We’ve included their bios below and encourage you to get in touch with them and say hello.

Julian Michels

Hey UUs! I’m Julian Michels, and a denizen of the Pacific Northwest’s vibrant liberal religious community. As a youth, I traveled the gamut of spiritual experiences, from Jewish mysticism to born-again Christianity, but I always found myself back, UUing it up again, before very long. Now, I’m a graduate student researching the psychology of stories. My special interest is in system analysis and design: a fascination that I’ve honed as a community policy-maker for UUs and other organizations here in the Northwest.

When I’m not cultivating my mad scientist persona, I like to write poetry, improvisationally jam stories, practice martial arts, and meditate on the beauty of systemic creativity. My favorite author is Ursula K. LeGuin.

Dan Schlorff

Greetings! It’s a privilege to join the CUUYAN Steering Committee for 2009-2010. I came to UU when I realized my previous denomination would not embrace me if they knew my sexuality or personal theology. I now identify as ex-ex-gay and evangelically humanistic in my Christianity. My goal in CUUYAN and in my lifespan work as Director of Religious Education in New Haven, CT is to make a place for everyone to worship and grow and reach out to others.

I hold degrees from Olivet Nazarene University and Meadville-Lombard Theological School, and I am continuing professional studies in New Haven, CT. My dogs, Chicken (9 yrs) and Stewie, (3.5 yrs) love me very much. To feed my spirit, I sing bass in two ensembles: the Yale Camerata and Yale Pro Musica, and I am a member of the Church of the Larger Fellowship.

We also have an opening for the C*UUYAN Observer to the UUA’s Board of Trustees. This position is critical for keeping the C*UUYAN community informed and engaged with the conversations and issues which impact our movement. The person appointed would be responsible for attending three Board meetings (as well as relevant committee meetings) which take place on weekends in Boston, and providing reports not only to the steering committee but also to the broader C*UUYAN body. The job description for the C*UUYAN observer to the board can be found here.

Interested in either of these positions? For more information email us at cuuyan-sc@yahoogroups.com.

Click here to fill out an application.

Here’s the online address:
https://webmeeting.dimdim.com:443/portal/JoinForm.action?confKey=cwulff

The phone number for the call is:
702-473-3463
Access Code is 298533

Meeting is 3:00-5:00pm EST (adjust for your local time)

We’ll go over how to make the whole webmeeting thing work and some of the procedural questions right at the beginning of the meeting.

Thanks to those who have confirmed their attendance and to all of you for your support of C*UUYAN. We look forward to talking with you tomorrow.

Cheers,
Christopher

At that time, to join the meeting, go to http://bit.ly/cuuyanmeeting09

Participants do not have to register for the virtual meeting, but should contact us if they’re interested so we can send any advance materials. If someone’s interested in running for Steering Committee, they should likewise be in touch.

You can reach us at cuuyan-sc@yahoogroups.com

Agenda:

1. Report of the Steering Committee
2. Report from Task Forces
3. Steering Committee Elections
4. Worship

Interested in SC?

We have 4 open positions: the facilitator and three at-large positions.

Please join us if you are passionate about YA ministry and the larger YA community!

SC positions are a one-year term

• This is a transition time, flexibility is a must.

SC work will likely include:

• Ensuring that summer conferences are coordinated
• Closer work with Anna Olsen and the Board of Trustees about Sponsored Organization status
• New staff in the YAMO
• Working together in right relationship with the Task Forces, Board of Trustees Observer, GA Young Adult Committee, Projects Committee

We are excited to announce Christopher Wulff as our new At-Large member.  Christopher joins us from Toronto, bringing a wealth of experience within C*UUYAN leadership, other UU arenas, and the non-profit sector.  We bid him welcome!

26 October 2008

The UUA and the Groundwork Collective
25 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108

Dear colleagues in faith,

We are writing in support of the Groundwork Collective.

The Continental Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Network (C*UUYAN), the denomination-wide network of UUs ages 18-35, has worked with the Groundwork Collective for many years.   Groundwork has facilitated many anti-racism and anti-oppression programs for us—including the most recent Opus (our annual spiritual retreat) and ConCentric (our annual business meeting) conferences—with much success.  Over time, with successive Groundwork trainings, we have seen our individual and collective AO/AR analyses grow.  For example, with a view to further deepening our understanding of issues surrounding oppression and the ways in which it impacts our community, C*UUYAN has institutionalized its engagement in this work by adopting a policy of offering at least an hour of AR/AO programming per day at our events.  In addition to this regular programming, several Groundwork members have also served in leadership positions in C*UUYAN.  We look forward to continuing to work with Groundwork on engaging oppression issues in our communities, both through these kinds of more-formalized relationships (programming and leadership positions) and through less-formalized relationships (such as ongoing inter-organizational communication), cross-pollinating new ideas and information.

