YRUU Steering Committee Meeting
Janaury 12-15, 2006
SC discusses facilitations.
SC goes around and introduces themselves.
Check Ins
Agenda Changes:
Kat would like to add worships.
Kristen gives suggestions.
Alice discusses concern to pick a time that people won't be too tired.
Kristen and Kat and Alice will do worship
Alice facilitates SC going over the schedule.
We talked about:
Discussion about relationship with UUA
AR/AO Workshop for April Meeting
What type of trainers we would want for AR work in the future
Expectations for Meeting:
Dale: Talk with the consultation see how it is going, board and uua relationship, I'm hoping that we will all become more committed and we will do a lot more work and be on the ball and a large chunk of YC.
Sara: Understand the consultation.
Dylan: Get together as a committee, I have feelings about these issues and it is really important to have a cohesive community, this doesn't seem nearly as over whelming as our last meeting.
Kat: Expect us to be an Anti-Racist community, strive to be anti-racist and inclusive.
Nan: Getting together piece, specifically building our relationships with eahother. How the youth office will change, how the YMAs will change, I'm curious about who hires them. So that we are aware, since everything has change a lot since year.
Kristen: I expectr that we attend to eachotehr's needs as best we can.
JooYoung: Great leaders and great members of a community.
Alice: Become closer, because I think that the business will be easier if we are closer, knew each other better.
Lyn: Better handle on communication, our responsibility in commuticating with the constituents (youth) also, that we get Youth Council Planned.
Dale asks what should be we do next?
Paul steps in! (:
We review. Paul checks in.
Expectations continue:
Paul: I was hoping that we can get through everything on the schedule, inbetween this meeting and next meeting do something cool like a replacement ConCon
Dale: Liasionship check ins.
Sara: The phone chain is made, and it can be distributed. We assigned the districts and be in contact with them, when that happens.
Kat: It says that on the YRUU website, that if their info is sent to the YOASS then it will be updated on the website.
Phone Chains:
Alice:
Central Midwest
Clara Barton
Becca:
Heartland
Ohio-Meadeville
Thomas Jefferson
Dale:
QuOM
Ballou Channing
NorthEast
Dylan:
St. Lawerence
Joseph Priestly
Kat:
PSWD
PNWD
FL
Lehna:
Metro NY
CSACs
WAM
Lyn:
Terry Stafford
Robert Smith
Mary Roffers
Nan:
Chester McCall
John Crestwell
Nan Moore
Paul:
WR
BCR
Tony:
MD
PS
MS
Sara:
Bart
PC
SW
Jesse Steps in and says HI.
Talk about agenda:
Kay Montgomery, is cool about lunch on Saturday.
AR AO discussion of what we want will be discussed.
.New Paul schedule is liked by Lyn.
Cleaned up version.
Friday night community building on CUV.
Separate POCAC times for debrief and then ID Groups.
Nan is willing to write it up.
Paul, we should check in about job jots, where are people at with job jots, and phone chains.
We talk about adding worship tonight.
Dylan Facilitates.
Job Jots:
Dylan, let's go around and talk about what we have done about job jots, starting with Alice:
Alice: Me and sara and Kat made the phone chain list, we still wanna do a little resource of concrete questions to ask. We worked on POCC Terms for YC.
Lyn: Paul and I did the collection of resources, we have a draft and we are waiting for additional information.
Dale: I haven't done any of that.
Sara: Phone chains, POCC terms, it's going along with that DRUUMM thing, blog setup, we have talked about it, but we don't know which group the blog is for.
Dylan: Youth Caucus staff, has been selected, I helped with that, but I wasn't really on the list, sorry about that.
Kat: Setup the blog, but we haven't done that, and JooYoung and I haven't really done much with the resources for POCC.
Paul: Collection of resources for districts from SC, generic thing as information about our group. And, yeah, that's all.
Nan: Orientations, I did an outline, and have it sent to the computer, ideas for orientations, and I sent that to lehna and becca, and the survey part, that slipped.
JooYoung: The ginko trees stink bad and made it impossible for us to make the POCC resource.
We take a 15 minute break
January 13, 2006
YRUU SC talks about outside guests
.
- Favoritism towards certain people.
- Are people allowed to have guests over night?
