UUSC BUILDING GRASSROOTS POWER ANNUAL REPORT 2020 DEAR UUSC MEMBERS AND SUPPORTERS, In this 80th year of UUSC’s work in the world, we learned things we didn’t realize we needed to know, faced challenges we weren’t expecting, and responded to the intersecting impacts of inequity that create the current crises of displacement and criminalization. Always rooted in partnership, we strengthened our resolve to uproot causes of oppression and foster equitable alternatives. MARY KATHERINE MORN The COVID-19 crisis has compelled many to awaken to President and CEO something that Black, Latinx, and Indigenous communities have always known: our dominant systems have been designed to protect the advantage of the few at the expense of the many. We have a moral obligation to do what we can to transform these systems. term grassroots organizing and change that builds enduring We continue to affirm the clear connection between long- equity. Grounded in our deep belief in the dignity and power of all people, UUSC’s mission is to advance human rights and dismantle systems of oppression. Our partners in the U.S. and around the world are creating solutions for their own NED WIGHT communities that are producing lasting change. Board Chair Here are just a few of the stories from UUSC partners who are leading the way to a more just and humane world — removing barriers to migration, overcoming climate challenges through self-determination, promoting long-term crisis recovery grounded in equity. To learn more and dig deeper, please visit our website at uusc.org and catch up on our blogs and action updates. To all of you who have invested your time, energy, money, and heart to make this work possible, thank you. Together, we can — and will — continue to change the world. Above: Volunteers and staff from UUSC partner Foro de Mujeres came together to paint a public mural in Honduras, using street art as a powerful educational tool. Cover: UUSC partner FM4 Paso Libre group photo with several people in migration who are staying in the shelter that UUSC helps to fund. GLOBAL NETWORK OF PARTNERS American Samoa Burma Fiji Marshall Islands Puerto Rico United Kingdom Argentina Canada Guatemala Mexico Solomon Islands United States The Bahamas Chile Honduras Nicaragua Spain MISSION Bangladesh Colombia Indonesia Palau Switzerland UUSC advances human rights and social justice around the world, partnering with those Bolivia Ecuador Kiribati Panama Thailand who confront unjust power structures and mobilizing to challenge oppressive policies. Brazil El Salvador Malaysia Peru Tuvalu Our work is grounded in the belief that all people have inherent power and dignity. Human rights abuses can invariably be traced back UUSC STAFF to entrenched power structures — built to advantage a select few by systematically denying the EXECUTIVE DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMS, ADVOCACY, & ACTION rights of many. Our mission obligates us Mary Katherine Morn Cassandra Ryan Rachel Freed Hannah Hafter to uproot the deepest causes of Vice President and Chief President and Vice President and Chief Senior Grassroots Organizer oppression and foster equitable Chief Executive Officer Development Officer Program Officer Lindsey Hoemann Brittney Rose Katherine Friedman Danielle Fuller-Wimbush Senior Partnership Officer for alternatives. If we were to address the Senior Executive Assistant Associate Director of Director of Partner Support Migrant Justice & Special Events Project Development for Major Gifts and Grantmaking Kathryn Ingegneri harms without holding the systems Manager Karen Klett Kathleen McTigue Digital Strategist for accountable for creating the harms in the Associate Director of Director of Activism and Mobilization and Engagement Justice Training FINANCE & Development for Membership Deva Jones Laura Randall Michael Givens Senior Associate for Volunteer ADMINISTRATION incentivizing the root causes of injustice Associate Director Associate Director of Strategic Placements first place, we would effectively be of Development for Communications Angela Kelly to persist. Dismantling systems of Mack Davidson Congregation Relations Michael Kourabas Senior Associate for Justice Vice President and Chief Elizabeth Auwood Associate Director for Education oppression and replacing them with just, Administration Officer Development Department & Grantmaking and Impact Josh Leach Carol Cahalane Events Coordinator Amber Moulton Policy Analyst equitable, and regenerative alternatives is Director of Finance Carly Cronon Associate Director for Suhra Nahib essential to preventing the human rights abuses Quang Nguyen Senior Associate for Research Associate for Communications Director of Human Congregational Support David Angeles and Research of the future. Resources Eric Grignol Senior