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JustWorks Service-Learning Trips

JustWorks participants work directly with people in local communities on direct-service projects, learning about human-rights issues firsthand.

Short-term (usually week-long) projects help participants examine and understand the root causes and damaging effects of injustice, with an eye to promoting intercultural understanding. Working alongside the people who do this work every day, participants gain experience and tools to continue their own justice work after the trip.

JustWorks trips are a powerful way for people of all ages and backgrounds to put their values into action. Since 1996, UUSC has operated dozens of JustWorks events in the United States and around the world, providing hands-on learning for more than 2,000 participants."

Please let us know if you would like to receive more information about these and other service-learning opportunities with UUSC. If you have any questions regarding service learning with UUSC, please e-mail csj@uusc.org, or call 617-301-4326.

Scheduled Trips


2012 National Youth Justice Summit

This summer, a select group of youth will come together in Boston, Mass., for a week of skill building, reflection, and service learning. In an experience grounded in Unitarian Universalism, participants will learn about privilege, identity, and economic justice, and will leave with a supportive community and a deeper understanding of themselves and social justice. Read more.

July 7-14, 2012 • Application deadline: June 3Apply now
Applications will be accepted through June 3, with rolling admissions. Applications may be closed earlier than June 3 if the program is filled early.

Want to be an adult staff person for the summit? Find out how!

For more information contact csj@uusc.org or call Sam Jones at 617-301-4326.

2012 JustWorks Civil Rights Journey

UUSC is excited to announce the 2012 JustWorks: Civil Rights Journey, an inspiring youth trip that will take you to visit sites and people of significance in the U.S. civil-rights movement. The trip is specially tailored to young people, ages 15–20, with an interest in the history of justice work in the United States. Read more.

July 22-29, 2012 • Application deadline: June 3Apply now
Applications will be accepted through June 3, with rolling admissions. Applications may be closed earlier than June 3 if the program is filled early.

For information contact csj@uusc.org or call Sam Jones at 617-301-4326.

North-South Worker Justice Journey: Focus on the Food Chain

Join us August 2–12, 2012, as we explore how changes in the global economy have affected workers in the food chain on both sides of the border — in the United States and Central America. You'll meet with two UUSC economic-justice partners, visit communities affected by global economic trends, and talk with small-scale coffee farmers delivering their product to market through fair trade. Read more.

August 2-12, 2012 (with optional add-on to Tikál 8/12 - 8/16) •
Reservation deadline: July 1Reserve now

For information contact csj@uusc.org or call Sam Jones at 617-301-4326.

UUSC-UUA Supporter Journey to Tanzania and Burundi

This trip is a chance for donors to witness vital on-the-ground human-rights work and to meet African Unitarians. You will learn about the work of the Tanzania Gender Networking Program (TGNP), a UUSC environmental-justice partner, and be hosted by the Assemblée des Chrétiens Unitariens du Burundi/Assembly of Unitarian Christians of Burundi (ACUB), a UUA partner church. Read more.

November 10-20, 2012 (with optional add-on to Kilimanjaro 11/20 - 11/24) •
Reservation deadline: September 10Reserve now

For information contact csj@uusc.org or call Sam Jones at 617-301-4326.

We Are One: Crossing Borders as UUs

In preparation for "Justice General Assembly" in Phoenix, Ariz., (June 20–24, 2012) the Unitarian Universalist Association's (UUA's) Faith Without Borders program (FWB), and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) have jointly organized three opportunities for service/learning trips to the U.S./Mexico border with our partner organization: BorderLinks. All Unitarian Universalists (over 16 years of age) are invited! Get more information.

May 25-28, 2012 • Application deadline has passed

To register contact Eric Cherry, echerry@uua.org, in the UUA's International Office.

UUSC-UUA JustWorks Trips to Haiti

On this weeklong trip, participants will work with members of the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP), a UUSC partner, on projects to help former Port-au-Prince residents build new lives in rural Haiti. Every morning, you will work with Haitian peasants to build new homes, construct food gardens from old tires, or contribute to other sustainability projects.