- Maybe we could have an evening activity, where people could meet steering committee.
- Weirdness with inviting specific people
- Focus on work and not on creating awkward situations
- What is the policy at EP to have people just stay over night.
Would anyone have a concern, that we won't have visitors, during SC meetings.
It's important that we bond together as a group.
We are in favor, as long as people understand why we are doing it. It does distract from business.
We need to build community
Taking everything in consideration it makes sense.
I'm hesitant on the issue. Because last years SC was so welcoming to me.
Facilitation Skills Workshop
Hooray! It was great
Back to the Meeting
Sara is Facilitating
Sara reviews the schedule.
We talk about the schedule and whether we will need two PoCAC time.
We break in to our groups
And Go out and have fun and eat food
We are back now, Tony is facilitating.
Community Building:
We didn't get through the whole list, we got a little over half and looked over notes and stuff like that.
Worship:
Good chunk of it done, as to what we want to do for the rest of the time, we just need to flesh it out more.
Special Events:
Let's all go some where, do something. Events that keep people at the Walker Center. Things to keep energy going during the meeting. Little things, we had thought about people jumping out of closets with costumes on, a chefs hat and vegan cookies, warm fuzzies - gifty things, 10 min dances, scavenger hunt, fun decathalon, UU walking tour, duck boats, smaller events at the walker center, bingo, renting a karaoke machine, dance parties, and board games.
We talk about the scheduling groups.
Relationship with the UUA
Sara: I would like to meet with the board, we can't be in a right relationship
with them if we aren't in relationship.
Alice: It's about being in right relationship, I feel like for us we are a new steering committee so what relationship,
we are the governing body of YRUU, but we aren't representing the past stuff.
Paul: I don't think it's bad blood, I think we need to come up with ways to work with them, like at GA. Just being proactive.
Dylan: I don't want to go right into it with out thinking, I'm worried that if we automatically go into it saying I'm sorry, I didn'tknow what I did, but I'll stop, I don't know what I did.
I feel like we just got caught in the middle of this, yeah we can be strong and do what we need to do, it's just, I have a lot of feelings around that.
Becca: I feel like even though there isn't any direct decision, that might sorta just happen, not intentional, I don't know what they are talking about, with the consultation, it's general evasiveness. The consultation will deal with that.
Lyn: I have a request, it'd be great if people could contact their trustees, do people know who their trustees are? Contact your own trustee and talk to them.
Jesse: They want to ask Youth Council to spend sometime to have a stakeholder gathering, and we're going to be asking YRUU if we can have that stakeholder gathering at Youth Council. I would suggest you to think about what you want YRUU to be. There is a long line of stuff that your not necessarily a part of, and I feel like it's time to help change this stuff. One of those problems is the relationship with administration, what you need out of that relationship, you need a strategy, there is no one else in YRUU who can do that, other than you. You need to strategize. That's my advice and perspective on it.
Kristen: Maybe I'm out of the loop, was the consultation, without any input with SC?
Sara: At youth council we got a list of the positions, and we were able to change the positions, but the intital thing, I do not know.
Paul: I'm not an expert, there was a proposal called common ground 3, in that form it didn't pass or not pass. That the administration, was kind of like, too bad, we're going to keep doing it, either way, at that meeting we knew that the money had already been allotted for it.
Jesse: That was essentially right, but the consent committee. As paul said, it wasn't passed, it was to put forth where to go from their...
Lyn: It was two youth councils before it came up. Because of the turnover, it just kept getting drop.
Nan: All the work that they had done, they had come up with suggestions was not being recognized.
Long range planning was meeting over a weekend, to talk about the future of YRUU.
Kristen: I hope that the SC, will let them know that although not all youth come through YRUU, many of them do.
Lyn: The board took it on with the Boston GA, the Sheraton Letter, people sleeping in common areas, challenging people, it was a mess, and so there was this great negotiation, between the board? And the Sheraton??? ? I think that might now be right I don't think it was disempowering, the board was not going to say, we're not going to do it.
Dale: I'm really upset with how this situation is going, a lot of our power got taken away by adults, and on top of that, it was taken away from a particular SC, no we haven't shown initiative, it's just something I find incredibly upsetting and against what YRUU is, we have to be really clear when we talk to the UUA, to let them know that it is inappropriate, unless people don't think it is, they don't' have to say that.