We advocate for the UUA’s continued support of Groundwork for several reasons:
1)    Trainings led by one’s peers can have a powerful impact.  At our conferences, we have seen this be a key for people to open up to anti-oppression work for the first time.  As a youth- and young adult-led, multigenerational collective, Groundwork is well-positioned to be that key.
2)    This work cannot truly be done in isolation—just as participants learn from each other in a workshop, facilitators also need a group of colleagues to return to between trainings and organizing work.  This allows processing and revision of content and presentation, deepening the work that Collective members carry out.  As a community-minded organization, Groundwork provides this vital home to its members.
3)    This work is spiritual work.  Our community benefits greatly from undertaking it through a Unitarian Universalist lens.  While other organizations could bring a secular or interfaith analysis to AO/AR work, Groundwork is unique in that its UU members call us to begin from our UU faith.

For all these reasons and more, we urge you to recognize how crucial this multigenerational, multiracial collective of Unitarian Universalist anti-oppression trainer/organizers is to our faith and our world.  We whole-heartedly support the Groundwork Collective, and trust that you will, too.

Yours in faith,
The C*UUYAN Steering Committee
Tom Bozeman
Linnea Huston
Andrew Mertz
Sadie Kahn-Greene
Liz Weber (Facilitator)

26 October 2008

The UUA and the Groundwork Collective
25 Beacon Street
Boston, MA 02108

Dear colleagues in faith,

We are writing in support of the Groundwork Collective.

The Continental Unitarian Universalist Young Adult Network (C*UUYAN), the denomination-wide network of UUs ages 18-35, has worked with the Groundwork Collective for many years. Groundwork has facilitated many anti-racism and anti-oppression programs for us—including the most recent Opus (our annual spiritual retreat) and ConCentric (our annual business meeting) conferences—with much success. Over time, with successive Groundwork trainings, we have seen our individual and collective AO/AR analyses grow. For example, with a view to further deepening our understanding of issues surrounding oppression and the ways in which it impacts our community, C*UUYAN has institutionalized its engagement in this work by adopting a policy of offering at least an hour of AR/AO programming per day at our events. In addition to this regular programming, several Groundwork members have also served in leadership positions in C*UUYAN. We look forward to continuing to work with Groundwork on engaging oppression issues in our communities, both through these kinds of more-formalized relationships (programming and leadership positions) and through less-formalized relationships (such as ongoing inter-organizational communication), cross-pollinating new ideas and information.

We advocate for the UUA’s continued support of Groundwork for several reasons:

1. Trainings led by one’s peers can have a powerful impact. At our conferences, we have seen this be a key for people to open up to anti-oppression work for the first time. As a youth- and young adult-led, multigenerational collective, Groundwork is well-positioned to be that key.
2. This work cannot truly be done in isolation—just as participants learn from each other in a workshop, facilitators also need a group of colleagues to return to between trainings and organizing work. This allows processing and revision of content and presentation, deepening the work that Collective members carry out. As a community-minded organization, Groundwork provides this vital home to its members.
3. This work is spiritual work. Our community benefits greatly from undertaking it through a Unitarian Universalist lens. While other organizations could bring a secular or interfaith analysis to AO/AR work, Groundwork is unique in that its UU members call us to begin from our UU faith.

For all these reasons and more, we urge you to recognize how crucial this multigenerational, multiracial collective of Unitarian Universalist anti-oppression trainer/organizers is to our faith and our world. We whole-heartedly support the Groundwork Collective, and trust that you will, too.

Yours in faith,
The C*UUYAN Steering Committee
Tom Bozeman
Linnea Huston
Andrew Mertz
Sadie Kahn-Greene
Liz Weber (Facilitator)

This letter reaches you with information about elections at the Pre-GA Meeting and as a call to anyone who may be interested in leadership, regardless of whether you are able to join us next week.

We are quickly approaching Fort Lauderdale! We are looking forward to visioning together ways to improve our organization, and appreciate that this may include making changes to our governance structures. We have prepared an elections process to accommodate this state of potentiality. The process is not perfect, but it is designed to be simple, efficient, and flexible; we humbly present it with the best intentions for the good of our community.

On Tuesday night at the Pre-GA Meeting, we will be examining what form of leadership will work best for C*UUYAN for the coming year as well as the future. Possible outcomes to this session include deciding to keep the Steering Committee and/or Conferences Planning Committee as is, forming a task force to address specific issues from the Meeting, or creating a brand new governance structure. Thus, the elections process and elected positions that follow are subject to change in accordance with the community’s decisions. If any changes are necessary, they will be announced at the close of Tuesday night.

Elections will be held Wednesday afternoon. As of now, we are planning to elect the Steering Committee Facilitator and two At-Large Representatives for the Steering Committee. Elections will run position by position. Each candidate will be asked to give a short speech (two minutes). There will then be a brief question and answer period, followed by voting. As in years past, we will use instant run-off voting (IRV). For an interactive explanation of IRV, see www.chrisgates.net/irv/. Barring any changes from Tuesday’s meeting, we will first elect the Facilitator and then the At-Large Reps.

