The MidAmerica regional staff are proposing changes to move toward greater regionalization and collaboration across the Central Midwest, Heartland, and Prairie Star districts. This would include the district staff serving the entire MidAmerica region, a unified administrative structure, and centralized online resources. The district boards are also discussing governance changes, including potentially adopting the same ends as the UUA and changing district structures. The regional staff see this as an opportunity to better serve congregations through a team-based approach with specialized staff providing flexible support. Their goal is to create a sustainable model that is future-focused, adaptable, and promotes social justice. As a first step, one staff member will coordinate emerging young adult and youth ministries across the three

1. MidAmerica:
Regionalization 2.0
Nancy Combs-Morgan, Ian Evison,
Nancy Heege, Phil Lund,
Lisa Presley, Dori Thexton –
Your Regional Staff

2. MidAmerica Regionalization 2.0
 Powerpoint created by Lisa Presley and
adapted for presentation at the Districts’
Annual Assemblies, April, 2011

3. Move toward Regionalization
Two types of regionalization under way:
 UUA and Governance
o As UUA moves into Policy Governance…
o District Boards looking at how changes at
national level impact the district level
 Regional Staff looking at
o How we provide support to congregations
o Cross border resource sharing
 Both processes happening organically

4. District Board Conversations
 Recent, new collaboration by District
Boards of Central Midwest, Heartland
& Prairie Star Districts
 District Presidents of Central
Midwest, Heartland & Prairie Star
Districts attending each others’
Annual Conferences this year.
 Board members’ joint conference calls

5. District Board Conversations
 Whether to accept the UUA’s Ends
rather than have their own
 How to account for differences in
districts’ assets and liabilities
 Whether to end co-employment of
District Staff
 Whether to change district
governance structures

6. District Board Conversations
 District Boards are open to your
questions and comments on this topic.

7. At the same time
 The District Staff of Central
Midwest, Heartland, and Prairie Star
Districts have been collaborating on
service delivery, offering regional
programs such as Midwest Leadership
School, Youth Leadership School, and
our frequent webinars.
[now archived collectively at
www.midwestuuleadership.org ]

8. Most recently
 The regional District Staff have
developed a staffing proposal with a
new team approach to serve our
congregations better. Comments and
suggestions are welcome as we begin
to create these new systems.

9. Emerging Approach
 MidAmerica staff are changing how
we work together
 Invite your input: contact us!
 Work transforms as we learn new and
better ways
 Wheatley: strive for “less arduous
and more delightful”
 Acknowledge change, gain, loss

10. Who we are
 Six District Staff members, working
together across three districts:
Nancy Combs-Morgan, Ian Evison,
Nancy Heege, Phil Lund, Lisa Presley,
and Dori Thexton

11. Values underlying our proposal
 Future Focused
 To be the church of the 21st Century
 Flexible and adaptable
 Modeling for service and support
 Team-based
 In our work and our approach
 A strong team working with strong teams
in congregations

12. What We Foresee
 Staff with core competencies plus!
 Individual specializations
 Generative focus: next best thing
 Multiple points of entry
 When you know us or if you don’t
 Assessment and referral system
 Social Justice is part of what we do
 Inclusion writ large
 Antiracism, anti-oppression, multicultural

13. How We’ll Serve
 Unified, sustainable, excellent
administrative structure
 Central and unified electronic
presence
 All resources with easy access
 As present virtually as we are physically
 Open and supportive of the form of
governance shaped by our Boards

14. How We’ll Serve
 When transition happens
 We each will be able to assist you as
generalists, and in our core competencies
 When you need to go deeper, we may
refer you to one of our colleagues
 We will build on existing relationships,
but not be restricted by them
 Increasing online resources and archived
webinars

15. First Step
 A change in our support for youth and
young adult programming in region
 Continue to focus on supporting these
ministries in our congregations
 Multigenerational faith communities,
including vibrant youth and young adult
involvement
 Nancy Combs-Morgan hired to be
Coordinator of Emerging YaYA Ministries
for MidAmerica Region, starting Sept 1st

16. What’s Next
 Move to having all co-employed
District Staff serve the MidAmerica
region over the next 12 – 18 months
 Move to unified administrative
structure in next 18-24 months
 Will grab “low hanging fruit” as we
recognize it

17. What’s Next
 Boards will continue conversations on
governance
 District Staff will support Boards’
decisions about governance
 Excited about road ahead, and willing
to adapt what’s necessary
 A time of change and opportunity!

18. MidAmerica:
Growing Regionalization
Nancy Combs-Morgan, Ian Evison,
Nancy Heege, Phil Lund,
Lisa Presley, Dori Thexton