Youth Council 2007
Walker Center - Boston, MA
July 22nd to July 28th  

Attendees

Sunday
Orientation
Rules
Covenant

Monday
Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training (AR/AO)
Discussion about the Summit on Youth Ministry

Tuesday
Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training

Wednesday
Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training
Discussion of the YRUU Question

Thursday
Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training
Reports from At-Larges
Reports from Youth Office

Friday
Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training
Reports from Youth Council Reps (YCRs)

Present:

Sunday

Covenant

~Respect
            Start/stop times
            Facilitator
~Only consentual Harry Potter talk
            Don’t spoil it
~Self-care
~Be present
~Be aware of power dynamics
~Step up, step back
~Right to pass
~“oops” and “ouch”
~Use “I” statements
~Literacy moment
            Unpack acronyms
~Don’t step on people’s stories
~Approach people individually for clarifications
~Cell phones
            Off/vibrate
~Don’t alienate yourself or others from the community
            Keep an eye for those feeling left out
~Engage in conflict lovingly
~Avoid repeating yourself
~Respect the staff and site
~Respect cultural differences
~Have fun
~Okay to revisit covenant at any time
~Check in with your emotions
~Push yourself to go past comfort zones
~Consent
~Don’t harsh on other’s mellows
~Assume good intentions and be accountable
            Watch actions, not people
~AR/AO lens

Rules
Orientations
-First Year YCRs
-Second Year YCRs
-Adults
-At-Larges
-Young Adults/Facilitators

Monday

Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training with trainers from Groundwork

Anti-racism and me: focusing on identity and personal experiences with feeling marginalized and mattering.  We talked about why we do AR work, how AR relates to the covenant and the Principles of Spiritual Leadership.  We also talked about why we do ID groups.

Discussion about the Summit on Youth Ministry (July 16th-20th)

Julian Sharp and Jova Vargas Presentation:
-Intros
            -Julian:  Youth Trustee to the Board and Taskforce Member
            -Jova:  YRUU representative to the Taskforce on Ministry to and with Youth
-Overview of the Process

6 Summit Working Groups Stations
-Youth Council members rotated in small groups among the 6 Summit working groups

Report Back From All Groups

Group 1 (Meeting the Spiritual Needs of Youth)
-concerns about access to resources, worship, youth and adult worships different, accessibility concerns
-not try to force spirituality on people
-patronization of adults on youth
-empowerment not ends but means
-minding the gap, keeping multigenerational ministry in mind at all times
-UUvangalism:  how going about it, need to be able to articulate our own

Group 2 (Welcoming All Youth in a Multicultural World)
-definition of “as close as possible to home congregations”
-Support white youth as well as youth of color in AR work

Group 3 (Building a Multigenerational Faith)
-liked visual
-age groups won’t have space of their own if this goes too far (concern for youth own space)
-like welcoming congregations?

Group 4 (Organizing Youth Ministry for Success)
-positive
-clarity about specific parts of regional service delivery

Group 5 (Moving Beyond a One-Size-Fits-All Minstry)
-safe congregations:  accountability to youth certification
-understanding that youth ministry perpetuates UUism
-youth empowerment should be a part of youth ministry competency
-compensation reflects youth ministry staff and advisors

Jova’s Report Back from Taskforce

Two Big Questions

Presentation by Ellen Zemlin

The Canadian Question

Because of the longstanding history of cross-border relations and the CUC/UUA split, there is confusion about the “continental” nature of YRUU and youth ministry.  The following questions need to be addressed:
-In short: is Canada “in” or “out,” eh?
-If “in,” what are the funding responsibilities?
-If “in,” do Canadian Congregations get the same youth ministry services as American congregations?
-If “out,” how will Canadian youth ministry sustain, survive, and proceed?  And how will Canadian young adult ministry be affected?
-The UUA/CUC negotiated agreement kept youth, young adult, and ministerial fellowship and settlement “continental,” but did not define this further.

In order to address these questions, a conversation will be convened with multiple stakeholders:
-CUC/UUA Professional Staff (i.e. Jesse and Sylvia)
-CUC/UUA Executive Staff (i.e. Mary Bennett and Kay Montgomery)
-CUC/UUA Board Reps
-Both Youth on Boards, and maybe the youth trustee (could be a UUA board rep)
-Multiple representatives from national youth leadership (i.e. CAYAC and YRUU Steering Committee)

This task should be completed by June 2008, with the long-term goal of creating and maintaining healthy, happy, and functional youth (and young adult) ministry for all.

Discussion
-Question:  if only the youth from Canada would be splitting off?  Where does that leave them?
-Something needs to change structurally, very confusing
            -gap in communication, participation
-a lot of Summit recommendations are things Canada already does, local congregation support
-UUA won’t be able to follow through in Canada, because CUC needs to be involved, clear relationship
-does out mean separation?
            -not definitive, based on outcome of conversations proposed here
-what’s UUA accountability to Canadian youth now?
-Chrysalis trainings subsidized by UUA, welcome to come to youth trainings, youth council subsidized by UUA, youth office staff come up to Canada at ACM
-has needed to be answered for a long time, scary but necessary
-not functioning as a continental organization right now (YRUU)
-where is this going to leave Canadian youth in the larger themes of these things
            -transition time?
-love the Canadians!
-emotional issue
-several regions do have relationships with districts, not necessarily funding based
            -share leadership, trainings
-things like groundwork are continental organizations
            -hopefully can remain continental
-worry about parts the UUA does fund, CUC needs to take funding responsibility
            -wake-up call
-curious about one congregation in Mexico?
            -if not continental anymore, no more dealing with Mexico?
            -made up of all people who retired to Mexico, don’t have youth needs right now
            -when that congregation has youth ministry needs we will outreach
            -that congregation is UUA supported
-what are arguments for not keeping Canada around?  Why is separation a possible solution?
            -problems with current system
            -why phrased as in or out?
                        -feels really weird
-should be broader range of possibilities about what can come out of this discussion
            -problems with things still joined, US-centric
-response:  phrased this way for a reason, if really in there must be real conversations about real issues, need to have this conversation
            -Annelise Iversen (Canadian youth in group) chose wording
-responses to original question:
-if we can’t figure out “if in” questions, then it leaves Canadians wondering whether they want to be in anyway
-reason from UUA perspective:  they fund large part of us (young people) that CUC doesn’t fund at all, politics between associations
-very emotional question, need to be addressed
-some Canadian congregations are actually part of UUA
            -what do we do with these?
-“in” and “out” of what?
            -implementation phase or standing UUA/CUC agreement about youth ministry?
-concern about starting a new org for Canadian youth, aren’t enough people, leaders there to withstand themselves
-if completely separate, would adults or people in positions of authority take on larger supporting role?  How would Canadian adults support Canadian youth?        
-UUA isn’t providing, fear that CUC can’t provide
            -CUC, how do you own your youth?
            -they need us and we need them
            -conversation around shared responsibility, build stronger CUC in the future
-how many resources does CUC board have available?
-is the CUUYAN struggling as well?
            -definitely struggling as well, one resource person for all of Canada

