UU Church West’s “Split the Plate” program is one of outreach and generosity. Each month we give half of all undesignated offerings to a non-profit organization, to help us live our Unitarian Universalist values and serve our community. Our Split the Plate partner for September is MICAH, Milwaukee Innercity Congregations Allied for Hope.
MICAH is a multi-racial, interfaith organization committed to the justice issues of greatest impact on our communities. Our membership includes 39 congregations. Of many religious traditions, we work in unity to fulfill MICAH’s primary goal: To empower people to act together in pursuit of justice.
These are the issues/task forces in MICAH and what they’re working on:
- Coalition on Lead Emergency COLE (lead to stop poisoning children and adults)
- Education (MPS racial equity, truancy tickets)
- Healthcare Justice(community benefits agreement with healthcare systems, emergency work vaccine clinics)
- Jobs and Economics (transitional jobs funding w/greatest job barriers, working on Regent of Choice MMAC)
- Restoring Our Communities (prison reform, Treatment and Diversion, mental health courts, crimeless revocation)
- Transportation (Invest in public local transportation not I-94 expansion)
- Voter Engagement (Get out the vote, candidate forums, barriers to voting forums)
These are the wins/success over the last year:
COLE (Coalition On Lead Emergency)
- 3.55 million in the city budget for more testing for lead Education
- Mandatory Anti-racism training for MPS teachers and support staff
- On Administration accountability- the administration to report monthly to board on the progress of Office of Civil Rights and quarterly to board on equity progress
Jobs and Economics
- 5 Million for transition jobs which are 500 transitional jobs most of who are formerly incarcerated
Healthcare Justice
- Vaccine Clinics in congregations to counter racial disparities with partnership Health Connections, Souls to the Polls, and Pastors United
Transportation
- WISDOT going back redo the environmental impact study and puts the project back to the drawing board
Voter Engagement
- 68 Relational Voter Program leaders who made over 1200 calls/connections in the 2020 fall election
Get Involved! Please consider joining MICAH. Everyone is welcome, including religious congregations, concerned businesses, community groups, and individual members. If you are an individual interested in working with us in any of our project areas, please visit micahmke.org
To support MICAH any time this month, go to the UUCW website’s “Donate” tab and select “Split the Plate” from the menu provided. For more information about Split the Plate, contact Kathy Herrewig.
