Legislative Advocacy Events

The announcement below was from the UU Ministry for Earth (UUMFE) and the UUSJ for letters to members to Congress concerning HFCs (hydrofluorocarbons). HFCs are highly dangerous greenhouse gases that can trap heat 3000 times more than carbon dioxide. They were developed in the 1990's to replace chlorofluorocarbons, the CFCs that affected the ozone layer in the stratosphere. Although reduction of CFCs did reduce the danger of the ozone hole, their replacement with HFCs exacerbated the climate crisis. Washington State has passed a law to phase out HFCs but we need a national law. Act Now Against Dangerous “Super Pollutant” HFCs UUMFE is partnering with the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ) to collect as many personally written letters by UUs as possible to deliver to the US Senate in support of the American Innovation and Manufacturing Act (AIM), S.2754, a bipartisan bill to reduce hydrofluorocarbons (HFCs) by 85% over 15 years.

• Organize – Please invite & organize members of your congregation to participate in this Write Here! Write Now! (WHWN) letter-writing campaign. See full details via the button below.
• Letter writing party -- Friday 4/24 at Noon PT 

• Organize – Please invite & organize members of your congregation to participate in this Write Here! Write Now! (WHWN) letter-writing campaign. See full details via the button below.
• Letter writing party -- Friday 4/24 at Noon PT 

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General Assembly (GA) is the annual meeting of our Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA). Attendees worship, witness, learn, connect, and make policy for the Association through democratic process. Anyone may attend; congregations must certify annually to send voting delegates. Rooted, Inspired, & Ready! is the theme for General Assembly in June 2020. We are in touch with our theological roots, we are engaged in transforming our faith, and we are fired up to take action in the wider world.      

Early Registration Open!

Housing Opens March 2

We are only 40 days out from the launch of Census 2020 on March 12, as postcards will begin to arrive inviting households to participate. Official Census Day is April 1. In the State of Washington, $16.7B in tax dollars for our communities are at stake, along with our democratic representation in Congress. We cannot afford to miss counting anyone in this census, especially traditionally undercounted communities of color, immigrants, tribes, rural areas, and young children. You can help in three ways right now: Save the date for a Faith-based Census training on February 19 in Tukwila. Let us know if you'd like to attend by responding to the survey below. Respond to our survey indicating ways you would like to help with the Census in your faith community and beyond. There ARE people in your faith community who may not be counted without our extra efforts. Share our part-time Census Coordinator job description - we are accepting applications through February 9. Please download the job description and share with your communities. We see this as a statewide effort and are excited to join a powerful coalition for the Census.

For Background: In 2008, Washington enacted legislation (RCW 70.235) that set a series of limits on the emission of greenhouse gases within the state: quote:

• By 2020, reduce overall emissions of greenhouse gases in the state to 1990 levels;
• By 2035, reduce overall emissions of greenhouse gases in the state to twenty-five percent below 1990 levels;
• By 2050, the state will do its part to reach global climate stabilization levels by reducing overall emissions to fifty percent below 1990 levels, or seventy percent below the state's expected emissions that year. End quote.

• 45 percent below 1990 levels by 2030,
• 70 percent below 1990 levels by 2040, and
• 95 percent below 1990 levels by 2050, with the goal of net zero emissions. This would mean that any remaining emissions would be offset by sequestration.

The Mount Holyoke College Club of the Puget Sound invites you to a panel discussion. Speakers: Dr. Serin Houston, Professor of Geography and International Relations at Mount Holyoke College, and author of Imagining Seattle: Social Values in Urban Governance.  Dr. Anu Taranath, Principal Lecturer, Comparative History of Ideas at University of  Washington, and author of Beyond Guilt Trips: Mindful Travel in an Unequal World. Ms. Sarah Mayes. Sarah has worked for four lawmakers, most recently at Seattle City Council. A transgender woman and single mother, Sarah produces and co-hosts a new podcast, By the Sound. Free and open to the public.  Download flyer here.

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As we prepare for November elections, Candidate Forums are an opportunity to hear from candidates about the issues that matter most to you. We hope you will join us for a FAN-sponsored candidate forum in October, and share the flyers in your community:    

• Seattle Candidate Forum on Police Accountability October 16, 6:30-8:30 PM Centilia Cultural Center, 1660 Roberto Maestas Festival St, Seattle
• Snohomish County Sheriff Candidate Forum: A Conversation on Police Accountability October 18, 6:30 PM Snohomish County Administration (East)/Robert J. Drewel Building, 3000 Rockefeller Ave, Everett
• Federal Way Candidate Forum October 23, 6-9 PM Calvary Lutheran Church, 2415 S 320th St, Federal Way
• Bellevue City Council Candidate Forum October 23, 7-9 PM at East Shore Unitarian Church, 12700 SE 32nd St, Bellevue

• City of Spokane 2019 Candidate Forum October 5, 10 AM - 12 PM East Central Community Center, 500 S Stone St, Spokane
• Vancouver Candidate Forum October 9, 5:30-7:30 PM Vancouver Community Library, 901 C Street, Vancouver
• Seattle City Council District 3 and King County Council District 2 Candidate Forum October 9, 6:30-8:30 PM Immaculate Conception Church, 820 18th Ave, Seattle
• Kirkland City Council Candidate Forum October 14, 7-8:30 PM Holy Spirit Lutheran Church, 10021 NE 124th St, Kirkland
• Seattle City Council District 1 Candidate Forum October 14, 7-9 PM Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church, 7000 35th Ave SW, Seattle
• Battle Ground Candidate Forum October 16, 5:30-7:30 PM Dollars Corner Fire Station, 21609 NE 72nd Ave, Battle Ground
• Camas Candidate Forum October 23, 5:30-7:30 PM Camas Public Library, 625 NE 4th Ave, Camas
• Seattle City Council District 2 Candidate Forum October 23, 7-9 PM  Edward Church, 4205 S Orcas St, Seattle

Join the Statewide Poverty Action Network for our Communities in Action advocacy program, a FREE series of workshops that will focus on how to use your voice to influence public policy and create the social change you want to see! Our Communities in Action program is a series of three workshops that will focus on skills-building for people interested in advocacy, policy, community organizing, and social justice. Participants will leave with the tools, knowledge, and resources to enter the 2020 Legislative Session as anti-poverty and racial justice advocates for their own communities. All participants will receive a $20 travel reimbursement for each session, as well as food and childcare! Note: As our work has traditionally been centered around the experiences and voices of low-income communities and communities of color, we ask only those to attend who self-identify as low-income.

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  Redistricting U is All on the Line's free, in-person organizing training initiative. We’re sending dedicated trainers to cities across the country to train volunteers, give them the tools to impact the redistricting process in their state, hear from them on how to best make change in their communities, and empower them to be leaders in the movement for fair maps. Sign up to be among the first to hear when Redistricting U opens up shop near you.

“I’ve always believed that training is at the heart of organizing. It’s why I made it a priority in my 2008 campaign and throughout our larger movement for change in the years since. … The movement for fair maps will determine the course of progress on every issue we care about for the next decade. And we can’t wait to begin organizing when the redistricting process starts in 2021. We need to build this movement from the ground up – right now.” — President Obama