May 3, 2000

Dear UU Leadership,

On Saturday, September 25, members of the Florida District Anti-Racism Planning and Design Team convened in Orlando for their first meeting. The mandate outlined at that meeting was to assess congregational progress along the anti-racist, multicultural, Journey Toward Wholeness path. A report and recommendations based on an analysis of the assessments collected thus far was presented at the District Annual Assembly 2000 in April.

Approximately one third of our Florida congregations were able to respond by the initial deadline. Because the effective engagement of our congregations in responding to the assessment questionnaire is crucial to our ability to carry out our mandate, the Anti-racism Planning and Design team will continue its mission in an attempt to expand the number of responding congregations. We ask that any congregations that have received, but not responded to, copies of the questionnaire complete and return them as soon as possible. [ed. note: electronic copies of the questionnaire are available here at http://www.cyberstreet.com/uuFld/justice.htm ]

Congregations have employed various methods of collecting their data. Some have utilized the existing committee structure, others have organized special congregational meetings or services. We hope to encourage full participation throughout each congregation, but realize that within some congregations there may be a just a few, or even one person, who can most accurately respond to the questionnaire. If that is the case in your congregation, please get this assessment to the appropriate person, or group, and ask them to do their best to complete it. Questionnaires should be returned to the District office, which will forward the information to the Antiracism team for inclusion in the final analysis.

We look forward to working hand-in-hand with all of our Florida congregations to learn what needs to be done to make our organization a living example of the power of our first principle. If you have any questions, feel free to contact any member of the Antiracism team, whose e-mail addresses are included below.

Sincerely,

Vicki Weeks

Florida District Antiracism Planning and Design Team FLORIDA DISTRICT UUA Anti-Racism Planning & Design Team

Nancy Bass: nrbass@aol.com - (850) 893-1806
Rev. Mary Chulak Higgins: uuafldist@aol.com - (407) 894-2119
Steve Jens-Rochow: SERochow@aol.com - (954) 463-2085
Karen Judd: judds@scia.net - (352) 568-3007
Arthur Morrison: M530935@att.net - (305) 215-2119
Rev. Dr. Richard Speck: RGSPECK@aol.com - (561) 778-5880
Vicki Weeks: divervicki@aol.com - (305) 296-4546