Ours is a powerful voice. And our belief in the unity and interconnectedness of all things constitutes a strong argument for immediate action -Patriarch Bartholomew, October

 Background  Proposal  Key Milestones  Potential Issues  Next Steps 1

 His All Holiness, Patriarch Bartholomew, has been recognized as one of the leading advocates for the environment in the world.  His Symposia on Religion, Science and the Environment have laid a strong foundation for us to build upon.  He has called upon all of us to take “immediate action.” 2

 Summer program at Brown University for High School students focusing on Leadership  Participants called upon to establish personal plan for leadership program back at home  Includes resources to provide advice as projects take root 3

 Engage Orthodox youth in religious and environmental projects  Increase environmental awareness  Grassroots level promotion of the message of Patriarch Bartholomew  Provide community service for youth 4

 Initiate an annual Greek Orthodox Youth and Family RSE Research Project, using the Patriarch’s RSE Symposia as our foundation  Engage as many parishes/teams as possible  Conclude our research with a mini- Symposium 5

Nov/Dec 2009 Present to church leadership Prepare and document project structure Jan-March 2010 Present Plan to priests, advisors Determine which parishes are participating April/May 2010 Assign topic to each participating parish Within each parish, assemble team June-Nov 2010 Each parish performs their research project Periodic checkpoints with advisors Nov 2010 Inter-GOYA Symposium to present results Jan/Feb 2011 Publish results Begin campaign to expand project to other Diocese for 2010/2011 6

 Kickoff ◦ Insufficient response  Will need to work with parish priests to encourage participation  Encourage family participation if youth feel this is “too much” ◦ Overwhelming response  Be prepared to support larger teams  Limit teams to one per parish  Be prepared to add additional topics  While underway ◦ One or more teams not making progress  Work with team members to recruit additional help  Stress importance of initial symposium having enough teams to not compromise success  Impact of symposium ◦ Need to ensure sufficient coverage to maximize impact ◦ Work to provide coverage in parish bulletins, Observer, GOYA E-bulletin 7

Department/MinistryProsCons Inter-GOYA Structure already in place for inter-parish communications Within each parish, GOYA meetings provide opportunity to discuss & plan In all likelihood, only 1-3 youth per parish will participate in symposium Beginning with entire GOYA may be too broad an audience to keep them engaged Church & Society Could assist with publicity via Facebook, blog New department with significant focus Formal mechanism does not exist to work with each parish District Youth Ministry Office is responsible for coordinating youth activities within district This would help emphasize the importance of this project Religious Education Dept already has resources on education, Patriarch May conflict with SJCOF in terms of priority Support / Leadership Options 8

 Determine best path of support/leadership within Archdiocese District ◦ If he is interested, we could kick it off through his department and then use support structures of Inter-GOYA and Youth Ministries to help engage parishes  Prepare proposal to be presented to wider audience  Begin to recruit volunteers from Resurrection 9

 Detailed phases of program Appendix 10

 Determine most appropriate organizational structure, working with one or more of: ◦ Inter-GOYA ◦ Department of Religious Education ◦ Department of Society and Culture  Propose topics for symposium ◦ For first year, we should mirror Patriarch’s symposia ◦ Each parish/team would select one of the eight bodies of water covered by RSE Symposia ◦ Each team would then focus on  Original symposium  Updates since that symposium  Recommendations 11

 Work with one or more of the departments on slide 8  Approach priests and advisors of the District parishes ◦ Possible Parishes to approach are Babylon, Bridgeport, Brookville, Hartford, Hempstead, New Rochelle, Roslyn, Rye, South Hampton…  Establish 3-8 teams, each with 3-5 students ◦ May have more than one per parish if demand exists ◦ Neighboring parishes may collaborate on one team  Each team to create a presentation on their given topic ◦ Students would be encouraged to involve their families as means of further “spreading the word” ◦ This can count for community service hours 12

 Distribute topics among parishes  Agree to time frame for research and preparation of results, likely 5-6 months  Schedule periodic checkpoints during that period to determine whether teams are on schedule or assistance is needed 13

 One parish would host symposium where all results would be presented  This would also be used to promote environmental goals of His All Holiness to a wider audience  Results would be made available online and for publication (e.g. Orthodox Observer?) 14

 Evaluate success of program  Determine feasibility of expanding to additional Metropolises  Choose topics for following year ◦ Rivers, Forests, Energy, etc... 15