SURJ (Showing Up for Racial Justice)
Hold Dec 10 to attend the SURJ training on accountability, privilege, and the movement for racial justice. The purpose of the workshop is to increase racial consciousness among whites and get more white folk in Chicago active in the fight for racial justice. The event is open to the public but the content will be geared toward addressing whiteness and White people’s position as oppressors. Look for location and time information in the coming days.

Bystander Intervention Workshop
Hollaback (ihollaback.org) is an organization and movement to end harassment in public spaces. They offer training on how to help someone who is the target of harassment in the moment of the harassment. Haven’t we all said to ourselves, “I wish I knew what to say/do”? Go to ihollaback.org and look for BYSTANDER INTERVENTION TRAINING WEBINAR. Tuesday, Nov. 29 from 12:00pm to 1:00pm Central time. They ask for a small donation (of any size) to participate.

YWCA Evanston/Northshore
Lots of ways to take advantage of the YWCA’s programs to eliminate racism and empower women, stand up for social justice, help families, and strengthen communities is as relevant as ever. Here are some things you could do to become part of that mission:
1. Go to a Let’s Talk @ Lunch: bit.ly/TalkatLunch
2. Sign up for YWCA’s monthly e-newsletter here: bit.ly/YWCA-News
3. Become a donor and support the issues you care about: bit.ly/GivetoYWCA

Congrats to all of the 30 teams in UCE who went through the Long Range Planning process earlier this year. The Councils and the Board have assimilated all of your great plans and we are now ready for Phase 2. But first, let’s talk about the outcomes of the plans and process.

Phase 1: Long Range Planning Process
After leaders and representatives from the church teams were trained in how to facilitate the brainstorming process, they held 5-Year Long Range Planning meetings with their teams. Reports were that they came up with new ideas, heightened their energy around goals, helped to prioritize and created an enthusiasm for the future. Additionally, it was a great way for 3 young teams to set themselves up for success. As the teams brought their plans to the Councils, they were able to see where there was overlap and create collaboration and coordination. We are asking every team to revisit their Plans every 6 months…around January and June. Want to see other team’s Plans? Just go to the UCE website in the “Members & Friends” top tab, then the “Leadership & Governance” sub-tab.

Phase 2: Long Range Plan Project Evaluation
In order to bring many of the great ideas and projects to fruition, we need to get specific on priorities, what it would cost, what efforts it would require etc. So the Integrated Stewardship Council (ISC) is putting together a Long Range Plan Project Evaluation Team to work with all teams who have projects that would require funding or have other major impacts on the church. Some projects will need professionals to assess the projected costs. Other projects may involve changes in our church building that could affect multiple teams and many congregants.

Phase 3: Capital Campaign
Once we have more specifics for what our great plans will cost, then we’ll create a Capital Campaign Team that will help to guide us through the fund raising process.

In the meantime, the teams are progressing forward with great energy on many of their plans that can be accomplished with current funds and volunteers. We’ve observed that this process has helped to take UCE’s energy and excitement to live our Mission “To nurture the human spirit for a world made whole” to an even higher level.