Month: August 2018

Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network: Ensuring Justice

August 21, 2018 / Katie Watkins

from Jane Everham

The Share the Plate for July was RMIAN: Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network. During the month of July, we donated $3,000 to RMIAN. As you will see below, RMIAN’s mission and values are very aligned with our own UU values.

“RMIAN is incredibly grateful for the recent $3,000 donation from the Foothills Unitarian Church community. Your donation will support RMIAN’s work to provide free immigration legal services to individuals in civil immigration detention, as well as free immigration legal services to children throughout the state. Simply put, without RMIAN’s work, thousands of individuals in Colorado would be forced to confront a hostile and complex immigration system without having had the opportunity to talk to an attorney about their rights, and without an attorney to represent them and protect their best interests. Thank you for standing up for justice for all!”

Mekela Goehring – Executive Director

The Rocky Mountain Immigrant Advocacy Network (RMIAN) provides free immigration legal services to immigrant children and to adults in immigration detention.

Our Mission

RMIAN is a nonprofit organization that serves low-income adults and children in immigration proceedings. RMIAN promotes knowledge of legal rights, provides effective representation to ensure due process, works to improve detention conditions, and promotes a more humane immigration system, including alternatives to detention.

Our Values

We believe that justice for immigrants means justice for all. We respect the needs and celebrate the contributions of the individuals and communities that we serve. We believe our clients are equal partners in accessing justice. We value respect for all human beings, regardless of race, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, or legal status. How many of our 7 UU Principles do you see here?

RMIAN is grateful for our support and donation. The money will assist any of the following services offered.

Donating money is one huge way to help RMIAN and there are others. If when worship ends you are looking for a way for your service to continue, read on.

RMIAN’s continued success relies on the commitment and generosity of its dedicated volunteers. RMIAN welcomes volunteers of all backgrounds and interests, including pro bono attorneys, interns, interpreters, researchers, medical professionals, expert witnesses, and others.

RMIAN’s primary volunteer needs consist of:

Pro Bono Attorneys
Mental Health & Medical Professionals
Student Interns
Volunteer Interpreters/ Translators

More detailed information is available at their website: https://www.rmian.org/

Katie Watkins

Katie believes the best things in life are the result of collaboration and diverse perspectives coming together to produce something greater than any individual could. She is passionate about systems, efficiency and collaboration for better community outcomes. She loves dreaming up the big picture and drafting the roadmap to make it happen. She has a background in operations, fundraising, communications and program development, as well as over a decade of nonprofit management experience in Northern Colorado.

Her greatest joy in life comes from her family. Her husband, Steven, a principal at Wellington Middle School, and daughters Emmaline and Esmae are the lights of her life. Together they love mountains, music and all kinds of food. She is passionate about women supporting other women in all stages of life and especially through the critical moments that make or break us. She believes that one of the most important things in life is to be kind.

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

Welcoming Kristen Psaki, Our Ministerial Resident

August 10, 2018 / Katie Watkins

from Rev. Sean

It is with great delight that I introduce Kristen Psaki, who will be serving as our Ministerial Resident this year. Kristen comes highly recommended from Jefferson Unitarian Church in Golden, Colorado, where she completed her ministerial internship this past year.

A residency is different than an internship. A residency is for those who have completed all the requirements to become a minister (degree, internship, chaplaincy placement, reading list) but have not yet met with the Ministerial Fellowship Committee (MFC). The MFC is the body that credentials UU Ministers.

When we learned that Darrick would be leaving his position this summer, we decided to increase Kristen’s position, initially at half time, to full time, so she could take over the Engagement Coordinator’s role in addition to her other responsibilities.

Kristen will work to support lay leaders and teams in newcomer ministry, justice ministry, small group ministry, and pastoral care. You can read more about Kristen below, but suffice to say, we are overjoyed to have her experience, presence, and skill joining our team. She will begin her work on August 20th, so please make a point of introducing yourselves to her when she arrives.

