Old friendships rekindled. New friends made. This is the scene the first day at the UUA's General Assembly (GA) in Charlotte, N.C. It began quietly as a small group of UUSC staff put the finishing touches on booth #512 in the downstairs exhibit hall. But it grew to a loud buzz with waves of people as the opening ceremonies ended and the evening reception began in the vendor area. There were even cupcakes, provided by the UUA to mark the 50th anniversary celebration!

Dedicated UUSC volunteers Bob Keim and Gay Ann Gustafson were on hand to help talk about UUSC and human rights to visitors at UUSC's booth. We've got new merchandise on display, including "I love GA" and "College of Social Justice" t-shirt designs, which will be available in UUSC's online store after GA. People got their first taste of the Two Degrees nutrition bars, which you can purchase now online. And for the fourth year in a row, we are sharing the exhibit space with our economic-justice partner Equal Exchange to provide fair-trade coffee samples, tea, chocolate, and other snacks.

Today was a day to celebrate the force for good that Unitarian Universalism can be in the world, and our booth demonstrated the vehicle UUSC can be to put that faith into action. Tomorrow, as our workshops begin, we'll dig into the practical knowledge to make that happen. Stay tuned to our blog for on-the-ground updates.

We're also excited to have Gary Nissenbaum at the booth, signing copies of his new book, Assembling the Pieces, which gives practical and inspirational instructions on how congregations can supercharge their social-action committees. He has tested his model of engagement with great success at his congregation in Summit, N.J., and GA attendees can look forward to learning more in tomorrow's workshop, presented with UUSC staff member Lauralyn Smith.

Folks who are not attending GA can watch some proceedings streaming live from the UUA website — don't forget to tune in around 9:00 a.m. on Saturday morning to catch UUSC President and CEO Bill Schulz's speech during Plenary IV!

On Monday, we told you how the California human-right-to-water bill (AB 685) was in danger of meeting an untimely end in the state senate* Rules Committee. But thanks to everyone who took action over the last 24 hours, the bill is still alive! While we are not out of the woods yet, we are on a much better path.

The calls and e-mails activists made to Senator Steinberg's office definitely got their attention. Based on reports, callers heard different excuses from Rules Committee staff about why the bill wasn't moving. Thankfully, each hour their wording became more hopeful. In the end, the committee cancelled its regularly scheduled Wednesday afternoon hearing. When I heard the news, I felt like we had gotten a last-minute stay of execution!

So, what happens next? The negotiations with Senator Steinberg will continue. The best-case scenario is that the bill will be released to the Natural Resources and Water Policy Committee sometime before the final deadline for policy bills on Wednesday, June 29. Luckily, Patricia Jones, manager for UUSC's Environmental Justice Program, will be in Sacramento next week to work with our allies in the capitol.

As I have said before, UUSC is very proud to be in partnership with the UU Legislative Ministry of California and working with the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, which represents residents who lack access to clean affordable water for their daily lives. Read the media advisory our coalition sent out yesterday to help ratchet up the pressure.

Thanks again to everyone who helped us get through this legislative challenge. We certainly succeeded in creating a powerful buzz around the human right to water this week. And we plan to continue working with policy makers until California becomes the first state in the nation to enact a human-right-to-water law!

* UPDATE: The July issue of Values in Action incorrectly mentioned the state assembly Rules Committee; please note that it was the state senate Rules Committee.

There are often strange twists and turns in the legislative process, but today we face a very unusual and dangerous situation in the California State House. We need your help right now to make sure that historic legislation on the human right to water succeeds.

The primary human-right-to-water bill (AB 685) is stuck in the California State Senate Rules Committee. If it does not move to the Senate Natural Resources and Water Committee by the close of business Wednesday, June 22, the bill will die an untimely death. All other bills that have made it to this point in the legislative process have already been referred to the appropriate committees — except for AB 685. Our allies in Sacramento say that grassroots pressure is needed now!

Senator Darrell Steinberg, chair of the Senate Rules Committee and the president pro tempore of the senate, has the power to move the bill to the next step.

Please call Senator Steinberg at 916-651-4006 with this simple message:

"I am calling from _______, California, to urge Senator Steinberg to release AB 685, the human-right-to-water bill, from the Rules Committee. It is vital that it continues to move through the legislative process. It has broad-based support and will help 11.5 million Californians who each day lack access to safe, affordable water."

