Welcome! Thanks for your interest in serving as a UUCSJ program leader.
UUCSJ relies on UU justice leaders from around the country to lead most of our justice education, experiential learning, and community service-learning programs. Though small now, the UU College of Social Justice is growing: in our upcoming year, we will offer over 20 unique programs, most of which require program leaders. The service of dedicated individuals like you allows us to reach a much larger audience than if we only relied on staff in our Cambridge, Mass., office.
As a UUCSJ program leader, you will be on the front lines of facilitating social justice education to your UU peers. This gets personal: you will be helping people understand how race, class, and gender shape our society, and their own lives. You will help people gain an understanding of their own faith and how that faith informs their justice work. And you will be providing tangible, replicable skills for people to envision and create communities of peace and justice.
We are currently recruiting 10–15 program leaders to join our existing team of fourteen. If we agree you are a good fit, you will be invited to our annual training on September 26–29 in Cambridge. This training is mandatory, but you wouldn’t want to miss it anyway: you will be meeting your colleagues — other experienced and dedicated justice leaders from all over the United States. The training is an opportunity to build skills, learn about the philosophy and methods of UUCSJ, and engage in discussions that guide the development of our programs.
All program leaders must be available to lead at least one program a year for the college, with most programs lasting between one and two weeks. Program leaders will receive a stipend of $900 per program, and all travel, lodging, and food costs are covered by UUCSJ.
If you are interested in applying to be a program leader, please apply here. Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis (so apply early!), with a final application deadline of July 7, 2013. Applications received after July 7 will be kept on file and reviewed for our autumn 2014 training.
Questions? Ideas? (Creative, bold ideas — we welcome them all.) We’d love to hear from you. Evan Seitz, UUCSJ’s senior associate for service-learning programs, coordinates our program leaders and can be reached at eseitz@uucsj.org or 617-301-4368.
Program Leadership Opportunities for 2013–14
Haiti Just Recovery Volunteer Program
Food for Thought: An Exploration of Eating and Worker Organizing (Chicago, IL)
UU BorderLinks Immigration Justice Tour (Mexico)
National Youth Justice Trainings (multiple cities)
Youth Civil Rights Pilgrimage (begins and ends in Atlanta, GA)
UU Holdeen India Program: Justice for Women and Marginalized Communities in India
Other Programs, Currently Under Development
Program Leader Competencies
- Excellent interpersonal skills, including a warm and approachable personality
- Ability to help others talk openly about power, privilege, and oppression
- A strong analysis of systems of race, class, gender, and heterosexism and your own locations within these systems
- Familiarity with methods of social change and current justice struggles
- Commitment to fostering participants’ spiritual growth and religious identity as Unitarian Universalists
- Commitment to transparency and accountability in working relationships, especially when power differentials are present
- Experience facilitating a small group using popular-education methods
- Experience providing emotional and spiritual support to peers
- Excitement and energy for community building and talking about big questions
- Ability to model vulnerability and not knowing the answers
- Ability to see an idea through to completion with teamwork, but without close supervision
- A sense of humor
- Ability to be calm, flexible, and decisive under pressure
- Ability to work a long day with limited downtime
- Familiarity with the UUA, UUSC, or UUCSJ
- Comfort using technology, including e-mail, texting, Google Drive, Skype, DropBox, etc.
- Valid driver’s license
- Competency in foreign languages, especially Spanish and Haitian Creole
Program Leader Requirements
- Able to communicate well in both verbal and written English
- Able to work with and maintain confidential information
- Willing to carry health insurance to cover your own medical incidents that occur during any program you lead
- Willing to submit to a comprehensive criminal background check
- Attend an annual four-day training program in Cambridge, Mass. (lodging, food, and travel costs reimbursed by UUCSJ)
- Willing to participate in occasional continuing education activities
- Willing to obtain wilderness first aid and CPR certifications (two-day commitment; costs reimbursed by UUCSJ)
- Willing to maintain primary responsibility for health and welfare of participants during a program and handle emergencies
- Able to walk on uneven surfaces and climb stairs (for overseas programs)
- Able to lift and/or carry up to 30 lbs. for short distances (for overseas programs)
UUCSJ particularly encourages people from ethnic minorities or historically marginalized groups, women, and people who come from less privileged backgrounds to apply.
Contact Us:
For more information contact Senior Associate for Service-Learning Programs Evan Seitz at eseitz@uucsj.org or 617-301-4368.
