Steering Committee Meeting
October 25-28 2007
Check-in
House Rules
-we are not the only people staying here, be aware of the space that we take up in the rest of the building
-pick-up after ourselves
-stay on site or let Sara or Darrick know
Bike Rack
-“parking lot”
-not something we’re discussing at that point and time
-put it in the bike rack to discuss later
Job Jots
Interject to state preferred gender pronouns
Covenant- Living Document
-No interrupting
-Step up, Step back
-Consensus dance celebration
-Respect
-No violence
-Be present, bring presence
-Literacy moment
-Use I statements correctly
-Keep cell phones off or on vibrate, don’t answer them at inappropriate times
-Don’t harsh on other’s mellows
-Have fun
-Consent
-Speak in pearls (no repeating)
-Mind the schedule
-Respect the Space
Will Revisit Throughout the Weekend
Schedule
Calling YCRs-
Purpose
-Build connection with YCRs
Relationship building
-Giving and getting information
Questions
-How’s it going?
-Discuss Youth Council feedback
-Are you getting YC list emails?
If not, get email (most current)
-How did your district respond to your report about Youth Council?
-Updates about deadlines- guide them to where they can find-out about events
-Do you have anything to tell us? Youth update in your district?
-Elections, positions changing? When?
Are you going to be continuing as Youth Council representative?
Things will come up throughout the weekend to add
Look at these questions with regards to at-large positions
Start with most east first
How do we record responses? What do we do with the responses? Have discussion after, debrief.
It would be convenient to call back this date, time, phone number (if they don’t answer)
Sending email to all YCRs to tell them to expect the call
Process Check: People not raising hands
Proposal:
To keep stack by raising one finger if you have a comment directly related to the person before you, whole hand if you have a new comment.
-Accepted
Visioning/Expectations for Weekend (What we want to accomplish)
-Adequate time to discuss Canadian Question
-first line to Canadian Question
-What big picture looks like for SC throughout the year
-Stakeholder
-What SC role will look like
-Big change in YRUU, how much is supposed to change this year?
-big change to rework structure
-where else do we need to take these changes this year
-Delighted that SC is already thinking outside the box
-to be thinking that way already is a good start
Friday, October 26, 2007
Nancy DiGiovanni (YACM Office)
Relationship of CUUYAN and YACM Office
-sponsored organization, but UUA of Congregations
-meant to be serving congregations
-currently re-visioning how are/aren’t meeting needs of YA in congregations and all members of congregations serving YAs
-multigenerational
-are bridgers being served, on the way in and out
-is age range appropriate?
Merging of the Offices
-don’t really know details about staff structure at this point
-bridger age range investment
-YA age range
-heard both sides of the vastness of this age range
-biggest worry (but don’t know why)
-what has our denomination done
-definition of multigenerational
-norm being togetherness, while acknowledging the need for individual age range space, development of community
-concern around staffing
-how that would work out
-need to have staff lines
-having one office does not mean that there should be less staff
-collaboration is good, but maybe means that we need more people to do what needs to be done
-dedicated positions for youth of color and queer youth may be easier to work in
-easier when you’re the same person to do the youth and young adult work…can share information better
-all about relationships
Discuss thoughts around YO being under Lifespan Faith Development and YACM being under Congregational Services:
-LFD about resources
-CS extension ministry
-seems to be another barrier to communication between offices
Should Youth and Young Adults be collaborating more?
-talk going on at some district levels around youth and young adults
-groundwork: good example of youth and young adults working together
-give a chance for people to do “more serious/mature” spiritual, AR work
-could be really beneficial for offices to be working together
-direction that a lot of congregations to move towards
-helpful within congregations
-Canadian experience:
-Sylvia does everything for youth and young adults
-when you think of bridging and becoming young adult think of nothing, because not a lot of young adult structures in place
-if working together would be less of a gap, more of we know where we’re going instead of being in the dark
-know there are structures in place for young adults but hard to get involved with, but no one there when bridging out
-didn’t even know there was anything for young adults until May TOT
-need to do a better job of making it known what there is for young adults
-important to discuss that this exists
Directly correlated to how you live your life
-once you graduate/bridge there is no set structure for young adults
-hardly have any young adult staff (not a given that this will be there)
-a lot easier to access youth because being brought in by parents
Such a diverse age range
Part of power of multigenerational age range
-common held belief that there’s nothing in congregations for Young Adults
Campus ministry is a huge thing that we’re not reaching
-time in college is very important time for this
-place that other faiths are, why aren’t we?
