Youth

ACYOA Strengthened by Full-Time Staff

In 2003, the young volunteers who make up the ACYOA got some full-time help – and used it to strengthen their organization.

ACYOA leaders won support from the 2002 Diocesan Assembly to fund a full-time executive secretary position, designed to give the volunteer leaders of the ACYOA full-time administrative support to help expand the youth organization and create programming.

“The ACYOA has been at its strongest when there was a single individual appointed as the executive director, who was responsible for the administrative and developmental aspects of the national organization on the Diocesan level, as well as assisting the ACYOA Central Council in its operations,” said Dn. Diran Jebejian, then-chairman of the ACYOA Central Council, to the 2002 Diocesan Assembly. “The need for an executive director, which was filled just once in the last 10 years, for a total of 24 months, has never been greater.”

Nancy Basmajian, a longtime Diocesan employee and graduate of St. Nersess Seminary, assumed the position of executive secretary for the Armenian Church Youth Organization of America.

With the help of a full-time staffer, the ACYOA leadership was able to organize a series of regional workshops in 2003 that focused on chapter building and personal faith.

The group also worked with St. Nersess Armenian Seminary in 2003 to organize conferences that targeted college and post-college age Armenians. The group also improved and maintained a regular newsletter for its members.

In 2003, beefed up with the fulltime staff support, the ACYOA was able to establish new chapters in Cleveland, OH, and Cheltenham, PA. It has a goal of creating more new chapters in years to come.