UUA TRUSTEE TIDBITS

Joan Lund, May 2005

Greetings in the month of May. At the time of this writing I am preparing for the District Annual meeting where, hopefully, I will be greeting many of you. The weekend following this meeting I will be in Boston for the Board of Trustees meeting. Thus, the column is being written earlier than usual. The theme of this month’s column concerns youth, and “right relationship” with our youth.

Some months ago the UUA Board directed a consultation on our ministry to, and with youth be convened. The first step in this process occurred in February with Bill Sinkford and Megan Dowdell, youth trustee at large, serving as co-conveners. Thirty youth and adults from a broad spectrum of our Association met to outline a process that would help UUism re-define and re-commit to youth ministry. During two days of meetings, with an outside facilitator, the group identified five priorities to be addressed. These are: 1) Youth ministry needs to be served at a more robust, flexible, diverse level than YRUU currently offers. 2) Denominational youth work needs to serve local congregations and their youth ministry. 3) YRUU and UUA administration need to define an authority structure the role of youth and adult leadership, at the same time that it supports the growth and empowerment of all UU youth. 4) Anti-racism/Anti-oppression work is an important part of youth ministry and needs to be moved ahead; there is not just one way of doing this work, and the “right” way is dependent on individual identities. 5) There needs to be more and better communication among continental, district, and local levels, and within congregations.

Working together the gathered group developed preliminary ideas as to how these five issues should be addressed and who might be involved in addressing them. A smaller group was assigned the task of synthesizing the ideas into a coherent plan. This group met in late April to create a draft plan. Key stakeholder groups will have the opportunity to respond to the proposal before finalization. The goal is to have a viable process finalized by August of 2005; implementing the process is expected to take one to two years. The Board of Trustees will be provided information about each stage of the process as the work moves forward.

Let me remind you this is just the beginning. Perhaps after the April Board meeting I will be able to write more of the progress and process in my report. Please stay in communication with me. I continue to receive interesting comments and inquiries and so far, have been able to respond to each one. I can be reached by email at jlund@uua.org; by telephone 813-931-9727. Enjoy the springtime.