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Highlighted Events
Welcome to UUAA!
The UUAA building hours are Tuesdays and Thursdays from 10:00am until 3:00pm and Sunday mornings from 9:00am until 1:00pm.
Anyone entering the UUAA building for activities/business is expected to be fully vaccinated and boostered, as eligible, and must remain properly masked at all times.
Annual Meeting & Election * June 5th 10:30am
Time to gather the membership to elect representatives and celebrate UUAA accomplishments in another unusual year. The 2022 Annual Congregational Meeting will be held on Sunday, June 5th over Zoom (only).
A Service of Celebration will begin at 10:30am, followed by the meeting at 11:00am. This meeting will include a vote on proposed UUAA Bylaws changes related to the membership of the Leadership Development Team. Absentee voting will be available.
Full information is available using this link. Or you can download a PDF meeting packet, which includes the Agenda, proposed Bylaws, printable absentee ballots, and previous meeting minutes for review and approval.
You can download an absentee ballot with this link if you will be unable to attend the meeting.
Register in advance for this Zoom Annual Meeting using this link...
COVID Policy Update * May 2022
Our COVID-19 Advisory Team has continued closely monitoring Washtenaw County’s public health environment related to the pandemic. Our county is currently at a positivity rate of 14.6 percent, a rate that is likely still climbing.
As our Team has maintained throughout the pandemic, if local public health circumstances warranted it, UUAA would tighten up our health and safety restrictions. We are currently in a place where it feels prudent to do so. It is our earnest hope that these restrictions will be temporary, and that it will prove possible to lift them again soon.
Effective immediately:
- There will be no food/beverage service indoors at UUAA. (Please note that this will impact both UUAA’s Social Hour and our SGD classrooms);
- UUAA will re-instate universal masking indoors;
- UUAA will not require universal masking outdoors; masking outdoors will remain optional;
- Food/beverages may be served outdoors and must be consumed outdoors.
- UUAA will temporarily scale back congregational singing indoors. The majority of the music in our Sunday services will be instrumental, soloists, and/or choral ensembles. We will include a closing hymn in our Sunday services, which can be sung masked by all in attendance who wish to do so, recognizing that community members will be departing the Sanctuary almost immediately after this. This will be the only piece of congregationally sung music in the Sunday services until this restriction is lifted, hopefully within a few weeks.
Our Team will continue to closely monitor our local public health metrics in the weeks that follow. We will strive to roll back these restrictions as soon as the metrics warrant it.
Uphold Our Values Campaign * Kicked Off April 17, 2022
On Sunday, April 17, 2022, we kicked off our capital campaign, Upholding Our Values, with a goal of raising $1.3 million over the next 3 years.This campaign will allow us to:
- Make significant progress on our Vision 20/50 Climate Action goals,
- Retire our mortgage, and
- Save over $100,000 annually in operating expenses that we can redeploy to other Vision 20/50 goals
As we transition to an unknown post-covid environment while launching ambitious Vision 20/50 projects, we are at a pivotal time in the life of our congregation. The support of everyone for this campaign can assure our success in this evolving new environment.
Family Resettlement Support * Spring, 2022
Our UUAA Immigration Action Group has started a Family Resettlement Support project in collaboration with Jewish Family Services (JFS). UUAA is officially approved to be a co-sponsor with Jewish Family Services to help resettle a refugee family in the Ann Arbor area. Originally we were to be matched with one of the Afghan families arriving before February 14th. Fortunately for the Afghan families, all co-sponsor eligible families were placed before UUAA was matched. We will therefore be matched with a family from anywhere in the world, not necessarily Afghanistan.
We could be matched with a family by early March, so our preparations continue! Read details about the Family Resettlement Support program on the IAC web page. Check out a new SignUp Genius page to contribute to household items: https://uuaa.org/hwgs.
Staffing Updates from UUAA's Personnel Working Group
The Personnel Working Group is delighted to announce:
Carter Smith will remain at UUAA for another year as Acting Director of Music Ministries. Our search for a permanent Director of Music Ministries will begin in 2023.
Stella Anderson will become the permanent Director of Spiritual Growth and Development effective May 1st.
For more information about staffing changes, read the full letter to the congregation from the Personnel Working Group.
UUAA’s Personnel Working Group consists of Vilma Mesa, Toni Wander, Leigh Robertson, Gregg Peterson, and Manish Mishra-Marzetti.
Congregational Administrator Job Opening * Aug 1st
UUAA is looking for a full-time Congregational Administrator to help lead the administrative, financial, and facilities management needs of our dynamic, justice-oriented community.
The Congregational Administrator is a critical member of our senior staff team/executive leadership team, helping manage and provide oversight for our community’s $1.1 million dollar operations. As this is a leadership role in a large and complex non-profit setting, applicants must be high level strategic and policy-oriented thinkers as well as skillful at detail-oriented financial and administrative management. UUAA prides itself in having a collaborative work culture, in a policy-based governance context, within an open and pluralistic spiritual-religious environment. UUAA strives to embody diversity, equity, and inclusivity (DEI) commitments in its employment practices, institutional culture, and its relationships within and outside our community. Applicants holding diverse identities and/or life experiences are warmly encouraged to apply.
Salary range: $70,000-80,000/annum plus benefits and reasonable moving expenses, if living outside the area/region. Start date: August 1, 2022.
Draft Mission, Vision, Purpose Statements
Last May, the Board of Trustees introduced a draft set of statements for UUAA's mission, vision and purpose. The statements were created in collaboration between members of the Board, the Vision Leadership Team, UUAA staff, and our Vision 20/50 consultants. Please take time to read and think about these draft statements of UUAA Mission, Vision and Purpose. Discussion sessions will be coming in Fall 2021.
