Our congregation is a partner congregation of the Unitarian Universalists for Social Justice (UUSJ). We voluntarily joined the national network of UUSJ partner congregations, who live out their faith through engagement, education, and advocacy to advance equitable national policies and actions, aligned with UU values.

As a congregation, we are dedicated to focusing on action when it comes to social justice issues, whether it involves speaking out on reproductive justice, democracy, fighting for our LGBTQ+ siblings, climate justice, immigration justice or building solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement. ​

Read more about UUSJ and the group of strong partners–national organizations that include Women’s March, Poor People’s Campaign, Indivisible, and many others.

Democracy Team

Our Democracy Team will work closely with Indivisible Plattsburgh, a group specifically supporting the momentum of national movements around democracy and the political system.

Indivisible Plattsburgh is an organizing network connecting Indivisible and allied groups in the Plattsburgh area and along the ADK Coast. We hope to advance equitable national policies and actions through witness, education, and advocacy. We envision a just, compassionate, and sustainable world community. So we’re coming together to problem-solve, share ideas, and support each other.

Reach out to Indivisible Plattsburgh.

Since 2020, we have partnered with Center for Common Ground and its Reclaim Our Vote (ROV) postcarding campaign.

Primary voting promotes consistent voting habits, and greatly increases the likelihood of voting in the fall. Our postcards inform voters of where and when to vote, and key issues at stake. In spring, 2024, we worked with Reclaim Our Vote and Center for Common Ground for the Georgia Primary (general/non-partisan), the Virginia Primary and Team Unity NC.

For the general election 2024, we’ve teamed with the Team Unity GA coalition. We sent 3900 postcards to registered Black voters in Georgia, where basic civil rights are threatened, to emphasize that their vote is consequential.

Join us in this good work! Here’s what we do

Or contact love@uuplattsburgh.org

Black Lives Matter Team

Most fundamental to us as a congregation is our spiritual growth. We work to create spaces for us to dig deep and listen — learn — grow. If you’re interested in making a difference and expanding your knowledge of the BLM movement, consider joining our regularly meeting group. Learn more here. ​

Our work also intersects with the Democracy/UU the Vote squad (below), which partners with Center for Common Ground. Please see any upcoming BLM-related events here. 

Immigration Team

Our Sponsorship of a Refugee Newcomer Family

(Update January 28, 2025) It is with great sadness that the UUFP treasurer and Immigration Squad lead, Ursula Jones, made the following report to the congregation at its Jan. 26 Budget Meeting.

“. . . I report that on January 22, 2025, the Executive Order on “Realigning the United States Refugee Admissions Program” was signed. In accordance with this order the intake of new applications for the Welcome Corps is suspended, as well as processing of all active or previously submitted applications. All travel arrangements for refugees to enter the United States has been suspended for 90 days. This order covers the Afghan family [a father and mother who have an almost-two-year-old daughter and an infant son] with whom we were matched. It is not known what will happen after the 90-day suspension has ended or what challenges are being prepared regarding this executive order. We hope that the program will become operational again. 

“Of immediate concern is another order which states that the people who have been admitted from Afghanistan, Ukraine, Haiti, Cuba, and Venezuela for two years under a special “humanitarian parole” program will be deported prior to the end of their two-year stay with the rationale that this program is illegal. We hope that challenges to this order will be successful.

“Our immigration squad is following events closely and will disseminate actions one can take to counter these orders. 

“We have received emails from our Welcome Corps and IRIS mentors that they and all of their staff have been laid off as of Friday, Jan. 24, at 3 p.m. — effective at 5 p.m., but were allowed time on Jan. 27 to email sponsors about this change. This is a further step in dismantling refugee programs. We do note that the Welcome.US website is up and functioning. They have posted a link to assist those supportive of these programs to call their representatives in the federal government with their concerns. Here is a document that provides guidance on how to contact your federal representatives. Please consider doing so immediately!

“In the meantime, we will keep in trust all the monies, furniture and furnishings donated to the refugee project in hopes that we will be able to sponsor a refugee family. I don’t mind continuing to store things in my garage for as long as there is a reasonable expectation that the program will become operational again. We put out a new request for items needed for an infant and a toddler; if you have items you would like to donate, let us know and we can discuss storage and any other concerns.

