About The Center for Sustainable Justice
Our StoryThe Center for Sustainable Justice was started by Lyndale United Church of Christ in the Spring of 2015. Its primary purpose is to help build the movement of religious leaders and communities working together on racial, pro-LGBT, food and environmental justice in the Twin Cities and across the Midwest. It does so with a special emphasis on work at the intersections, relationship-building over the long-haul, connecting and building coalitions between people and organizations. An example of this multifaith, intersectional justice is our leadership in bringing Table to Action to Minnesota.


Our Commitments
Explore Our Core Values
LGBTQ Justice
Racial Justice
Food Justice
Environmental Justice
We are committed to LGBTQ Justice
Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Queer people, theology and action are at the heart of the Center for Sustainable Justice. That means we are committed to understanding the world in queer ways:
- Disrupting that which the world says is the “Center” and “the Margins”
- Refusing to operate using the dominant understandings of binaries (male/female, gay/straight, dominance/submission, rich/poor, sacred/secular)
- Valuing all relationships of love and chosen family
We partner closely with churches, synagogues, mosques, sanghas and circles which extravagantly welcome the presence and leadership of queer people and their families.
We are committed to Racial Justice
Racial Justice, valuing the lives of people of color and working against White Supremacy are at the heart of the Center for Sustainable Justice. That means we are committed to acting against racism and for in building a movement for racial justice that includes all. We seek to partner with Black Lives Matter Minneapolis, Honor the Earth, the Peoples Movement Center, Neighborhoods Organizing for Change, Auburn Seminary and the Kaleo Center, among others.
We are committed to Food Justice
What we eat, how we grow it, whose cultural practices we follow; food deserts, the impact of racism on nutrition, what is considered food and what are “weeds”…..These are all questions we seek to engage at The Center for Sustainable Justice as we work with others to build a world of food security, food beauty, food justice, food sustainability
We are committed to Environmental Justice
Honoring the earth, the air, the water and the animals as deeply connected to humanity and all as gifts from God are core to the Center for Sustainable Justice’s work. Stopping the destruction of the planet and seeking, instead, to work in concert with creation are concrete pieces of what we do.
Our Projects
See What We're Up To
We're writing the book.
Our Annual Reports
Here's what we've been up to in the past few years2022
This report highlights the work of The Center for Sustainable Justice in 2022. It represents the time and energy of the staff at Lyndale (Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel, Allison Connelly-Vetter and, for the first half of the year, Rev. Ashley Harness) and it represents many hours of faithful, strategic work by the membership and colleagues of Lyndale UCC and our ecumenical and multifaith partners.
2019
As we continue to work together in the creation and work of the Center for
Sustainable Justice, this report seeks to highlight our shared work in 2019.
It represents the time and energy of the staff at Lyndale and it represents many, many hours of faithful, strategic work by the membership and colleagues of Lyndale UCC.
2016
As we embark on our second full year of work as The Center for Sustainable Justice, here is a reminder of what our work entails.
2021
This report highlights the work of The Center for Sustainable Justice in 2021.
It represents the time and energy of the staff at Lyndale and CSJ (Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel, Allison Connelly-Vetter and Rev. Ashley Harness) and it represents many hours of faithful, strategic work by the membership and colleagues of Lyndale UCC and our ecumenical and multifaith partners.
2018
As we continue to work together in the creation and work of the Center for
Sustainable Justice, this report seeks to highlight our shared work in 2018.
It represents the time and energy of the staff at Lyndale and it represents many, many hours of faithful, strategic work by the membership and colleagues of Lyndale UCC.
2020
As we continue to work together in the creation and work of the Center for Sustainable Justice, this report seeks to highlight our shared work in 2020.
It represents the time and energy of the staff at Lyndale (Rev. Dr. Rebecca Voelkel, Daniel Romero and Rev. Ashley Harness) and it represents many hours of faithful, strategic work by the membership and colleagues of Lyndale UCC.
2017
As a way to further clarify the work of the Center for Sustainable Justice (CSJ), and its role both inside Lyndale and out in the world, we are sharing some of the writing we did for two successful grants: from the UCC New and ReNewing Church Fund and the E. Rhodes and Leona B. Carpenter Foundation. We hope this helps illuminate further the work of CSJ and inspire us even more.