Formation of the UUCC Ad hoc Committee on Trust & Reconciliation

The Board of Trustees is pleased to announce the formation of UUCC’s Ad hoc Committee on Trust and Reconciliation.  We were gratified by the outpouring of volunteers following our request in July.  Although we were unable to accommodate everyone who volunteered, we are deeply grateful to all who stepped up and for all they do to help strengthen UUCC as a loving, supportive, and inclusive community.  We are indeed fortunate to have each of them as part of our UU congregation.

The Board has appointed the following committee members:

• Laurie Coltri, Chair
• Laurie Alderman
• Jill Christianson
• Liam Estell
• Suzi Gerb
• Alice Pham
• Becky Reese
• Phil Webster
• Jim Johnston (Board of Trustees liaison)

Please join us in welcoming the committee and in supporting their important and challenging work.  Below is the Board’s “Statement of Purpose and Charge” that Committee members have agreed to carry out.  

Purpose

To explore ways UUCC congregants can manage conflicts most constructively and to recommend ways forward to strengthen trust and deepen mutual understanding so that we can more fully promote our congregation’s mission, vision, ends, and covenant, consistent with UU principles and our nature as a religious community.

Committee Charge (through June 2021)

1. Diagnosis. Engage with UUCC constituent groups to seek perspectives regarding sources of existing conflicts experienced by UUCC congregants in recent years; as well as key factors (1) contributing to the destructive escalation of these conflicts and their intractability; and (2) impeding our abilities to manage them in ways that consistently affirm and promote those principles, values, and goals that we hold as a religious community.
2. Recommendations. Taking into account the need for wide representation, the challenges posed by the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, and UUCC’s budgetary constraints, develop recommendations, including:
   1. Potential way(s) forward for UUCC congregants to better manage existing conflicts, enhance mutual understanding and, where possible, positively transform relationships;
   2. Other processes, resources, and/or other measures that UUCC might employ to better manage future conflicts, strengthen trust, and deepen mutual understanding between and among those in the UUCC community.
3. Other activities. Subject to the committee’s recommendations and Board guidance (where necessary), spearhead the organization, coordination, and facilitation of other activities that further the purposes set forth above. 
4. Communications. Advise the Board periodically regarding the committee’s activities, emerging observations, and/or recommendations/questions warranting further Board guidance. Communicate with the congregation at the discretion of the committee’s chair.
5. Process Consistency.  In carrying out its work and to be consistent with the committee’s purpose, strive to act compassionately, constructively, and in accordance with UU principles and UUCC’s congregational covenant.