DRUUMM Organizational Background
DRUUMM stands for Diverse & Revolutionary Unitarian Universalist Multicultural Ministries. It is an affiliate organization of the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) that serves UUs of color.
Learn more about DRUUMM at
www.druumm.org and click on About Us.
Consultation Purpose & Scope of Work
DRUUMM is approximately 10 years old. It came into being some time after the UUA passed the Journey Toward Wholeness Anti-Racism resolution as a way for People of Color to organize themselves in an anti-racist collective to provide one another with support for being in a predominately White faith institution. Currently, the organizational structure of DRUUMM no longer serves the membership or mission of DRUUMM. Some DRUUMM members and leaders question the efficacy of the original mission and purpose of the organization and want to engage in a renewal process which may include re-visioning and re-missioning the organization. In addition, leadership places high value on using the re-visioning/re-missioning process as way to broadly engage the membership and to invest them in the existence and work of the organization.
Crossroads staff will work with the DRUUMM Steering Committee, and other membership as deemed appropriate by the Steering Committee, to assess the organization’s values, which will lead to more clearly defining its mission, culminating in concrete recommendations on the types of relational and institutional structures that would best embody and activate those values. In addition, Crossroads will assist DRUUMM’s leadership and members in better understanding the organization’s grounding in Unitarian Universalism, its commitment to anti-racist and anti-oppressive principles, and how both of these impact DRUUMM's values and structures.
As this work unfolds, it is anticipated that developmental needs will be identified, including but not limited to the need to:
Engage in deepening existing core values and principles;
Begin values-centered organizational restructuring;
Create institutional mechanisms that foster leadership development;
Achieve institutional sustainability, financial and otherwise;
Name and address potentially unhealthy systemic issues, such as the systemic disposition of high suspicion towards its own leadership;
Build and strengthen the bonds of community,
Deepen coalition building with UU partners, including the UUA, and others outside the Association.
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