September is New Generations (a.k.a. Youth Services) Month
Posted by Art Harrington on Aug 26, 2014
Exciting things are happening with our district’s Youth Services that are spreading throughout Arizona, and are beginning to draw the attention of other parts of the Rotary world.
Think about it: Rotarians are significantly impacting the lives of more that 500,000 youth every year through our Rotary-sponsored youth programs, and we are developing some incredible young leaders. So why, with this enormous base of youth participation, has Rotary been struggling with any kind of membership problems?
Think about it: Rotarians are significantly impacting the lives of more that 500,000 youth every year through our Rotary-sponsored youth programs, and we are developing some incredible young leaders. So why, with this enormous base of youth participation, has Rotary been struggling with any kind of membership problems?
D5490 Youth Services on cutting edge
PDG Art Harrington
District Youth Services Chair
The answer is that we have had a disconnected and broken pipeline. While we should just naturally be moving these youth as they mature on up through our advancing programs into Rotary membership and leadership, our youth programs have not been taken seriously by the majority of Rotarians, and these programs have tended to operate independently.
For the past year we, here in D5490, have been working to “connect the dots” between our Rotary youth programs, considering how they can interrelate and support each other, and how they can better be connected to the Rotary clubs that sponsor them. Last year we also developed, for the first time-ever, a dynamic new Interact District to connect and coordinate our 35 Interact clubs, led by their own Interact District Governor and Assistant Governors. We also began to connect our Rotaract clubs in Arizona, promoting them as “the next step after Interact” to stay connected with Rotary; and began publicizing to our youth the concept and the many advantages of becoming part of “Rotary for Life.” On the lower end of the age spectrum that we serve through our programs this year our district will have five junior high age Interact clubs. And on the upper end of the spectrum we are working to develop new community-based Rotaract clubs in more communities, where young leaders can remain connected and involved with Rotary until they are established enough in their businesses and professions to make the move to become full-fledged Rotarians.
All three Arizona Rotary districts now have Youth Services Chairs, and we are working closely together to coordinate and strengthen our youth programs throughout Arizona. For the first time, the chairs of the five Rotary Youth Programs (Interact, Rotaract, RYLA, Rotary Youth Exchange and New Generations Service Exchange) from all three AZ districts will be coming together for training in December at DOTS (the District Officers’ Training Seminar), where Assistant Governors and other leadership from the three districts have always been trained. In Arizona we are beginning to understand and take seriously this 5th Avenue of Service that Rotary adopted some years ago.
While it may seem pretty elementary that our youth programs should be better connected to each other and to their sponsoring Rotary clubs, it appears this disconnected status has been more the norm than the exception in the majority of the Rotary world. And that is why what we are doing here in Arizona to begin connecting our programs has become big news. We appear to be on the cutting edge and leading the way to where Rotary Youth Services Programs will be going in the future.
We haven’t arrived yet, but we are making significant progress; and that is creating waves. There is so much more that needs to be done that I personally feel we have just barely begun. I urge every Rotarian in our district to take a fresh new look at the youth programs your clubs are sponsoring, and recognize the potential we have within these programs and these young leaders to begin building Rotary now and for the future through them.
What could be possible if you and your club invested a little more time and resources in the Rotary youth programs you sponsor?