The continuing problem within our denomination, and in society as a whole, is a lack of attention to the unique situations and challenges of creating justice in our urban areas. As times change economically, cities have moved from being the ultimate place for the wealthy and powerful to live, to places of deep poverty and racial tension. An increased interest in revitalizing cities has created new tensions between those of some wealth who wish to “clean up” urban areas and the existing low-income populations that are driven out in the process of “renewal”. Every major urban area in the United States faces the challenge of providing affordable housing to low-income people, providing quality education, and maintaining the mental and physical health of its inhabitants. The federal and state welfare reform legislation of the late 1990's has had devastating effects on low-income people throughout the nation, and our urban areas provide stark evidence of the results of inhumane government policies.

Unitarian Universalist congregations in urban centers have been on the decline over the past 30 years. The departure of middle and upper-middle class Euro-Americans from city to suburb took its toll on urban congregations. Many of them were left with large, historic buildings to maintain, but few parishioners to maintain them. As a huge demographic shift occurred in the communities surrounding them, they were left with increasing irrelevance to their neighborhoods and their environs. Some of these churches closed their doors entirely. Others maintained themselves largely thanks to substantial endowments. A handful managed to revitalize themselves and hang on. Most continued, but with very limited membership and relevance.

The UUA has long recognized this problem, and has made many efforts to address it. The most recent large gatherings for this purpose were a series of conferences on Urban Ministry, held in New Orleans in 1996, Baltimore in 1998, and Chicago in 2001. Plans are currently underway to replace the UUA's extension program with intentional “rapid church starts” in metro areas, hoping to spur growth in urban areas, with the potential of creating mega-churches to attract larger populations to Unitarian Universalism. Details about the plans for this, or its expected impact on urban areas in the arena of social justice, are unavailable at this time.

The key areas of concern and support needed for urban ministries wishing to engage with both their surrounding communities and with Unitarian Universalism (taken from feedback from Urban Ministries Conferences) are:

• A need for models for engaging with the larger community that include more nuanced understandings of race than have been offered by UUA programs
• Developing ways to discern appropriate action based on the nature of the existing congregation and the community in which it sits
• Resources, mentors, and articulations of why this is significant “mission” work for Unitarian Universalists

What has become clear is that there is still a need for an articulation of the necessity and wisdom of working on building our denomination through living our values in urban communities, and promoting systemic social change. The UUA Washington Office has begun work to collect data on UU congregations involved in “faith-based organizing” projects across the country. We have discussed partnering with them to engage in discussion and analysis of the effectiveness of this form of organizing as well as the impact of Unitarian Universalist participation in it. Yet involvement in this form of organizing is only a fraction of the work that is being done by our urban congregations, and much more support and consultation is needed to fully realize the potential for UU social justice ministry in urban areas.

Goals:

• To create a written articulation of the grounding, benefits, and strategies of doing UU urban social justice ministry
• To work collaboratively with the UUA and with other urban justice ministries to create a network of support and consultation for such ministry in our movement
• To support the ministries funded through the Project by offering program development, fundraising, and organizational development advice, and meeting support.