You can also e-mail him at senator.steinberg@senate.ca.gov.

Please post a note on UUSC's Facebook page to let us know you have taken action and what you hear from Senator Steinberg's office.

UUSC is proud to be in partnership with the UU Legislative Ministry of California and working with the Environmental Justice Coalition for Water, which represents residents directly affected by contaminated water.

Two years ago, we passed the Human Right to Water Act (AB 1242) through both the state assembly and senate only to see the bill vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger on the final day of the legislative session. Today, a package of human-right-to-water bills is winding their way through the Statehouse. The historic California human-right-to-water bill, AB 685 — the primary policy bill introduced by Assemblyman Mike Eng and the bill we need your help with — recently garnered bipartisan support on the assembly floor.

Let's keep water justice flowing. Can you make a call today? Wednesday is the deadline!

This year, July 25–30, the International Affairs Conference at Star Island — "Water as a Resource and a Right" — will feature crucial information and discussion on the human right to water. As manager of UUSC's Environmental Justice Program, I'm excited to be speaking at the conference about UUSC's work on this issue.

Conference Chair Nicholas Dembsey included UUSC in this year's conference to highlight human-right-to-water efforts in the United States and around the world. Other speakers include Juliet Christian-Smith, Pacific Institute (California); R. Allyn Clarke, Bedford Institute of Oceanography; Christopher L. Kukk, Western Connecticut State University; and Shimon C. Anisfeld, Yale University.

The speakers are experts in their fields and will present panels on many interesting and critical topics. Clarke will highlight water as "the drive train for the climate system." Kukk's talk is "The Meribah Syndrome: Modern Quarrels over Water." Christian-Smith will focus on a current topic of concern for many congregations involved in the discussion on ethical eating: "Water and Food: Retooling Agriculture to Promote Sustainable Water Management." Anisfeld will present "Understanding the Water Crisis: From Local to Global." 

On Wednesday morning, I will speak on UUSC's environmental-justice work on the human right to water, exploring the issue in a talk entitled "Making Right Our Water Wrongs — Finding a Place for Everyone in Our Blue Boat Home." On Friday morning, the panelists will participate in an interactive session on the intersections between the topics discussed earlier in the week. 

If there are members of your congregation who may be interested, please pass on this information about the conference in July. And don't forget to register yourself!

I'm excited to share with others that this summer UUSC is able to offer four part-time unpaid volunteer and intern positions, intended primarily for high school students, at out Cambridge, Mass., headquarters! The position descriptions are online at www.uusc.org/jobs_and_internships, and the deadline to apply is June 30, 2011. All positions are excellent opportunities for students to expand their skills and gain valuable experience.

I know personally what a difference this can make. As a high school student, I volunteered part-time one summer for a state representative. While I only worked a day or two a week, that experience really improved my resume, and I believe it was a key reason I was hired for a competitive internship after my first year of college. Opportunities like these will only take part of a student's summer, but can make such a difference in future work opportunities!

Last summer, a young woman named Madzie served as a volunteer in our fundraising department. I enjoyed working with her on a variety of projects and talking with her about her plans and goals. I also suggested language to describe her volunteer position on her resume, something that I plan to offer for future youth volunteers as well. I hope that volunteering with UUSC will be a useful professional experience for the young people who work with us, and I am happy to talk with the students about their career goals and future plans.

The available positions focus on different areas of our work, but all will help students develop their administrative and office skills, learn about UUSC's human-rights work, and contribute to the success of our mission.

Young people seeking a meaningful, vacation experience are encouraged to apply! My contact information is on the job descriptions, and I look forward to speaking with you about these opportunities.

Every person should be able to live to their full potential. At UUSC, we honor this notion every day through our eye-to-eye partnerships, working alongside people from all backgrounds to create a more just world. As UU youth navigate the path to adulthood — figuring out how to live up to their own potential — we want to support them in connecting with and taking action on their values.

As a human-rights organization grounded in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights and core UU principles, UUSC provides numerous opportunities to put the ideals of Unitarian Universalism to work. We advocate for civil liberties, the human right to water, workers' rights, and the rights of people left out of traditional recovery efforts in the wake of natural disasters and war. We also do our best to give our members and supporters the tools they need to be advocates for change.

