<
XXXXX

Our Mission

Unitarian Universalist Justice Ohio (UUJO) is a 501(c)3 organization that serves the 38 UU congregations and fellowships across Ohio. Our mission is to offer education, advocacy and action consistent with Unitarian Universalist liberal religious principles and to witness with and on behalf of marginalized groups and individuals.

“There is no such thing as a single-issue struggle because we do not live single-issue lives. ” — Audre Lorde

New UUJO Executive Director

Hank Osmundson, M.Div. (he/him)

Hank is a native of the Petersburg, Virginia area and grew up in the Southern Baptist church. He felt a call to ministry when he was 16, but when in college came to terms with being gay and gave up his plans for seminary. After college, he spent four years teaching high school in Mississippi and Virginia. In 2001 he moved to Southern California, remaining there most of his adult life.

He connected with Altadena Community Church (UCC) in 2014, which provided him profound healing and a renewed sense of his call. His brother and parents had settled in Ohio while Hank was in California; Hank relocated to Ohio in 2016 to be closer to his family. While not intending to enroll in seminary at the time of his move, in 2017 he started classes at the Methodist Theological School in Ohio (MTSO). He received a Master of Divinity degree with a specialization in Feminist and Womanist Studies in 2021 and expects to receive an MA degree in Social Justice from MTSO in 2022. Hank is currently pursuing ordination in the United Church of Christ and serves as a pastoral intern at St. John’s United Church of Christ in downtown Columbus, Ohio.

Hank ls a proud ‘guncle’ of three nieces and three nephews, and a servant of his cats. He enjoys road trips, using swear words, Mel Brooks movies, video games, Star Trek, D&D, practicing t-shirt theology, feeling weird about writing about himself in the third person, and strategizing about the demise of the patriarchy.

He can be reached at  uujohank@gmail.com    Please be sure to welcome him.

Follow a manual added link

Free Speech Ohio

The Our Voices Together Coalition is now Free Speech Ohio!

UUJO & our friends at OFUPAC (Ohio Families Unite for Political Action & Change) are taking the lead in building a broad coalition of organizations and individuals to let the Ohio Legislature know that restricting the Right to Assemble and the Right to Speak is not OK.

Currently, the bill that has seen the most movement is HB109, which was passed by the Ohio House in November 2021 and is currently in the Criminal Justice Committee of the Ohio Senate.

In the Spring, Pastor Hank, Executive Director of UUJO and Emily Cole, Executive Director of OFUPAC hosted a webinar to Unpack HB109 and help explain (in layperson’s terms – neither Hank nor Emily is an attorney) what HB109 contains and the potential harm it could cause to the First Amendment Rights of Ohioans. You can see the webinar on UUJO’s YouTube Channel by clicking here.

Where Does Your Church Stand on White Supremacy?

Being White in the BLM Movement

First Unitarian Cincinnati and other Ohio congregations have been engaging in discussions on Black Lives Matter using a curriculum developed by First Unitarian Portland. This is the same curriculum shared with attendees at GA 2016. Contact UUJO – uujoanvanb@gmail.com – for a copy of this curriculum.

Support UUJO on Amazon

Did you know that you can donate quickly and easily to support your UU values with each Smile. Amazon.com purchase you make? Support UUJO and help expand justice in Ohio.  Click HERE for more info.

To learn more about the Murray Grove Homecoming, please see https://murraygrove.org/event/homecoming-2021-event/?inf_contact_key=09778bb0e9b8624e58211b9db7e5b6d3680f8914173f9191b1c0223e68310bb1&fbclid=IwAR2jR2Cvv6DpMjfXtvp6OmL_imVLn1RVJGLO7kTjZa5eW3ONeJQ5sXeO5as

New Voter Restriction Bill – HB 294

There is a new Voter Restriction Bill in the Ohio House at this time  HB 294 is a mixed bag of bad sprinkled with a few bits of good.   Our partners, the Ohio Voter Rights Coalition, has created a short outline of the bill which is posted below.  We need to read the bill carefully.  The Bad far outweighs the minor bits of Good.

See below for more info about HB 294.  And the Voting Rights Lab has created an excellent new report called, A Tale of Two Democracies. In it, they take a deep dive into the wave of 153 new election laws enacted so far this year and how they are transforming our democracy, creating a new fault line between states strengthening our democracy and those restricting it.

These report findings come as the Senate is expected to consider federal legislation meant to address many of the state legislative threats to voting access as soon as next week. We would love your help in sharing these findings with your networks.  And   Here is a link to a digital toolkit with suggested social copy, graphics, and key talking points. 

Find about all future anti-protest bill actions and trainings by signing up for Action Alerts  at http://bit.ly/ourvoicestogetheralert

What others say about us

UUJO has been a partner willing to reach out to rural communities and organizations, recognize their  concerns and partner with other local non profits to empower those communities to take their demands to Columbus and their legislators. We Love UUJO!

“UUJO is a faithful force for good like no other. From advocating for abortion access, voter rights, and environmental justice, to fighting for and with the Poor People’s Campaign and our immigrant neighbors, Unitarian Universalists can always be found on the front lines of justice making throughout Ohio.”

“The folks in UUJO do what many can’t or won’t: they show up. They’ll lend their time, their space, and anything else they might have to give to their community. UUJO is the best kind of religious institution because they focus on the service. It’s been an amazing to experience to work alongside them and watch their footprint continue to grow”

If there’s a justice issue requiring attention, my experience is that UUJO and Ohio UU’s are always among the first responders. I don’t know where our movement would be without UU’s!