The vision of DRUUMM CALIFORNIA is to uplift, amplify and center BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) Unitarian Universalists, through cultivating a network of regional retreats within the three main regions of the state: the Bay Area, Central Valley and Southern California. We dismantle white supremacy culture by centering the stories, lived experiences, and spiritual traditions of BIPOC UUs.

DRUUMM California Spring Retreat, May 2-4, 2025
In Person and Online

A weekend of connection, joy, and spiritual renewal for BIPOC UUs and their friends and families

Drawing inspiration from the song “We Are the Ones We’ve Been Waiting For,” by Sweet Honey in the Rock, this retreat is a space for BIPOC Unitarian Universalists to gather, connect, and co-create the faith community we long for, one rooted in radical welcome and the dismantling of racism and all forms of oppression.

Through worship, storytelling, music, and deep community-building, we will affirm that we are the ones shaping the future of Unitarian Universalism and strengthening the foundation for those who come after us. Some events will center BIPOC experiences, while others will be open to allies and family members who wish to support and celebrate DRUUMM’s mission.

Whether you attend in person or virtually via Zoom, we welcome you to join us for this fun, transformative weekend filled with celebration, learning, and spiritual grounding.

REGISTER HERE: https://druumm.wildapricot.org/event-6132235

Last Spring in April 2023 with the support of Rev. Joseph Santos Lyons, DRUUMM Community Minister, over 40 BIPOC UUS, representing over 15 congregations gathered for the 1st Bay Area DRUUMM Gathering. Since then we’ve met quarterly rotating among our local congregations. The organizing vision is expanding into other regions of California as a way to focus ministry to and with BIPOC UUS. First UU Oakland is the center of February 10, 2024 hosted by UU Berkeley this growing movement!

Our most recent Spring Retreat was called “Echoes of Belonging: Home, Connection, and Spiritual Sustenance,” A Bay Area DRUUMM gathering for BIPOC Unitarian Universalists. Our mission is to provide a gathering space for Bay Area BIPOC Unitarian Universalists and BIPOC friends that centers our community, with elements that focus on connection: with self, with each other, our church communities, and beyond.

“Come, come, whoever you are Come with your wild imaginings of a better world. Wanderer, worshipper, lover of leaving We will make a place for you. We will build a home together. Ours is no caravan of despair We travel together; Come, yet again come.”
-Rev. Leslie Takahashi

“Do not get lost in a sea of despair. Be hopeful, be optimistic. Our struggle is not the struggle of a day, a week, a month, or a year, it is the struggle of a lifetime. Never, ever be afraid to make some noise and get in good trouble, necessary trouble.”
– John Lewis

“If you are free, you need to free somebody else. If you have some power, then your job is to empower somebody else.”
– Toni Morrison

REV KEV (he/him/siyá) was ordained by the First Unitarian Church of Oakland on October 1st, 2023, the first day of both Filipino American and LGBTQ History Months.

He serves as an End-of-Life Chaplain at Sequoia Hospice, as a Faculty Advisor at Starr King School for the Ministry, and as a Consultant for Partnership with UU Church of the Philippines.

Rev Kev founded the California chapter of DRUUMM (Diverse Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries), the statewide regional UU BIPOC network hosting rotating quarterly retreats. His ministry is rooted in a vision of Collective Liberation where none of us are free until all of us are free.