How YW Chooses, Serves and Keeps Up with Communities

We asked what topic you would like to see on our blog, you wanted to know more about our relationships with communities. Our MidWest Regional Director, Kate, has had many years of experience being a full-time Area Director and Regional Director. Here is what Kate had to say about what our community relationships look like year-round.

How do we decide where to go?

This has changed over the years. Most often someone reaches out to us to discuss the possibility of YouthWorks coming to their community, or a community they know of that could benefit from a partnership with YouthWorks. Usually they have done trips with us and recognize a need within their own community that we could fulfill together. Moving forward it is our desire that entering into a new community would be a two-year process. We want to establish a strong base within the community to understand how to best serve alongside people doing year-round service.

How do we honor communities in the process of setting up a site?

It is our desire that we posture ourselves as guests and learners in communities. We do not have the answers nor are we the experts on the best way to serve in each particular community. We want community leaders and advocates to be the ones telling us what to do and how to do it. We want the community to speak first, and teach us on how to tell the story of the community. Throughout the year, we check in with service partners and community leaders to ask if YouthWorks is doing respectful service and what more we could be doing to better serve and partner with the community. Again, I think we’ve gotten better at this in recent years and become more intentional, but I also believe this has always been at the heart of what we wanted to do.

What does our relationship look like with communities during the 9 months we don’t have participants on site?

For the most part, Area Directors and Regional Directors will travel to a community 2–3 times throughout the course of the year to check in with people and continue the site set-up process. In addition to in-person visits we usually try and check in with community contacts throughout the course of the year. Regional Directors will call at the end of the summer to hear how things went and get a general idea of what the next year site-setup will look like, in addition to thanking partners for a great summer. Region Teams send out Christmas cards to community members during the Christmas season and also try to keep summer staff connected to what is happening in the community throughout the year.

On a logistical level, site visits include everything from the confirmation on housing, showers, Evening Activities and service partnerships, but these trips are also about taking time to truly visit with and listen to community friends. In some of our communities we will stay with community members instead of hotels. It usually involves sharing meals or coffee while talking about current happenings in the community and what is happening in the personal lives of community members and Area Directors. I think for many of our ADs a community becomes a home away from home, and community members are treated like family. In most cases YouthWorks business is discussed for five minutes and the rest of the meeting is reserved for simply visiting and catching up.

Kate began serving with YouthWorks on summer staff in 2003 in Denver. Since then she has played a role on several teams in the YouthWorks office, currently leading the Mid/West Region. Kate brings a love for the church and communities and loves that her role as Regional Director allows her to serve both. Life outside of YouthWorks is quite full, as Kate enjoys spending time with her husband Jason in addition to trying to be the best auntie to her niece and two nephews.