Acknowledgments

So many hours of conversation and hours of testimony have occurred during these three years.

We thank all of those who participated in individual interviews or focus groups or submitted testimony. More than 1,100 participated in this way, and we are grateful for your dedication and willingness to share ideas and experiences, and often to rehash traumatic circumstances. The compilation of this data has allowed us to look for patterns and levers to ensure that our recommendations are focused on efforts that will yield the most progress toward equity, inclusion, and diversity.

A number of groups were particularly important as dialogue partners during our three years of service, including the leadership of Diverse and Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries (DRUUMM); the Board of Trustees of the UUA (2017-2020 cohorts); the 2017 UUA co-presidents: Rev. Sofia Betancourt, Dr. Leon Spencer, and Rev. William Sinkford; UUA president Susan Frederick-Gray and executive vice president Carey McDonald; UUA leadership staff; the staff and boards of the Unitarian Universalist Ministers Association, Liberal Religious Educators Association, Association for Unitarian Universalist Music Ministries, and Unitarian Universalist Association of Membership Professionals; and the Journey Toward Wholeness Transformation Committee. Though we did not always find complete agreement in every matter, these conversations were important in the development of our work and recommendations.

We end with a special acknowledgment for those who gave of their time in 2018 to attend our Collaboratory gathering. Our thought partners were:

  • Aisha Hauser
  • Melvin Bray
  • Annie Scott
  • Barb Greve
  • Carey McDonald
  • Charles Du Mond
  • Rev. Cheryl M. Walker
  • Rev. Danielle Di Bona
  • Elandria Williams
  • Rev. Elizabeth Nguyen
  • Hannah Hafter
  • Jesse King
  • Jessica York
  • Rev. Kimberly Hampton
  • Rev. Kimberly Quinn Johnson*
  • Dr. Mark Hicks
  • Rev. Melissa Carvill Ziemer
  • Rev. Ranwa Hammamy
  • Rev. Sherman Logan
  • Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt
  • Rev. Dr. Susan Frederick-Gray
  • Taquiena Boston*
  • Rev. Theresa Soto
  • Dr. Takiyah Nur Amin*

Gratitude to Rev. Dr. Sofia Betancourt, Rev. Bill Sinkford, and Dr. Leon Spencer for their service, which allowed the creation of the Commission, and to co-moderators Mr. Barb Greve and Elandria Williams.

The consultations with Melvin Bray and the VISIONS team, directed by Rick Pinderhughes, informed this work. Also gratitude to Jesse King for well-timed wisdom. Special thanks to Rev. Danielle Di Bona and Julica Hermann de la Fuente for their consulting work during the data collection efforts.

We are also grateful to Mary Benard for her dedication to our impossible time line.

* These Design Team members helped in the development of the Collaboratory, from selection of attendees to determining the questions the participants would gather to answer.