Board Members and Those Interested in Social Justice Training — Join Us at the Tennessee Solidarity Summit!
Tennessee UU Community Action Network (TUUCAN) in coordination with UU The Vote and Side With Love is hosting a regional Solidarity Summit in Memphis, September 18-20th.
This will be free to attend, and travel/housing will be arranged.
DATES: Friday, September 18th - Sunday, September 20th
LOCATION: Neshoba Unitarian Universalist Church in East Memphis, 7350 Raleigh Lagrange Rd, Cordova, TN 38018 (3 hour drive from GNUUC. We will arrange carpooling.)
Featured Speakers: Rep. Justin Pearson, Emily Yelin
How to Sign up: If you are interested in attending or have any questions, please email Caren S-S.
About Solidarity Summits
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, a program of Side With Love, the organizing strategy team of the Unitarian Universalist Association.
Why Solidarity Summits Now
We are living in a time that demands more than urgency. It demands spiritual grounding, political clarity, and collective action.
Across the country, communities are facing escalating threats to democracy, bodily autonomy, immigrant communities, climate justice, and the safety and dignity of our neighbors. In moments like these, justice work cannot be sustained by outrage alone. It requires relationships, preparation, and shared practice.
Solidarity Summits are designed to help people gather across faith communities and organizing spaces to build the tools, trust, and strategy needed for the long work ahead.
These gatherings are rooted in the belief that love calls us into deep relationship — and asks us to respond to this moment with courage, care, and coordinated action.
Purpose & Goals
Solidarity Summits are designed to equip interfaith leaders and participants with the relationships, tools, and practice needed to grow power in strategic sites for justice, democracy, and collective liberation.
Primary goals include:
Building interfaith capacity for justice-centered organizing, advocacy, and public action
Grounding participants in a deep legacy of creative and prophetic faith-rooted organizing
Strengthening regional interfaith and community networks committed to sustained justice work
Developing a shared moral narrative and practical toolkit across traditions
Seeding concrete post-gathering actions, campaigns, and collaborations
What to Expect
Solidarity Summits are hands-on gatherings focused on training, relationship-building, and collective practice.
Participants can expect:
Political education on the role of faith in justice movements
Skill-building workshops and strategic training
Concrete tools for community building, safety, resilience, and action
Relationship-building with faith leaders, organizers, and movement partners
Opportunities to strengthen local and regional collaboration
Depending on the summit, gatherings may include tracks or workshops focused on:
Electoral and pro-democracy organizing
Community defense and safety
Bodily autonomy and liberation struggles
Immigration and decriminalization justice
No matter your faith tradition, organizing experience, or issue area, there is a place for you to grow your skills and deepen your relationships.
Who Should Attend
Solidarity Summits are for:
Lay leaders in congregations and spiritual communities
Faith leaders across traditions
Faith-rooted organizers and advocates
Emerging leaders and people looking to get more involved
Anyone seeking to strengthen their skills, relationships, and practice for justice work
You do not have to think of yourself as an expert or professional organizer to belong here.
If you are connected to a faith community, care about justice, want to learn, want to be in practice, and want to build alongside others — this is for you.
How to Sign up
If you are interested in attending or have any questions, please email Caren S-S.