Sara Surface and Asha Arora of GA Youth Caucus 2012

“I envision a GA of healing. I envision a GA where we come together with our partners and inspire change not just in their community, but in our communities and in our hearts.” – Sara Surface, Senior Dean of GA Youth Caucus 2012 “I envision the Youth Caucus as being an integral and interactive part of GA that educates and encourages acts of justice from youth.” – Asha Arora, Junior Dean of GA Youth Caucus 2012 These are the statements we started with when we gathered in Boston, Massachusetts to connect, brainstorm and plan for this year’s General Assembly (GA) in Phoenix, Arizona. We are Sara and Asha, the deans of the Youth Caucus, responsible for generating programming, selecting staff and leading our peers. This past weekend, we have accomplished many things, including making programming visions, mapping out a preliminary schedule and revising staff responsibilities and applications to be applicable to Justice GA. We would like to share with you our mission statements that will serve as a guide for us throughout the year and allow you to see the roots of our decisions.

• We want to inspire healing and change for ourselves and the community and we hope to accomplish this through worship, spiritual practice in community and intentional outreach.
• We want to build a youth community that is accepting, non-judgmental and safe and we hope to accomplish this by covenanting together and creating sacred space.
• We want to witness and serve in the community in a way that amplifies the voice of our partners and we hope to accomplish this through passionate, visible and safe participation in planned GA events.
• We want to encourage acts of justice and love and we hope to accomplish this through education and action.
• We want to provide programming that is invigorating, applicable and fun and we hope to accomplish this through diverse forms of training, connection and education.

We are very excited to start this incredible journey with you as we shape this year’s Youth Caucus. So, start planning early; those under 18 will need a sponsor age 25 or older to attend GA with them. Tell any concerned individuals that GA will be safe and that there are no plans for civil disobedience. Keep checking back - we’re going to continue to blog with updates! In faith, SS & AA