Partnership Officer for Salote Soqo Ethan Adams Senior Digital Fundraising Crisis Response Senior Partnership Officer Facility and Operations & Membership Engagement Gina Collignon for Climate Justice & Crisis This report illustrates just some of the ways we have achieved Manager Officer Senior Associate for Response Giao Doan Susan Mosher Immersion Learning Leonardo Valenzuela Perez remarkable gains during a time when a majority of those currently Staff Accountant Associate for Donor and Programs Researcher (Winnie) Chau Nguyen Member Services Abigail Crum Heather Vickery in positions of power choose to wield it in an authoritarian way: Accountant Hannah Moy Associate for Administration Coordinator for by attacking the foundations of a democratic Adelaide Vonleh Associate for Major Gifts and Enrollment Congregational Activism Human Resources Jennifer O’Rourke Ana Maria De La Rosa society and the ties that bind Assistant Associate for Marketing and Senior Grassroots Organizer Mohamed Zine abidine Membership Meghan Finn communities together. Senior Financial Analyst Associate for Partner Support and Grantmaking THE KEY TO OUR EFFECTIVENESS: UUSC BOARD OF TRUSTEES BUILDING GRASSROOTS POWER. Rev. Ned Wight Cynthia Totten Rev. Jacqueline Brett Lynn Miyamoto Sarah Dreier Board Chair Secretary Barbara Du Mond Joseph Parsons Anthony Pinn Rev. Brock Leach Jim Smith Rohit Menezes Lyssa Jenkens Peter Fenn Vice Chair Treasurer April Nishimura Maria Pignataro Nielsen REMOVING BARRIERS TO MIGRATION “While we seek to transform the policies that permit these Around the world, governmental immigration systems impose laws and policies meant to discriminate against and punish those who have been forced to migrate from their homes and to deter them from seeking refuge across borders. The resulting harsh and dehumanizing injustices, having access to a lawyer is one of the best defenses treatment prevents refugees and immigrants from living safely, moving freely, finding sustainable work, and attending school, among other available to refugees seeking survival and solutions.” constraints. We believe that migration is a human right — because when families seeking safety can rebuild their lives surrounded by a — UUSC PARTNER ASYLUM ACCESS MEXICO welcoming community, we can all thrive in a system of shared abundance together. In response to the complete (aged 36), Manuel (20), and MIGRATION IS A HUMAN RIGHT dismantling of the U.S. asylum Eduardo (22) who sought system, our partner, Asylum support from the AAMX team to It must take unbelievable courage to abandon the only home you’ve ever known and set out on a perilous Access Mexico (AAMX), has journey with no promise of safety. But that’s exactly what so many families from El Salvador, Guatemala, been helping transform Mexico for asylum. After their status was and Honduras do every single day — forced to migrate to escape pervasive violence and widespread from a refugee “transit” country granted,help them AAMX file their connected applications them human rights violations in their home countries. Upon reaching the U.S. southern border to apply for – one through which people in with a private sector partner, asylum, the barriers to freedom and safety continue. migration pass, en route to the Lavinia’s Framing, who provided U.S. – to a country of permanent jobs for all three brothers. Osmin UUSC’s partners and members are pushing back against unlawful detention of asylum seekers; the cruel now works in carpentry, Manuel separation of parents and children at the U.S. border; destruction of food, water, and other life-saving Central America. By providing paints the frames, and Eduardo humanitarian supplies placed along desert migration routes; and other acts meant to punish those on the thestay support for those and fleeing services danger needed in frames portraits and paintings. move. to navigate the Mexican asylum For the three young brothers, process, they equip families on their legal status and ability UUSC funding helped Espacio Migrante When COVID-19 began to spread across the United States and the Southern border was effectively build a shelter and community space the migration path to rebuild to work has facilitated a new for families arriving at the Tijuana-San closed off, UUSC quickly provided an emergency grant that helped our partner Al Otro Lado transition to their lives and live in freedom. beginning. Diego border. providing services online instead of in-person. This also enabled them to engage experienced attorneys who may not have the time or resources to travel to the California-Mexico border to deliver critical Thanks to the support of UUSC Asylum cases in Mexico are often can begin to put roots down in education and assistance, reaching even more asylum-seeking families with services.