Youth Caucus was a banner success this year! Never before in the short history of this effort have so many youth gathered--over 360. These youth made an impact at the General Assembly that will hopefully carry over into Unitarian Universalist congregations during the year. Such success would not have been possible without the financial support of the General Assembly Planning Committee, and overwhelming support from the denomination and the General Assembly.

This year marked the first year of a new youth Caucus structure; a structure that, overall, greatly enhanced the GA experience for many youth by placing emphasis on the youth community and its needs. The new staff structure was instrumental in executing the "intentional community" concept, and defining what positions and niches youth held in that community. The core Youth Caucus staff of eight was dedicated to support a variety of programming, community and spiritual needs. The staff and their roles included:

• HUUPER (Hard-core UU Person Energized and Ready) who essentially was the Dean of Youth Caucus - Justin Whitaker
• Events Coordinator - Brian Richichi
• Worship Coordinator - Carolyn Croissant
• Business Manager - Chris Trace
• Assistant Business Manager - Ben Kidder
• Juanelle Thomas - Logistics Coordinator
• Tera Little - Sponsor Coordinator
• Adult Female Chaplain - Sarah Webb
• Adult Male Chaplain - Greg Stewart
• Youth Female Chaplain - Caroline Liddy (not core staff)
• Youth Male Chaplain - Paris Brewer (not core staff).

The spiritual needs of the youth community were met by Carolyn Croissant, the Worship Coordinator, and her assistant, Matt Moore. They provided a wide variety of worship experiences including a 1:00pm session led by Matt Moore, big, all-youth sessions and the all-GA Youth Worship were led by Carolyn Croissant. More personal needs were met by the Chaplain Corp, a group of four, who worked tirelessly to ensure that greatest number of youth possible were engaged and "plugged in" to the GA and GA Youth communities.

Both Justin Whitaker and Brian Richichi's focus was the community-at-large. Justin monitored the energy level, kept an ear open for any problems, established good and honest relations between Youth Caucus and the Hotel Staff, and pepped-up the community daily at HUUPLA (the morning assembly). Brian Richichi ensured there were activities for this engaged and harmonious community to participate in. There were events that Brian planned and others that were planned by other members of the community and staff. There was a concerted effort to make the GA Workshop schedule available to youth, and to highlight the workshops that were related to either business, worship or ones that related to the various initiates of Continental YRUU.

At the initial Business Meetings of the caucus, there were so many youth present that meetings were relocated into the hall of the convention center. The Business Meetings, the primary reason for the caucus, changed this year. Taking into account the increasing numbers of youth present and the limited amount of time allotted for any one meeting, there was a lot of working group time, designed to give all youth present a voice in the decision of the caucus. After a designated amount of time, the caucus reassembled and the representatives chosen by the group reviewed any decisions that the group made and highlighted any objections based on principle.

The Youth Caucus only deals with the business of the General Assembly: the resolutions, by-laws and statements of conscience. For the Business Meetings to be

Truly empowering, it was necessary to have the best informed and qualified speakers present the business of the Association to the caucus. There was also time devoted to the programs and goings-on in the Association.

It is of the utmost importance that youth are aware of these initiatives and recognize that the Association is accessible and accountable to youth. The Youth Caucus wants to recognize, and thank once again, some of the people who have helped to support these goals. They are: Phyllis Daniel and Wayne Arnason, UUA Board of Trustees; Richard Nugent, Commission on Social Witness; Kay Aler-Maida, Larry Ladd, Dorothy Smith-Patterson, Margaret Sanders, and Bill Sinkford of the Fulfilling the Promise Team; Denny Davidoff, UUA Moderator; Jo Victoria, Youth Advisor Task Force.

This year was the first year of an entirely new structure. There were obstacles to be faced, and elements that were not anticipated. Problems were dealt with swiftly and with care. The entire staff worked above and beyond the call of duty and worked together in concert to make this GA one of the best in recent memory. The new Youth Caucus structure paves the way for Youth Caucus to continue to grow and serves and a delightful beacon of youth empowerment.

Chris Trace, Business Manager, Youth Caucus 1999

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