people and me! Youth Vote
in UU Churches
One of our Unitarian Universalist principles is that people should have the right to vote about the things that are important to them. We elect people from the congregation to make all the church's important decisions. The elections are held every year so that a lot of different people get turns to help this way. We even vote on who is going to be our minister. Some churches invite young people to be part of church groups who make these decisions. They get elected by the youth of the church, or by the whole congregation. Meet four young UUs who have been part of the democratic process in their churches.

DanielleDanielle

Danielle was the Youth Representative in her church's religious Education Council in New York for three years. This group makes decisions about what kids are going to do in Religious Ed. classes, what the rules should be, and what special events to have.

Danielle was the only young person in the group, so sometimes it was hard to get the adults to understand the different way teenagers think about things. They treated her as an equal in the group, though, and she believes she helped to bring the teenagers and the adults in the church closer together.

EleanorEleanor

Eleanor was one of two youth representatives elected to the Board of Trustees at her church in Massachusetts. This group makes decisions for the congregation about the church budget (how the church is going to divide up the money it has to spend) and who to hire to run the church office, among other things. Eleanor was elected to serve on the board by the adults who work with the youth group.

PaulPaul

Paul's youth group elected him to be a member of the Board of Education in his church in Connecticut. In his election speech to the youth group, he said he wanted to help run the Sunday school program because he went through the program himself and it was important to him.

At first, Paul found it hard to voice his opinions because he wasn't sure they were as good or important as the ideas the adults had. But once he started talking, he found the adults really listened to him and he has seen some of his ideas happen.

ThomasThomas

Thomas was the other youth representative on the Board of Trustees in Eleanor's church in Massachusetts. Being on this board connects youth to the rest of the church and helps them to support each other's projects and plans. Thomas also served on the Religious Education Council and felt people really listened to his ideas because he was the "finished product" of the Sunday school program they were working to improve.

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