Unitarian Universalist Service Committee

Envisioning a world free from injustice, combines advocacy, partnership and education to advance human rights. Promotes workers' rights, protects the right to water, defends civil liberties and preserves rights during disasters.

Why do we exist?

UUSC is a nonsectarian organization that advances human rights and social justice in the U.S. and around the world. We envision a world free from oppression and injustice, where all can realize their full human rights.

Through a unique and powerful combination of advocacy, education, and partnerships with grassroots organizations, UUSC promotes economic rights, advances environmental justice, defends civil liberties, and preserves the rights of people in times of humanitarian crisis.

We also engage local communities through two experiential-learning programs, JustWorks and JustJourneys, which introduce their members and supporters to the work of their domestic and overseas partners. These programs provide opportunities to participants to interact with those who are often on the front lines of addressing social-justice issues.

UUSC’s work is built on the conviction that all people are entitled to basic human rights, which transcend divisions of class, race, nationality, sexual orientation, ethnicity, religion, and gender.

What have you accomplished?

UUSC’s human rights and social justice work continues to help people in myriad ways and places in the world. To name just one example, UUSC has been engaged in Gulf Coast recovery work from the very moment Katrina and Rita left the region in crisis.

Over the last three years, UUSC has partnered with more than 40 community groups and organizations led by, and representing, historically disenfranchised communities in rural and urban areas of Mississippi and Louisiana. We have distributed over $2.2 million to support grassroots organizations in their struggle to return and rebuild.

Efforts have included supporting people who blocked bulldozers set to destroy homes in the Ninth Ward of New Orleans; stocking "tool libraries" for rural communities to share tools to work on their homes; providing support for daycare in return areas; and replacing fishing boats for a Native American bayou community.

Along with the Unitarian Universalist Association, UUSC has also run a volunteer program that has brought more than 2,000 Unitarian Universalist volunteers to the region to help with rebuilding. On the third anniversary of Katrina and Rita, this successful program is being passed on to the New Orleans Rebirth Volunteer Center, which will provide local leadership and management.

	How do you help people in my community?		Why do you need my support?
	How can I be sure that you will use my money wisely and won't waste it?		Can I Volunteer? How?