WHO WE ARE
OUR STORY
We draw on our collective stories, organize people power, and take strategic action to influence policy and hold public officials accountable. Justice cannot be done alone. The systems that shape our community are powerful, and no single congregation has the people to move them. CUJ pools the power of ten congregations so that together, we can win what none of us could win separately.
We are affiliated with DART — the Direct Action and Research Training Center — a national network of community organizing coalitions with decades of proven results. Our model is relational, research-driven, and rooted in the moral traditions of our member congregations.
Our Values
Justice is our Offering
CUJ gives congregations a proven way to live out justice ministry — to move beyond asking why inequality exists and into organized action that changes the answer. That is what we bring to every member congregation.
Community-Driven Issues
We welcome people of all political backgrounds and faith traditions. Our common ground is the conviction that every person deserves dignity, stability, and the chance to thrive — and that people of faith are called to fight for it.
Non-Partisan and Faith-Rooted
CUJ does not arrive with a predetermined agenda. Our members decide our campaigns through the listening process. Every issue we fight for has been named by the people of Wyandotte County.
We Fight Until We Win
Some campaigns are long-term. We stay in them until we win. Others reach a commitment and move into a monitoring phase — we watch, hold officials accountable, and return if the commitment is not honored.
Rigorous Accountability
We value growth, evaluation, and shared success. Leaders are supported, celebrated, and developed — because justice demands our best.
Our Home
Wyandotte County, Kansas, is one of the most diverse and economically challenged counties in the state. It is also one of the most resilient — a community of people who have built lives, raised families, and sustained congregations through decades of disinvestment and displacement.
CUJ was built here, by people from here, to fight for the county we love.
CUJ was built around a question that many congregations are asking: Why do the needs in our community keep growing? Why does the line at the food pantry get longer? Why are more families facing eviction? Why are our neighbors being displaced from communities they have called home for decades?
Charity responds to those needs with compassion. And that response matters. But when the same needs return month after month, year after year, something more is required. CUJ exists to provide that something more — a structured, proven way for congregations to organize for justice and address the systems producing those needs.