What is YRUU, Anyway?
Well, that can be a difficult question to answer. First let us spell out the acronym—Young Religious Unitarian Universalists. The YRUU Purposes state that "Young Religious Unitarian Universalists shall serve its members for the purposes of fostering spiritual depth, creating a peaceful community on earth and peace within us, and clarifying both individual and universal religious values as part of our growth process. Our purposes are to provide and manifest a greater understanding of Unitarian Universalism, and to encourage the flow of communication between youth and adults. In so doing, we shall nurture the freedom and integrity of the questioning mind, and embrace all persons of diverse backgrounds. We shall encourage the development of a spirit of independence and responsibility. We shall strive to support our members and member groups with educational resources, a communications network, and with love. These purposes shall assist us in developing an effective system for social actions, and serve to raise our levels of mutual respect, communication, and community consciousness."All Unitarian Universalist youth between the ages of 14 and 20 are "members" of YRUU. YRUU collects no dues and requires no formal affiliation process. It is a service organization that functions on four levels—local, regional, district-wide, and continental. Local YRUU is composed of individual congregations' youth groups. Regionally, two or more youth groups from the same area sometimes do activities together. The Unitarian Universalist Association has divided the U.S. and Canada into 23 districts based on the number of congregations in each district. Districts vary in size. Most districts have their own YRUU youth organization that oversees conferences and activities for youth within the district. Continentally, YRUU is governed by a Youth Council of youth representatives from every district, at-large representatives, and adult representatives. Each summer there is a Continental Conference (Con Con) for youth and advisors from all over the US and Canada.
YRUU is a youth-led organization. Adult advisors are there for support, and lend help when needed. The primary responsibility for YRUU leadership rests with youth.
For more information contact youth @ uua.org.
Last updated on Friday, April 18, 2008.
