This article/announcement is a follow up to an earlier piece I wrote about various people's experiences at General Assembly (GA) in Providence this summer.  I also proposed that we take up the challenge of having a social justice focus on escalating inequality, which was voted on at GA as the primary area for Congregational Study/Action Item (CSAI).  This means that over the next four years, the UUA wants interested congregations to engage the critical issues of class and Escalating Inequality, for which it has recently published a Study Guide. This Study Guide "provides congregations with materials and guidance for beginning or deepening our exploration of economic justice, helping to navigate this complex and inspiring subject with many ways to engage in personal, congregational, local, state, national and global levels."  The goals of this group will be "to learn the complex history and realities of economic inequality, both locally and globally, and how it affects income, housing, education, policing, voting, banking, health and other places where there are large and often growing disparities among classes.  Another goal will be to learn more about the systemic nature of oppression and how it tends to keep poorer people where they are, and how the middle classes are losing ground in today's economy." Finally, it will use the lens of UUism to help us define and act on our core religious principles and values.  This focus of EDUCATION - ACTION - REFLECTION will give us both the knowledge and the discernment to engage in social justice empowerment in our community and in the world at large. 

 Mara Pentlarge, Joe Delgizzi and I have been meeting since November to make this plan a reality.  In an historic first step, we are now working with the downturn church on this as a joint project.  Participants from First Unitarian on the Escalating Inequality Task Force include Paul Ropp and Randy Ingham.  Both Joan Webster and Lee Bona offered significant help to get us started.  This project has the blessing of both Aaron and Rev. Sarah Stewart, downtown's new minister.

A series of five workshops are proposed for members and friends of both churches.  We have also decided to invite people throughout the Clara Barton-Mass Bay District too.  In addition, we will ask non-UU community activists to participate to help build on the good work they are already doing in the Worcester area.   We are planning to start workshops in mid-March, with times, dates and location listed below. 

These workshops will use discussion, videos, readings and other relevant resources to educate ourselves about the increasing inequality in our country, and the terrible consequences it has for so many people, both here and abroad.  We will look at class, race, gender and access to institutions which have been more egalitarian in the past, but are now becoming more unequal (e.g. education, banking, housing, etc.).  We will investigate how  working class and middle class wages have stagnated despite higher worker productivity.  We'll discuss how the attacks and decrease of unions in this country has decimated workers' rights.  And we will evaluate partial solutions to this crisis, focusing on things we can do to support the poor, working and middle classes who make up the overwhelming majority of people in this country, but are reaping fewer and fewer rewards.

We will share resources with other progressive community organizations, and alert people to protests, films and activities in the area.

We will use the template of UUA -produced material for the majority of the workshops, especially the Class Conscious curriculum by Dr. Susan Zilber.  Other major resources are the Escalating Inequality Study Guide, and the curriculum from UUs for a Just Economic Community. There are sections of these materials which deal with issues of class, race, ethnicity and privilege which occur within our UU churches, and the last two workshops will focus on pro-active potential changes within our congregations.  As a denomination, we are not growing, so it is timely to take a critical look at ourselves to make us more open to a wider diversity of people coming through our doors.

The UUA calls the problems of escalating inequality "the moral imperative of our times". We are excited by this equality project co-sponsored with the downtown church, a first for both congregations.  And we are challenging ourselves to boldly look at injustice in our midst, in our pews and in our lives, and to take a stand to move against it. We hope you'll join with us on this journey.

We'll be having a special kickoff to this workshop series by showing a short documentary by Richard Wilkinson, entitled "How Income Inequality Harms Society".  In this insightful film, he deals with both the dollars and cents issues negatively affecting most families, but also addresses the larger psychosocial difficulties which impact the whole society.  It will be shown on Tuesday, March 3rd  from 7-8:30 pm at the downtown UU Church (First Unitarian) at 90 Main Street, near Lincoln Square.  If you miss that showing, you can catch it on Saturday March 7th from 4-5:30 at our church.  A facilitated discussion group will follow at both locations.

The schedule for the film showings and all five workshops is as follows:

We hope to see you at these events. And remember that the movie is coming soon to a theater (church) near you!!

Escalating Inequality Task Force:

Joan McGinn, Chair   Mara Pentlarge   Paul Ropp   Joe Delgizzi   Randy Ingham