Nan: Can we talk in a circle? Just a suggestion?
Becca: The deciding factor, as far as, a lot of our institutional support, with the taking away of YPSes. Maybe something new will happen, since I mean YRUU leapt off the shoulders of LRY. YRUU has flaws but it has also made amazing strides.
Sara: I'm worried we will apologize and try to make it up and I'm a child and I got a bad report card and waiting for my dad to come home and yell at me. And it makes me feel bad, and things are up in the air and we aren't in communication at all.
Tony: I feel very similar. I was at YC that CommonGround 3 was brought up
Kat: Yeah, I sort of go back inbetween about feeling alright and sort of horrible about it. Youth empowerment with the help and support of adults is really awesome, and I have been experiencecs when adults have stepped in and said things needed to changed, and that adults should only be there for legal reasons, or wouldn't understand why they would take things over, but I think sometimes, adults have a lot of power and used to be in youth movements and care about this movement it's hard for me to figure out what the goal of the consultation is, it's revision youth programming, I don't know how or why. I'm also really worried, we have this opportunity to make change, also, I sort of feel that the change that we make could be easily dismissed, because if the consultation changes, what if this organization is disbanded or whatever, I'd feel really horrible, I couldn't be a part of. It would feel stolen.
Dylan: I think for me personally these sorts of converstiaons bring up bad blood, which I don't like them, but I just I feel , I felt like this was out of my hands, sort of out of our hands, that's really scary, and really trying to work in the frame work of the consultation, I've been trying, but I can't and I'm not. I personally don't know what to do. We're being told, we need help, so we'll take this from us, a lot of our power an voice has been taken away, a nd a lot of what we stand for as been taken away.
Paul: Yeah, we're in a really shitty spot. I don't know if the board would ever cooperate, we aren't going to get it back, as becca said, we can either hop on the train or watch it leave. We can either have a strong relationship with the UUA or not. We should make the most out of our conversation with Kay, and that what we want is heard.
Nan: I'm having a lot of emotions, the train thing, that's a really clear explanation, I have a hard time when the letter came about a lot of thing s that weren't cool, it felt shameful and punishing, it shuts people down, I feel like, the someways the leadership is being tokenized, this is kind of dictated to all you, this is one of the most skilled SC I have ever worked with. The relationship part, I hope that someone that can be transformed and shifted, but how can you have a conversation with no body. I know kay is going to be here tomorrow, and that will be great, and all the leaders are not at the table together, and I don't know how that could be created. Trying to make more better communication. The other problem I'm having between secrecy of what is confidential we've all heard fragmented stuff. And the selection of the YMAs, and that responsibility has been taken away. Who the are, and who's going to choose that, there were different people at the table, even someone of SC, to be a part of that, or something. Is that another thing, that folks are just going to decide.
Kristen confronts Lyn about a conflict in our discussion.
Kristen: It's hard when adults take over, I stuck around, the GA that was awful, they didn't have a consultation on race, the uproar was because they were treated poorly, UUs were asking me to park their cars, whenever youth get upset to me, yes I'm not a youth but I've always worked with youth of color. What is the problem really
Jesse: First of all to answer the question about the YMA thing, that is something that could be part of this discussion, there is going to be a hiring committee I am to ask the SC will appoint a member to join that committee, and bill sinkford will hire Jesse, SC Member, and former youth office person.
I often in my job, feel like, I'm a person with no place, and I'm feeling that very intensely. When I sit with this group, I feel like I am the administration when I sit with the administration, I feel like you there, and neither fully trust me, and that makes sense, I understand that, and every YPD has said that they have experienced the same exact thing, and it's hard for me to hear talk, because a lot of the deicions, you talk about are ones I helped to make and yes I am an adult, it has always been my hope and desire that these two communities could find a way to talk to eachother.
