Reports and Recommendations for BIPOC Youth and Young Adult Ministry A Historical Overview

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A Review of Recommendations to the UUA for Young BIPOC UUs

In late 2024, nine reports spanning nearly two decades were reviewed. Recommendations to the UUA for Black Indigenous People of Color (BIPOC) Youth and Emerging Adult (YEA, ages 14-24) ministry were compiled. The following represents recommendations that were repeated across several reports, offering a glimpse into the long-term arc of BIPOC YEA ministry and some guidance for our movement’s future.

Many of these recommendations guide the UUA’s current work. Some are beyond the scope of the UUA but may be included in the work of related organizations or individual congregations.

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Compiled Recommendations

Resources/Curricula/Trainings (For Adults Who Work With BIPOC Yeas in UU Spaces)

  • Develop criteria for evaluation and regularly evaluate curricula/trainings/programs to keep them up to date on antiracist efforts, and ensure they are meeting the needs of BIPOC YEAs
  • Incorporate antiracism lens, YEA lens into all curricula/trainings/programs
  • Support consistent and accountable training in antiracism and youth work for ministers, lay leaders, youth leaders, and religious education professionals (REPs)
  • Prioritize guest speakers and panelists on any topic who have experience with BIPOC YEAs
  • Provide additional and explicit support for BIPOC youth advisors, REPs, and other religious professionals
  • Create curriculum on racial identity development, including resources by and for BIPOC that address internalized racism, spiritual issues of systemic oppression, and other issues that might be relevant specifically to BIPOC YEAs
  • Ground resources in the work of BIPOC UU theologians
  • Resource multigenerational efforts within Black/Indigenous/people of color communities to develop rituals of healing and other worship materials to be used in congregations, regions, and national gatherings
  • Tell the story of BIPOC UUs
  • Develop tools for congregations to skill up in supporting BIPOC YEAs, and a system of accountability and follow through
  • Avoid tokenism

Programs for BIPOC YEAs

  • Support and nurture local, regional, and virtual communities for BIPOC YEAs, plus antiracism/racial identity development programs and caucusing at all UUA events
  • Continued evaluation of effectiveness of programs, including an analysis of multicultural programs for their success among BIPOC YEAs
  • Provide additional support for BIPOC YEAs who may be the only one at their congregation
  • Develop and screen service learning trips and pilgrimages relevant to BIPOC YEAs
  • Offer space for developing worship leadership skills among BIPOC YEAs
  • Resources to help congregations and the UUA be intentional about how BIPOC YEAs are invited into leadership: avoid tokenism, ensure adults and white members are trained, and offer additional support and care to the BIPOC YEAs
  • Leadership development opportunities such as Thrive

BIPOC Adult Mentorship/Leadership

  • Remove barriers for adults with diverse identities, especially BIPOC adults, being involved with BIPOC YEA programming
  • Support mutual mentorship with wider BIPOC community, including ministers and REPs of color
  • Prioritize intergenerational and meaningful BIPOC programming

Social Justice Activism

  • Advocacy and witness alongside BIPOC YEAs in social justice issues that impact them
  • Model UU values in the ways the UUA partners with related groups in BIPOC YEA work

UUA Institutional and Financial support

  • Paid youth ministry staff in every region and congregation (called for by Diverse Revolutionary UU Multicultural Ministries Youth and Young Adults [DRUUMM YaYA] among others), held to a higher standard of cultural competency and expected to actively address white supremacy culture in the UUA
  • Data, administrative, staffing, and scholarship support for BIPOC YEA communities, ministries, and events. This includes tracking congregations currently hosting BIPOC Affinity groups
  • UUA-sponsored community building events for BIPOC YEAs
  • Continued support for and partnership with DRUUMM, particularly on caucusing and community building
  • Develop ways to assess a congregation’s readiness to welcome BIPOC YEAs, and a certification program to help them along
  • Continued funding and support for Thrive programming

General Assembly

  • Delegates, attendees, and program leaders provided with resources on diversity grounded in UU values
  • GA includes opportunities for identity exploration
  • Easy to access and clearly communicated info about chaplains/resources for BIPOC YEA attendees

Reports Referenced