Current Activities

Churches Supporting Churches

The URMG is supporting CBC's New Orleans partnership with "Churches Supporting Churches."  (For more about this project, click here.)  Members of URMG are providing leadership through the CSC Task Force.  The URMG will provide educational resources to our church's members on the role racism has played in both the original destruction of New Orleans neighborhoods and the current policies for rebuilding these neighborhoods.

Interfaith Coalition for Inclusive Community (ICIC)

In 2005, the URWG formed a coalition of places of worship in response to racial incidents in Radnor High School.  ICIC met with Radnor High School officials and the Superintendent of the Radnor Township School District and decided that ICIC would develop programs for community members to become united in efforts to celebrate and support diversity.  ICIC has held an interfaith service in commemoration of September 11 and has developed a core committee to plan community dialogues for unity and diversity.

The mission of ICIC is as follows:

As people of faith, guided by a belief that faith requires action, we are committed to creating a community where all persons are afforded the respect and dignity that comes from being children of God as well as humane treatment that comes from being inherently worthy individuals.  Through personal and corporate witness, education, and collaborative action, we covenant to promote justice for our neighbors, safety for our children, and tolerance and understanding among people of diverse racial, ethnic, economic and religious backgrounds. We pledge ourselves to accompany and advocate on behalf of those who experience discrimination of any kind.

Valley Forge Film Project

The URMG has worked with the Valley Forge National Historical Park (VFNHP) for nearly ten years on the issue of diversity in the Revolutionary War encampment.  The original intent was to provide resources for the VFNHP to revise the park's orientation film that gives the impression that the encampment included only Caucasian males.

At the present time, much of the orientation to the park and its historical encampment takes place through cell phone tours.  In addition, a virtual DVD is being produced that will reflect both the diversity of participants in the encampment and their diverse societal influences on the American Revolution.  The URMG is contributing funds raised for an orientation film revision to these projects.

Here is a sampling of the work of the Undoing Racism Mission Group taken from CBC's annual reports over the past ten years:

• developed a CBC protocol for rapid response to overt acts of racism in the metropolitan area of Phildelphia, such as vandalism against minority home buyers
• organized and led an anti-racism continuing education event for Radnor School teachers
• supported other anti-racism efforts in Phildelphia and suburbs, including the activities of Hope in the Cities, an African American led national organization with a branch in Philadelphia
• participated in the "history walk" to significant sites of historical importance for the African American community
• accompanied a member of CBC to the Radnor Police to lodge a complaint about how several officers treated a group of international students and how the officers responded to her when she extended caring concern to the students
• developed a class on the subject of reparations led by Linn Washington, reporter for the Philadelphia Tribune and professor at the School of Journalism at Temple University
• recruited a coalition of congregations in the area willing to participate in a dialogue with the Radnor School system on the subject of racism, which became the Interfaith Coalition for Inclusive Community
• supported publicly known individuals who were targets of racism with personal letters and offers of assistance