Want to know more about the asylum process of our guests? See below or click here to open a pdf graphic, courtesy of CWS, of the process that explains it pretty well.

Thanks to Rincon Migrant Shelter for the heads up on this. They are still looking for more drivers and still hoping to move all drivers to WhatsApp for a more convenient communication method. Email Sarah to volunteer or for more information.

Update: If you have visited the shelter within this past week you'll have noticed a difference - we've been FULL! The Monastery moved to their new location at the Juvenile Detention Center this past week and they are primarily serving at this time as a Welcome Center., meaning guests are not staying there but going out to the Shelter Locations. This means we have received a new group pretty much every day.

United Church of Christ ministers and congregations play prominent roles in two current documentaries about progressive religion: a feature-length film on an "unlikely" success in Oklahoma and a shorter video news piece on immigration policy in Arizona.

Our Whole Lives (OWL) is set of human sexuality curricula across many age levels that is published jointly by the Unitarian Universalist Association and the United Church of Christ. OWL combines accurate and straightforward information about sexuality with a set of core values:  self-worth, sexual health, responsibility, and justice & inclusivity. OWL facilitators are trained specifically to lead this program and teach in teams.

Saturday, August 3, 2019, 2:00pm - 4:00pm

First Congregational Church, 740 North Turquoise Dr., Flagstaff, Arizona

Can science and religion agree on the most urgent issues of conservation and climate change?

The First Congregational Church of Flagstaff and Northern AZ Climate Change Alliance (NAZCCA) are hosting a film, presentation, and discussion to explore the details of this question.

On the heels of Trump barring refugees from seeking asylum if they travel through another country to reach the U.S. southern border, some administration officials have proposed resettling zero refugees in 2020 - all during the worst refugee crisis in history, with more than 25 million refugees worldwide in need of safety.

We are calling on Members of Congress to do everything in their power to end the administration's attacks on asylum seekers and return refugee resettlement to historic norms—95,000 refugees per year. The administration has already dismantled the U.S. asylum system and refugee resettlement program. Zeroing out refugee resettlement would amount to a full refugee ban, with grave long-term implications.

3 p.m., Sunday, August 18th at First Church UCC Phoenix

This event is open to everyone and the goal of the community conversation is to define shared terms and understand each other (why white people call the police when they are afraid and people of color’s fears of calling the police), and to break bread with each other.

Mind, Body, Spirit: Linking Lives for Health and Wholeness
The Wellness Ministries of the UCC Newsletter
(formerly The Faith Community Nurse Health Ministry Newsletter)

From Repairers of the Breach:

We are calling on faith leaders and people of faith whose conscience compels them to join us. We are calling on all congressional leaders who similarly are compelled by their conscience and our Constitution to join us.

RSVP online now: https://www.breachrepairers.org/moralmondayborderlands

From Sarah, migrant shelter manager:

Don't live locally? Here's how you can help:

We are partnering with CCS to create a country-wide support network for asylum seekers. We are looking for two things.

Many of you remember Holly Herman as the Administrator of the Southwest Conference office for several years. See where Holly’s leadership gifts have led her. (Thanks to Rev. Dr. Tina Campbell for the heads up.)

Prison phone rates are out of control, with local 15-minute phone calls costing up to $25 in some states. For the 2.7 million children with an incarcerated parent, this often means losing essential relationships.

A new bipartisan bill in Congress would re-establish federal authority to provide the same consumer protection to communication in prisons, jails, and detention centers as there is outside of those facilities and will bring down the cost of these calls.

Please take a moment to read the message from the Southern Arizona Sanctuary coalition. And please, please, take another few minutes to contact the Bishop of Tucson, the Pima County Board of Supervisors (contacts below) and Casa Alitas at alitas@ccs-soaz.org or 520-591-6390 to ask them NOT to further traumatize migrants and asylum seekers by using a detention facility as a shelter location.

The administration has announced plans to terrorize our immigrant neighbors with threatened raids starting this Sunday morning (July 14) and continuing during the week.  The effect of these capricious and callus attacks on families and children is dire and the raids stand as another example of the administration cruelly separating families.  Instead of working on compassionate immigration policies with a focus on dignity and humanity the administration continues to double down on their punitive and often violent tactics that create chaos.  These raids come from a place of fear, suspicion, and hate; living in that kind of hate is antithetical to the gospel that teaches love for humanity. 

As people of faith and as the United Church of Christ we are called to love our neighbor and right now our immigrant neighbors need our love. Here are resources to provide information, sanctuary, and advocacy for our siblings who are being targeted and threatened by these raids. 

A prominent New York City pastor is suing the United States government for interfering with her legal right to provide spiritual support and pastoral services to migrants and refugees at the border.

The Rev. Kaji Douša, senior pastor of The Park Avenue Christian Church, a congregation of the Christian Church (Disciples of Christ) and the United Church of Christ, filed suit Monday, July 8, against the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS), U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), and the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol (CBP) for violating her First Amendment rights and the Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

You have until July 9 to take action on a rule that targets “mixed-immigration status” families.

While attention to the treatment of immigrants has been focused elsewhere, the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) has quietly proposed a rule that would impact 25,000 U.S. families by withdrawing housing assistance if a member of the family is undocumented.

This rule change impacts legal residents and citizens who are eligible for the housing assistance they are receiving. Many of these families have citizen children. The impact would be to separate families or force families to leave their home or apartment.

from Rev. Cindy Parker, Church of the Red Rocks UCC:

Our plans are to purchase about 1/4 acre in Sedona and install a triplex consisting of three factory-built two-bedroom two-bath homes, each of which will be used by one family.  The families will share the kitchen and living room.  We will be able to serve six families at any given time, and estimate that we will serve 50-100 people per year. 

We have filed our formal application with HUD and, if all goes according to plan, will receive the grant money by the end of the year.  We intend to be open for business by the start of the 2020-21 school year. 

Now my request for help.  Are you aware of anyone else who has provided transitional housing primarily for families?

Lights for Liberty vigils to end human concentration camps are planned across the nation on July 12, 7 – 9 pm local time. In the SWC:

AZ locations include Eloy, Flagstaff, Phoenix, Sedona, and Tucson.

In NM vigils are planned in Taos and Estancia.

In El Paso the vigil will happen at Cleveland Square Park.

from Barbara Ammirati | Save the Children | Border Project, Team Lead
U.S. Emergencies, US Programs & Advocacy

Save the Children is seeking to fill two short term- approximately 30 day, temporary positions to support children’s programming in Deming and Las Cruces shelters, as we transition to local partner management.