Tuesday

Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training with trainers from Groundwork

Racism and the Community:  Trying to find patterns in everyone's personal experiences.  Looking at personal history with different identities in the Power, Privilege and Identity workshop.  Small group sharing.  Race to the top activity, showing the stratification in schools and a bit of the experience of feeling marginalized in a situation because of belonging to a particular group.

Wednesday

Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training with trainers from Groundwork

Historical and Linguistic Analysis: Talking about common language and the need for a common analysis.  The iceberg activity, detailing personal, institutional and cultural racism with examples from our own lives of systems of power.  The power and privilege of certain groups could be seen when we named examples of people in our community who held power, and what identities they claim.
Wall of history where we talked about things that have happened in the history of our communities and in our own lives, either in the oppression or resistance category.  Looking at history makes it apparent which groups have traditionally had more and less advantages.
Definitions gallery: silent walk around the room with discussion about the terms written on the papers.

Discussion of the YRUU Question (generated by the Summit on Youth Ministry)

YRUU Question
Summary Statement Discussion

Representatives from brainstorming groups compiled statement

Youth Council read statement silently and out-loud

Clarifying of consensus process

Clarifying Questions:

Where is this proposal going?
-BOT

Could this proposal be put in the post-packet?
-Yes

Are youth outside the male/female gender body included in this?
-Ellen:  I identify this way, and thought the term queer

Terms to be clarified:  self governance and political fluxuation
-political fluxuation:  problems within the politics of congregations affecting youth group
            Ex.  Conflict between youth group and board/minister
                        District/Regional level will help youth group with
-self governance:  ability to have own voice over youth affairs, YRUU org., youth represented, make decisions, have governing body like Youth Council

Group Discussion

Are a couple of places where it doesn’t say regional besides District

On closer communication between Steering committee and CAYAC, wording should be changed because implies that Steering Committee is national governing board
-Terre Commune asked for this

Will the new SC be in communication with DRUUMM-YaYA?

When looking through this divided between things thought should be YRUU and broader Youth Ministry

Agree with Ellen that queer identifies with people not identifying outside gender binary, not clear at first, so maybe we should use more clear language

Concerns

Where is says that offering more ministry to non-congregational youth, should add congregational non-youth group youth

Need explanation of Steering Committee vs. CAYAC (could be taken to be national orgs and they’re not)

While line of church of the even younger fellowship is a nice idea, may be a condescending name

“better creating and improving” wording is awkward

Focus on content rather than wording

Fact that we are saying that YRUU needs to do this and that Youth Ministry needs to do this should be made more clear

Don’t think that list is comprehensive to expand youth ministry and YRUU, could say “may include but not limited to”

What happened to all the examples that came with lists, they’re not in there, afraid that they will get lost

Jesse:  may speak to how admin might see this document? -yes
-administration might read as YRUU wants to stay the same but with a little better communication
-may not be seen as not focused enough
-may not be looked at as very much change

Lyn:  can’t speak to entire Board, but…
-part of input that will go to implementation team (statement)
-idea that there needs to be some major changes made
-idea that this stays with status quo YRUU and adding more supplemental ministry

Summary Group:
-statement came from feedback that small groups gave
-didn’t get enough feedback for major change from small groups to add that to statement

Lyn: 
-recognizes that due to time, etc this is what YRUU feels/came up with
-just know that implementation team and Board may not be able to do this

Grouping Concerns

Wording on better creating safe space, wording issues could be clumped
            -including, but not limited to
            -better creating safe space
            -region not always next to district
-consensus on grouping reached

Clarifying what things mean:
            -CAYAC and SC
            -describing queer more
            -YRUU and larger youth ministry needs to be clearer
-consensus on grouping reached

Non congregational youth group can go under clarifications
            -no, separate category of youth being in congregations but not in youth group

Resolving Concerns

Wording ones:
-can we make wording changes right now on computer
-consensus reached on this
-“creating new and improving existing”
            -consensus reached on this
-“including but not limited to”
            -before the youth ministry list and before the YRUU list
            -consensus reached on this

Involving clarifications:
-Clarifying queer youth:
            -queer youth and youth who identify outside the gender binaries?
            -or footnote?
                        -entrust that Ellen will put footnote in and keep moving
                        -consensus reached on this
-Clarifying Steering Committee and CAYAC
            -concern that it’s not clear that both aren’t national organizations
            -not a specific position for a Canadian on SC
            -suggest “continental YRUU SC and CAYAC”
                        -consensus reached on this
-Relationship between YRUU and larger youth ministry need to be clearer

Thursday

Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training with trainers from Groundwork

Respectful Community.  (sometime earlier in the week we did a cultural appropriation activity which used different cases to show that people have many opinions on this topic, and that it is all a grey area between respectful cultural sharing and cultural theft or appropriation).
Much of this day was done in caucusing. 

Reports (C*SAC, Youth Trustee, Canadian At-Large, Transitional Age Range Reps, Steering Committee)

Youth Trustee to the Board Report
Charlie Burke

Jeopardy Game:

Who is the President of the UUA?
-Bill Sinkford
Who is the moderator of the UUA?
-Ginni Courter
What is the UUA Board?
-governance body of the UUA, lookout for the overall welfare of the association
How many districts are there?
-20
Name 10 Districts?
What two Districts are currently combining?
-NH/VT and Northeast
Who initiate the consultation on ministry to and with youth?
-Board of Trustees
What are independent affiliates?
-ex:  DRUUMM,
-organizations that are separate but affiliated to the UUA
-changed criteria to be independent affiliate, consequently fewer now than in the past
-Board decides who is an independent affiliate
Question:  Does DRUUMM have an observer to the Board?  No
How many UU Seminaries are there?
-two- Meadville Lombard and Starr King
-Board talking about how to promote excellence in ministry
            What about Harvard?
                        -not UU seminary, but produces a lot of UU ministers

