourself with the process as soon as possible, gather questions you may have, and test the log-in credentials. Send an email to This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it if you have any questions.
Equual Access and the UUA are sponsoring a survey to ascertain interest and information regarding alternatives to traditional printed books for people with blindness, impaired vision, dyslexia, the after-effects of stroke, difficulty holding a book, or other reasons.
You can access this brief survey at https://www.surveymonkey.com/s/HGFFJZG
A webpage for those looking for resources in the wake of the events in Ferguson, Cleveland and New York has been created on the CERG website. Visit the CERG website Resources Section to find resources, readings, links to webpages of partners and more.
Sometimes a challenge can offer an opportunity to try something new.
In the Ohio Meadville and St. Lawrence Districts of the Unitarian Universalist Association, the sudden illness and extended medical leave of St. Lawrence Congregational Life Consultant, the Rev. Chris Neilson, resulted in an all-hands-on-deck response from the district boards and from district, regional and national UUA staff.
The governing boards of the four districts that make up the Central East Regional Group have been in discussion about moving to a "Primary Contact" model where each congregation has a "go-to" person. The Primary Contact partners with the congregations’ leaders to connect them to helpful resources within the UUA (and beyond) and to strengthen relationships within clusters. The model provides an improved Primary Contact staff-to-congregation ratio in OMD and SLD (1 to 25-30 congregations). Staff will also continue to offer depth with their own portfolio "specialties" for the four districts in the region and connect congregations to specialists as needed.
The Rev. Joan VanBecelaere (lead of the Central East Regional Group) and the Rev. Scott Tayler (director of Congregational Life for the UUA) saw the challenge of the medical leave as an opportunity to pilot this primary contact program. They devised a plan to redeploy existing staff from the districts and region for the duration of the medical leave.
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