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.
Local Actions
Care Not Cages Monroe County Meeting
Sunday, October 5, at 4 p.m.
Monroe County Public Library. Room 1B
Join us in fighting against a new mega-jail and fighting for true community care!
Democracy Task Force De-Escalation Training
Sunday, October 12, 2 p.m. in the UU Library
The Democracy Task Force is sponsoring another training module on De-Escalation while engaging in non violent protesting. This will be in person and interactive to maximize the effectiveness. Unfortunately, the political temperature in our country continues to rise and it is becoming more critical that we increase our skills to keep ourselves and others as safe as we can while challenging autocratic behaviors. Please strongly consider this training.
Hate Has No Home Here
Free Community Sing with Kate Munger
Sunday, October 12, 2 p.m. - Meeting Room
Kate Munger will be sharing collections of Song Medicine, both personal and societal. From Kate - "I’m so excited to be coming to Bloomington, a town that I know is fortified by community and singing. We need to be singing more and this is your opportunity to meet more of the folks who sing in your town and to bring your voices together for healing our Democracy and for personal healing." Kate Munger has led community singing for over 45 years. She is a popular speaker among palliative care, choral singing and prison reform professionals and is a gracious, skillful musical host and choral director whose joy is reminding us that we are singing beings, bringing community singing back to “the community.” Kate knows that this work is deep and serious and she offers a fresh, lively, sometimes irreverent, always relevant perspective.
A message from Democracy Task Force about 10/18
On Saturday, October 18, millions will rise across the country for the next No Kings day of action. Here in Bloomington, 50501 will host a protest on the Courthouse Square from 2-4:30pm. With thousands of alumni in town for Homecoming, it's a good opportunity to protest the rise of authoritarianism at IU, and Rev. Susan will speak at the rally. We also encourage you to show up in solidarity with our neighbors at protests in Nashville (11am-1pm) and Bedford (12-2pm). Look here to learn more and see where other UUCB folks plan to go.
Actions From Home
ACLU Virtual Training
ACLU is hosting Virtual Safety, Know Your Rights, and De-Escalation Trainings in preparation for the National Protests on October 18. There is also a Legal Observer Training. Follow the links below to learn more and sign up for these virtual events.
Oct 6th - No Kings: Protest Safety, Know Your Rights, and De-Escalation Training
Oct 15th - No Kings: Protest Safety, Know Your Rights, and De-Escalation Training
Redistricting - Contact Governor Braun
Governor Braun is being pressured to call a special session to redistrict Indiana's congressional districts, which would normally wait till 2030. Nine of the 11 districts are already gerrymandered GOP. The aim is to gerrymander the map further to flip one or both Democratic districts to the GOP. This is not politics as usual; it's election rigging to grab power and is a danger to democracy. We encourage people to contact the governor and their assembly members to oppose this blatant cheating. More info is available here: https://tinyurl.com/3vefayur
Elected Official Phone Numbers
Gov. Braun: 317-232-4567
State Rep: 317-232-9600
State Senator: 317-232-9400
The clean energy tax credit clock is ticking. Act Now!
With HR1 (One Big “Budget” Bill) now law, 2026 marks the end of thousands in savings for home electrification upgrades.
The average American home has room for improvement when it comes to energy efficiency. From leaky windows that let conditioned air escape to aging HVAC systems that work overtime to maintain comfortable temperatures, most homes have real opportunities for improvement.
Through 2025 you can save up to $2,000 with tax credits on heat pump systems, $1200 in building envelope improvements (insulation, windows, etc.), and 30% tax credits for clean energy systems (think solar).
For more information visit energysage.com.
Indiana also offers an income based program that can help qualifying homeowners add to their savings with rebates on home efficiency improvements and appliance upgrades. For more information on that visit the Indiana Office of Energy Development.
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!
Action Highlight
Billboard Up on State Highway 67
Members of Bloomington 50501 and other citizens (including UUs!) were involved in selecting the image and message, and researching how to purchase space on a billboard to raise awareness of growing authoritarianism. This one is located on State Highway 67 halfway between Martinsville and Mooresville. The group will be designing and asking for donations at the next event (October 18) so be thinking about what message you might want to send. Suggestions welcome.
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
