Featured Resource: Helpful Board Habits Training
Your Central East Region team wants your board to have everything it needs to help your congregation thrive! We are partnering with LeaderLab and the UU Institute to offer this robust board training, resources for you to self-facilitate your board retreat, plus facilitated live discussion sessions for your board members to connect with other board leaders across the region.
What will happen in this training?
- Equip Yourselves to Serve
- Feel More Connected to the Wider UUA
- Strategize with Your Board Team
- We've Added New Content!
Two Weeknight Options
It's ideal to have your board team members all sign up for the same series. We give your team time in each session to discuss how you might apply what you are learning together.
We hope to accommodate all of our Central East boards who wish to participate, so we are offering 2 different options.
- Mondays from 6pm-8pm ET starting August 19, September 16, October 21, November 18. Register for the Monday Session Series
- Thursdays 7pm-9pm starting August 22, September 19, October 17, November 21. Register for the Thursday Session Series
If neither of these evenings work for you, you can access the training materials on your own by registering for the UU Board Foundations training on the UU Institute.
CER is Hiring!
The Central East Region is hiring a Congregational Life Staff member who will be replacing Rev. Sunshine Wolfe. The congregational assignments will be in the Western PA and Northern Ohio area (the purple markers on the map).
Questions? Please contact Rev. Megan Foley, Regional Lead. Read the full job description and how to apply (PDF).
Please Update Your Leadership Data!
It’s that time of year again, when many congregations are electing new leaders and appointing new committee chairs in preparation for the new church year.
Please remember that, in order to keep us and the UUA up-to-date with these changes, your congregation needs to log in to your UUA account at my.uua.org and update your leadership. This is the same place you update your UU World subscriptions. You can find full instructions on the UUA website.
Please note that if you do not include emails addresses for leaders, they will not receive important notifications from either the UUA or the region.
When you make updates at the UUA it can take up to a month for those updates to filter down to our database and email lists. Please be patient. If you reach out to us to make these changes we can do it for our database, but not for the UUA - the information only flows in one direction at this point.
Upcoming Elementary Our Whole Lives Training
Our Whole Lives Facilitator Training for Elementary Levels, September 27-29, 2024, Pittsburgh, PA
Registration will open in early August.
Do check our calendar often for updates.
Our Whole Lives (OWL) is an excellent, comprehensive sexuality education program that offers participants the opportunity to explore their values and gain accurate information about topics that are often not easily accessible. The overall goal of the Our Whole Lives program is to help participants gain the knowledge, values, and skills they need to lead sexually healthy, responsible lives. The goals of this workshop are to prepare the participants to implement the curriculum as well as the Sexuality and Our Faith component. Through a varied program including practice and participation activities, the trainers will cover implementation techniques, curricula details, and technical information. You can see all trainings at the UUA Our Whole Lives Facilitator Page.
Covenant Calls Us In: Living Into Behavioral Covenant
A follow-up to the popular course: Covenant Calls Us In: The Why of Behavioral Covenant (class 109 in UU Institute), this course can be used for both reviewing existing covenants, policies and procedures or the initial creation of those documents. This is an on-demand course.
The course is available on demand, can be taken by a team, working on your own, or you can reach out to your Region’s Safe Congregations Team member to see if there are any plans for group sessions where you can work alongside other congregations doing similar work. The cost of the course is $30 per person. You can add comments to the modules as you go through them, and we will respond as we can--and you may also encounter questions and comments from other UU congregations as they move to make their behavioral covenants work best for them.
Registration is now open for the 2024 National Fall Conference of Mosaic: Fostering Belonging and Liberation
Mosaic is a hub of connection, resources, and support for Unitarian Universalists dismantling racism and oppression. The National Fall Conference is a dynamic, multi-platform gathering for congregational teams and individuals engaged in the work of building multicultural communities with love at their center. Over two and a half days, participants will share in collaborative conversations, cutting-edge workshops, and gain invaluable insights from community leaders within Unitarian Universalism and beyond. Participants will depart from the convening with renewed hearts and spirits, with new Mosaic tools in hand, ready to support and inspire others to foster belonging and liberation. Details and registration at the UUA website.
RE Kickoff: Connections, Skills & Planning for Changing Times
This fall, join Religious Education (RE) teams from other congregations and let UUA Congregational Life Regional Staff help you kick off your RE year! Gather your team (professional Religious Education staff (if any) and RE lay leaders) for two live, online facilitated gatherings to get aligned and set intentions for the purpose, goals, and activities of your RE program in a changing, unpredictable world. Congregations and RE programs of any size, lay-led or professionally-led, are warmly welcome to participate. REGISTRATION OPENS 8/20/24
Choose between Thursday or Sunday sessions:
- Thursday, October 10 & Thursday, October 24, 7-9PM ET
- Sunday, October 6 & Sunday, October 13, 4-6PM ET
UUA Virtual Hymnal: Our Prototype Needs Beta Testers!
