Young Adults & Beyond Community Conversations Series 

Let’s talk about the young adult age range (and beyond)! 

The YAs & Beyond project spanned from Dec 2023-August 2024, with the goal of collecting feedback from our community regarding the age range for the CUC’s young adult programs and other gaps in ministry for and with young adults. The report contains a summary of the project, an analysis of its findings (including identified themes and direct quotes), and a conclusion with recommendations for next steps. Spoiler: young adult ministry belongs to all of us! 

Read the Young Adults & Beyond Final Report

Why are we having this conversation? 

The CUC provides programming and services to young adults ages 18-35. While this community is a wonderful source of UU connection and spiritual sustenance for many, we’re also aware of some gaps. For example, the emerging adult range (18-24) does not seem to be well served by our current offerings. On the other end, there is also a desire for continuing YA-style community for those who are over 35. 

Some of the questions leading us into this series are: 

  • What are the specific needs of emerging adults and how might the CUC better minister to them? 
  • How can young adults in their late 20s, 30s and even 40s be best supported? 
  • Is the 18-35 year old age range the best option for serving young adult UUs? 
  • How can we encourage YA community values to be spread into the wider UU movement so that bridging out of youth and young adult spaces is not such a shock?  

So what do you think?  

Share your thoughts…  

  • At a live Zoom conversation, 
  • As written feedback via the survey, and/or
  • Directly with CUC staff 

You can engage with one or all of these feedback methods (the survey and Zoom conversations will follow the same format). 

… Live Conversations 

Over the next few months, we will be hosting a series of conversations with groups of people who are most directly involved with the current and future young adult community: 

  • 2023-12-12 – Currently Involved Young Adults
  • 2024-01-30 (9am PT/12pm ET) – Canadian UU Religious Educators (CUURE) (CUURE Tea) 
  • 2024-02-07 (5pm PT/8pm ET) – Youth (14-19 year olds)
  • 2024-02-27  (5pm PT/8pm ET) – Emerging Adults (18-24 year olds)
  • 2024-03-08  (1pm PT/4pm ET) – SuperFriends (people over 35 who have strong connections to the YA community)
  • 2024-03-26 (4pm PT/7pm ET) – Others who feel they should be part of the conversation and anyone who was not able to attend a previous date

Specific dates and times will be added and announced as we go! 

Scheduling future conversations 

In an attempt to find the best time for those who’d like to participate, we’ve set up When2Meet polls for each of the upcoming conversations. We will also be reaching out directly to the folks we know in each group with invitations. 

Here are the When2Meet poll links – go ahead and fill out the one that most applies to you, and feel free to share the others with your networks. 

Zoom Link for all events: https://bit.ly/YAsBeyond 

… Survey 

All are welcome to share their written thoughts using this survey. It will remain open until March 31st, 2024. 

… Directly with CUC Staff 

You’re also welcome to share your thoughts in direct conversation with Casey or Danielle. Email young-adults@cuc.ca or DM us on Discord, Instagram or Facebook. 

Notes and Report from conversations 

All the notes from our conversations live in this publicly accessible Google Drive folder, for maximum transparency. Feel free to read through and/all of the docs, but please don’t edit the notes of conversations you weren’t part of (use the survey to communicate your written thoughts).

Next steps 

We are aiming to wrap up the feedback gathering period by the end of March 2024, and to bring a report-back and host further conversation at Chorus in May 2024.