As the saying goes, ICUUW is “one of the best kept secrets” in the UUA. With the closing of the UU-UN Office and the dissolution of the UU Partner Church Council and International Council of Unitarians and Universalists (ICUU), ICUUW is currently the only international U/U organization engaging in international programs and working actively at the UN - and yet many UUs don't know we exist. We have maintained a consistent membership of about 100 members from 16 countries (Australia, Bolivia, Burundi, Canada, Denmark, France, Germany, Hungary, India, Japan, Kenya, Philippines, Poland, Romania, Uganda, and the United States). Outreach is tasked with the responsibility of getting the word out about who we are and what we do.
New Outreach Plans: We currently are thinking out loud about two programs that we hope will both expand our presence and increase our membership.
1) We are in the planning stages of a Spring Seminar in New York at the United Nations. We hope to schedule it specifically in conjunction with the UN’s annual Commission on the Status of Women (CSW). ICUUW has been represented at CSW since 2017, last year with 11 delegates. CSW runs for two weeks every year in March: our idea is to schedule the Intergenerational Seminar on the weekend between those two weeks, in 2025 on March 15-17. Bruce Knotts, former UU-UN Office director, has been actively involved with ICUUW’s UN Advocacy Committee; he attended our Convocation, where he offered this suggestion and has agreed to help us recreate this program.
2) The Outreach Committee is thinking about a Service Learning Project for 18 to 30-year-old UUs from both America and Transylvania. This would be conducted as a pilot program. We would bring 10 young adults from each of these two countries together work on a service project. The values of UU-ism and the goal of advancing the equality of women and girls would be woven into the foundation of this project. Once this project occurs, it could be replicated in other countries. One hope is that academic credit would be part of this venture.
Ongoing Outreach: Three years ago Outreach created a Share The Plate program. Congregations were asked to provide a Sunday morning worship experience about the ICUUW with a collection. Often this program is accomplished around March 8, International Women’s Day, but every day and every Sunday could be women’s day! Three years ago we had 10 congregations participate. Two years ago we set a goal to double that to 20 congregations. We succeeded. We want to expand this program – and increase the number of congregations that receive the beautiful Chalice Award certificate originated by Outreach and designed by Sharon Van Duizend.
The Chalice Award idea was inspired by the Blue Ribbon Congregation designation of the former UU-UN Office. We aim to tap into this network of 79 Blue Ribbon congregations with past commitments to supporting international cooperation and world peace, inviting them to join ICUUW in our work towards those goals.
Our members currently are Vicki Roberts-Gassler (USA), Audrey Brooks (Canada), Juliana Lightle (USA), Justyna Borusinska (Poland), Wildah Siro (Kenya), Katherine Cassidy (USA), and Sylvie Nyiramana (Canada).
Want to join us? Have an idea? We have great Zoom meetings (on the fourth Wednesday of each month) and are excited to lead ICUUW into new levels of participation!!!