This is why I put so much stake into the consultation and worry about it. We're all UUs, and like cause I get frustrated, even been said here, dialougues that haven't happened, the youth weren't involved in the decision, the task force is 70% youth, when half the people were at the feb. meeting were youth, half of those youth were appointed by YRUU leadership, and yes, the board and . Stepped in and said this has to happen. I honestly don't know the structurally flaws that I see in YRUU, could have allowed for YRUU to get out of this circlular loop, I dunno maybe it could have and people like me were too impatient, but, I was hearing too many youth saying things need to change, and small groups of youth stop that. And frankly, I dunno. We need to find a way to get to the table and talk to eachother. Maybe the conversation tneeds to be that the leadership of YRUU and the Board needs to get together and talk, and figure this out.
JooYoung:
Alice:
My thoughts through this is that I don't know anything as a SC and as a youth of color, I see the consultation thing being really important and a lot of the priorities are really fucked up and that the things that any of it has been resolved, I feel like I don't know what is going on and everyone has all these feelings, and it gives me a very burnt out feeling and not feeling like I want to be involved.
Lyn:
I've been missing Beth, and that she wasn't able to be here, concerns and ideas floating around, and echo Jesse there has been a lot of requests and desire for SC and Youth Council input, their in our reports - that things aren't happening in districts, and that is the impetous to take the 'train' that won't run off the tracks but change the direction. The consultation isn't about destruct/restrict. What I ask is we talk about what we want to ask Kay tomorrow. People should contact their trustee to start more dialogue.
Dale:
It's a question about the next step.
Tony: I'd also like to say something, there's something I'm worried about the consultation, about us jumping on the train, and I'm afraid that they will kick us off at the next stop.
Becca: Do we want to do something other than this large group stuff.
Sara: Can we caucus, we feel like we need to caucus.
Kristen: It feels like Jesse and Lyn, when I asked it wasn't shared, I heard something different, during, and maybe it might be nice to know for the SC to know the history, all that stuff. That the history is being held, and maybe leadership responsibility, but that's a part of the problem.
Dale: I knew that history, but I have problems with that process that is in an unaccountable way, and they don't have any choice that this is what we have and we this is what we were stuck with.
January 14, 2006
Becca is Facilitating
We talk about Kay and her job position.
We break into small groups
Becca: Can we go around in a circle.
Kat: Can somebody scribe?
Lehna: I can.
Becca: Do we want to have further discussion about this? Further clarification? Anything more you'd like to discuss?
Paul: We can group questions to gether. Create a more concise list.
Nan: Ask her if there is anything she would like to ask use.
Lehna: Will it be a back and forth conversation or us asking questions
Lyn: Seems it should be a conversations
Kat: Bring consice questions and have a conversations with her
Lehna: we should answer question as well.
Becca: Will a volunteer condense the questions on either butcher paper or notebook paper.
Kat: Have a facilitator have all the questions and give people a chance to talk.
Kat: Agrees to facilitate.
Dylan: We should do it together. Hash out some of the answers like Lehna said.
We read the list.
Alice: Says, get rid of the discuss the consultation, because it is repeating.
Kat: We'll tell her we are meeting with jova and ian later.
Paul: A lot of what is 'building a relationship, right relationship, what has the past been like"
Dylan: What is right relationship, and how can we work to achieve it
Kat: can I see some hand signals on that?
Discussion with Kay
Tell her about the work we are doing and decisions we are making. (5 points)
Ask about family/nice things
What is her experience with YRUU?
What is right relationship? And how can we work together to achieve it?
What has the UUA gotten from SC, what do they need from SC?
What is her idea about Youth Empowerment and how it fits into YRUU and UUA's relationship.
Where does she feel the consultation is going? Give our update.
Do a circle, do name, where we are from, and something funny about a community I belong to, and why YRUU is special or important to them.
We brainstorm about the work we are doing and decisions we are making.
At the start of this conversation, it was being domineered by adults, even though it was for information, after the popcorn a lot of white males were talking, step up and step back, go around was good.
Kat: do we want to continue and make a brainstorm list of things we want to share with kay? Should we maybe and go around in a circle and share stuff, important to Kay?
Sara: Do we want to go to groups?
Lehna: I think we should do it together?
Alice: I think it would take less time if we did it popcorn style.
Energy Break-Frog Game
Break
Alice is now facilitating.
Discussion of some issues at past events.
Meeting with Kay
Kay: Sometimes it means Bill, sometimes it means ill and me and sometime's it means senior staff, it's hard to get a hold of, no one knows what they mean, when they use that phrase, and says Administration.