In all of our work, we look for grassroots organizations to work alongside. In Egypt, we worked to help activists publish a comic book about Martin Luther King Jr.'s life to spread the idea of nonviolence during the revolution. In Haiti, we are working with a peasant movement to build an eco-village that will provide homes and farmland to people displaced by the earthquake. Leveraging these partnerships not only allows us to act in accordance with our values but avoids redundancy and allows UUSC to focus on the work more effectively.

Working with youth is another of our key partnerships. As part of coming-of-age programs, many congregations organize a trip to Boston for their youth. They come to visit the Unitarian Universalist Association, see sites important to the history of Unitarian Universalism, and many visit UUSC headquarters in Cambridge. UUSC's work represents a practical application of the principles of the UU faith. Visiting the UUSC represents a unique opportunity to not just see our shared values on display but in real-world applications.

During a youth visit, we look at UUSC's history, mission, four program areas, and how we act in accordance with UU principles. We play a game based on the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. And we do our best to make sure youth leave with a better idea of how to put their values into action.

Contact csj@uusc.org to schedule a youth visit. Youth visits are typically conducted on Fridays and last about 1.5 hours. A suggested donation of $200 helps cover the costs of the visit and support our work.

UUSC partnered with the Unitarian Universalist Association on a joint volunteer trip to Haiti for seminarians, May 24-31. In the post below, participant Kye Flannery, a student at the Harvard Divinity School, Cambridge, Mass., shares her thoughts on the journey to help rebuild the homes and lives of earthquake survivors in Haiti. 

Martha Nussbaum's new book, Creating Capabilities, lays out 10 "central capabilities" that all human beings ought to be able to access in order to "pursue a dignified and minimally flourishing life." Two of them — the capacity for play and the ability to control one's environment — come up for me today as lenses for our activities in Haiti.

Jameson, who looked about seven, sat all day at our construction site, and finally asked haltingly if we had a soccer ball. Showing up at the job site the next day, we brought a soccer ball that a member of our group had carried from home. Jameson was shy and delighted. At lunchtime, a friend of his — slightly taller, maybe a year older — arrived carrying a machete and wearing his father's rubber boots. He had just come from a job site like ours, where presumably he'd been clearing ground for construction — but he might have been doing any number of things, as the machete is a multi-use tool here, handy for digging, and hacking underbrush, cutting banana trees, and cleaning the mud off one's shoes. He wondered if we had another ball. We didn't.

When I looked over about midday, a grown man had borrowed the ball. He seemed to enjoy it as much as Jameson did. Does he usually have time or resources or energy for this kind of play? The Haitian men at the worksite were working long before we arrived in the morning and stayed in the heat after we left at three to avoid the rains that would make the roads back to Papaye impassable. They were all volunteers, members of the MPP cooperative. They have more resources than many here.

Coming from the United States, where most families could buy a soccer ball, at least a cheap one, it is hard for me to grasp the toy was just as valuable for a grown-up as it was for a little boy. My sense of dissonance is heightened by this other factor Nussbaum mentions, the ability to control one's environment.

I see so many men, women, and children in Haiti outfitted in displaced U.S. logos — "FDNY" (Do these shirts represent organizations that have done work in Haiti?); "North Broward Preparatory Schools" (the county where I grew up); a Tupac Shakur shirt on an older man who, when I ask, does not seem to know who Tupac is; a small girl starting a dusty trek toward the river with two two-liter containers for water, carrying a third on her head, in a ripped T-shirt that reads, "Being spoiled makes me happy."

The countryside seems to wake up about 4 a.m., while we are up and about at 6:30 a.m. I see kids of three- or four-years old guiding donkeys down a crowded dirt road with motorcycles and vans flying by. The soil erosion and the people washing next to piles of trash, the crowded hospital in Hinche with no clean beds and piles of used needles — I'm not sure what would qualify here as being spoiled.

Certainly I feel spoiled, in an air-conditioned van of mostly white faces passing at great speed those brown faces walking down the rocky road, going to school or the market or the river for water, or to church in the bright whites of Sunday best in Hinche. I can turn up the air or turn up the radio. I can drown out the sounds of goats and donkeys by closing a window. 