Very similar gap to Junior High Youth to Sr. High Youth
Loose the same amount of people that we gain each year
-shocking statistic
Summit YRUU Question
Reading YC Response
-clear dedication to queer youth and youth of color
-first paragraph good, clear but rest result of many people writing
Representative Nature of Youth Council
-no follow through in Districts
-resolutions not being enacted in Districts
-congregational polity
Governance:
-Connection and communication between youth affiliated groups (networking)
-continental (SC) (DRUUMM-YaYA)
-national (CAYAC)
-district/regional
-congregational
-youth groups
-event planning
-representation
-leadership development
-spiritually fulfilling for some
-practical application
-Connection:
-relay of information about events
-creating safe spaces for Youth of Color, Queer youth
-relationship building on different levels
-encourage mentorship between youth leaders
-Ways to accomplish communication/connection:
-listserves
-newsletters
-individual outreach
-people feel valuable and included
-consistency of events
-coordination
-leaders of events (many levels)
-every method works differently for different groups, need overall communication plan
-Who does this work? (professional staff, adult volunteers, youth leaders)
-Youth Office staff
-Youth advisors
-District Staff
-DREs
-youth leaders
-governing bodies
-adult leaders
Tailoring things coming out of office to overall calendaring trends
Structure
Scheduling and Regionalization
-direct planning of trainings from Youth Office to meet the needs of congregations
-trainings at certain times, coordination
Groundwork staff in office
-supported in youth office
-everything done with AR/AO lenses
-Groundwork people in all Districts and Congregations
Youth of Color be supported continentally
Queer youth supported at continental level
-then feed down into congregations
Need to focus on other forms of oppression as well
How do we get to marginalized youth in congregations and districts that can be supported on continental level?
Focus on congregations
Consultants that will go to congregations and work with particular congregation and implement for a period of time (one year)
-consultations to implement change
-congregational shift
Work with UUMA
All Youth Advisors are trained and paid
Youth leadership in new structure:
-going to be youth leadership in congregations
Church of the even younger fellowship idea
Leadership structures aren’t always functional, but could be really good
-structure for district and regional work can work really well
District discussion
-how districts are funded
-service delivery and governance
Overarching themes:
Leadership/Governance/Youth Empowerment
Resources (means of getting to service delivery)
Service Delivery (events)
Marginalized Communities
Youth Ministry Working Group:
-Doesn’t necessarily need to be someone who has been on SC, but heavily involved
-Knowledge about the Summit
-Discussion around bridgers vs. youth representatives
Discussion about Name Change
What is YRUU vs. Youth Ministry?
YRUU
-there are youth groups that call themselves YRUU
-means social gatherings with organized events sometimes
-interchangeable with youth group
-resources identified as YRUU
-District structure and up
-Youth group is an important part
-first level of YRUU
-active youth advisor
-program (spiritual side) with fun
-Chrysalis trainings
-events
-spiritual (different definition for every person)
-Steering Committee
Youth Ministry
-YRUU, no difference
-“UU Youth Stuff” in congregations
-what happens between events
-all the other stuff (than events) that you do
-spiritual work
-relationship building
-worship
-YRUU
-Consultation- implementation
-AR/AO/MC
-GA
Positives and Negatives of name change from YRUU:
Positives
-necessary for real change to youth ministry
-essential for branding
-people won’t know about changes with out a name change
-murkyness around what YRUU identity is claiming
-more accessible to a wider audience
-may be more inclusive of those who disassociate with YRUU
-documents will have to be updated anyway
*we want to be a UUA President J
Negatives
-identity crisis for youth
-YRUU is clever
-would people continue to claim YRUU?