Since March 2023, the UUA Virtual Hymnal Task Force has been immersed in research for this unprecedented project. We now have a prototype app—loaded with 50 of survey participants' favorite hymns—ready to be beta tested this fall.
On August 19th, our consulting manager Camille Hatton will open beta testing applications. We ask that interested congregations appoint one person to serve as the liaison to distribute logins to as many congregation members as you wish; maintain communication with our UUA Task Force; and submit collective feedback by the end of November 2024. We highly recommend that (if applicable) ministers and/or music directors are offered the liaison responsibility, or have a role in appointing the congregation's liaison.
For more information, and to be alerted when the application process opens, please make sure you've subscribed to the WorshipWeb newsletter.
Side with Love Events
UU Stop Cop City Monthly Action Huddle
August 8 at 11am PT / 2pm ETWe’ll review what’s happening and what you can do with Stop Cop City more broadly. Join us to get activated or to jump back in. This meeting usually happens on the second Thursday of the month at 11am PT / 12pm MT / 1pm CT / 2pm ET. Register Today
UU the Vote 2024 Weekly Phonebank
Join UU the Vote alongside the UU Justice Ministry of North Carolina and Pro-Choice NC as we call voters in North Carolina to vote their values up and down the ballot. This event occurs every Tuesday through the end of October, with different states each time. We'll ground, build community, train you, make calls that make a difference, and have fun!
August 27 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET
Reimagine Together: From An Extractive Age To A New Era UU Climate Justice Revival
September 28-29, 2024
UUs are coming together to inspire, reawaken, and transform our churches through climate justice. Bring your justice teams, problem solvers, and dreamers. The planning team will provide everything needed: facilitation toolkits, training, music, projects, coordinated justice action, and more. No matter your congregation’s size or resources, you can join and together we will enter a new era of climate action. Let's go—appoint two volunteer facilitators who will be trained to participate. Register Here
UU Climate Justice Revival Facilitator Trainings and Info Sessions
UU Climate Justice Revival Facilitator Training
Are you one of your congregation's facilitators for the UU Climate Justice Revival? All facilitators need to join one of our 2-hour Facilitator Training Sessions. Come learn how to be the best facilitator you can be for your congregation's Revival!
Register for the training that works for YOU!
- August 14 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET
- August 18 at 12pm PT / 3pm ET
- August 18 at 3pm PT / 6pm ET
- August 29 at 4pm PT / 7pm ET
UU Climate Justice Revival Info Sessions
Are you excited for the first-ever UU Climate Justice Revival… but... still have so many questions? Is it on Zoom or in person? Can kids participate? Is it a regional or national event? When we do new and different things, questions are expected! Come to the UU Climate Justice Revival Info Session and get all your questions answered! Register:
Better Together Blog: CER Welcomes Rev. Elaine Strawn as Temporary Staff
As you have likely heard by now, Rev. Sunshine Wolfe has been promoted to the Regional Lead position in the Pacific Western Region. We wish Sunshine all the best in their new job and thank them for their six years of service to the congregations of the Central East Region.
The Central East Region has hired Rev. Elaine Strawn (she/her) to fill in temporarily as we begin our job search for Sunshine’s replacement. (Check out the job description.) You may already know Elaine from her decades of service to the Wooster OH congregation, her Good Officer work for the UU Ministers Association, and her leadership in the Commissioned Lay Ministry program. Elaine will be on staff half time starting on July 1 and is the person to send your questions, news and concerns. You can reach Elaine at estrawn@uua.org.
Please note that the Better Together blog in on a break August 12.
News from the UUA
The Renaissance and Music Leadership Professional Development Programs provide Unitarian Universalist Religious Professionals learning communities within which they can easily access applicable skills and tools for religious leadership. Courses are also open to interested lay leaders. Check out the lists of classes, these are great resources!
The UUA has a Disaster Relief Fund for those who want to make a donation to help congregations who have faced losses due to tornadoes, earthquakes, hurricanes, wildfires and more. Please donate if you can. Learn more about the work of the Disaster Relief Fund. If your congregation needs assistance, you can apply for a grant on that webpage. We are Better Together.
New publications from the UUA - Now available as an ebook, Love at the Center by Rev. Dr. Sofía Betancourt. Available for pre-order is Blessing It All: Rituals for Transition and Transformation edited by Heather Concannon and Allison Palm. Check out the UUA bookstore for all Beacon Press and Skinner House books.
The UUA is hiring for several positions, including several positions in other regions. Find job descriptions and application information at their Job Openings webpage.
Calendar Items and News
For events, webinars and congregation news and events visit the following pages:
- CER Calendar of Events and Webinars
- Find your CER Primary Contact
- Chalice Lighter Grants - August 1 is the deadline for Intent to Apply Applications for the October 2024 grant awards, December 1 is the deadline for February 2025 grants. Check out the Summer call.
- News Section for Congregational Stories and Articles
- Better Together Blog
- Congregational and Affiliate Group Calendar
- UUA Jobs Board for congregational job postings of all types