Last year an important report was published from the Commission on Institutional Change, a commission the Unitarian Universalist Association formed to explore how we as an association are doing with diversity, equity, and inclusion. The report, titled “Widening the Circle of Concern” is available to read online: Widening the Circle of Concern | Widening the Circle of Concern | UUA.org
The report reveals ways that our faith is not living up to its ideals, and includes many recommendations for action to be taken. Across the association, people are engaging with this report and its recommendations. For instance, the UUA committee I serve on, the Religious Education Credentialing Committee, is reading the report together and asking ourselves how the credentialing program is or is not accessible and anti-racist.
Here at OUUC, a group of interested congregational leaders just finished a six week course with the report. Leaders read the report and discussed how we see OUUC doing in the important work of becoming anti-racist and diverse, equitable, and inclusive. Discussions were rich and illuminating, and in the end the group recommends the following actions at OUUC:
- Adopt the 8th Principle and form an 8th Principle Team at OUUC
- Provide training in best practices for radical welcoming and multicultural competence for everyone
- Provide tool kits, training, education, and awareness raising about racism and anti-racism
- Fund Faith Development and Worship to bring in more diverse voices as guest speakers
- Create opportunities for multigenerational conversations
- Identify systems of oppression in how we operate
Final take-aways also included a hope that we would all do a humble self-assessment of where we are on this anti-racism journey, and connect our spirituality to our anti-racism work.
Thank you so much to the folks who took time to do this work!