Kristen is a graduate of Union Theological Seminary in New York, NY. As a life-long seeker of Wisdom and Justice, Kristen’s Unitarian Universalist identity sits on the shoulders of a formative Christian childhood and an earnest adult search for the sacred. Called to work at the intersections of healing and justice, Kristen finds guidance in daily spiritual practice and the prophetic voices of queer people and people of color. She trusts in the transforming power of Love and believes church is where we come to remember our truest selves and to reconnect with each other.

She loves chocolate and coffee, separately or together, and savors every opportunity to gather around a table for a shared meal.

Katie Watkins

Being outdoors makes her soul come alive. It always roots her in gratitude and is one of the reasons she loves living in Fort Collins.

The Space Chronicles Vol. 2

August 9, 2018 / Rev. Sean Neil-Barron

Architects Have Landed!

If you drove into the church parking lot on July 10, you might have seen a group of people wandering around the grounds making notes on clipboards. It was the day of the architect site visit.

Fifteen architects, engineers and landscapers representing five firms met in the Social Hall, where representatives of the Space Committee welcomed them and explained the ground rules. Gretchen dropped in to provide an introduction to Unitarian Universalism, explain the Foothills mission, talk about our community partners and stress the importance of a connection to nature and ecologically sensitive building practices. All in about 20 minutes. It was impressive.

The tour included the building and grounds. Kathryn was on hand to answer questions about maintenance and where things are currently located. (What is in that shed out on the patio?) Office staff also identified areas of our building that are especially frustrating. Walk through our building as if you were seeing it for the first time and you will be convinced that we need some changes!

Identifying Firms

How were these five firms identified? The Space Committee asked for input from other churches in Fort Collins and other UU churches in the Front Range that have recently undertaken building projects. Our Climate Justice Group suggested architects who are noted for green building. The committee added to that list with an extensive internet search of church architects, green architects and a list of the top architects in Fort Collins. The city IDAP (Integrated Design Approach) also provided recommendations. From these sources a list of twelve firms was assembled, and each firm was contacted to ask if they were interested in receiving our RFP. The RFP was sent to 5 firms at the end of June. The deadline for responses was July 20. If you would like to read the RFP, you can find it here.

Looking Back at July

While the architects were busy creating the proposal response, the Space Committee was busy figuring out how to evaluate the responses. A matrix of criteria and weights was developed. Each committee member read the RFP responses and scored the firm according to the matrix criteria. The group assembled to discuss the responses with each other; making adjustments to come up with a final score for each firm. References were contacted and the score finalized with the reference information included. The criteria used for evaluation can be found in section 8 of the RFP.

Looking Ahead to August

In August the Space Committee will be conducting interviews and choosing a firm to recommend to the Board. The Committee will develop a list of interview questions and will ask the firms to present a project vision of how they would approach our task. Everyone is hoping to be wowed by a creative vision.

The Space Committee meets on Tuesdays from 12:30-2:30 in the RE building – typically room 22. Stop in if you’re interested in seeing what we’re up to! You can also send comments, ideas and suggestions to SpaceCommittee@foothillsuu.org.

Rev. Sean Neil-Barron

Rev. Sean is Foothills Acting Senior Minister while Rev. Gretchen is on Sabbatical.
Responsible for Worship, Justice Ministries, Faith Formation Strategies and sits on Foothills Executive Leadership Team with Director of Finances and Operations Katie Watkins.

Sean was born on Treaty 7 land in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and comes to Foothills after four years in New England where he completed seminary at Harvard Divinity School where he studied alongside future imams, rabbis, justice activists, and other Unitarian Universalists. Sean is a self-proclaimed nerd — particularly about history, current politics, science, and Star Wars. Outside of ministry you will find Sean hiking or cooking up a storm with his partner Charles, watching his son’s basketball games, all under the watchful eye of their dog Dollie.