It is complicated because everything changes constantly, staff, board and SC, let me just pause over that problem, if you do est. a relationship with SC, the next year you don't know them again, it's hard to capture with that, it's even true for the YPSes, there are some that stay in touch with me, and have a real relationship with them, but a year working in the same environment goes by really fast, and some that I never got o have a relationship with, I don't know what the solution.
Due to this, people gain an opinion about the YRUU SC, and the administration - but who knows what that is, and the board changes, but to what
I'll work out a time when space is available, I'll invite not the entire board or staff, because, I'll invite the SC and a group of staff and board and workout some way to know who one another is and kind know where you are.
The consultation and the incidents at GA have helped to push the movement of everything.
Lyn: We will be at the walker center, and if the elections were able to take the t they could meet staff at administration at 25.
Kay: Can she work something out during the board discussion for YRUU SC to meet the BOT. Someone has to take the first step towards movement.
Kat: Try to figure out what is left, how about, um. Where do you feel the consultation is going? We already kind of said that we aren't in the know but she want to make sure that the anti-racist support that was offered isn't lost during the consultation isn't lost.
Kay: Jesse probably could answer that better, I have dropped out of that discussion, as you will find out from Jova and Ian, I dunno precisely where they are, and so my guess is right now it's all about process, and no decisions have been tenetively been done.
All of us need ot be committed to make sure that none of the antir-racism is lost. Which obviously you have been doing, and I think that might be important to say that.
Kat: What is your idea about youth empowerment and how does it fit into YRUU and the UUA relationship.
Kay: I think youth empowerment means different things to different people, like the phrase right relationship, sometimes it gets used as a na opening and a sledge hammer, actually what would be an interesting thing to do, where I pull people together around a discussion about youth empowerment, what's scary and useful about it, the phrase youth empowerment.
Kat: What has the UUA received in the past and what do they need from SC?
Kay: This is a brilliant question. If the relationship was good, if it had legs, I could have a ½ dozen answers for that, I'm sure it's gotten things, but I don't have quick answers, that's how out of relationship we are, I'd love to say that this and that happened, and this creative idea, I can't give you any answer to that, and also, and if I flipped the question, what has the SC gotten from board or administration, I bet you won't say--- you might say Grief, (: But there isn't enough being passed back and forth to give an authentic answer. IS there something, I had wished you had thought of, do you know the answer to that.
Kat: From YRUU is the future,
JooYoung: You get employees.
Kay: I don't know what SC wants from Administration, I mean I could makes something up, it needs to grow out of something mutual, I love that question, incase you haven't noticed, that's a good question for the consultation to think about it.
Jesse: We should bring that up during the meeting.
Kay: Because if there was a history of good answers, and I've been around, if there was a history of good answers it would sustain us when things got rocky, if there is a history than that is the back up and support when things get tricky, we don't have the stuff of relationship, to fall back on when things get troubling.
Kat: Would you like to talk about anything? About GA?
Kay: I'll say a little bit, and then encourage you to I was involved in the interviewing for the learning more about GA.
The final report was supposed to be done in January and they are still absorbing all the information, they will have their final report done in April, they are doing a workshop at GA, and I know many things are going to be done to followup, I will urge you to be involved in those conversations, who said what to whom, but I do think that there are things we can learn from how things played out and it's really important, and I am going to kind of plead with you to be active in paying attention people want two things, for that group to come up with the truth, with exactly what happened, and seem to be direct opposites, and people won't get that, and another thing is a promise and security and these are the things we will need to do, and what we can suggest is how to figure out, to have generall assembly be a safer place, how we can deal with things that go badly so they don't blow up.
Kat: Wouldn't that mean trying to solve the problem or stop the person that is upset.
Kay: I know that there would lead you to leave that real racist oppressive behavior, and we can't stop that, but we can create a process to deal with it.
JooYoung: Gives suggestion about GA and a letter to St. Louis
Kay: It's funny, I was thinking that I was so grateful, and it hadn't occurred to me to invite myself, and esp. given, the thing to do is REACH out.
Dale is now facilitating
Dale: How about we talk about support for youth of color in districts, we only have a half and hour until the consultation.