Board = 4 at large members (including one youth advisor), one rep. from each district, financial planner, President
-27 voting members
-treasurer, vice president, exec assistant to vice president, youth advisor to the board sit at board table
-other observers that don’t sit at table

Board going through change in governance
-Policy Governance
-how we look at staff work and visionary board work

Questions:
How long have we been involved in policy governance, explain?
-clearly states that board work is visionary work, staff makes/creates/changes actual programs that achieves these goals, and Board monitors
What is the advantage of policy governance?
-Board not necessarily adopting the entire model of policy governance, adopted model
-allows roles to be clarified
-the board needs to do a good job of monitoring what’s happening, not just looking to the future, but making sure that things happen

At-Large Reports

Chris Mitchell
Continental Social Action Coordinator

Wrote up a YRUU Social Justice newsletter that went out in fall
            Hope to continue this, out of resolution to keep people more informed
Attended Allies for Racial Equity conference in Nov.
Started a blog
            Technical troubles, hopefully will fix and send out
Co-Dean of YSJT
            In New Orleans, only about 20 participants
            9 Social Action Coordinators from Districts/Regions attended
                        Chatted with District/Regional SACs:
Work being done includes:  having dedicated social action conferences, workshops at other conferences, some have done groundwork, projects
Tried to send out email list serves
            Maybe not best list of current emails, not many responses
            Wants name/contact info for Social Action Coordinator
There is a social justice list serve
            Sign up on YRUU website
Unfortunately not gotten out Social Action Coordinator resource pack
            Would like to hand out here at youth council
Couldn’t go to GA Youth Caucus- was not notified that it was her responsibility
            Expected to go to that, but not to Canadian Annual Conference
            Led workshop at Canadian Annual Conference, because there anyway
Attended summit in position of CSAC

Laura added/clarified:
-no particular position in Youth Office for Social Action next year
-will be discussion between Washington Office, UUSC, and Youth Office about YSJT
-worry about support for WAM and CSAC

Canadian At-Large
Hazel

Have song and report

Report:
What happened in Canada this year

Terre Commune
-working con
-stakeholder meeting for consultation
-also revisioning for Canadian YRUU
            Many stake holders present
-31 people
-lots of proposals now to work with
Common Themes:
-focus on local groups
-communication between Continental YRUU and Canadian body CAYAC lacking
-YAG changed name to CAYAC (Canadian Advisory Youth Adult Committee)

Passed process for figuring out CUC rules at youth events

Passed new election process for Youth Observer to the Board, National SAC, Canadian At-Large
            First step at making process more accountable
            Delegate system and proxy voting

Largest CANUUDLE ever

Song:
I say…you say…

TARR- Junior High
Elaine

Elected two weeks ago, so talking about me!

In Junior High didn’t associate with UUism, even though went to UU church
Then went to youth Con, and it was a spiritual experience

Want to make transition easier from Junior High to Senior High

TARR- Post-High
Will Floyd

Got involved in youth group when Freshman, elected leader there
Moved into leadership on District level, until this last year when bridged out
Had very touching bridging ceremony, walked across to Young Adult community
            Concrete example of being invited into young adult community

Many bridging youth lost in that process
            Ideas about why:
                        YRUU community very constant
                        Many youth not absorbed into young adult community
Speaks to strength or weakness of Young Adult programming in each individual district
            Lack of support from Congregations
Very stable places, and could become a stable community for youth/young adults to come back to
                        Lack clarity about youth ministry, youth ownership in congregational life

Would be pretty much impossible for leaving college youth to continue to be involved in Young Adult Ministry in Districts, if leaving District
            Speaks to need for stable Campus Ministry groups
Still problem on continuity- groups tend to be lead by strong leadership and then fizzle out, lack of strong stable group
            Needs to be constant ____something in Campus Ministry
                        Ministerial Support

Just elected, chosen

Can do:
-connect with youth age 18-20
-look out for post-high concerns in larger process of change in Youth Ministry
            -age range that is a gap, very large concern in this process

Questions:
Do you see any steps that could be taken about the gap between youth and young adult?
-strengthening in campus ministry
-congregations need to be brought on board
            -have responsibility to our young adults, to our denomination
-need to look at examples of other denominations that do this well

Any steps for UUs who are bridging and not going to college?
-recognizes this, but not personal experience
-young adult activities need to be strong
            -absorbed into young adults stuff in districts
-goes along with being supported by congregations

Darrick:
Church of the Younger Fellowship
-option

How can you be accountable to youth of color who are 18-20?  Be supportive of DRUUMM-YaYA?
-have thought about being on Steering Committee
-don’t have an answer, except to be in contact as much as possible

Kimberlee:
CYF have been in contact with Joseph Santos-Lyons about serving young adults of color better, will be in contact with DRUUMM

Steering Committee Report

Three meeting throughout the year
Met at GA, but some couldn’t be there

Planned Youth Council

Phone-a-thon, was that new?
-Steering Committee from the year before them did it once
-was idea of Joo Young Choi (former YPS)

Called YCRs, at-larges, Youth Council in general
-what do you need, what do you like
-check-in
-keep lines of communication open
-experienced being hung-up on

Keep in mind changing questions for at-larges
CAYAC and Steering Committee should be in contact more

What were biggest challenges and biggest accomplishments?

Braeden:
-challenge: trying to help the consultation to be more accountable
-accomplishment:  fostering relationship with others on steering committee great

Carolina
-challenge:  being a part of YRUU but also bridging out, developing an analysis of AR work
-accomplishment:  fostering relationship with other steering committee members

Tsuki
-challenge:  having to work with PoCC stuff as well as other Steering Committee stuff
-accomplishment:  that everyone in this room is here

Elisabeth
-challenge:  in meetings having to facilitate things that you have no clue about
-accomplishment:  grew a lot as a UU and YRUU, amazing experience

Helia
-challenge:  being a PoC on committee, getting to know the inner workings of YRUU and how messed up it is, physical strain, time commitment, self care is really important
-accomplishment:  PoCC accomplishment, what we did yesterday, big step for youth of color, going to be really challenging but exciting

Nick
-challenge:  growing individually as a white male, mass amount of ambiguity around consultation, allies for racial equity
-accomplishment:  got positions filled, Summit positions filled, youth council planned

