2023 JPANet Sign Off

published on Dec 21, 2023

Dear JPANet Advocates,

As we near the end of 2023, it’s important to reflect back on all we have accomplished this year as a community committed to creating our UCC vision of a Just World for All. Together we have mobilized and advocated on issues ranging from peace in the Middle East and Ukraine to protecting and expanding LGBTQ+ rights, from demanding common sense gun legislation to passing a just Farm Bill and federal budget, from defending voting rights to calling for reproductive justice for all, and much more! During the past year, UCC advocates have sent over 26,000 messages to legislators.

We are deeply grateful for you, and all the ways you showed up this year! Whether you wrote to legislators through our action alerts, shared a Facebook or Twitter post, or showed up to march and mobilize with us in person; thank you. It is this community of advocates that makes a difference and sustains our work.

As the Washington D.C. Office team prepares to sign off for 2023, we want to wish you a peaceful and joy filled Christmas and a Happy New Year. As we look ahead to what will likely be a contentious election year, amidst continued tension and strife in the U.S. and around the world, our collective voice will be needed more than ever. We look forward to advocating alongside you in 2024, but for now, we wish you rest.

Peace,

Mike, Jessi, Thaddaeus, and SuAnne

In case you missed it: Check out some highlights of efforts we supported or led in 2023!

• Help turn ‘swords into plowshares’ at Ecumenical Advocacy Days 2023

• One year after Dobbs decision, UCC advocates affirm commitment to reproductive justice

• Prayer Walk at General Synod to show support for trans people, oppose harmful legislation

• Dozens of youth from Minnesota, Northern Plains Conferences visit D.C. for advocacy, immersive experience

• UCC Commemorates March on Washington 60th anniversary with call for continued action

• How can UCC members celebrate National Voter Registration Day? Check your voter registration

• ‘More fair, equitable and just’: Congregations celebrate Just Peace Sunday

• 8000 climate justice postcards delivered to EPA as ‘tangible prayer for hope’

• ‘Uplift the resilience’: UCC continues sponsorship of National Trans Visibility March in pivotal year

• Advocating for a Just Farm Bill

• ‘Just peace, human dignity’: UCC joins calls for ceasefire, prayer vigil for Israel and Palestine