By Ben Kidder, Alena Acker, Micaela Christopher, and Geoff Woodman

So, your district YRUU pours hundreds of dollars into transportation fees for your Youth Council Representative every year, and what do you get back for it? This resource was created by the Resolution to Increase District and Local Participation in Youth Council (YC 1999) in order to provide a means of making sure your YCR is representing you at the continental level of YRUU.

Who is my YCR?

All of Canada, the United States, and Mexico are divided into districts of the UUA. The youth of each of these districts elect a representative to Youth Council, the governing body of continental-level YRUU. This means that every member of YRUU has a district YCR who is responsible for representing her/him to Youth Council. In addition, there are four at-large representatives to Youth Council: the Jr. High representative, the Post-High representative, the Canadian representative, and the Social Action at-large. Each of these is responsible for conveying the opinions of their constituencies to the national level.

What should my Youth Council Representative be doing?

The responsibilities of a YCR are defined by the YRUU Bylaws, the YRUU Policies and Procedures, Youth Council Resolutions, and other YRUU publications. The YCR job description covers four main goals. All YCRs, including district reps and at-large reps, should: 1. Represent the interests of their constituencies at the continental level 2. Promote and implement the decisions of Youth Council and Steering Committee in their districts and local youth groups, 3. Facilitate communications between the different levels of YRUU, and 4. Develop leadership and youth empowerment among the districts and local groups they represent.

• YCRs should represent the concerns of youth in their district/constituency at youth council by
  1. Holding sessions for input from members of their districts/constituencies to find out what their opinions of the policies and activities of Youth Council.
  2. Encouraging youth in their district/constituency to write resolutions for Youth Council.
  3. Recruiting people to apply for each At-Large position on Youth Council.
  4. Other
• In their districts/constituencies, YCRs should lobby for and implement decisions and ideas that have come out of Youth Council by
  1. Understanding and being aware of the issues that have been raised at Youth Council.
  2. Publicizing the decisions that come out of Youth Council.
  3. Finding concrete ways to implement the ideas into action.
  4. Other
• YCRs should facilitate communications with the Continental Youth Structure by
  1. Being active in on the local, district, and continental levels of YRUU (this goes for at-large reps too).
  2. Sending flyers, minutes of district meetings (district reps), and newsletters to the Youth Office.
  3. Writing and soliciting articles, pictures, and graphics for Synapse.
  4. Putting all of the Youth Council members on their mailing list for fliers and newsletters.
  5. Sending names and contact information of all leaders in their districts and constituencies to the Youth Office.
  6. Publicizing upcoming continental events such as Con Con, Youth Caucus at GA, and the YRUU Social Justice Conference.
  7. Sending in periodic district/constituency reports to the Youth Office.
  8. Other
• YCRs should foster leadership in their districts/constituencies by
  1. Informing local groups on ways to get involved in the district and on the continental level, as well as how members of local groups can connect with other members of the at-large constituencies.
  2. Collecting names, addresses, phone numbers, and birth dates of youth to send to the Synapse mailing list.
  3. Promoting district/constituency Leadership Development Conferences and Advisor Training Conferences.
  4. Establishing communication with the district Board of Trustees (district reps).
  5. Keeping records of their work and passing them along.
  6. Other

What should I do if my YCR is not doing these things?

A YCR that neglects her or his position is a serious issue, perhaps more serious than if another district officer were doing the same thing because of the amount of money invested by each district in its YCR. Unfortunately, both districts and the continental structure of YRUU have traditionally been lax in evaluating the performance of YCRs, one of the problems this resource is attempting to remedy.

There are many ways of dealing with a troublesome district YCR. Many districts have established rules for how do deal with officers that neglect their responsibilities that usually involve a warning, a meeting of the YAC/District Governing Body, and in extreme situations, removal from office. However, with YCR’s (both district reps and at-larges) there is an additional level of support in the continental YRUU structure. The Youth Office is always available for consultation if you have any sort of trouble with your YCR.

Contacts

A copy of the YRUU Bylaws, Policies and Procedures, the Youth Council Resolution Archives, a list of the current members of Youth Council and other information about the structure of continental YRUU can be found here on the YRUU Website. Also, the Youth Office can be reached at (617) 948-4350