Young Religious Unitarian Universalists

Young Religious Unitarian Universalists

Formation	1981 & 1982
Type	Youth ministry
Location	United States & Canada
Website	http://www.uua.org/yruu http://www.cuc.ca/youth

Young Religious Unitarian Universalists (YRUU) is a youth organization within the Unitarian Universalist Association (UUA) in the United States and the Canadian Unitarian Council. YRUU is primarily run by youth, ranging in age from 14 to 20, with mentoring adult partners. It is organized at congregational, regional and continental levels.

YRUU goals have included social activism and building leadership qualities. YRUU members have often made their presence known in public demonstrations, most notably a June 23 2006 protest in St. Louis, Missouri against Victoria's Secret for allegedly printing its catalogues on paper from endangered North American forests.

Beginning in 1982, YRUU published the newspaper Synapse, which appeared three times a year. In 2005, budget cuts forced the publication to be switched to two online issues that were compiled into a single print edition. In 2007, the UUA's Office of Youth Ministries halted publication, claiming a lack of submissions and staffing, and announced that Synapse would be replaced by a newsletter that will be published three times a year.

In February 2008, UUA President William G. Sinkford, in a letter to the YRUU Steering Committee, announced there would be no further funding for the YRUU at the end of the fiscal year. “There is broad consensus that the current structure for continental youth ministry is not serving our faith well,” wrote Stafford. “It is true that continental YRUU, as we have known it, will be replaced at some point by a new structure that will serve us better.” Two months later, the UUA Board of Trustees announced it would cease its funding for the continental level YRUU activities in June 2008 and refocus its North American youth ministry endeavors.

External links

• YRUU Website
• Canadian Unitarian Council Website - youth section