Along with updates and minutes from the meeting, we will post an announcement of open positions online on Tuesday night at www.uuyan.org. Candidates are welcome to run in absentia. Anyone running in absentia needs to submit a printed “speech” to futureofcuuyan@gmail.com and to a meeting participant who will read for them at the meeting. Candidates are invited to be available by phone or online chat for the question and answer session. Unfortunately, due to logistics, voting is limited to those physically present at the meeting.

In preparation for the meeting, we invite you to continue thinking about these questions for C*UUYAN: Who are we? Who do we serve? What is our reach? What do we need? We look forward to discerning some of the answers to these questions with you next week. Please contact us with any questions or comments in the meantime. You can email us at ideas@uuyan.org.

In faith,
The C*UUYAN Steering Committee
Andrew Mertz
Anthony Severe
Liz Weber
Mary Manchester
Raegan Bricks

We have two open positions for GA Young Adult Caucus. These are both two year terms to begin July 1st, 2008 and run through the end of GA 2010.

GA YAC Liaison – Currently this is the fifth member of the C*UUYAN Steering Committee, although the role of the Steering Committee and CUUYAN is in review. However, the role of Liaison will continue regardless of the path of C*UUYAN. Please note that this position is not guaranteed funding for travel, registration, or housing, but there are multiple ways to fund ones GA attendance. The Liaison will be responsible for working with the GAPC Liaison, helping with caucus planning, and providing information to the YAC and other GA organizations about what the Steering Committee has been doing for the year before GA.

Steering Committee roles for the next year: Creating and maintaining communication with various organizations including but not limited to the new task forces and the Young Adult Ministries office, making decisions about the budget and establishing a taxpayer ID status, reviewing and possibly creating C*UUYAN policy, overseeing Liaisons to other organizations (including the Board of Trustees), and planning ConCentric, the C*UUYAN business meeting. Historically the Steering Committee has had two-in person meetings, one in Fall and one in the Spring, but this may change. The Liaison is required to attend GA.

GA YAC Co-Facilitator – responsible for planning the YAC sessions and the two workshops provided to us, overseeing the budget, making decisions about staff size and functions, and working with various groups to increase the YA presence within the larger GA body. Depending on budget, time, and resources, one of the Co-Facilitators may be expected to attend one of the GAPC meetings, most likely in the Fall.

All candidates must have previously attended GA as a Young Adult and must submit their bio to futureofcuuyan@gmail.com by Sunday, June 29, 12:00 pm, Eastern Time. Bios may include identities claimed, skill sets you have, background with UUism, interest in the position and what you would bring to the team. Please provide a phone number where you can be reached if you wish to answer questions remotely, and attach a photo if you can.

On behalf of the C*UUYAN Steering Committee, I would like to invite you to take part in our online discussion community. Together with the participants who are able to attend the Ft. Lauderdale Pre-GA meeting, we hope to gain feedback and insight from our Young Adult community.

So please, as you have time and are able, please browse through the discussion board at Collaborative Solutions on Boardhost.com, read the questions posted, and share with us your thoughts and input.

Throughout the Pre-GA meeting, the facilitators will check the discussion board for remote input on the various questions posted, and will incorporate the answers received here into the discussion happening in Ft. Lauderdale. You can also check back to the discussion board for updates on the progress of the meeting or email future0fcuuyan@gmail.com

We hope to hear from you and include your input into the visioning!

In Faith,
C*UUYAN Steering Committee

Please note, the evening time slots are not 100% accurate, but the correct times are reflected in each activity.

yac-schedule

2008 Election Information

“As you know, our plans for the future structure of Youth Ministries and Young Adult and Campus Ministries called for the two offices to combine into one and be part of the Life Span Faith Development Staff Group within the UUA.  Given the commitment of the UUA Administration and UUA Board that the coming year be an interim year for Youth Ministry, we have decided to keep the two offices separate for now.

For Fiscal Year 2009 (July 1, 2008-June 30, 2009) the Young Adult and Campus Ministries Office will remain a separate office and a part of Congregational Services.

Both Nancy DiGiovanni and Erik Kesting will remain on staff in full time positions.  We are continuing to define their specific roles and responsibilities.  We will share more details with you as soon as we have them. Their new job descriptions will take effect July 1.

We have decided that we must give more time and attention to campus ministry in the coming year than has been possible this year. This portfolio will be one aspect of Nancy’s role in the YACM Office.

We will be hiring an Administrator for the YACM Office to start as soon as possible. The person hired for the position of Administrator for the combined offices – Sarah Praeger – will be working with the Youth Ministries Office only.  As a result of this change, Erik Kesting will come on staff full time as of June 1 to provide additional administrative and program support to the office through the end of this fiscal year.  Erik will take up his new role on July 1.”

Pre-General Assembly Scholarship Application

General Assembly Scholarship Application

YACM Office Restructuring Update from Tracey Robinson-Harris