Equity

Photo Credit: First Unitarian Universalist Church of Richmond, VA

The Stewardship For Us team is committed to helping build multicultural congregations, and combating racism and other biases in ourselves and in our consulting work. Some instances in our efforts:

  • Along with other Unitarian Universalist congregations, we have adopted the 8th Principle as an addition to the existing Unitarian Universalist 7 Principles. This also accords with the new Values framework that was adopted in 2024, particularly the values of Justice and Equity:

We covenant to affirm and promote: journeying toward spiritual wholeness by working to build a diverse multicultural Beloved Community by our actions that accountably dismantle racism and other oppressions in ourselves and our institutions.

  • The Stewardship For Us (S4Us) team engaged an anti-racism consultant over a 3-year period to help educate and orient us toward liberation in how we work together as a team. We continue to review and refine our S4Us programs, systems, and communications as we join in the work of our collective liberation toward being more equitable and inclusive.
  • As individuals, we have been participating in Jubilee Anti-Racist Training, Building the World We Dream About, and other Unitarian Universalist Association offerings in multiculturalism. We have also participated in Meadville Lombard’s Beloved Conversations and other anti-racism trainings by UU and non-UU sources.
    This image is of a chalice with an overlay of the word Love over the flame, with six outstretched arms that create a circle around each of the core values and form a six-petal flower shape. Each arm is a different color, and clockwise they are: Interdependence (Orange), Equity (Red), Transformation (Purple), Pluralism (Blue), Generosity (Green), and Justice (Yellow).
    Illustration by Tonya Webster
  • We emphasize the recommendations in the important Widening the Circle of Concern report in our work.
  • At General Assembly in June 2024, UUs voted to replace existing Seven Principles and Six Sources language in our bylaws with language describing Unitarian Universalism through shared values. We are focused most directly on the value of Generosity, and plan to continue to support UU Congregations as they grow in their understanding and application of this value.

This is ongoing work for us. Please share resources in this area that you find useful, and let us know if you spot something in our communications or work that might be more liberatory.