Diversity in Youth Group

We have a pretty diverse youth group ourselves; at least it 
appears that way from the outside. 
When we ask our youth about the diversity in their own group, 
they are much more likely to talk about the social groups 
that the various members of our youth group belong to -
band geeks, preps, jocks, druggies, alternative folks -
it's a veritable microcosm of the cultural diversity in the world.
One of my favorite "games" to open up a discussion about this 
diversity is Barnga. For some reason, this year I forgot how
to play and ended up having to search everywhere for the rules.
I finally found them here, along with a bunch of other really cool,
similar "games" that our youth love (Bafa Bafa, Prisoner's
Dilemma, and Brief Encounters being all-time winners).
If you try any others, let me know!

Reflections on New Orleans video by WUSYG

Thanks for all your interest in this video!
We decided to put it online because we can't afford postage
to mail it out to folks anymore. 
Please feel free to forward the URL to anyone you think might 
be interested; all we ask is that you leave us a note on our 
guestbook if you use it or find it useful. 
Of course, we'll also take donations as we will be continuing 
our work this year in Mississippi with Persevere Relief, 
an organization started by one of our youth group alums.
Get the video here. 

Love Your Neighbors

We love our neighboring UU youth groups!
Seems like there are a bunch of us who just don't find the time, or the ability, or the adult resources (or the desire?) to attend Cons in our area, but still really want to get to know the other UU youth nearby.
We're one of those groups, but our youth are finding new, cool ways to get to know each other and do things together, nonetheless!
Yesterday we had a great time out in Worcester, MA with the UU youth group there, led by Dave Blodgett. We got some of our musicians and singers together and played and sang at their Sunday morning service. It was a great way to get to know each other and have fun, and do something worthwhile all at the same time. Thanks for having us, Worcester!
In the past, Arlington, MA's UU youth group has joined us for a screening of An Inconvenient Truth; Belmont UU has invited us to their Halloween Party; and we've had a great time with some sunday afternoon Scavenger Hunts with other local UU youth.
We've enjoyed the time we've spent with other youth groups (twelve in all!) talking about our Gulf Coast work, too, and we're really happy that other groups have been able to make the trip down to lend a hand with some help from us (at least, we like to think we helped!).
We're always looking for new ways to connect to other youth groups outside of the Cons - stuff that appeals to a lot of different youth and doesn't take up more time of the youth advisors; and we've met so many other youth who have also been looking for this connection, that we started a list of things we hope to do in the near future with our neighbors.
Maybe you'll find some ideas here, yourself!

All day UU youth Olympics
Caroling
Dance group - folk, swing, contra, etc
Friday night rock concert, featuring bands with UU youth
Open Mike Night for UU youth
All day service project in the area
Monthly sponsorship of a local animal shelter dog
Local UU youth Adopt-a-highway
Art exhibit featuring art/photography of local UU youth
Podcasts to find out what other youth groups are doing
Videotaped round-table discussion on an issue, to be broadcast on local cable access channels
???

Help Clean up the French Quarter

"I don’t know what you have or haven’t heard about the French Quarter. I assume the news outside the New Orleans 'Bubble' portrays us as a city that is a-okay. Um, not so. New Orleans is bankrupt and operating on a $150M credit line from JP Morgan Chase. We are losing $1.5M per day in loss tourism dollars.

The FQ doesn’t have enough city workers, because there is no budget. Or at least that is the rumor. Cleaning the FQ is essential to the recovery of the area. If the city is clean, then people will come. I live in the FQ and I am sure you don’t want to hear my stories!

There are groups cleaning up the FQ. It gives you the opportunity to really check out the FQ, socialize with business owners and report back to your friends and family that yes, the FQ is still historic and beautiful and yes, operational…"

Check out this info about how to help clean up the French Quarter with a really great organization called Relief Spark. Take a group (14 year olds okay!) or take your family to the French Quarter and do some clean-up work! (With housing provided at the Royal Sonesta hotel, how can you not lend a hand?)

Processing, Sharing, Reflecting

This question comes up a lot as groups are headed off to do service projects: how do we help them process things at the end of a long and sometimes difficult day?
Here are four examples of exercises I've used that seemed to work pretty well and could be used in many situations, not just during service projects.
DRAWING:
Have small groups or pairs draw a map of their experience during the day, then share with the whole group. Maps may be literal or symbolic depending on the day! They can get pretty creative: bridges, road signs, forks in the road, the road less traveled - they'll think of things you never would!
MOVING:
Divide youth into small groups. Ask each group to take 15 minutes to prepare a "snapshot" that tells a story about their day, using nothing but themselves. One group at a time, have them stand in the center of the circle and hold their snapshot for 30 seconds or so. Ask others in the group to interpret it, then let the group posing talk about their snapshot.
WRITING:
Have youth write letters to themselves. You can have them talk about something in particular, or have them write about what they are feeling at that moment, what they want to remember a month from now, etc. Give them envelopes to stuff and seal; have them address them to themselves. Collect them up and mail them to them in a month or so. Very cool - they love this.
TALKING:
Open-ended sentences are great. Go around the circle and have everyone finish them.
The hardest thing for me today was... The high point of my day was... I wish I had... I wanted to quit when... I got annoyed when... My motivation went up when... I was helped by... I was impressed by...I just need to complain for a minute about...I want to let everyone in the group know that... the last thing I want to say is...

Youth Services AND Rocking the Vote!

Okay, a two-fer:
We always want to go to other churches' youth services, and we never get to. Probably because most of us do them on the same day, or at least in the same (busy) month. So we put ours on line in the hopes others will do the same! It's here and the Order of Service is here.
The theme was "Do I Dare Disturb the Universe" so we watched it this weekend for some incentive to do a little work to get the vote out! Enjoy.