-people know what YRUU is
-perception of youth community as unstable
-changing YRUUs
-renaming process
-do we have to rename? Maybe a name is limiting, could just be UU youth ministries, more widely encompassing
-no name could lead people to think that there’s no replacement
Youth Council:
Youth council is not representative
GA Youth Caucus is much more representative but not accessible financially
Very few, if any resolutions pass
Very expensive
Mixed feelings- canceling will create more issues
SC:
Youth organization needs SC of some sorts
Needs to be a way to elect that that is not Youth Caucus, and not wildly classist
We have an opportunity to really get things done if we make them known
Interesting observation that the thing that’s free to participants (Youth Council) is wildly ineffective and the expensive thing
CMWD will have rep from each congregation in mini Youth Council
Canadian Question:
Questions and concern about the first statement around the tensions between the US and Canada
-where did this come from?
-Darrick and Sara don’t know: are looking into this
Issues from Youth Council (to not start from scratch):
-is Youth Ministry process going to be supported in congregations though congregations are directly related to CUC
-can we support Canada creating their own youth program?
-smaller number of youth in Canada
-all of lifespan learning under Sylvia, not entire staff group like UUA
-are very few Canadian congregations that belong to UUA
-things need to change (from Canadian youth)
Does it have to be in or out?
-can there be in-between ground
-if it were proposed it would be considered
Not been doing an adequate job of supporting Canadian youth
-during this transition we’re going to also need to focus on Canada
Unfortunate that this has been around service and service delivery
-issue around paying dues for services
-opportunity to reconcile services and how we provide them
-can be compensation for the services provided to remedy this problem
Trainings aren’t the only source of income for Youth Office
-money from UUA
-congregational dues
-addressing resources
Underlying tone is a struggle
-very positive things can and do come out of relationship with Canada
-option for out is written in question, can’t say that it is not an option
-can’t proceed with doing ministry stuff
Leaving Canada out in cold is completely unacceptable
-separating is tantamount to leaving them out in cold
Break between UUA and CUC
-Canada left willingly
-are there any other places where the CUC and UUA working together?
-what does the relationship look like?
-are we holding Canada back?
-we don’t want to keep strange relationship out
-is collaboration between ministers
-youth was added as an afterthought
Part of this is Young Adults as well
-no young adult work going on in Canada
Terre Commune
-Canadian discussions
-during ACM asked for money donations for Terre Commune with hat
-Youth Council like for Canada, resolutions passed
-didn’t necessarily all have to do with Consultation
Accountability
-lets talk to Canada and then we can figure out something beneficial
-Rose will go back to Canada and gather information
No sharing of information, not healthy relationships at this time
-youth in Canada don’t really understand where things come from, uninformed
Proposal:
Should CAYAC and SC have a conference call?
-yes, when we have more information
Saturday, October 27, 2007
One Word Check-in
Youth Office Report
Budget
Programs and Projects
-Jason Lydon’s queer youth theological retreat (will be funded)
-People of Color Retreat in the summer (idea)
-line for requests
-UUA capital campaign money, not consistent source of income each year
Steering Committee Meetings
-separate youth of color expenses out from POCC money
-book travel early (book with Ron)
-point of history, there was one year that SC didn’t get to go to GA because meetings went over
Youth Council
-pay about $800 per person
-this budget has already been spent
GA
-young adults get no money from GA Planning Committee
Youth Office
New website (Rek’s job)
-process of migrating old webpage into new one
-yruu.uua.org will hold all governance information
-resources will be available through uua.org leader’s library
-be able to connect with all UUA resources
-the old site will eventually go down
-we don’t know when
-Rek’s question
-input on changing governance site
-not complete re-design of website
-need to share information about when site goes down with Districts to change resources and links
India and Sara’s Youth Office reports
ARE Taskforce Applications
ARE update
-asking for another young adult
-reconciliation
-will most likely welcome two youth if we give them names
-Tim will advocate for youth presences
Pre-DRUUMM-YaYA SC Meeting:
Will need to address YRUU Question/Canadian Question
Short list of things that we need have been talking about in this meeting:
-YRUU Question
-Youth Ministry working group (Tsuki being YRUU’s first choice and a youth of color)
-merger structure of young adult and youth offices
-YRUU questions: youth ministry vs. YRUU
-structure
-youth ministry working group
-name change, what we want to keep
-youth council
-better election process
-need to communicate with Canada
-how does DRUUMM-YaYA see itself fitting into Youth Ministry?