Jesse: Ian can't get here till later, around 5:00, is there a possibility to change the consultation stuff till after dinner. Sure it's what ever you want to do, probably 6, and 7:00 might be a better time to start.
Kat: We're we caucusing.
Sara: Yeah we came down and we noticed that you all weren't and then kay came.
Kat: We still have work to do, and maybe we can caucus and work on some stuff.
Nan: There is the discussion for support for POC and then there is caucusing time. There is a chunk of time
JooYoung: We should def. differentiate between POCAC time and ID Caucusing or POC support discussion.
Sara: At least an hour.
Kat: the youth council groups slot one hasn't met again, and get that in our heads. An hour is that good?
POCAC and kat are working on revising, and white people will do ally stuff.
We return, Dylan is facilitating
We are talking about communication
Dylan: what's best for people, do we want to have more frequent conference calls, and even if we don't have agenda items we could check in with each other, what is the best at what.
Decision making through online surveys
Becca Joins Us
Made big decisions over conference calls.
Conference calls can be hard if it's a busy time in my life.
Putting up a big sign to remind you
Personal organizing
Buddy System to help us remember to go to calls
Dylan: there is an idea on the table about have a buddy
JooYoung: it'd be great for buddies to be able to strategize how to be a buddy
Kat: Be buddies with the people on the left and right of you.
Becca: Can I be buddies with Paul?
Paul: It'd be good that someone in your group is an email person
Dylan: Do we want to go from email/phone pairs from the list
Alice: two people is too much
Tony: It'd be easier for them to be in the same time zone, not more than one time zone over.
Kat: What if we broke up in time zones.
Lyn and Nan
Dale and Dylan
Lehna and Alice
Sara and Tony
Becca and Paul
Kat and JooYoung
How do you want YRUU best to be involved in this process.
Jesse: There is taskforce money, but not enough for a separate conference. But there is money to have druumm yaya or another group to attend.
Kat: It'd be great to have it at either GA or Youth Council.
Sara: yes it's classist we can't even afford to go.
Kat: yeah, maybe we can add on a day, or do more to like bring in other people for it, other reps.
Jova: Maybe people who were heavily involved that have left.
Nan: Are we brainstorming people? Past YPSes too, past SC members, and also young adults or youth that are on committees that were passed YRUU leaders.
Paul: I feel like adding a day, all the other business we do
Ian: More time for consultation stuff.
Alice: Watching this is about local YRUU and strengthening that, so inviting people who are involved in their youth groups and aren't involved in district and continental.
Dylan: What is our contract, if we do that would we be able to flex this.
Jesse: There are churches nearby.
We wrote more on the list, and now we are in a discussion about clusters.
Becca: There was a rumor of cluster leadership
They continue to talk about clusters
Jesse: It's important to talk about everything and look at who is the most important and who can pick in the most important people. You might be able to bring 10 - 15 people.
Lehna: Can they have district gatherings and invite other people to devote a part of their conference to this, have a conference abou-I dunno.
Becca: Someone also to, a discussion about brining ableism into YRUU events and having them to be differently abled folks.
Paul: When we were talking about classism, it'd be great to have child care there and nursery there.
Kat: When dealing with childcare, for the different conferences that are made, to ask local people of members of congregations, to help with child care, to keep it low expense.
NEXT STEPS:
Creating an application that care about YRUU and really would like to be at this meeting could apply and come.
Showing a GRID of exactly from congregational to continental power.
Where we spend our money, as to where we want to spend our money, and how much money we want.
Who is doing the design of all the information that is discovered, the summit.
Feed information to the taskforce, but more importantly, each of these groups
Lehna: Some sort of chart as to what has already been done. Send it out, so people will know.
Jova: In this process, we can change how our stake holder meeting will look different than druumm..
Becca: As a next step, should we ask the YCRs how they feel about all of this? If they had some sort of say, maybe in the questionnaire we are putting out for the YCRs?
Nan: Do you mean the questionnaire? And the phone chain?
Becca: Yeah it will be a questionnaire first, and if they don't fill it out we will call them.
Paul: We are talking with all the youth council members, so that is what the survey is.
Becca: Should we ask Youth Council Members
Lehna: A blog would be really good, to let them know what is going on about the consultation.
Dale: Prioritize to be invited to the oh okay.
