Southeast Unitarian Universalist Summer Institute
 

Covenant Accountability Team Ambassadors

Do you love SUUSI? Do you want to help ensure that SUUSI has a future? Are you passionate about helping SUUSI grow and evoke the best within us as individuals and as a community?

If you said “yes” to any of these questions, become a CAT Ambassador!

SUUSI 2022 is going to be a beautiful and deeply challenging time for so many reasons. It’s up to all of us to have each other’s backs, and remind each other, particularly when we we are tired, hungry, sad, or frustrated, to not lose sight of what it means to be in covenanted community.

What it means to be a CAT Ambassador

CAT Ambassadors:

  1. Stay alert to folks having a rough time, not respecting policies, mistreating other people (particularly SUUSI or WCU staff), or not doing the best job following SUUSI’s covenant.

  2. Come forward if they overhear or notice someone struggling in these ways to see if they can help, remind folks of the promises we’ve made to each other (our covenant), and express love and care for everyone involved.

Requirements

Anyone can be a CAT Ambassador! The requirements are:

  • Love for the SUUSI community

  • Desire to be of service and help one another

  • Willingness to intervene (alone or with a friend) when someone acts in a way that goes against SUUSI’s covenant

Perks of being a CAT Ambassador

CAT Ambassadors:

cat pins

  • Get a handmade official CAT ambassador pin

  • Get to be part of a roving team of friends helping SUUSI be more loving and care-filled

  • Get to meet up for an optional drop-in check-in each day during Community Time from 4:30–5:30pm

Resources for CAT Ambassadors

SUUSI’s Covenant
Imprint our covenant on your heart! You can access it on the SUUSI website, save it to a device as a pic, or access it as a PDF (print copies are available on site). Learn more about our covenant in video form from Rev. Dave Dunn.

“Living Our Covenant, Caring for Our Community” video series
Over the last two years SUUSI has taken a hard look at how we sometimes fall short of being the community we want to be. We’ve heard from WCU that they won’t renew our contract unless behaviors of SUUSI members improve, and we’ve heard from SUUSI members with marginalized identities that they’ve had repeatedly painful, unwelcoming experiences. Watch this new series of six short videos to learn more about radical welcome, some of the challenges SUUSI has had, and how we can help SUUSI do better, grow, and thrive. Pro tip: If you only have time for one or two, watch #5 and/or #6.

Radical Welcome at SUUSI
Learn key practices for how to live into SUUSI’s mission and covenant and create a space where people of all ages, identities, and backgrounds can feel a sense of welcome, belonging, and inclusion.

Bystander Intervention Training
This powerful training was offered to SUUSI’s staff and board in the spring, and now it’s available to you! The 90-min recording is designed to help you build your grounding and concrete skills in being an active bystander and intervening when folks need help being called back into covenant, and it comes with accompanying resources.