We thank the UUA for committing resources to supporting the life of youth and emerging adults in the association. We recognize that youth and EAs are critical parts of our Association now, not only in the future, and that they give important perspectives.
Moreover, we recognize that our faith calls us to recognize the gifts of leadership present in everyone, and ask the UUA to recommit to the full inclusion of youth and emerging adults at all levels of leadership, including the necessary support and leadership development. Supporting and investing in youth and young adults, and in particular youth and young adults of color, in full participation in congregational life and in the life of the Association is necessary for the continued growth and vitality of our living tradition.
We also affirm that many youth and emerging adults face difficulties in participation, including a pattern of praising youth and young adults for their moral courage and prophetic vision, then dismissing their concerns. We ask that the UUA and that congregations work to more fully include the perspectives of youth and young adults and to continue to be open to transformation.
Submitted by Carleigh Heckel of All Souls Church Unitarian, Washington, DC.
I would love to see some leaderlabs that address this. I would love to see the LREDA access at the Leaderlabs (Partnership) so adults have access to the content of Leadership training with Youth and Young Adults. I have leadership training from the 80’s and 90’s . When I tried to share it, and people said that’s old and rejected it. Has leadership changed or do people have age bias? There are some wonderful leadership trainings, it is taught not nature alone. Connect people to the mentors and the training.
It’s good to see that two separate people noticed this and have offered resolutions. I wonder if the board will suggest combining them? I like the wording of this one and the specific benchmark (200 youth) of that one.
Both have been admitted. I think they are complementary. We can express gratitude and encouragement while simultaneously requesting a specific benchmark.
This resolution is really a recognition of the fact that there is growing support, which has been really wonderful to experience! I really loved working with Ember on the Synergy service and I’m really happy that the UUA is supporting congregations.
This sentence captures a significant disincentive for youth and young adults to participate in leadership at congregational and higher levels. Too often youth and emerging adults are given token representation that “feels good” for older adults to see, but are not taken seriously as leaders or given actual decisionmaking power. How can we build our congregations and our denomination in a way that invites and creates space for youth and young adult participation while ensuring that their voices and contributions carry as much weight as those of older adults?
+1 - in addition or instead of a metric of a set number of youth attending, how about a % of congregations with younger adults (under 40 y/o or under 25 y/o) in governance or other voting positions with real power?
The UUA needs to commit actual funds to this effort. A minimum of $1 million for a commitment of five years. The creation and distribution of a youth curriculum focused on Dungeons and Dragons was nice, but it is wildly insufficient. There was a youth office for decades that needs to be revived for high schooler UU ministries. Youth led, adult supported UU ministry is the most essential model. We already have tools, like the catalyst training curriculum that was run by Nan Moore (this includes Spirituality Development, Leadership Development, Anti-Racism, Advisor, and Chaplain trainings that likely need to be updated, but are an excellent starting point). Look at the millenial and GenX ministers in our faith. How many were part of YRUU? We have a shortage of ministers. This will only continue if we choose not to fund youth ministry with significant resources. The early 2000s critique of youth ministry that focused on so-called “youth entitlement,” was so destructive. There were many problems with YRUU (I was part of making the decision to bring an end to Con Con, the intention was not to dissolve national programming but to allocate it more effectively to serve more young people). We need to hire a Director with demonstrated experience developing and growing youth programs that center youth leadership (they need not be UU, though of course that would be a huge benefit, values aligned is sufficient). There are UU camps with youth ministry programs with young people who are actively engaged. The young people from these camps should be resourced to come together an imagine what this national UU youth ministry might look like. Congregations should be approached to find out which youth might be willing and able to shape this ministry effort. While siloing youth ministry might be problematic at times, it is an essential start. Yes, Side with Love needs to include specific efforts to bring in young people. Our ministry formation needs to include a focus on equipping ministers with the tools to build youth ministries. AND, youth ministry deserves a dedicated staff. We need to bring back a staffing effort similar to the Youth Programs Specialists (young people working at the UUA to nurture youth ministry). Where is the youth on the Board? The dismantling of YRUU is one of the most disastrous things within Unitarian Universalism in the last two decades. The problems were many, and the solution given was far worse than the problems underlying YRUU. While a Responsive Resolution is nice, gratitude is not what I feel, at all. We need a plan. We can learn from other traditions. We can learn from secular organizations. We can learn from congregations that are doing this work well. A path forward needs financial resources and expertise. Concern is insufficient. There is a pathway forward. Can a single donor fund this? Can a specific allocation from the endowment fund this? Where is the creativity in financial resourcing. The UUMA and LREdA would be amazing partners in this effort. UUs are so good at words, and words are an essential part of who we are. Action, beloveds. Youth ministry is essential for our faith and we need to put lots of money into it.
I wholeheartedly agree! I would also add, as an OWL Facilitator, that the denomination could afford to put more resources into some programs that we already have. In my congregation we are having an issue getting people trained because training sessions are limited, expensive, and they fill up very quickly.
Here is a statement from the UUA Lifespan Faith Engagement office’s Youth & Emerging Adult Ministry Staff on youth involvement at General Assembly:
Recognizing that there have been two responsive resolutions proposed at this year’s General Assembly related to youth participation, we wanted to share our insight about the factors that have the most impact on this. Since the pandemic, how communities gather has changed, and attendance at events is down across the board for people of all ages. Historically, online years of General Assembly have struggled to reach a larger attendance of youth. Youth in particular have expressed clearly and emphatically that online GA is not engaging, inclusive, or accessible for them, and that no amount of online programming will be as attractive as in-person opportunities. This reality has been reflected by consistently low youth participation in virtual GA in recent years.
We, the staff at the UUA who work most closely with youth, recognize the tension between online General Assembly being an efficient way to engage in the business of our association and it not meeting our collective need for multigenerational community and a way for youth to connect with each other and build community. We were quite aware of and grappled with this tension for GA26 and thus, for GA27 we are actively working to create a sustainable youth engagement and youth leadership structure.
Lifespan Faith Engagement’s Youth and Emerging Adult Ministry Staff participate in General Assembly each year. In this experimental year, we created resources including video invitations to engage youth as they considered attending General Assembly 2026 and chose not to offer youth specific programming based on low registration. However, we coordinated Synergy 2026 and Bridger Recognition and offered grants for covering the cost of attendance. Our goal was to offer a wider invitation to engagement and delegate work.
UUA staff have been in conversation with the Board of Trustees about generating sustainable youth leadership structures that provide equitable access to community building resources. The priority of the Lifespan Faith Engagement team is to continue to grow the capacity of religious professionals and dedicated lay leaders to provide great youth and emerging adult ministry at the grassroots level in congregations and cluster settings, which we hope will continue to nurture a culture of year-round youth inclusion across the association. Our Deeper Joy Compendium of Activities and the Journeys of Deeper Joy Roleplaying Game Curriculum are both seeds which are being planted towards this goal–providing ways for our young UUs to cultivate community building skills.