Hey guys,

PR is important right now, as you all know, like, way important.

Remember that phone tree of ancient days that we made when we planned to call
important figures in the PCD to talk about our policies? That is still happening! Yay!
Abbie and I started a spreadsheet, and I have finished it now. It contains contact
information for every Reverend, DRE, Board President and church office in the district.

Our phone tree idea has taken on a new form. Instead of calling -everyone- (which is
roughly 156 phone calls), Council (whether you remember or not) has decided to have
regional meetings with every congregation in the district (except some very far out of the
way churches). We gotta all help out with this.

How do you do a meeting? Whaaat?

Who leads this meeting?

- at least two council youth
- at least one NCUUCC board member
- at least one council adult

Who is invited?
- YRUUP youth of the congregations
- parents of children and/or current YRUUP youth of the congregation
- congregational board members
- reverends
- DREs
- interested parties of the congregations

How do we make it clear that youth are facilitating?

- speak respectfully always and explain that at the beginning deliberately
- if an uninvolved party (ie adults, ministers, dres, parents) speaks out of turn or
seems to be undermining your role, give them the benefit of the doubt and
assume they forgot the hand signals b/c they are used to their kinds of meetings
- yes, even if you know fsho that they just don’t respect you
- yes, even if you know fsho that they know full well they just think they have more
authority
How do we make adults feel respected, involved and informed about and with youth
policies and procedures and traditions and how to help them be comfortable having a
grown up discussion with us baby-kids?
- be unfailingly respectful, patient and kind.
- carefully explain how council runs meetings so that guests of this meeting are
more informed about how we work and feel included as part of our group; equals
- treat every question as important and valid (even when they ask the same ones
over and over in different words, or ones that are weird or random or
insignificant)

MEETING OUTLINE

Hello
- Who are we?
- council youth name, title
- council youth name, title
- council adult name
- NCUUCC adult name, (title?)
- What is YRUUP?
- explain acronym
- quick blurb, elevator pitch about mission
- We seek to empower our youth to leadership, helping them to
realize their full potential as active forces of change in their
communities and lives. We serve youth regardless of  their
affiliation with any congregation or religion, or lack thereof,
choosing instead to create programming which accepts all, but is
built around the values and traditions of Unitarian Universalism.
- What is NCUUCC?
- explain acronym
- quick blurb, elevator pitch about mission
- Why are we here?
- to get information out, answer questions and address concerns
- recently YRUUP reaffiliated under NCUUCC and so the youth council has
taken this opportunity to reassess our bylaws, policies and procedures to
make YRUUP an entirely better program and organization for our youth
- with so many changes to this long-standing youth organization, many
parents, minsters, DREs and general members of the PCD have brought
their comments, questions and concerns to us in welcome open
conversation
 - this meeting is to open conversation with you and your congregations, to
answer questions and share perspectives from everybody involved
- What is happening today?
- we will be facilitating discussion about YRUUP
- address common questions/concerns
- open the floor to discussion
- reps from both entities to address concerns and other
questions
- How does it work?
- in council, we use hand signals to let the facilitator and others know that
we would like to speak
- comment: (as you might expect) raise hand and make eye contact;
facilitator will write you down and we will speak in order
- specific clarifying question: sign language X/means question
- answer to one of those questions (point of information): sign
language I
- agreement: nod hand
- dissent: shake hand
- we appreciate your efforts to kind of do things our way for a bit, and we
know it is probably new and different to you

Reaffiliation
- Why did we leave the district?
- regionalization
- ?
- ?
- control over funds with NCUUCC
- ?
- ?
- open conversation with NCUUCC
- ?
- ?
- Why NCUUCC?
- still affiliated with UUA
- region is similar to that of PCD
- similar ideas about youth empowerment
- ?
- ?
Basic Facts to remember:
- YRUUP age range is 14-20
- YRUUP is run by a youth council and youth leaders in conjunction with adult
advisors
- when a breach of covenant occurs, an adult in the involved youth’s life and, when
necessary, the proper authorities are contacted

Common Questions:

Who learns about breaches of covenant?

Breaches of covenant are handled with an eye toward restorative justice within the
framework of national and California law.  When there is a breach of covenant, the
immediate response is to assess the situation in a Conference Affairs Committee, which
involves peers, youth leaders, an adult adviser, and the youth who has broken the
covenant. Recently we have made changes and additions to our policies and
procedures to try and make them safer and better for our youth. Articles 3 and 4 of our
Policies and Procedures cover general event policies and mandatory reporting.

Article 3, Section 16: Breaches of Covenant will be reported to the NCUUCC Board
President in compliance with the NCUUCC Bylaws and Policies, and applicable state
laws. Reports will anonymously detail the rule infraction and the action taken to resolve
the issue.

Article 3, Section 17: When a breach of Covenant occurs, the offending youth will be
required to contact an adult in their life. This adult may be a parent, minister, godparent,
counselor, or other trusted adult in the community. The goal of informing the adult is not
to implement a means of punishment, but it is intended to foster healthy and thoughtful
conversation about the youth's actions and the direct consequences.

Article 4, Section 2: Incidents will be immediately reported to the NCUUCC Board

President, who will then collaborate with the executive committee.

Article 4, Section 3: The Incident Report Form must be completed and submitted to
NCUUCC within 36 hours of the incident.

Article 4, Section 4: In the event of a mandatory reporting issue, the parents or

guardians of the involved youth will be contacted if the youth is a minor, unless
otherwise prohibited by California state law.

