Living Mosaic
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Hi Family,
Last August the Youth and Young Adult Ministries Office sponsored the first annual Multicultural Leadership School (MLS) for Youth and Young Adults of Color. The second annual MLS will be held in Boston, August 5-9, 2011. The MLS is open to all UUs who identify as a person of color ((Native American, Asian, Arab, Latino/a, African descent, trans-racially adopted, bi-racial and multiracial) and are 15-30 years old. Please share the following information about the MLS with your congregation, youth group, RE class, minister, DRE, district Youth Steering Committee, friends and family.
The Unitarian Universalist Association like the United States has a growing number of people of color. As this trend continues, UU congregations, districts and continental committees will need youth and young adults of color to take on leadership. However, there are challenges when a member of a minority group who is often marginalized takes on leadership responsibilities. Examples of challenges are tokenism, racism, and a high rate of burn-out due to over-commitment and a lack of preparation for leadership. Therefore, the Multicultural Leadership School will focus on leadership development for youth and young adults of color that will prepare them to lead the way in supporting a multicultural, anti-racist, anti-oppressive Unitarian Universalist faith community.
The (MLS) is a training designed specifically for UU Youth and Young Adults (age 15-30) of Color. The goal of the training is to equip participants to be leaders in their UU congregation, district or continental committee. The three and a half day school will feature experienced facilitators who will be intentional in providing participants with experiences that will foster relationship building, leadership skills, racial/ethnic identity development, inter-cultural collaboration and deepening of faith identity. At the conclusion of the training, participants will have a new community of peers, stronger and more confident leadership abilities and a stable foundation for sustainable leadership in Unitarian Universalist congregations and other Unitarian Universalist communities and organizations.
Applications are due May 15, 2011. Please apply at
http://www.uua.org/religiouseducation/youth/identity-based/color/158494.shtml
As always, I would love to hear from you. You can message me on Facebook at Monica Cummings, email me at mcummings@uua.org or leave a comment for me on the YaYA of Color blog, UU Living Mosaic at http://uuyayaoc.blogs.uua.org/.
Living My Faith,
Rev. Monica
