UUSC aims to leverage our particular strategic assets and strengths to: disrupt criminalization and systemic oppression of people based on their identities; support self-determination and defend the rights of people who are or may be forced to leave the places they call home due to climate, conflict, or economic hardship, and address the root causes of forced displacement; and respond to humanitarian crises as partners with people whose access to aid is most limited, by helping them to rebuild their lives and by addressing the human rights issues or violations that make them more vulnerable.

In all our work, we center the voices and experiences of those most affected and strengthen those grassroots groups and movements who are organizing themselves to advance our long-term human rights goals. To accomplish this, we offer justice education and leadership development, engagement and mobilization for advocacy, and partner support and grantmaking assistance.

Our justice education & leadership development team prepares and supports UUSC’s constituents for engagement and mobilization for advocacy related to our human rights goals by offering a continuum of educational, skill-building, and experiential opportunities to constituents. We offer UUSC’s constituents meaningful opportunities to act to advance our human rights goals by exerting pressure on the right people and levers at the right times, through strategic activism support, including helping local communities organize; partner and coalition-informed mobilization and communications, including strategic litigation and direct action; and corporate engagement and accountability. Finally, we partner with organizations who are advancing our shared human rights goals by centering the experiences of those most impacted by human rights abuses, building relationships, and offering community connections, resources, and financial support based on what our partners say they need most.

Our impact is most visible in the human rights advances achieved in collaboration with grassroots partners whose ingenuity, passion, and tireless efforts we’re honored to support. We are committed to evaluating the significance of our work through rigorous assessments, input from grassroots partners and constituents, and reflection on opportunities for improvement. We lead our impact assessments together with our grassroots partners and are guided by the understanding that our partners are accountable, first and foremost, to their communities. In communicating our impact, we lift up the stories of rights and hope restored to the people most affected by the human rights abuses we work to prevent.

In FY2018, UUSC excelled at fostering connections and collaborations, often provided the kind of support most likely to make an impact to grassroots organizations and their movements, and demonstrated flexibility in its approach to grantmaking. For example, more than 20 of our grantee partners were able to connect or collaborate through the work UUSC supported this year – often as a result of an introduction from UUSC. We have also answered the call of grassroots organizations to join them as partners on the front lines and to support them in more creative ways. As one of our partners said of UUSC, “It is rare to find a funder who also works alongside us in this struggle for justice. Thank you so much for being our champion, our funder, and our partner. ” This year, UUSC and our partners’ advocacy and organizing efforts have also succeeded in making and changing government policies, setting important precedents, and altering key power dynamics within communities. In some cases, there is