We take the safety and wellbeing of our youth very seriously, and the core concept is to
contact someone who would be beneficial to the youth in question, which can differ for
each youth. In addition, privacy is a fundamental need and right of every human being,
and should be kept in mind at all times. As with social workers, therapists, ministers and
community leaders similar to us, we work within a framework of confidentiality which
requires discretion in almost all cases excepting situations of harm or abuse. This is to
avoid harmful gossip, shaming and/or bullying of youth that are involved in breaches of
covenant to any extent. We have done our best to keep parents involved while also
respecting the emotional and privacy needs of youth that are not in danger.

Why isn’t there a uniform way in dealing with breaches of covenant?

Breaches of covenant almost always involve very personal feelings and situations. Our
utmost priority is to support the youth in question through this process of restorative
justice. This can vary for different youth, so rule infractions must be dealt with on a
situational basis in order to cater to the needs and psychological well-being of that
particular youth. There is not a uniform “consequence” or response to breaches
because the situation is always different, but breaches are initially always handled with
a CAC made of youth leaders, peers, and an adult advisor that assess the situation and
help formulate the best outcome that embodies restorative justice while pertaining to the
needs of the youth.

Article 3, Section 14: Any violation of the YRUUP Covenant will be dealt with by a
Conference Affairs Committee (CAC), which is a facilitated conversation geared towards
repairing damage and implementing restorative justice. In a CAC, conference
leadership addresses any breach of covenant with the offending party and explains to
them the repercussions of their actions. The offending party is given the opportunity to
explain their actions and acknowledge the following repercussions. Conference
leadership and the offending party collaborate on the appropriate methods on
restorative justice/discipline. These consequences vary based on circumstantial factors
and may range from a required formal apology to the YRUUP community, to a
permanent dismissal from YRUUP events.

Age range is an issue. We should be in compliance with other districts and

national trends.

The age range for YRUUP programming is currently 14-20 inclusive. This particular age
range is very intentional and serves to benefit the community in many ways. Our age
range, in addition to not being the broadest in the nation, allows youth in different
developmental stages to interact and lets youth at the lower edge of the range work side
by side with older role models in both a peer relationship and a mentorship capacity,
providing confidence and guidance without restricting agency. These interactions have
proven invaluable, as youth are able to turn to peers who have dealt with situations
(withon both leadership responsibilites and their lives in general) similar or identical to
theirs, resulting in a comfortable and respectful environment in which advice can be
passed freely without condescension or hierarchial authority. In fact, many of our youth
leaders credit their peer mentors with influencing their lives for the better and instilling in
them a dedication to Unitarian Universalism. Our model of youth empowerment would
not be possible with too narrow an age range, as certain positions would have to be
filled by youth who had yet to develop the skills and experiences necessary to
effectively lead a community.

Additionally, having a youth program that extends through age 20 allows for a legitimate
time of bridging and transition from youth to young adulthood. This “bridge” provides a
stable environment of support for youth going through a time of major transition, as well
as allowing for flexibility in the face of diverse life paths. This system of bridging is
invaluable, as youth are provided a safe space to explore a more gradual transition out
of youth and into young adulthood, whether that transition occurs at age 16 or age 20,
without fear of losing a meaningful, supportive community during what is often a very
stressful and trying chapter of life. The majority of youth choose to make this transition
at age 18 or 19.

There is a concern that so many youth are unaffiliated with a congregation. What
is the ministers’ role in bridging that gap?

Many youth within our community come from non-congregational backgrounds, or

consider themselves non-religious. However, many of our youth simply haven’t been
exposed to the work that ministers do. We welcome ministers to come see how our
conferences work, and have always appreciated when they have been visible points
throughout the weekend, be that through welcoming the youth during orientation on the
first night of the event, participating in our all-con activities, or otherwise interfacing with
the community. Attending our nightly worship services can also help ministers
understand the spiritual needs of the youth, and get ideas for activities that could be
brought to congregational services to attract, appeal to, and include youth and young
adults.

How exactly does the affiliation with the sponsoring group work?
NCUUCC is the larger legal body that holds us in their insurance policy. We are more
like a partner organization than a program, because unlike Family Camp and others like
it, we have our own council and elections and we are our own group self run, instead of
run by NCUUCC. YRUUP has elected two community members to serve year long
terms as voting members of the NCUUCC board, and not just about things having to do
with YRUUP, but with any and every thing that NCUUCC is doing. NCUUCC will also
have a liaison of their own that will attend our Council meetings. We intend to work as
partners with the common goal of youth empowerment in YRUUP.

Open the floor to discussion. Answer questions as best as you can.

- if you don’t know the answer, look to other representatives
- if no one knows the answer, ask the person if theyd like to be called or emailed
later to continue discussion when we have an answer, and mark them down if
they say yes

- not nearly as thoughtful as we are and weve really thought about practicality

Closing
- ask if anyone would like to be called or emailed for further discussion or more
direct, specific questions answered (mark them down and follow up)
- remind them about
- website
- where all our resources are located
- about the next event and registration for youth
- contact page on website where they can contact us at any time with any
questions/comments
- continuing open conversation

Post-Meeting
- be certain to follow up with those who asked you to
- call and/or email the key members (ministers, dres, church presidents) who were
unable to be at the meeting (if there were any)
- only call the church office if there were no key members from that congregation
or if you could not meet with that congregation physically