JULY 29 – AUG 1: NATIONAL WEEKEND OF PRAYER AND ACTION FOR IMMIGRANT JUSTICE

On July 29 the anti-immigrant "show me your papers" law is scheduled to go into effect in Arizona. Despite a broad public outcry, including a federal lawsuit declaring the law unconstitutional, immigrant families will be subject to harassment, intimidation, arrests, and other violations of their dignity and human rights. 

Standing on the Side of Love values a higher moral law, love’s law. And so we stand in stand in solidarity with immigrants refusing to comply with the new regulations. 

Here are some pointers for how you can plan a prayer vigil or similar public witness action in your community on the July 29 – August 1 National Weekend of Prayer and Action for Immigrant Justice. 

Key elements to consider when planning your event:

1. Type of event and length
   • Your prayer vigil or public witness event can be successful with any number of participants. Be realistic about what you can achieve with turn-out, and shape your event accordingly.
   • The length of your event might depend on the time of day and location. People will show up late, so you want to accommodate them, but attendance will drop off if you make it too long. We suggest rallies or vigils last one hour. Consider what time of day will best serve your purpose: Lunch break? After work? Dusk?

2. Programming
• What are you asking for? Your ask could be to stop SB 1070, urging that a similar law not be passed in your state, or that local law enforcement stop cooperating with the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agency (ICE).
• Do you know your key messages and talking points? Think of three and stick to them. If you need help with messaging, contact love @ uua.org and we will help you develop messaging.
• Have you planned a tight program? Make sure not to overbook speakers, and to always provide a talk time that accounts for wiggle room (i.e. people asked to speak for 2-3 minutes tend to talk for 4-6 minutes or longer)
• Will your event be worshipful and full of meaning? Incorporating music can be a good idea for an event.
• You can also ask a representative from immigrant churches or immigrant rights groups to contribute testimony from immigrants who are willing to speak. They usually have people who are prepared to do this.
• For a prayer vigil you may want to pass around flyers with short prayers you can say together. Or you may invite a faith leader to lead your event. You might distribute candles if your event is in the evening. There’s no wrong answer – just keep it simple!
• Do you need examples of prayers that you can use? There are some good examples from Interfaith Worker Justice in their Toolkit for Prayer and Action. We also have some prayers for immigrants you can use.
3. Location:
   • Does it fit the tone and purpose of your event?
   • Is it easily accessible?
   • Is it visible and strategic? Will the location help your event garner attention?
   • If you’ll have speakers do you need a megaphone or mike/amplifier? If so, do you need a sound permit? If this gets too complicated for you, skip it!
   • Have you included language and a contact on the invite so that individuals who require ASL can request it?
   • Make sure you have all the appropriate permissions to be in the area where your event is planned.
4. Materials/equipment
   • What type of equipment do you need? Cameras, banners, candles, megaphone?
   • Do you need chairs for elderly people or for those who can’t stand for long periods to participate?
   • Do you have Standing on the Side of Love signs to prominently display? If not, you can order them here.
   • Will you have a sign-in sheet? Who will work it? A pledge card or sign up form can be a good idea.
5. Leadership
   • Are there faith leaders in your community who could attend and offer a prayer? Can you reach out to faith leaders from other communities to take part?  
   • Will there be a leader/emcee to get the vigil/event started? Who?
   • How will people find you – can you get there early and have something visible to indicate your presence?
6. Recruitment—a successful event needs people!
   • Who do you want to attend this event and how can you make sure they do?
   • What could prevent them from coming (think weather, time of day etc.) and can any of those obstacles be avoided?
   • Can you create a Facebook event for your event and start inviting people? Can you ask others in your community to send invitations and spread the word?
   • Consider the "law of halves": half the people who say "yes" to coming actually will make it.  Plan accordingly – reach out to as many people as you can.
   • Remind, remind, remind!  People generally need to hear things at least three times in different ways for it to stick. Don’t rely on one source to turn people out: send a Facebook invite, make phone calls, and an announcement at a meeting or service. Flyers help too!
   • What natural networks in your community or place of worship can you tap into? Who leads those networks? Invite them join you in planning your event to more easily recruit members of their networks to your event.
   • Consider asking organizations to serve as cosponsors to the event. As cosponsors, you might offer them a role in planning or speaking, and/or a place to put information about their organization in exchange for them promoting the event to their networks.
7. Media
   • While media shouldn’t be a goal for every event, if you have something big planned and you have contacts with local media, consider sending them a press release or accouncement.
   • You can find a guide to writing press advisories and press releases here: http://www.standingonthesideoflove.org/resources/media-101/.
8. Follow-up
   • Send pictures/video/audio recordings of your event to local/national offices
   • Get blog posts, pictures, articles about the event everywhere you can.
   • Send us your pictures and articles by email to love [@] uua.org