-not all youth feel that they are part of YRUU, if there are youth of color not part of DRUUMM-YaYA going to be served by youth ministry
-how are we going to be accountable through this process?
Really important in this conversation to be very aware of dynamics
-not about the conversation but also about interactions between two governing bodies
-who’s really making decisions, about the institution that we’re involved in
-questions that this body was asked that they should be able to have input on as well
Want to know what’s expected of individuals during this conversation?
-start with what we want to get out of this meeting
-not structured to get a particular outcome
-goal of getting clarity about how the two organizations will work together
YRUU SC and DRUUMM-YaYA SC Conversation:
Participants: Alana, Helia, Zarinah, George, Emma, Elisabeth, Denise, Lyn, Kimberlee, Rose, Will, Laura, Mari, Paul, Ellen, Noah, Darrick, Sara, and India
Overview:
Discuss who we are, what we do as bodies
What we want to get out of this meeting?
Who we are?
DRUUMM-YaYA
-funded as part of DRUUMM
-DRUUMM sarted for ministers of color, young adults asked for space for youth and young adults as well
-mission: provide support for youth of color in congregations and districts, sense of community for youth of color, people to identify with, reach out to one another, make presence known
YRUU SC
-elected at Youth Council
-meant to represent all of YRUU, governing body
-discuss issues that affect YRUU, appoint people to do things
-picked out representatives to serve on the implementation working group
-Across the Ages Taskforce
-plan Youth Council
-traditionally part of SC to do AR/AO training
History of POCC:
-supposed to be transitional
-People of Color Caucus: create more accountability to POC, for those to run for POCC
-from YRUU website
-both positions very tokenizing
-because there are not a lot of YOC elected to be YCRs, not many YOC on SC
-reflect Youth of Color to UUA
Things to talk about:
-suggestions for YRUU
-what working relationship will be this year
-structurally may not be something that can be discussed
-make sure that everyone has an understanding of why POCC was disbanded
-suggestions for interactions, accountability
-what the future plans might be, future will look like
-discuss future accountability structure
-very much in transition year in terms of structure with YRUU as well
-what questions are out there, not necessarily answers
Sara-same pages about things YRUU SC has been discussing
YRUU Questions and Canadian Questions
Conversation on POCC Decision:
-want to know if anyone has any questions
-reading letter sent out to youth and young adult of color communities
YRUU Question and Canadian Question
YRUU Question- Are we disbanding?
-if we sat around and pretended like nothing was happening in terms of youth consultation.
-being on top of the issue and coming up with a vision about what would be best for constituency (what we need to move forward) be ahead of the curve
Clarifications:
-around this particular meeting
-call from the office, seeing the need
-YRUU question was brought from office to SC
-administration wants discussion to be started, YRUU SC involved in process early on
Canadian Question:
-Canadian youth aren’t very aware of role that UUA plays in programming that comes to them
-but youth that are involved a lot continentally, this is very much an issue
-spoiled child syndrome, don’t really know of appreciate what’s going on
-obviously a question, that Canada could be out
-is a viable option, must take that seriously
-who’s initiating this issue?
-Structure working group (Ellen): Canadian questions written by Canadian, issue for people at Summit
-working group didn’t get to address question
-history: split coming from UUA and CUC
-young adults moving away from everything being joint, moving towards decision making in Canada about young adult ministry
-SC discussion
-with Boards and service delivery money is the big issue
-at the moment YRUU severely underserves Canada, moving to larger picture of Youth Ministry, Canada may not be able to support itself in terms of youth work
-question for clarification?
-how does Canada question relate to DRUUMM YaYA SC and YRUU SC accountability?
-CUC is really not working towards anti-racism in the way that UUA, YRUU, DRUUMM is doing
-the POC youth in Canada are not going to be served if there’s a break
-a place where there is so much overlap
-not only about anti-racism but about ministry to youth of color
Suggestions for YRUU:
Beyond the brainstorming phase as a committee. This is what DRUUMM YaYA would like to see.
