wfn.org | UMW focuses on attracting young women

[NewsDesk <NewsDesk@UMCOM.UMC.ORG>]

July 27, 1998	Contact: Linda Bloom*(212) 870-3803*New York       {441}

By United Methodist News Service

When Dorcas Rodriguez of Syracuse, N.Y., was young, she would tag along
to mission school with her mother and grandmothers.

To her, becoming involved in United Methodist Women (UMW) was a natural.
Both grandmothers, Marcelina Rivera and Ana Candelaria, are active
members. Her mother, Diana Rodriguez, was president of her local unit
and now is an executive with the Women's Division, United Methodist
Board of Global Ministries. The Women's Division is the administrative
arm of UMW.

At 22, Dorcas is a student at the SUNY Institute of Technology at
Utica/Rome, N.Y.; a member of Jan Circle, the UMW unit at Erwin First
United Methodist Church in Syracuse; secretary of program resources for
the Seven Valley UMW District; and a member of the Women's Division's
Task Force on College and University Women.

The task force's challenge is to get other young women involved in UMW.
In her opinion, that means a change in perspective. 

"Some of them (young women) think of it as those little old women who
sit around baking something or making quilts," she explained. 

Based on 1997 membership figures, UMW has about 2,400 members in the
teen category, ages 12-17, and 6,800 in the college/university category,
ages 18 to 25.

Those figures represent about 1 percent of the 862,000-member total for
1997, the same percentage as Hispanic and Korean women, said Cheryl
Hemmerle, a Women's Division executive.

As part of a new effort to recruit younger women, UMW is allowing the
establishment of teen or college/university units within districts. So
far, three college/university units have been started, all in South
Carolina, at Clemson University, Columbia College and Claflin
College/South Carolina State University. The teen unit is in the
Murfreesboro, Tenn., district.

At this point, though, most of the young membership remains in regular
units, according to Hemmerle. Although the Women's Division is
encouraging districts to foster these new units, she said, "it takes a
lot of commitment on the part of the young women and the district and
conference officers to pull it off."

To make it easier, the division is working to develop more resources and
guidelines, including a semi-annual newsletter and a step-by-step "how
to" guide on setting up a unit.

Last spring, division directors also decided each teen or college unit
should have a district sponsor, a seasoned member who is knowledgeable
about the organization and works well with young women. Hemmerle said
the sponsor essentially would be a mentor, providing assistance and
continuity while the young women elect their own officers and set
program priorities.

While reaching interested teen/college women will be much easier with a
structure in place, "there's also been a huge need to educate the
organization," she noted. Members need to learn who the potential
membership is and how best to fulfill their needs.

The task forces have been helpful in that respect, Hemmerle said,
particularly in challenging the division "to think about doing things
differently."

Fifteen-year-old Sarah Thompson of Scottsbluss, Neb., a community about
30 miles from the Wyoming border, is on the teen task force. She knows
UMW through her mother, Linda Thompson, her late grandmother and other
women of her First United Methodist Church there.

She finds UMW fun and said its members have been helpful and encouraging
to her. But, she added, the organization needs to "make more effort to
get more younger women involved."

The message seems to be getting through. In a recent survey, "about two
thirds of the conferences reported that their No. 1 priority was
membership, and many of those (goals) included young women," Hemmerle
said.

UMW focuses on fostering spiritual growth, developing leaders and
advocating for social justice. Members raise more than $23 million
annually for programs and projects related to women, children and youth
in more than 100 countries.

United Methodist News Service
(615)742-5470
Releases and photos also available at
http://www.umc.org/umns/