Jova: We needed to generate a list of who we want to go.
THIS IS FINDING - the people's voices you want to hear and make some suggestions.
We are trying to find out if there is consensus for having the summit, at Youth Council.
Sara: Why are we going to ask YCRs if it is okay, if we are already going to agree that it's okay.
Dale: The decision we have to make is, are we representing youth council, I feel that we represent youth council.
Kat: I sorta think if we ask who is on now, it would be good.
Paul: youth council, there are no other options, and still consult YCRs and find out how they want it to happen or look like.
Kat: Also, we were having a conversation about phone chains, and add the current POCC, and add them into the phone chains.
Jova: Do we have consensus to have it at YC.
People say YES.
Jova: would anyone like to work with us? On this? It's a series of
conference calls, and I k now you paul said:
wouldn't it make sense to have the business working group, work with the taskforce?
Kat: I was wondering could we add, uh support for people of color and other marginalized identities.
Jesse: I have one question? Did this whole time address the anxiety?
Nan: Can you share more about your experience?
Ian: So basically, the taskforce, it's a meeting, and sat in a circle and talked about a lot of stuff, for me I tried to bring up a lot of things that people talked about at YC and my own experience, and focused on things that people brought up, it was good experience.
Jova: It was an interesting weekend, it was really good, I like need to get more on to email stuff, and I'm slacking but I'm working on that. YRUU wise, a lot is going to change, it's not going to be the change or a little bit, YRUU continental is going to be change a lot. It could be a good thing, it's just going to be really different, it will be challenging, it's not continentally focused, it's a lot of localized, in terms of YRUU, I wish it would be talked about, a lot of the YRUU stuff didn't get talked about, as much as I had wanted. They are very focused on local youth, and it's slacking on AR/AO, it needs work, I just, it's an interesting thing, and I know that Beth and Jesse are working really hard on this.
There are youth on the task force. It's pretty evened out for the most part, but the only youth on the list serv, and I need to step up more, is Sara. I wish that more youth voice stuff would be, more support to say stuff, I don't really feel talking about certain stuff with Bill, because it's pretty intimidating. I hope you are prepared for it, because at first I was like What the Hell. It could be really good.
Ian: We have a really good facilitator, talking with you all today, helped us think of ways to step up on AR AO
Jova: Some of the people on the task force, are not really there, I know with process stuff was kind of weird.
Ian: I was really amazed, we got a lot done. This weekend went really well. UT used a lot of different techniques.
Jova: It talked a lot about how adults and youth need to start working together, it was really great. We got a lot done, I'm shocked we got it all done.
JooYoung:
Jova: I think that the problem with ARAO within the UUA, is that youth do it, I know that other groups do, but I'm kinda, it is a local problem, I dunno why we aren't doing more of it, and I kind of tried to mention it, and we tried, but it kinda didn't really happen. It might have been like.
Ian: What it seemed to me was how ARAO is going to be built into the different representations and the surveys, as far as how to focus on it afterwards, it was mentioned but not stressed, as you have said that they said that local youth don't need it but
Jova: It's a necessary thing
Beth: The next meeting, part taskforce meeting and part training for facilitators, and I think an ARAO training will be there and how to facilitate in an antiracist and anti-oppressive way.
Lyn: What makes you say that it will change so radially.
Jova: It's a feeling, it's just like how, you wanna change youth council, I think this will have an effect on that, and maybe it will be more locally based, but I don't see in the three years the same youth council and events. And if it stays the same it would be a waste.
Ian: I don't see it as a bad change, but different.
Lyn: Better!
Jova: I think if there was more focus on ARAO it would be really amazing.
Becca: They have been very clear that it's not about just yruu but restructuring youth ministry, and that the new structures won't support YRUU, and YRUU would cease to exist.
Jova: It will still be YRUU, but really different, and the YRUU that I've been apart of will not be the same. Is that sort of answering the question.
Becca: Well they have said, they are restructuring youth mininstry, and not YRUU, but
Ian: YRUU is a group of people but
Beth: It's not about getting rid of YRUU, it's about strengthening YRUU. It's more than just YRUU and about youth ministry as a whole, and YRUU is part of it, but that in't all of it.