Many things about the environment in Haiti seem to be beyond the control of the average individual — the T-shirts, for instance, seem to be based on what others in the "developed" world are willing and able to give, mere availability making the bulk of the choices in a space of scarcity. In Haiti, I see a diversity of global influences, some thoughtfully engaged, others dropped without thought or consideration, and a group of people doing with whatever comes to hand.

But I see agency here, too. One beautifully and uniquely Haitian way of being is the manner in which boys and girls, men and women, put their arms around each others' waists in gestures of particular care, familiarity, affection, and guardianship. That gesture, to me, contains dignity and cooperation, concern with the body and well-being of the other, a playful sense of togetherness. Jameson held his friend around the waist as we explained to the second boy, who had worked all morning, that we had no more soccer balls. 

Jameson promised he would share. So many things could intervene, work and geography perhaps being the most pressing, but I hope they are able to play together.

I wish we'd brought more soccer balls. But more than that, I wish soccer balls to be accessible to average families in Haiti. There has been a cholera outbreak this year — some say it was caused by foreign aid workers dumping latrines into the ocean. If we have to choose where to put resources, into soccer balls and public health, I suppose cholera wins. But Nussbaum places play on the list of capabilities, too. Until that little boy has access to a soccer ball, in addition to bodily health, until he's at school instead of at work all morning, no matter how many homes we build, our work is not done.

As you may know, I've been out in California over the past couple of weeks helping support our partners as the Human Right to Water (HRW) package of six bills moves through the California State House. I'm pleased to say that the Human Right to Water policy bill AB685 (Eng) passed the California State Assembly with a bipartisan 52-24 vote!

If AB685 is passed by the Senate and signed into law by the governor this summer, the state will have the "duty to consider" the human right to water policy when setting priorities, policy, and criteria for funding.

We are working hard to make sure that this happens. UUSC is proud to partner with the Unitarian Universalist Legislative Ministry of California, which has worked with congregations across the state to gather and deliver over 1,000 letters in support of the HRW package. UUs have been among the most visible supporters of the bills. Last week, five out of six of our bills made it through the committee phase and at least four of our bills have survived floor votes.

The update as of now is:

• AB 938 (Perez), Language Access on Public Health Notifications, requires public health agencies to give notice of non-compliance with drinking water quality standards in the appropriate language for consumers (passed to Senate).
• AB 983 (Perea), Access to Clean Up and Abatement Funding, allows the state Department of Public Health to take action to improve access to drinking water project funding for small and disadvantaged communities (passed to Senate)
• AB 1187 (Fong), Drinking Water Plans, requires the California Department of Water Resources to include access to safe drinking water plans in updates of the California Water Plan, which is to include current and future unmet needs of marginalized communities (did not pass out of Appropriations Committee)
• AB 1221 (Alejo), Drinking Water Funding Eligibility, allows nonprofits and Native American tribes to receive funding for clean-up of wastes/water pollution to address unmet needs (approved by Assembly)
• SB 244 (Wolk), General Plans Required to Assist Disadvantaged Unincorporated Communities, addresses needs for safe drinking water, sanitation, and other services (passed to Assembly)

There have been lots of twists and turns to get to this point and we are happy to report this good news!

UUSC partnered with the Unitarian Universalist Association on a joint volunteer trip to Haiti for seminarians, May 24-31. In the post below, participant Karen Quinlan shares her thoughts on the journey to help rebuild the homes and lives of earthquake survivors in Haiti. 

I gazed out of the window of the plane as we descended into Miami, staring incredulously at the lush green of the trees, the straight lines of the roads, the intact buildings, the clean look of the place. And then I got off the plane, into the air-conditioned bustle and bright lights and rush of travelers and language I understood. Back into the impersonal world in which we move by each other without seeing, intent on our own purposes and needs, responsive to the stimulus of another's presence only when it makes direct contact with our own.  The intentionality of interaction, the slow smiles and greetings, the beauty of the warmth in the eyes I'd experienced with my colleagues and coworkers and even strangers in Haiti was gone. I checked in with my fellow travelers often, finding an echo of these things as I met their eyes, but it didn't take long for the madness of the customs line to seep into my being. I was conscious of the change in myself as I stood in the long and unorganized line, trying to estimate how long it would take to get through, maneuvering to get ahead as efficiently as I could, noting the people who cut in ahead of me. And yet I also remained calm, unaffected on some level by the noise and bustle around me, maintaining the slow and easy sense of purpose and movement I'd learned in Haiti. I felt like a stranger.