Mary
-challenges:  lot of life changes, didn’t have email for a while, bad cell phone, meeting at GA was both challenge and accomplishment (getting youth spots at Summit filled)
-accomplishment:  see above and personal accomplishment about forging relationship, formed relationship with AR/AO buddy, learned to step-back way back
-Ditto self-care suggestion

Lyn
-challenge:  making meetings at GA, challenging myself around AR/AO development
-accomplishment:  getting to know great people and watching everyone grow and develop, learn from youth all the time

Some of the things talked about at meetings?
-had to fill youth positions such as HUUPER, WAM, TARRs, representatives for staff positions
-discussed open space technology
-talked with Bill Sinkford, Gini Courter, and Kay Montgomery
-sent letter about cultural misappropriation to Bill
-about 16 hours of caucusing per meeting
            Some inbetween
-many conference calls

Phone a-thon:
-bad number suggestion
-send out an email to youth office or steering committee

GA experiences:
-Steering Committee job to represent YRUU
            -part of that AR/AO
-scheduling conflict at GA
            -open space technology
-scheduling conflict with DRUUMM, welcoming people of color into the UU community and the choosing open space ideas
-called Gini and left message
-meeting with Gini
            -re-iterated thoughts, wasn’t received very well, very hurtful
-need to understand power dynamics
-had to be at GA youth caucus events
-Steering Committee is supposed to be at GA plenary (apparently in YRUU policies and procedures)
*Look into delegate status, etc well in advance

Communication is a big thing, could have done better
            -even just general check-in
Do some facilitation training at first meeting, esp. facilitating conference calls

Anything you wanted to get done that didn’t, etc?
-recommendation that YRUU last year wanted more youth representation at Summit
-youth voices heard at Summit may not have been heard, tried to increase youth presence- Youth of Color presence
            -hard to fill spots at Summit

Can new and old Steering committee meet before Youth Council?
-yes, but without Kimberlee

Youth Office Reports including Budgets 101

Beth Dana (Youth Ministry Associate)

Youth Ministry Associate
-working for just over two years now
-leaving at the end of August
-hired to work on Consultation process, working with taskforce
Past Year
-gatherings in every District and Stakeholder organizations, receiving, compiling reports
-traveled around, gotten a lot out of being places and talking with people directly
Summit
-planning since last Fall
-co-facilitating with UT Saunders
AR/AO different identity based ministries are a part of our work
-significant part of
-working with youth and young adult white folks
-trained as a Groundwork trainer
-organized Spring White anti-racist allies gathering
-trying to help bring adults and youth together in white allies work
Synapse
-compiled in Youth Office
-Laura and Beth collaborate in this

Questions:
Who will be working on your job next year?
-Sara will be taking on parts of Beth’s job and Laura’s job
-outcomes of Summit and YRUU leadership

Laura Manning (Youth Ministry Associate)

In youth office for last year
-typically YMA is a one year job
Areas of focus
-social justice support (YSJT)
-YRUU leadership support
-AR/AO identity support
August
-follow-up from Youth Council
-Steering committee meeting for October
Steering Committee
-great connections, learning
-previously on Steering Committee, so learning how to support but not be on
Working with Kat Manker-Seal
-working directly with AR/AO identity support
-tons of work in caucusing during SC meetings
Social Justice Stuff
-learning what structure looked like
-elected new WAM, George Brown appointed
-partnership with UUSC
            -YSJT
Really trying to think about working within ARE
-space for youth and young adults to be welcome
Spring Summit
Worked closely with Groundwork
-TOT in Texas
            -one of trainers
            -involved in selecting new Groundwork trainers (16 new)
-went to Interweave convocation
-not with the most success getting youth there, but more young adults there than ever before
-what queer youth need
Youth Council
-logistics
-supported Steering Committee with programming
Synapse
-co-editor with Beth
-work with Rek getting it up online
Fact that there’s not going to be official Youth Office Social Justice support person in youth office

Jesse Jaeger (Youth Ministries Director)

Personal Report

Job fallen into categories
Training, supervising, supporting youth office staff
Supporting all major projects that Laura and Beth talked about
Leading Consultation gatherings, travel with that

Youth Office Staffing
Knew we needed transitional structure
            -needed Assistant Youth Office Director
            -going on Sabbatical
December Kat Manker-Seale, had to resign
 -leave explanation up to letter ze sent out
Easier to hire part-time people
-Jason Lydon to come back and work on GA
-Jodi Slezak to work on Chrlysis
-Esther Rosado to do some youth of color support
Hire Sara and India
-Tsuki, Betty-Jean, Jesse on hiring committee
Hired Darrick Jackson
-Robin, Brian, Carolina, Jesse on hiring committee
Sara: implementation of Summit recommendations and YRUU leadership support
India:  Chrysalis and GA Youth Caucus
-missing YRUU Social Justice training
-talking in August with DC Office and UUSC
-retreat discussion about making social justice work happen
Supervision will work in office:
Jesse:  Darrick and Rek
Darrick:  Sara and India
-Jesse Youth Ministry’s Director
-Darrick:  Assistant Youth Ministry’s Director
Jessica York hired to work on curriculum development for youth as part of Tapestry of Faith
Laura Spencer:  do assessment of youth and young adult of color communities
-Overall positive push forward for youth across US and Canada

Questions:
Why no longer position for social justice work in particular?
-needed some transition around how YSJT works
-couldn’t drop GA and something had to go
-want to make sure that some of the other parts of Youth Office work around support will happen

Will India’s role be youth of color support?
-just having YOC supported by other POC staff
            -not consistency and whether or not there’s time and ability and passion
-conversation will continue
-structural service will need to be addressed
            -can’t rely on every youth of color working in youth office
            -dynamics of tokenizing set-up on YA of color in office

Who has final say in changes?
-Jesse say and then final decisions at administration level (Bill and Kay)
-hiring committee makes recommendation to administration, hardly has large concerns with recommendation

Change in staffing mainly driven by administration?
-Jesse and administration working together in this
-a lot of times Jesse represents admin at these meetings

With implementation will it be difficult to continue to support YRUU?
-think YRUU structures will have to change, don’t doubt that there will be less direct staff support in the future
-as read tea leaves:  see significant change in how Youth Office is structured

In your opinion, do you think that’s happening before everything happens?  Shifting?
-hope of more support overall
-clear that we need to go to some sort of regional system (groups of Districts) for service delivery
-commitment from admin for more resources for youth ministry
-change in Youth Office structure from current about 75% Continental support, to more local support

