Thanks to the 28 people who attended the MPUC Social Justice Input Session on October 15, 2023 and shared their priorities for justice advocacy, hopes for the future, and barriers to taking action. This information will help our church prioritize our future justice advocacy work in partnership with our strategic planning efforts. We also shared our priorities with our partner organization ISAIAH as they are getting input from congregations and mosques across the St. Paul/East Metro area. 

The results will be presented at an ISAIAH meeting on November 28, 2023, and you are urged to attend. This is an important opportunity to partner with our neighbors to get inspired, share our values, and gain strength in numbers so that together we can advocate for a multi-racial democracy and a caring economy. Please join Don Christensen, Margo Dickinson, Deb Mackay, Sherryl Livingston, and Marnie Johnson at the meeting and contact us for carpooling. Registration link: https://secure.everyaction.com/FvsOaEjNjk-Aa_Tv-4Vk7Q2.  

Here are a few of the justice priorities raised at our church on October 15, 2023:

• Climate change: put measures in place to mitigate it and move to clean energy

• LGBTQ rights are being threatened

• Need more support for immigrants

• Affordable housing and increased availability of housing

• Protection of democracy and voting rights, prevent voter suppression and gerrymandering

• Food insecurity, food deserts

• Lack of community engagement, shrinking church attendance, people not volunteering in the community or joining organizations.

• Education funding: we need a statewide funding system

• Common sense gun control

• Capture and publicize success stories to show that legislation is making a difference

• Improve transit infrastructure to be reliable, consistent, safer

• Policing need community policing, officers must live where they are working