“We will try to keep the congregation informed. If you have questions or would like to become involved in advocacy, please contact Ursula Jones at love@uuplattsburgh.org .”

BACKGROUND:

In the fiscal year 2021, the US government resettled 11,400 refugees through its traditional resettlement system and its 10 resettlement agency partners. Two years later, through the efforts of Welcome.US, efforts to engage Americans, civic institutions and the private sector have enabled our country to welcome over 400,000 people in need of refuge.

The Unitarian Universalist Fellowship voted in April, 2024, to join this movement and to apply through Welcome Corps to be a Private Sponsorship Group.

As part of the application process, the Plattsburgh Refugee Organization (PRO), a group of seven core members of the fellowship’s immigration squad, has been working to assist our newcomers over their first 90 days in the US. We have raised funds to pay for essentials that include housing, utilities, phone plans, food, technology equipment, school supplies, and winter necessities.

If you have questions, please contact us at love@uplattsburgh.org.

Our Partnership with Plattsburgh Cares

Since 2017, our Immigration Squad has been partnering with Plattsburgh Cares. And as the immigration crisis in our area has evolved over these past six years, Plattsburgh Cares has responded to meet individuals’ humanitarian needs.

In Summer, 2023, the executive committee of Plattsburgh Cares created a new vision: to support our original mission by not only serving the refugee and asylum seekers in our area, but also local people or transients who are food insecure. Our focus now is to create food/emergency supply bags to be distributed by local motel owners (one bag for each family member/person) to people who are being put up by Emergency-After-Hours (Department of Social Services), Plattsburgh Cares, or (through a state grant) our partners at Catholic Charities/St. Joseph’s Community Outreach Center. 

Every two weeks or so, Plattsburgh Cares puts out an email call for a “food bag assembly crew” to meet on a given Friday morning at St. Joseph’s Community Outreach Center in order to fill about 150 emergency food bags. The food bags are dropped off at area motels where folks are placed in emergency housing by DSS — including local citizens and noncitizens who find them themselves stranded in our county. We have been fortunate to have 15-20 volunteers each time we hold a session for food bag assembly. Usually the prepping, bagging and breaking down of boxes takes less than 90 minutes! Volunteer when you’re available. One time, a number of times.

Please reach out to us at love@uuplattsburgh.org if you would like to be on the Food Bag Assembly email list.

LGBTQ+ and Allies

Each of us has worth and dignity, and that worth includes our gender and our sexuality. As Unitarian Universalists, we not only open our doors to people of all sexual orientations and gender identities, we value diversity of sexuality and gender and see it as a spiritual gift. We create inclusive religious communities and work for LGBTQ+ justice and equity as a core part of who we are. All of who you are is sacred. All of who you are is welcome. Learn more. 

Join the UPLIFT monthly gatherings for trans, nonbinary, and other not-entirely-or-at-all-cis UUs. Join us to connect with other trans/nonbinary+ UUs and co-create support and community across our faith. All you need to bring is yourself (and other trans/nonbinary friends, if you’d like)! Learn more about this space.

Please see any upcoming LGBTQ+-related events here. 

Climate Team

Food Scraps Project UPDATE

The food scraps bin from River Valley Regeneratives has come to our fellowship!! Hop on to our Climate Justice project.

One thing that separates River Valley Regeneratives from other composting bins is that any fruit, vegetable, eggshells, leaves and meat bones are accepted. There are many advantages to composting, both environmentally and economically. Composting is beneficial to soil by reducing or eliminating the use of pesticides, wood preservation and chemical fertilizers. Food scraps that enter the waste stream will decompose, release methane gas. Keeping the scraps out if this stream is a concrete way to reduce the release of greenhouse gasses.

The bin that collects the food scraps will be at the side entrance of the church at the top of the ramp. There are green buckets at the back of the sanctuary that you can pick up to use to bring your food scraps to church. Our congregation’s operating budget covers the cost for the service – so anyone can use it for free. Questions? Contact Rory Fischer or Kris Lutters at love@uuplattsburgh.org. Donations are welcome.