How are we as UUs responding to the 250th anniversary of the US?

Image description: The Side With Love logo with “Side With Love” in orange block letters next to a hand drawn black heart.

June calls us to gather.

In a time that tests our commitments and stretches our capacity, we return to what has always sustained us: the power of showing up together, the clarity that comes from shared discernment, and the joy of a movement that keeps growing. You are the reason this work is possible. Thank you for continuing to choose community.

This month, Unitarian Universalists come together in person and online for some of the most significant gatherings of the year. At General Assembly, Side With Love will be present with programming and opportunities to deepen your organizing and spiritual grounding alongside UUs from across the country.

Whether you are joining us in person or following along from home, GA is a moment to reconnect with the breadth and energy of this movement.

As the United States marks its 250th anniversary, we are also stepping into a season of prophetic proclamation. America’s founding ideals have always existed alongside profound failures to live up to them and this milestone is not a moment for uncritical celebration, but for truth-telling, reckoning, and bold imagination. Through our Declarations of Democracy programming, we are gathering with faith leaders, scholars, and organizers to name what democracy has been, confront what it has excluded, and build together toward what it must become.

And UU the Vote 2026 is in full stride. With events, trainings, and actions multiplying across the country, congregations are building the relational infrastructure and organizing capacity that sustained democratic participation requires. This is the long work — and it is well underway.

Below you will find all of our events, trainings, and opportunities to keep you connected and active this month.

Let’s keep building. Let’s keep choosing love — not as a slogan, but as the shared, public, transformative practice it has always been.

In solidarity,

The Side With Love Team

PS: Side With Love and UU the Vote gear – button pins, enamel pins, a variety of t-shirts, clergy stoles, decals, rally sights, temporary tattoos, tote bags, water bottles, and more! – has been restocked at inSpirit Books!

Upcoming Events

June 3: Green Sanctuary 2030 Office Hours

Drop in to ask questions about anything related to the Green Sanctuary 2030 process, including our new easier requirement for annual recognition, find out how to access our Green Sanctuary Actions Searchable Database, and see how Green Sanctuary 2030 can support you in transforming your congregations through climate justice. Review the short Orientation Video then come to the office hours to get all your questions answered. Register to join us 6/3 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT.

June 5 & June 19: UU Solidarity Sessions

Held the first and third Fridays of the month, Solidarity Sessions are an opportunity for folks working for immigrant justice to connect with one another, take action, and learn about the most recent changes in immigration laws and policies. First Fridays will include top-level updates and time for connection and shared learning. Third Fridays will be deeper dives into the administrative updates and the impact the changes they will have on folks seeking immigration relief. (Ex: Naturalization, DACA, asylum, TPS, victim’s services, etc.)

June 5 @ 2pm ET / 11am PT : UU Solidarity Session
June 19 @ 2pm ET / 11am PT: UU Solidarity Session

June 8: The Gathering – Declarations of Democracy

On June 8th the Gathering will engage with the 250th anniversary of the United States and the prophetic call this moment places before us as people of faith.

This is more than reflection. It is a faithful act of proclamation. Our spiritual traditions remind us that prophecy is not about predicting what will come but courageously speaking truth into the present and calling new worlds into being.

As we mark this milestone in U.S. history, let us ask with spiritual clarity: What are we building for the future of democracy? Through declaration, witness, and shared action, we join in the sacred work of building a democracy that serves all of us. Join us June 8 at 8pm ET / 5pm PT: register now!

This session of The Gathering will kick off a 2026 learning series that examines the limits and possibilities of American democracy so we can begin shaping a multiracial, interdependent democracy where everyone can thrive. Together with faith leaders, organizers, and scholars, we will tell the truth about the stories that formed this nation, confront narratives that have justified exclusion, and create new ones rooted in solidarity, collective power, and shared freedom. Additional sessions will take place in August and September. Registration for these will open in July and can be found at sidewithlove.org/the-gathering.

June 9: UU the Vote Solidarity Summit Interest Meeting

As part of UU the Vote 2026: Ignite Solidarity, Reimagine Democracy, Solidarity Summits are regional interfaith justice training and practice gatherings designed to strengthen the connections, skills, and capacities needed for this moment.

This moment calls us to build — and rebuild — our understanding of what it means spiritually to be neighbors and to engage in many forms of sacred community defense. Across faith traditions, we are increasingly called to respond to authoritarian violence with care, strategy, and coordination.

Together, moral clarity and organizing power have built essential infrastructure for justice movements: care, imagination, collaboration, and cooperation. Solidarity Summits are part of continuing that legacy.

These gatherings bring together Unitarian Universalists, people of faith across traditions, lay leaders, organizers, advocates, and community partners to strengthen regional networks, deepen relationships, and practice the kind of solidarity this moment demands.

UU the Vote will be hosting Solidarity Summits in Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Texas and UU congregations are invited to host solidarity summits in their own communities (holding a Solidarity Summit provides fast-track Good Trouble Congregation recognition!)

Learn about the planned summits and how to host one of your own at our Interest Meeting, June 9 at 7pm ET / 4pm PT: Solidarity Summit Interest Meeting.

June 16 & June 17: Side With Love at General Assembly

Side With Love and UU the Vote staff will be at General Assembly this year with two workshops.

Tues, 6/16 @ 5pm ET / 2pm PT: New Resources from Side With Love
Wed, 6/17 @ 4pm ET / 1pm PT: UU the Vote – Ignite Solidarity, Reimagine Democracy

Both workshops are available to registered GA attendees who can join live on Whova.

UU The Vote Trainings & Gatherings in June

Learn how to run a phonebank and/or use the REACH grassroots organizing app this year to contact voters as well as how to run MiniVAN for canvassing. After these trainings, congregations can host their own events which count toward the criteria needed to achieve Good Trouble Congregation status! Join our drop in Office Hours to ask UU the Vote staff any questions you have and join one or more of our Democracy Defense and Community Safety Trainings for concrete safety tools and practices for our collective wellbeing. See all upcoming events at UU the Vote Events — Side With Love.