In the past year, we have seen a marked increase in safety incidents in our congregations and communities. Incidents have ranged from individuals protesting during worship, spam emails acquiring money and information, zoom bombing, armed protests of churches, arson, physical threats, and more. Much of this is a result of Christian nationalist and fascist groups targeting religiously liberal communities like ours. It is no small thing and the UUA takes this very seriously. If your congregation has experienced an incident, please contact your primary contact immediately. We have resources to help!
On October 21st, we will hold a robust day long online conference covering a wide array of safety topics. There will be a brief worship, a panel discussion with experts, two workshop times, and some time to speak with attendees on topics of interest to you. Topics of the workshops will include:
- Building and Community Safety 101 (similar to the CER workshop offered in May)
- Policies and Procedures for Safety
- Creation and Implementation of Destructive Behavior Policies
- Risk Discernment and Power Mapping with our Side With Love Team
- Christian Nationalist Threats with Western State Center
- Effective Communications and Safety
- Cactus Wren Model with UU Congregation of Phoenix
- Trauma Informed Safety
- Safer Congregations and Marginalized Communities (a workshop specifically for folks who are BIPOC, transgender/nonbinary, disabled, etc.)
We encourage any and all interested UUs to attend the conference, but especially staff, board members, safety teams, and ushers/greeters. The event will be Saturday, October 21st, from 12pm-6pm (eastern). Cost is a range from $10-$30-$50. You can register on the event page. If you have questions about the event, please contact Safer Congregations Team member, Sunshine Wolfe at swolfe@uua.org.