Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement

Members

Mary Binderman, Judy Harrison, Suzanne Weiss, Karen Rasmussen, Steve Myles.

Responsibilities

Virginians Organized for Interfaith Community Engagement (VOICE) is a broad-based, non-partisan, multi-racial, multi-faith, citizens’ power organization, rooted in local congregations and other voluntary associations. The Unitarian Universalist Association of Congregations (UUA) defines such congregation-based community organizing (CBCO--also called faith-based or broad-based) as a “model of social activism that seeks to establish inter-faith, cross class, multi-ethnic, and multi-racial grassroots organizations for purposes of increasing social integration and power in civil society and for making civic, regional and state-wide changes for social improvement.”

By changing the social and political system, VOICE aims to correct social injustice issues such as affordable housing, immigration, child care, poverty, etc., that affect the lives of low- and middle-income residents in four Northern Virginia jurisdictions: Prince William, Fairfax, Arlington, and Alexandria.

UUA identifies five networks with which UU congregations are involved across the country: Direct Action Research and Training, Gamaliel Foundation, Industrial Areas Foundation (IAF), Intervalley Project, and Pacific Institute for Community Organization. More than 100 UU congregations are members of a CBCO; forty-eight of those are members of an IAF-affiliated CBCO. VOICE is an IAF affiliate. Other IAF-affiliated CBCOs in the Washington, D.C., area are Washington Interfaith Network (WIN) and Action in Montgomery (AIM).

VOICE Action Agenda

The three primary advocacy initatives (action agenda) agreed upon by VOICE members are:

• Affordable housing;
• Dental care for needy adults; and
• English as a second language (ESL) classes in Fairfax County.

Accomplishments

In the last year, as a participant in VOICE, UUCF has accomplished the following:

• Met our pledge of 37 UUCF members at the October 5, 2008, VOICE Founding Action.
• Exceeded meeting our pledge of 10 by having 18 UUCF members attend the VOICE Budget Action at Bethlehem Baptist Church on March 18, 2009. (View video of meeting)
• Signed and collected 293 postcards advocating support of the three primary initiatives. These postcards combined with others totaling 5,050 postcards were delivered by VOICE to the Fairfax County Supervisors at their April 2, 2009, budget hearing.