Laura:  are already changes:  honest that change is already starting to happen; focuses of positions for next year are clearly different

Having more leadership on regional level, do you think that will affect the continental voice that youth have on administration?
-Jesse speaking personally that there needs to be political voice for youth in our movement, may have to be continental
-depends a lot of “answer” to YRUU question
-topic of question of YRUU Steering Committee

Budget Discussion

Budget 101:

Pleasure about Lyn representing UUA Board budgeting, also makes nervousJ

Fiscal Year not same as calendar year
-wrapping up fiscal year 2007 now

UUA resources come from:
-APF Annual Program Fund
            Congregations give to UUA, based on
-Capital Campaign
            “Now is the time” just starting
            Goal is raising $60 million
                        $25 million in cash to be used
                        Others in legacy gifts, in will
-Friends of the UUA
            Individuals give money
-Foundation Endowment
            Investment ($100 million) gaining interest
            YRUU Program Fund
            $150, 000 raised in endowment in project/programs

Goes out:
-Budget report: how to read a budget statement
-Inside are internal budgets
            -example of Steering Committee Budget

Friday

Anti-Racism/Anti-Oppression Training with trainers from Groundwork

The revolution is NOW!  Much of this time was in ID groups.  We did the tough questions activity by passing around sheets of paper and having a silent discussion about common questions that come up in AR work.  Groups worked on our elevator speeches about more common questions around AR work and analysis.  Talking about the revolution, strategy vs. tactics by Danni, solidarity vs. charity, regional brainstorming about concrete action plans.  (Personal note: I would LOVE to hear from groups about how those action plans are going.. and let me brag that Canada is already moving ahead with our master plan to revolutionize the CUC :)

Youth Council Rep (YCR) Reports

Ellen
Heartland District

Sara’s Notes (from presentation):
Groundwork training
Junior high one-day event
Consultation in Michigan

Because of problems in getting effective DYSC members
-new application questions

New YCR selected by DYSC

More cluster events in the plan:
-moving to more cluster stuff

Ellen’s Notes:
New application process:
-Because of some problems we have had in the past with prepared and effective DYSC members, we have developed and implemented a new application process.  The application consists of some essay questions which are submitted either electronically or via post mail to the Youth Chair of the DYSC.  The applications are then reviewed by the Youth and Adult chairs, Youth chair elect and the District Youth Coordinator, formerly the Program Consultant.  The chosen applicants are then submitted to the District Executive and DYSC for approval before it is made official.  The YCR was appointed by DYSC at our District’s Annual Meeting.

In the 07-08 Fiscal Years, the following event’s occurred
            -Groundwork Training
            -Jr. High One-Day Event
            -Jr. High Election Con
            -Consultation on Ministry to and with Youth
For the 07-08 Fiscal Year, we have the following events planned:
            -Advanced Advisor Training
            -Social Justice Conference
            -Chaplaincy Training
            -at least 1 DYSC planned fun conference
            -Jr. High one-day event and election conference

Work with Clusters:
-we are in the process of organizing clusters.  Currently Michigan is in the process of planning a fun conference.  The other clusters, which will be Indiana and Ohio Kentucky, approximately, are working on organizing a cluster system.

Katrina
Joseph Priestly

Sara’s notes (from presentation):
New high school clusters
Over 11 new churches attend District cons
5 local c
Spring con combined with
Challenges with adult burnout and youth adult relations
Working on welcoming new churches
            -problems with bad rep of cons in some congregations
Good intentions-
            -more publicizing and new proposal for how structure will work
            -want congregations more supportive and involved with youth groups
Packet of resources about what youth groups do
            -helping youth groups out more

Katrina’s Notes:
Positives:
-new HS clusters (6) working to develop contacts and relationships, publicize JPD youth events, and promote cluster events
-clusters help work towards the new ideal of congregationally based Youth Ministry
-offered workshops at cons to fulfill congregational needs by implementing a workshop proposal process
-over 11 new churches at district cons
-4 district cons, 5 church youth groups hosted local cons
-DYSC meeting at churches with little involvement
-inCONvenient truth- environmental workshops
-spring con/conference/district conversation:  it was expected for 80 youth to participate in the con, 50 people in the conversation and 20 youth to bridge
-money in district budget
-funded staff for lifespan consultants, campus ministry consultants, and youth ministry consultants
-many churches- green sanctuary, youth services/worships, other social action and fun
Challenges:
-at cons, youth-adult relations need improvement
-retaining youth into young adults
-need to put the R back into YRUU
-not all churches are handicap accessible
-need to provide programming for youth not interested in cons
-prevent adult burnout
-need to welcome more churches who feel unwelcome, especially PoC youth
-perception of cons is negative
A favorite Positive Still Being a Challenge:
-YES Awards:  Youth Empowering and supportive- incentive to congregations to work with youth groups intentionally to empower and support them
-seven congregations earned YES awards (Annapolis, Baltimore, BuxMont, Fairfax, Frederick, River Road, West Chester)
-publicized earlier and more widely, yet only up to 7, from 6 in 2006
-new award structure was proposed to include tiers of achievement and a requirement for congregational leadership involvement

Morgan
QuOM

Story:

Once upon a time, not far from here, there was a land known to all as QuOM.  The fair Jark ruled over the land while spreading love and adventures.  When QuOM was created way back in 2003, it was full of potential and the YAC, the governing body of the land, was energized and exciting.  Unfortunately, as more of the first generation of QuOM citizens moved on to bigger things away from QuOM, the region began to suffer.  The YAC began to lack leadership and started to have trouble recruiting new members.  As much as the YAC tried to create interest in youth governance, the people seemed indifferent.  Luckily, this year, QuOM had three fairly successful business conferences with attendance ranging from 6 youth at the Central Regional Gathing to 40 youth at QuOMCon.  In January, inspired by their friends on the west coast, the YAC created a new set of policy documents.  Hopefully, with the combined effort of the Jark and YAC, QuOM will soon be reenergized…
TO BE CONTINUED
Morgan’s Notes:
-Constant issue- big area, little communication
-YGs having very different experiences
-for example, Toronto, largest city in Canada has very few youth, whereas Ottawa, the biggest UU congregation in Canada, has a group full of leaders transforming newer youth into leaders
-Ottawa has a new DYP, but as far as I know, it’s the only one in the region
-youth that come to regional cons are fairly new and as much as the YAC tries, they seem mostly uninterested in youth ministry

Sara’s Notes (from presentation):
Info about
-central and eastern
-huge area and lack of communication
-Quebec, Ontario, Maritime