-outreach info available for youth of color
-outreach has been left up to DRUUMM YaYA
-include in YRUU information to congregations, etc
-ask YC reps to go home and talk to churches about hosting DRUUMM YaYA event
-list of congregations and phone numbers and emails
-youth council reps to be accountable to folks running DRUUMM YaYA chapters
-demographics trackers- youth office
-requests to congregations of youth at churches
-actively support AR/AO/MC work
-letter of encouragement to districts supporting AR work
-stay in communication with districts about report backs (quarterly)
-form for district gatherings evaluations
-create some sort of thing to motivate “however you will” districts to do AR work
-you can emphasize this to districts
-promote ARE and right relations in publicity
A lot of the things on this list are concurrent on the current structure
-focus will be on new structure and envisioning it
-need to be thinking in the broad scheme of things
Point by point come up with
-we’re handing a box to you “open it up and figure out how you can use it”
Committee would like to hear back in writing about how these steps are being realized
-checking back in on progress
-communication is new between communities
SC can commit to working on these ideas
-figuring out what we have the power to do
-these are the things that we should be focusing on
Came to consensus that it’s necessary that DRUUMM YaYA SC needs to work with YRUU SC
YCR calls will add question about AR/AO/MC work in district
Right Relations form: available online
Sunday, October 28, 2007
Go Around: what went well at this meeting
-Ellen: got some productive good stuff done
-Kimberlee: got some dialogue on issues, wish we could have done more tasks, what we are empowered to do
-Will: good visioning and understanding going on
-Lyn: one of most productive first SC’s meetings ever been to, overall pretty present
-Kasey: discussing YRUU Question was helpful discussion, better grasp on direction we’re headed
-Darrick: gelling as a committee was good, making sure everyone was listening and speaking and learning dynamics
-Sara: great people,
-Elisabeth: what everyone else said, but forgot to discuss YC
-Noah: great group of people, excited to be working with you all
What could go differently at next meeting?
-a lot more transparency, correct cards, being in correct box, with correct group
-confusion about facilitating, last year every agenda item was facilitated by a different person, be clear about facilitation right away so facilitator could be prepped
-hoping that you all will welcome Paul like you welcomed me
-better communication, but overall good communication- did a good job overall
-between meetings communication
-wish we had more learning styles incorporated in meeting, need schedule posted somewhere, more movement
Between Meetings and At Next Meeting
Brainstorm:
-necessity of discussing ahead of time meeting with Implementation WG
-ahead of time, between meetings
-at next meeting start taking the shifts in YRUU somewhere
-actually doing stuff but not just taking about doing it
-need to make decisions about Youth Council, especially if it’s going to be different
-talk about Youth Council before next meeting, because that’s when we need to start planning YC
-looking at the covenant
-specifically around caucusing
-supporting queer youth in new structure
-DRUUMM YaYA requests
-letters that could be written to Association from now all white SC
-is this something we could start to do before Feb?
-keep abreast a bit about UUA politics
-a lot of things that SC could come to consensus on to discuss
-should we have recommendations for implementation team before the meeting
Can we have monthly or bi-monthly conference calls?
-should we pick times now, subjects now
-no, over email
Should Implementation working group have facilitator or consultant to restructure
-that’s a staff discussion
Suggestions:
-had notebook, and rotated through people and jobs
-bike rack
-job jots
-phone a thon
Make sure that Mimi sends out organizations that we want to be in relationship with
Job Jots
Everyone:
-send Rek info and suggestions about governance website
-what to migrate?
Facilitate a next conference call
Making a schedule
Schedule for conference calls
Create a new YRUU
Making everything accountable
How to report back to DRUUMM YaYA in an accountable manner
Letter writing
Be in contact with Kyle as support
Letter to ARE asking for second position
-specific outreach to people
-know that we’re asking for two positions eventually, but can’t fill right now
-maybe look at conference
Being in touch with CAYAC
Who’s going to ARE?
-we should all try to go
Send out agenda asking emails a week before the call
Conference calls
November:
December: Kasey
January: Will
Agenda:
Ellen and Kimberlee, copy Will