The Board of Trustees announced the formation of UUCC’s Ad hoc Committee on Building a Diverse, Multi-Cultural Beloved Community in November 2020, with the following members:
- Kelly Blake, Chair
- Mo Grant-Olsson
- Amber Guthrie
- Kerridwen Henry
- Margaret LaFon
- Elly Stephen
- Kristin Parrish, Board of Trustees liaison
The committee’s work is dedicated to helping UUCC congregants “deepen their understandings and advance anti-racism/anti-oppression efforts for themselves, our institutions, and the broader community” as called for in UUCC’s Beloved Community Resolution which was adopted by the congregation at the June 2020 Annual Meeting. You may read the resolution in full at the bottom of this page.
Committee Purpose & Charge
Purpose
To examine ways UUCC congregants and groups already work to educate themselves and to take actions aimed at dismantling racism and other oppressions, identify areas that appear ripe for further engagement, and recommend ways that congregants might engage individually and collectively to deepen their understandings and advance anti-racism/anti-oppression efforts for themselves, our institutions, and the broader community.
Committee Charge (through June 2021)
- Action inventory and opportunity analysis: Engage with UUCC constituent groups to understand the nature and extent of our existing anti-racism/anti-oppression efforts and to identify potential opportunities where further UUCC engagement may be useful to advance justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion in our community.
- Recommendations: Develop recommendations on potential tools, processes, resources, and/or other activities that UUCC congregants might use to deepen their understandings, strengthen commitments, advance anti-racism/anti-oppression work, and promote justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion.
- 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.
- 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.
- Process Consistency: In carrying out its work and to be consistent with the goal of building a diverse, multi-cultural Beloved Community, strive to act compassionately, constructively, and in accordance with UU principles and UUCC’s congregational covenant.
Beloved Community Resolution
We, the members of the Unitarian Universalist Congregation of Columbia, Maryland, covenant to affirm and promote the building of a diverse, multicultural Beloved Community where BIPOC*, LGBTQ+**, and other marginalized communities find respite from racism and other oppressions. We commit to educating ourselves and to taking actions that dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves, our institutions, and the broader community working in accordance with each person’s unique abilities and approaches.
* BIPOC = Black, Indigenous, People of Color
** LGBTQ+ = lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer/questioning + other sexualities and non-binary genders