YAC having trouble getting in touch with Maritime Providences

Many different experiences in congregations
-fizzling out of some youth groups while others stepping up
Ottawa getting new Youth Directors in congregations
            -encouraging this
New youth showing up at cons and disappearing

YAC having trouble recruiting new members

Starting to assemble of QuOM documents
-forms, minutes, newsletter

How is relationship with St. Lawrence District?
-good, usually about 5-10 Canadians at cons, mostly from Ottawa
-working on improving this

No specific AR/AO work
-issue in all of Canada

Margaret
Pacific Central District

Margaret’s Haiku Report:

Hello, Youth Council!
Margaret here, from PCD
Another superb year

New council.  Horray!
No Social Action chair, though
And all new adults

New age range; It’s done!
All are satisfied, mostly
New programs ahead

It happened again!
WUUKY 6, Year of the Pig
Awesome every day

Quite a few of us
Have bridged out in the past year
We’re still adjusting

Four successful cons
Chaplain training in September
Any questions?

Sara’s Notes (from presentation):
Camp WUUCY (6)
-had three times in past and having every year since then

New council
-no social action chair

New age range
-board wanted age range change
-was 12-22, wanted to change to 14-20, no one said that it was because of insurance

Many Bridgers
-more people came in
-though lost leaders

Chaplin training in September

4 successful cons

Need more AR/AO trainings

Mini Con for adults
-appease fear of cons as unsafe for children

Connie
Clara Barton
Want to be open
Youth office report not very comprehensive
            -please let me know if you need more
            -apologize

Background:
-voted in a YAC without a no vote
-first con was voting con

Community smaller
-leaders and people bridged out

Cons different atmosphere
-new and old people
-met needs of new con goers

Attempted to implement new idea:
-encourage con goers to bring clothes grown out of and canned food with registration
-not long term fix, but wanted to help out
-implemented but not taken off
            -expand or refine

Conflict over homeless sleep out
-social action con
-convince people to give donations that you will be sleeping outside in a box
-trouble with this, wasn’t doing anything
            -loving conflict and dialogue about this
            -ended not having it, but this was due to scheduling
            -need to revisit this as well

Last Con
-many people couldn’t go, so Deb and YAC decided that it would not be representative in the smaller number of people voting
-will vote for YAC next year

Any concerns in your district about elections being more of popularity contest than actual voting?
-no

Is old YAC acting as new YAC until new can be formed?
-yes

Tristan and Elaine
Mid-South District

Parents are often youth advisors
-weird dynamic

1st con
-lots of drama
-not explained further

Con front:
-School of America protest
-people complaining because tired
-17 people, just up on Saturday all day
-did meet with other group of UUs there who had booth
            -nothing specifically connected with other UUs
Laura: would be helpful to know about this for networking

Junior High Con
-first one for couple of years

Film Con
-watched many types of movies
-touch groups made movies, great

Beach Con
-disco circle with wardrobe malfunction
-had giant inflatable penis

Other going ons:
Youth Advisor training

Upcoming year:
Leadership Dev. con
Trying to expand, have Nashville youth group for upcoming year
Doing con on sexuality
Putting together TJD, Mid-South, and Hartland for queer issues con

Victoria
Florida District

Sara’s Notes (from presentation):

Only see people from Florida at District events at the moment
Diagram of churches seen at District level at moment

Main governing bodies
-youth council and steering committee
-supposed to be at same place as District Assembly
-didn’t happen
-one night youth caucus, don’t get many people coming

Fairly good year at district
-static with slight upswing near the end
Conflict with some youth groups in past, youth group got disbanded in Orlando
-so joined other church
Problem in Gainsville
-advisor issues,
Tallahassee
-not seen a lot, further away
Lakeland
-not active in many years
-started coming again

Social Action
-lake clean-up
-working in homeless shelter

Transition-in cons
-for youth 12-14 or been to two or less cons
-smaller: about 20 people
-like diet cons
-easier community to transition in

9 cons per year
-2 trans ins:  planned by committee voted in by youth caucus
-one social action:  committee, planning lock-in that goes on
-5 all age:  put together by congregations
-one youth caucus:  Steering Committee

Trying to get new churches into District events

Never had SDT, Chaplains, LDT, and AR/AO work
-Laura:  what support may you need with this?
-need to figure out some way to start, no idea right now

Having advisor training soon

Victoria’s Notes:
           
            The governing bodies of the Florida District YRUU(FDYRUU) group are know as the Youth Council and Steering Committee.  They are comprised of an adult co-chair and a youth co-chair, who run the meetings, a secretary, a treasurer, a historian, the adults at large, the cluster representatives, the church representative, the transition in committee, and the social action committee.  The above two committees are made up of a senior co-chair, a junior co-chair, two advisors, and six to eight other committee members.  The decision making process used in FDYRUU is consensus, and youth council meetings are open to the public while steering committee meetings are not.
            The con season runs from August to May, and there are nine cons on average, five all ages cons, two transition-in cons, one social action con, and one youth caucus.  The age range at all age cons is 12-20, with a 1:8 adult-youth ratio.  At transition-in cons the age range is 12-14 OR two or less cons, with the same youth-adult ration.  Cons do not have set dates, locations, names or themes.  It rotates according to the church availability and youth creativity. 
            As for the respective youth groups, the majority are doing quite well for themselves.  The strongest and most active groups are Orlando, Tampa, and Lakeland with Sarasota, Clearwater, and Vero Beach following.  River of Grass in Fr. Lauderdale and Miami are relatively new, but they are doing their best.  Tallahassee and Jacksonville show up when they can, but unfortunately we do not see them as often as we’d like.  The Gainesville group is having issues with church support and group structure but they are working on solving them.  Attendance is up in some groups, such as Lakeland and Orlando (as usual), but down in others, such as Tampa and Clearwater.  Vero Beach has had issues with a DRE trying to lessen the youth empowerment and restructure the group according to different ideals but to the best of my knowledge those issues have been worked out.
            The only other thing worth noting that has occurred in the district is the Lifespan Program Specialist Connie Goodbread’s plans for advisor training.  We recently discovered that she is not trained to train advisors, nor has she run a training in the past.  We are unsure of how to proceed with this, and would like advice.  After making contact with the youth co-chair about helping run the training and the adult co-chair about doing workshops at the training she suddenly dripped out of contact and has not been heard from.
            Other than all this, the District is strong, with attendance up some and strong bonds forming between the different churches.  I am confident that next year will be even better and I am looking forward to stepping into the position of youth co-chair.

