A Ministry Born of Moral Urgency

In January 2025, members of First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee, WI gathered to develop a strategic response to rising authoritarianism in defense of their neighbors. Rooted in the Unitarian Universalist value of interdependence, they made a deliberate choice: rather than acting alone, they would place themselves in solidarity with an established organization led by, and in service of, Milwaukee’s immigrant community. The result was Immigrant Solidarity & Action and its deep partnership with Voces de la Frontera (VDLF).

That founding choice, solidarity over charity, accompaniment over rescue, shaped everything that followed, and it is central to why the committee selected this ministry.

Concrete, Measurable Wins

In under two years, IS&A has achieved outcomes that many justice ministries work toward for a decade:

• A neighbor freed. Through sustained advocacy in individual deportation defense cases, including those of Yessenia Ruano, Elvira Benitez Suarez, and Salah Sarsour, FUSM’s work contributed directly to the release of Elvira Benitez Suarez from detention. She is home.
• City-level protections won. FUSM joined the ICE Out MKE coalition, whose organizing secured important city protections against ICE enforcement.
• A thriving education program. IS&A built a volunteer ESL and citizenship tutoring program that today engages 10 volunteers and 30 students, with fundraising ensuring every student receives their own personal ESL book. VDLF recognized this commitment by naming FUSM volunteers its “Volunteers of the Year.”
• A national witness. When Milwaukee County Judge Hannah Dugan was arrested by the FBI after directing ICE agents to speak with her supervisor, FUSM led a candlelight vigil at Milwaukee’s Federal Building that drew national media coverage.

Courage in Practice

IS&A’s work carries real risk, and the congregation has not flinched. First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee has maintained a protest presence at Milwaukee’s ICE office as neighbors’ due process rights were violated, and in January 2026 it filled its sanctuary with people of faith from across the city for nonviolent civil disobedience training, song led by the Milwaukee Justice Singers, plans of resistance made together. This is moral clarity put into faithful action.

A Whole-Congregation, Multi-Generational Ministry

This is not the work of a committee alone; it is the work of a congregation. From volunteers tutoring citizenship students and accompanying them to swearing-in ceremonies, to the youngest members of First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee’s Faith Formation program cutting cardboard butterflies, the symbol of migrants and migration, decorated by the congregation and carried proudly in the May Day march, IS&A has woven immigrant justice into the full life of the church.

Partnership as Theology

FUSM’s theory of change is solidarity and accompaniment: power built through coalition, protest, training, and the direct defense of individuals. Its partnerships extend across the movement ecosystem, Voces de la Frontera, the Wisconsin UU State Advocacy Network (WUUSAN), the UU Service Committee, and the ICE Out MKE coalition. First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee explicitly frames its work in the recognition that its members’ freedom is inextricably linked to the freedom of their immigrant neighbors. Few ministries embody the values of interdependence and justice so visibly.

The Committee’s Deliberation

The committee reviewed an exceptional field of finalists this year, each demonstrating deep partnership, congregational engagement, and faithful commitment to justice. In weighing the candidates, the committee gave particular consideration to this moment in our nation’s life: a time when authoritarianism is rising and immigrant communities are under direct attack.

Against that standard, First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee stood out. In just eighteen months, a newly formed ministry produced the most dramatic and concrete outcomes of any nominee, a detained neighbor released, city policy protections won, national media witness, while modeling an accompaniment approach rooted in solidarity rather than charity, in direct alignment with the denomination’s priorities on democracy and immigrant justice.

The committee acknowledges that IS&A is a young program whose long-term sustainability is still being built. We regard this award, and the $1,000 that accompanies it, as an investment in that future and as an affirmation that when the moment demanded courage, this congregation answered.

Conclusion

The Bennett Award honors congregations that show us what our faith looks like when it leaves the sanctuary and enters the streets, the courtrooms, and the lives of our neighbors. First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee has done exactly that: declaring through action that every person possesses inherent worth and dignity, that our freedoms are bound together, and that love, organized, trained, and courageous, can bring a neighbor home.

Congratulations to First Unitarian Society of Milwaukee and its Immigrant Solidarity & Action ministry, the recipient of the 2025 Bennett Award for Congregational Action on Human Justice and Social Action.