Justice Advocacy Corner

Welcome to the Justice Advocacy Corner! Here is a central hub for information sent to the UUCB Office about what steps can be taken to stand up for justice - on both local and federal levels.

Civic Tools Feedback Needed!

A nonpartisan nonprofit called Empowered Vote is looking for feedback on two civic tools piloted in Monroe County.
Empowered Compass — An interactive quiz that helps voters see where they stand on key political topics and compare their positions with elected officials and candidates.
Empowered Essentials — Enter your address and instantly see everyone who represents you, from the president down to your local school board.
They're running 20–30 minute feedback sessions on Friday, March 13th and Monday, March 16th via Zoom. During the session, you'll share your screen while you explore the tools so a volunteer with Empowered Vote can see what's intuitive, what's confusing, and what would make them more useful. No prep needed, just show up and react honestly!
You can sign up for a time to go through the tool and provide your feedback here.
Empowered Vote wants to make sure these tools are genuinely useful for people who care about voter education and civic engagement. The more perspectives heard, the better.

Candidate Forum

Candidates for Indiana House of Representatives and County Commissioner
Monday, March 23, 6 p.m. - Tri-North Middle School

The League of Women Voters is hosting a Candidate Forum at Tri-North Middle School Presentation Center on Monday, March 23, at 6 p.m. Candidates in attendance will be Matt Pierce and Lilliana Young (running for Indiana House of Representatives, District 61), alongside Trent Deckard and David Henry (running for County Commissioner, District 1).

Find Your Legislators!

Use the link below to find your legislators.
https://iga.in.gov/information/find-legislators

• Also, consider using the "5-calls" app - Susan Swaney, our Director of Music, recently recommended this. It is an easy way to make 5-calls a day to your representatives and legislators covering the topics you would like to express. The team behind the app does research on policies and even writes scripts that are helpful to use when calling your legislators. Click this link to find out more: https://5calls.org/

• Rev. Susan Frederick-Gray recently mentioned a very helpful tool for getting in contact with her representatives - her phone! She saves all of their numbers in her phone with their names, affiliations, and job title. That way, when you have an issue you would like to discuss with their offices, their phone numbers are already saved to your phone. Taking the time to do this once makes the effort much easier later!

Resources

From Side with Love

"Grounded, Resilient, & Responsible. Responding and Organizing In Authoritarian Times" Webinar Slides (PDF)

"Grounded, Resilient, & Responsible. Responding and Organizing In Authoritarian Times" Toolkit (PDF)

Information about Bills and Policies

This is a good overview of how federal cuts in workforce personnel harms our local communities: https://mailchi.mp/monroedems/action-alert-71022-call-houchin-no-doge?e=f94d1e7939