Signed,
Victoria Woodard
FLD YCR

 Kate
Mountain Desert District

District goes from Canada to Mexico

Built house across boarder

WUUDSY
-at cabin of young adult
-fun con with workshops
            -have to put in community service around cabin

3 Business Meeting Cons
Happy, Puppy, and Fireworks meetings
-happened in two churches in Denver and Salt Lake City

LDT- in conjunction with District Annual Meeting

Went to Louisiana and Mississippi over Winter Break

Three cluster events
-Colorado:  just Sr.
-Utah:  Jr. and Sr.
-New Mexico: Jr. and Sr

LDT training
-coincides with District Annual Meeting

Bridging Con
-AR/AO training
-problems with advisors against training
-working through issues
-lots of denial
-lots of leaders in tears
            -had two groundwork trainers there, but also support from other youth
            -too big for two groundwork trainers alone

Trouble with youth empowerment, youth-adult relations
-actually getting worse after sexual assault incident a few years ago

Problems with drugs and respecting space of church

Is YAC doing things to help with issues?
-just happened, so need to address at first YAC meeting

Next Year:
LDT October 5-7
Business Con
            October 26-28
            April 11-13
            January 25-27

Victoria
Central Mid-West District

Sara’s Notes (from presentation):
3 main events and consultation process

Very large cons

Fall Con
Springfield, IL
-Peace rally on capital
Spiritual Development Conference
-25 in attendance, due to blizzard
-very successful

Spring Con
-discussed three clusters, areas
            -WI, Chicago area, rest of IL and Missouri
-only Chicago really working well, because of closeness

Need to have smaller cons, north had one

Model of two cons with training in winter

Sept youth advisor training

Winter groundwork training
-send out resources to congregations
-need to get more people to attend

Problem around org of social action
-not priority
-no feedback from congregations
-DYSC and SAC to use newsletter more to celebrate congregations doing social action

Consultation presentation
-only three youth attended
-very difficult to get a lot out of
-didn’t seem like it got us very far

Going to do a wandering souls program, going to congregations not involved in District events and discussing issues/why to come with them

Online registration for cons starting

Good bridging cons starting
-Kimberlee bringing in young adult participation

Victoria’s written Report:
            This year the Central Midwest District has experienced a bit of turbulence byt is in the process of actively fixing a lot of its problem areas.  We had two cons, one in the fall and one in the spring.  We also hosted a Spiritual Development Conference in the winter and had our Consultation on Ministry to and with Youth at our District Assembly.
            Our fall con was a resounding success.  The con was in Springfield, the capital of Illinois, and one of the features was the peace rally we had on the steps of the capitol building.  During touch groups we al made signs and posters and to our surprise, the rally and the con were featured in Springfield’s Sunday paper!  About 25 youth and advisors attended the SDC in the winter and it also went well.  Unfortunately, a blizzard that weekend cut down the number of participants and the packet from the Youth Office never reached the training.  Thanks to access to the internet and most of those materials as well as amazing trainers, everything went very well.  There was a lot of positive feedback and the group rally benefited form the training.  Our spring con was also successful and at both cons we had about 200-250 total attendees.  One of the positive outcomes of the spring con was that we had discussions about our three areas.  Two of the three areas in the CMwD are plagued with problems.  The Chicago area is functional because it is smaller which makes communication and the planning and execution of events a lot easier.  The North and South are not well connected and the old model we were relying on wasn’t working for those two areas.  Now there are new plans and point people who are going to implement the ideas that were generated from these discussions.  I am leading the revival of the South area and my plans will hopefully be off the ground and working by the time I bridge.           
            From now on, our district is going to have two cons a year and one training in the winter.  DYSC is going to be encouraging annual mini-cons in the winter to fill the void; however; it will be up to the areas to implement this.  This upcoming year we are actually going to have two trainings.  In September, there will be a sorely needed Youth Advisor training.  Our youth advisors are not well networked and feel isolated.  This training will connect the advisors and will give them access to materials and information they did not have previously.  IN the winter there will be a sorely-needed Groundwork Training.  AR/AO in not a priority for the youth in our district and from a survey that I am in the process of taking of the youth, I am finding that most don’t even realize how this is related to Unitarian Universalism.  Instilling that interest in the district is going to be one of the DYSC’s and also my personal projects this year.  Doing this now is also going to help increase the awareness and importance of the upcoming Groundwork Training.  We hope to have at least 30 youth attend.
            Another problem area for our district is the organization of social action.  It also isn’t a priority for most of our youth ant youth groups.  At conferences there is always social action; however, there is a definite lack on all of the other levels or at least on reporting it.  Social action should be celebrated among our youth but that is not currently occurring.  Re-instilling the importance of making an impact in our distinctive areas and helping other people is another goal of the DYSC this year.  So far, we are planning on using our youth newsletter and distributing general information about possible social action projects to do this.  On top of that, we hope to have some kind of Social Action Training or conference in the future.
            We also had a workshop at our District Assembly this year for the Consultation on Ministry to ant with Youth.  Unfortunately, only three youth (all from DYSC) and three ministers attended.  The bulk of the approximately thirty participants were advisors and there were also no RE Directors.  From the youth’s standpoint, we really didn’t feel like we gained much from this consultation.  We were presented with statistics from our cross-section of the survey and then were put into smaller groups to discuss ideas on how to strengthen the connections between the ministry and youth.  However, we really didn’t feel like we had much guidance on what works and what doesn’t or even where to start.  Plus the lack of youth and ministers really made this a difficult task to begin with.  Overall, we really didn’t feel like it was worth the time or money because the ideas we generated were based on a problem we weren’t being helped to find a solution for and these ideas were therefore not easy to implement.  Maybe if this had happened in a more specific forum other than District Assembly where youth feel more welcome and more encouraged to attend there would have been more progress.
            Overall, our cons have gotten healthier and safer over the past few years.  This has encouraged a lot of churches in our district whose youth were not before involved in district events to now participate in them.  However, there are still a lot of churches with youth that are not connected at all on the district level.  This year, we are hopefully going to be sending envoys of about two or three youth (and at least on e of them from DYSC) to go to these churches and present the youth and advisors there with general information about events like cons and the basic organization of the district.  Hopefully, we will add to the youth who are involved and feel attached to the CMwD and YRUU!!
            There have also been a lot of recent successes.  We have improved our youth’s website and we are moving towards an online registration system for cons, trainings, and mini-cons.  Background checks are mandatory for all youth advisors now.  More adults from the district level are asking about us and becoming involved.  The bridging ceremonies have gotten increasingly better and both DYSC and Young Adults are part of this.  Now the youth feel like they have somewhere that they are bridging to rather than an empty void on the other side.  A great result of this is that the youth who bridge are coming back and participating in Young Adult activities.  We also have an amazing, amazing Youth and Youth Adult Coordinator on District Staff who keeps everything together and empowers youth.
            Overall, we have a lot of projects coming up this year and I’m so excited because these changes are going to make our youth and our district so much more connected and way better.