I found myself looking for that kind of interaction when I was reunited with my husband and daughter in Chicago. They met me with excitement and easy reconnection, and I was grateful to be able to exchange our love though our eyes and our smiles and our hugs. I realized how lonely I'd been in Haiti, despite the depth of connection with my colleagues and coworkers, and I understood that I could continue to embody the slower and deeper way of being I'd learned in Haiti with my family.

Many other things I've seen and experienced since my return have felt strange as well. Things that used to be normal, I now see through the lens of the experience of this trip. The green grass in my yard and those of my neighbors stands in direct contrast with the gray dust-covered surfaces of everything in Port-au-Prince. The smoothness of my roads and the regulated traffic patterns make me think of the huge washouts and gullies around which the cars and motorcycles and people walking continually danced without ever colliding. As I take a warm shower, I think of the woman I saw splashing water on her daughter out of a bucket next to the road. Sharing a picnic lunch with my own daughter makes me wonder whether the children I met last week have any food.

In my application essay for this trip, I wrote of wanting to widen my circles of compassion as I widened my perspective on the needs of others in the world. I look back on this, and realize these words have a far bigger meaning to me now than they did when they were just words on a page. And there are many lessons still to learn as I continue to process my experiences and move into a new way of being that's informed by them. I think about how I have changed in just a week, how I will continue to change, and how I can live my life with this growing perspective of others. I am committed to maintaining this connection, to continue to see and live and act with the perspective given to me by those treeless mountains, dust-covered surfaces, and barefoot women and children with beautiful but hungry eyes.

UUSC is excited to be partnering with the Unitarian Universalist Association on a joint volunteer trip to Haiti for seminarians, May 24-31. In the post below, participant Kevin Tarsa shares his thoughts on the journey to help rebuild the homes and lives of earthquake survivors in Haiti.  

On our first day helping to build the stone foundations of the first homes in this new eco-village, colleague Glenn Farley asked our Haitian coworkers if they would teach us a work song. A willing singer eventually found a song that seemed simple enough for us to sing. The refrain began, "O! Elanye! O! Elanye! O! Elanye!" We echoed each phrase with increasingly strength and surety. When we came to the final phrase, however — "O! Gade mize a pepla" — we bumbled our way way through, falling apart by the end. The Haitians within earshot burst into laughter, and then so did we. We tried several more times, but we never did quite get that final phrase before the foreman called our song teacher back to the work of laying a more earth-bound foundation.

As Glenn later observed, our shared moment of laughter was a wonderful moment of connection. Later we learned the meaning of the words. The part of the song we learned easily means "O! Help! O! Help!" The second part of the song, the part we struggled with, means "Look at the misery of the people."

I have been struggling with the reality of the misery of the people. It is easy to visit this world of life in the Central Plateau of Haiti with a desire to help. The economic poverty is profound. It is easy to enter this world with a well-intentioned Universalist assumption that we are at heart all the same, that we share a common humanity with all the people we meet here.

But it is not so simple. Yes, we share a common humanity, we can echo and learn the first part of the song and find a connection with our Haitian brethren, but the second part of the song is much more difficult to grasp. We cannot know, entirely, the realities and perspectives of the Haitian people. We cannot assume that we sing the same song in the same spirit without imposing our own way of seeing. To "look at the misery of the people," to really look, will ask that we understand that there is a part of the song that is difficult to learn and that we can never get it completely even if we learn how to sing it.

This invites a much more careful and humble listening to learn as much as we can about what the Haitians are singing and what their songs mean to them. It asks us to set aside our own assumptions and expectations, to listen with all our hearts, and hope for what benefits the people rather than serves our own needs.

We did finally learn that final phrase of the song — sort of — after asking our translator to feed us one word at a time, slowly, after we repeated it several times and after we recorded it and wrote it down. I will carry the song with me now, though it will be my version of it. It will both connect me to the people here and remind me to listen with an open heart to the songs I may never fully understand. It is a valuable gift to take.