Lehna: Is there a way to even out and make it more balanced, and not only local YRUU needs to be changed too, as well on the district level. And not only local.
Jova: They been pretty clear that it's not based on continentally based.
Lehna: Not based but balanced, shouldn't we have the same amount of time.
Jesse: I hear that, and I think that where the misconception, is that, it's supposed to revision how we do ministry with and to youth, and that's what we are trying to do, I don't YRUU to be restructured without YRUU. This process we have been talking about, is YRUU's chance to do that. YRUU is a part of that, this is an opportunity for YRUU to begin that change.
Jova: I can see the way I've see the imbalance. I'd think, this is strictly a local thing, I could see that.
Lehna: What I mean is that, not necessarily continental youth, and also involves local district and continental, and not just churches, but it needs to be balanced.
Ian: Youth Ministry, is what UUA does for you. Not every church does YRUU, so there is already a structure for YRUU, and we're talking a whole group for YRUU and the focus on local is there because there is already a focus on YRUU. And the changes that we make, will affect YRUU but
Lehna: Shouldn't it be, I don't think it's fair to focus on one thing, just because they haven't done as much, YRUU needs to completely change to support people of color and marginalized people of color.
Jova: If we do all the changes we should focus equally on local, continental, district and regional. The taskforce has to do the local change because there is no one else to do it. And we will revision YRUU, it's a matter of who's doing what.
Lehna: How do people in YRUU know I don't see how this is right relationship if they are not in relationship. It just doesn't make sense to me, because from the meeting I went to, the consultation meeting it was like the local youth didn't feel okay going to district or continental youth stuff. Changing them separately, it doesn't seem, I don't know where the adults come into play.
Jova: I was really scared that it was going to end continental YRUU, but now not so much, that after all we do this local and district, so there is a little bit of a fear still there, knowing that there will be bridges built, I don't really, esp. like, being there since the February meeting, it sort of feels that way. It seems like it's going to come out of YC. All of that stuff with SC never mind.
Beth: One concern is the YRUU changes to the local, by then we'll have all the info back from the congregations, what have congregations said about their congregations and YRUU, so there is that, and I was just thinking another concern, is the big focus on the local level and not on the continental level, it's there is that perception, where we are focused on the congregational level is with the congregations and my work has been with the local level, and we will be having a conversations with continental, but that is later in the time line.
You can go to Jova and Ian with questions.
Nan: Can we do a check out.
SUNDAY MORNING
10 a.m.: Open with worship - Sing and Nan reads from "All About Love" by bell hooks
Sara facilitates.
Talk about the schedule for this morning. There's lots we can do over the phone.
This morning: 2nd YC working groups (AR/AO, Business, Schedule) until 11 a.m.
Paul Process observations:
A lot of peoples actions needed to called out not but people seemed to share talking time ok except for specific times. Example of actions was white people not caucusing during caucusing time. At some times adults would dominate the conversation and Jesse spent most of his time sitting near the head of the table.
Evaluation of the Meeting
Sara: We need not forget these processing
Dale: (I did not get this)
Becca: We need to get here at the same time. More AR/AO training for next meeting. Read out processing from past meeting at next meeting.
Joo Young: This meeting helped me grow. Felt empowered by everyone here. There was a lot of things going on that I could not put my finger on but this meeting help me understand it. Need to advocate for you all and my self.
Alice: I am really warn out in various different ways.
Paul: tired and worn out. I have to do a lot of thinking. It was a something meeting. Need to book AR trainers for the next meeting. Like to thank Joo Young for all of her work.
Kat: Before next meeting we put this eval on the list serve so that we will be thinking about. Need to bring back our covenant so we are reminded. Have a lot of mixed emotions. People do not get out of their comfort zone.
Lyn: Not as tired as last night. Next meeting will be a lot different because at the walker center. Next meeting will be a challenge. Covenant needs to be reviewed
Dylan: doing remarkablely better then before. Process why this is. We have a lot of work to be done.
Nan: When I first got here it was hard to get present. Turned a corner at the worship. Deeper level of compassion for everyone who works at the youth office. The work is really important and we all see that. Come of with different ways to do phone chains and stuff. Greatful that I am hear. Greatful to be in the process and feeling more present.
Paul: the agenda process was not fair and was un-accountable.