Cat
Mass Bay

57 churches in District

Cons have been slowing down in past year a lot
-used to have a lot of people, but haven’t had successful outreach in past year
-misconceptions about cons

Supposed to have two night cons every other month
-getting postponed
-not happening
-problem with making time commitment
-trying more one day events, to get more people involved

Going to try to get a lot more outreach done
-coordinator around that more determined this year

Want a lot more trainings
-one groundwork training this year
-one spirituality con

Trying to get massive con happening
-regional type event, with three Districts, connections with other Districts

Had problems with rule breaking issues, stressful for many people
-resolved

Try to inform more people about District events
-DRE saying that cons are horrible, unsafe

Policy question:
-resolution passed (forced)
            -safety concerns
            -advisor has to get signed off by DRE
                        -for accountability for youth advisors

Events for Next (this) Year:
-Social con in Sept and Dec
-Social con in March
-SDC in April
-Bridging in June
-Election

Lucinda
Tomas Jefferson District

Thomas Jefferson hasn’t had YCR for about 3 years, not DYSC

Haven’t had any training or AR/AO work

No policies/procedures/by-laws

Still have a lot of activity
-4-5 cons per year
-about 5-6 churches show up, disappointing considering about 70 churches in district

Had consultation process, but unknown by YCR
-youth in district very uninformed

Hoping to have LDC in November
-want to elect DYSC at LDC
-collaborative effort of the triangle churches in N Carolina

Between churches friction
-cliques coming out of churches
-scheduling cons, rely on churches to plan
-results of not having district leadership to plan cons

Hope to bring back AR/AO to new DYSC

Kasey
Metro-New York

September
-first con, conasouraus rex
            -little over 100 people
            -problem with youth coming second in terms of space issues
-Jr. High retreat
            -scheduled same weekend as Save Darfur rally
October
-Chaplain training
November
-Con, yoho con
            -sparked talk about accessibility
            -very small space
            -long term plan to solve which churches should have working cons/social cons
January
-Con, contradiction
            -problem of youth running through window and getting stitches
            -more strict medical policies on registration info
            -covenant breaking and law breaking at con
-dealt with okay, once YAC took hold, sent letter to DREs, MREs, and Boards of Churches to be very open
            -wrote whole new covenant
                        -great resource
February
-con, pajama con
            -disempowering things with youth put second
            -kicked out of church again
                        -had to go to Elks club where atmosphere was unsafe
March
-youth ministry consultation
            -Beth and Phil
            -really great experience
            -no fallow-up, feel kind of forgotten
Community church ran AR training, don’t know how many youth attended
April
-annual district meeting
-strong youth presence
-Jr. high con
June
-con, Konyay
            -based around music
            -bridging
            -issues with tea light candles and sanctuary
AR issues in District
-YAC didn’t sponsor in any way, or advertise anything around Community Church
-nothing AR for youth
-nothing planned for next year
-upset with how district is running application for cons
            -youth groups send in application to YAC
            -think this could be reason for not many working cons or trainings
Have really youth empowered YAC and District in general
-problems dealt with by youth, with adult support

Eliza
Ohio-Meadville District

Musician song

Added another conference, now 5
100 people at almost every con

YAC meetings are open to all, and many attend
-new leaders
-reaching out to younger youth, less cliques

7th-9th grade age range

LDC training
Consultation meeting in winter

UU-UNO conference attended, SEAD-work training attended

AR/AO work has slowed down
-mostly because SAC bridged out, need to bring back and keep energy up

Rose
Western Canada Region

Have RISK, no DYSC or YAC

Huge region

5 youth groups
-Edmonton success story
            -disbanded, but this year started to have new youth coming up

Hosted 3 conferences
-two conferences in region
Terre Commune
-CUC stakeholder meeting and Business meeting

October Conference
Social Justice Gathering
Jr and Sr youth combined
-interesting dynamic
-multigenerational day at conference
-go hand-in-hand with adult gatherings

Spring
Fun Conference
-20 youth
-supposed to be social justice, but SAC not there to do this

Regional Networking Group invited Rose to go to help plan

CANUUDLE
-lots of youth

RISK
-now has documents
-having good conference calls
-no face to face meetings

Vivian
Prairie Star District

4 conferences
-all fun cons
            -touch with inner child
            -star wars con
            -should have been portal con, but no longer existing
                        -District said too little spirituality
            -should have been in quad cities, but loss of youth empowerment there
                        -congregation scheduled over, large snow storm
            -Business and election con
                        -touch groups talking about life on other planets
            -not many people running, usually appointing
            -not much got accomplished
Have to go out of way to find spiritual connection in District
-one success:
            -priestess came to do workshop
Problem with things getting canceled

Keegan
BC Region

-Max youth around 30
-not a lot happened in region
Only a groundwork
-went fairly well, but lot money because of lack of people
CANUUDLE
Problems with drugs across the boarder to
-sorted out fairly well
Planning on having SDC

Zack
Southwest District

Social action work video
9 YAC sanctioned events
-five rallys (social cons)
-LDC, SDC, District fall and spring conferences

Having a bit of schism between youth and district execs
-centered around summer institute, not sanctioned by YAC right now
-District Exec and Director LFD would take control of summer institute from SWSI
            -anger about this
-stall for a year by creating taskforce choosen by district exec and director lifespan and faith development
Apparently sometime yesterday SWSI (at same time at Youth Council)
-some sort of election deal that happened and people questioning validity of process
-unhappy with way forced onto us
Advisors being pushed out

Laura:  What was reason given for restructuring SWSI?
-change YRUU to reach out to people not currently being served
-connected to ministry to and with youth, if that’s the direction this is moving everyone we’re going to have issues

Email Aymie:
Fallingphoenix@gmail.com