April 28 - May 5, 2012This trip is fully booked

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Please let us know if you would like to receive more information about these and other service-learning opportunities with UUSC. If you have any questions regarding service learning with UUSC, please e-mail csj@uusc.org, or call 617-301-4326.

Completed Trips


UUSC-UUA JustWorks Trips to Haiti
December 3 - 10, 2011
March 10 - 17, 2012


On these weeklong trips, participants worked with members of the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP), a UUSC partner, on projects to help former Port-au-Prince residents build new lives in rural Haiti. Projects included working with Haitian peasants to build new homes, construct food gardens from old tires, and contribute to other sustainability projects in an ambitious eco-village.

Read more about the experience of this and other JustWorks trips.

We Are One: Crossing Borders as UUs
January 24-27, 2012
April 20-23, 2012


In preparation for "Justice General Assembly" in Phoenix, Ariz., (June 20–24, 2012) the Unitarian Universalist Association's (UUA's) Faith Without Borders program (FWB), and the Unitarian Universalist Service Committee (UUSC) jointly organized three opportunities for service/learning trips to the U.S./Mexico border with our partner organization BorderLinks.

Read more about the experience of this JustWorks trip.

UUSC-UUA JustWorks Youth Delegation to Haiti
August 20-27, 2011


The UUA and UUSC formed this special delegation of youth and young adults to work with populist leaders in Haiti and learn about the particular challenges facing rural residents in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake.

Participants assisted the Papaye Peasant Movement (MPP), a UUSC partner, with an ambitious eco-village project, which will provide homes and livelihoods for Haitians displaced by the earthquake.

Read more about the experience of this and other JustWorks trips.

UUSC-UUA JustWorks Trip to Haiti for Seminarians
May 24–31, 2011

A collaborative UUSC-UUA JustWorks — a special trip for seminarians to the Central Plateau — kicked off the inaugural rebuilding project of UUSC's Haiti Volunteer Program. Seminarians worked alongside members of the Papaye Peasant Movement, a UUSC partner, to help construct homes in a sustainable eco-village project. The trip also included reflections and discussion on how service work and the shared experience in Haiti connect to the basic tenets of UU faith and ministry.

Read more about the experience of this and other JustWorks trips.

UUSC Medical Trips to Haiti
April 11–16 and May 15–20, 2011

Participants administered health care to Haitians in Port-au-Prince and the Central Plateau, in support of UUSC partners. In a variety of clinical settings, volunteers gave vaccinations, conducted overall health checkups, advised on the nutritional needs of patients, and offered family-planning and trauma-reduction workshops. Together with UUSC partners, they worked to build a stronger, healthier Haiti.

Read more about the experience of this and other JustWorks trips.

Uganda: Witness to a Return Home
November 4–16, 2010

Participants learned about UUSC's unique eye-to-eye partnership with Caritas Pader, which has empowered thousands of people to return to their villages and rebuild their lives after war. Participants also met with the UU Kampala congregation; talked with Ugandan leaders of the struggle for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgendered people's rights; and visited the school and orphanage the Kampala congregation supports near Masaka.

Read more about the experience.

Guatemala JustJourney
Guatamala City, Rabinal, Plan de Sanchez, and Antigua, July 16–23, 2010

This powerful JustJourney experience honored the victims and survivors of one of the most infamous massacres of indigenous people by the Guatemalan Army. During a visit to Plan de Sanchez, the site of the 1982 massacre, participants learned how survivors sought justice and set precedent to hold the Guatemalan government accountable. JustJourneyers also met with UUSC partners the Maya Achi Association for the Integral Development of Victims of Violence (ADIVIMA), which works to combat injustice resulting from abuse by the Guatemalan government, and STITCH, a network of women organizing for economic justice.

Read more about the experience.

Freedom Summer: A Civil Rights Journey
Georgia and Alabama, July 10–17, 2010

This year, 24 people embarked on the seventh UUSC Freedom Summer: A Civil Rights Journey. Visiting sites of historical significance in the struggle for civil rights, they walked in the footsteps of great civil-rights activists and heard from some of those courageous figures themselves. They listened to the music and protest songs that helped bolster the strength of these history makers. In the end, participants were surprised, inspired, and moved.

Read more about the experience.

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