Wow - Excerpts from an Exciting Proposal for Developing a SCUU Youth Program!

Wow cool, the Youth Program Development Group has created a proposal and the following is an excerpt:

SCUU is committed to supporting the full participation of families and youth in congregational life. Although in the past family ministry at SCUU has focused largely on religious education, it is time we expand our family focus to address the congregational experiences of middle school and high school youth. To this end, SCUU will endeavor to develop a youth program so as to foster age-appropriate activities and events of interest to youth, and which invite youth to engage socially, intellectually and spiritually in the congregational life of our beloved community.

At a minimum, this will include developing the organizational framework for a youth program, attracting a dedicated group of Adult Advisors, and organizing stepping stone starter activities for middle school and high school youth, respectively, and for the expected growth in the numbers of youth in these age ranges.

The youth program will consist of two components each with separate activities: a middle school youth group and a high school youth group. The program will adopt as its basic structure the YRUU (Young Religious Unitarian Universalists) organizational format (intended originally for ages 14-18) supported by the UUA and active at the JPD level.

SCUU youth shall have the opportunity to deepen their UU and SCUU identities by interacting with same-age youth from sister congregations at both local and district levels. Middle school youth may participate in “cluster” events with nearby congregations; high school youth may participate in both “cluster” events and all-JPD youth “CONS” or conventions.

By the beginning of the 2007-2008 congregational year, we will have at least eight to ten middle school youth in regular attendance, not including visitors and new member families. New membership is expected to grow the numbers of youth significantly. Moreover, the youth program will be particularly important to high school youth visitors, and may make the difference between a family visiting and a family joining as members.