Every year the California YMCA Youth and Government Program sends 25 of it's brightest delegates to North Carolina to participate in the YMCA Youth Conference on National Affairs. Delegates are selected at the Model Legislature and Court conference in February following an extensive application process.

Before arriving in North Carolina, California travels on a site-seeing tour of the South for three days.  Past groups have visited Nashville, Knoxville, Charleston, Atlanta, Richmond, Chattanooga and Charlotte. After the pre-trip California joins over 450 delegates representing some 32 state Youth and Government programs at the historic YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly Conference Center in Black Mountain, North Carolina.

General Assembly Debate 34th CONA

Each delegate brings their own proposal relating to an issue of national or international importance to debate in one of 18 first committees. In this first committee delegates proposals are presented, debated, and eventually scored based on National/International Importance, Evidence of Research, Feasibility, and Presentation. After the scores are tabulated, eight proposals from each first committee continue on to a second committee (second committees are made up of two first committees.) The process is repeated in Second Committee, where six proposals from each group are sent on to one of three third committees. By this time, only 54 of the original 450+ proposals remain, thus the quality level is extremely high.  Each third committee repeats the debate and scoring process but adds Debatability as a fifth ranking criterion, and sends seven proposals on to be debated in General Assembly. The General Assembly proposals are considered "the best of the best" and are debated and voted on in a method similar to that used by our model legislative houses.

The conference is run by Presiding Officers (PO's) -- former CONA delegates who are finished with their first year of college. Presiding Officers for the following year's conference are selected through a process run by a committee of select Y&G advisors with input from the current PO's and a vote by the delegates at the conference.  PO's are responsible for the day-to-day operation of the conference, serving as liaisons between the delegates and the conference staff, and presiding over third committees and the General Assembly. Presiding Officers also train the delegates who were selected to preside over first and second committee.

The California Youth Governor serves as the delegation leader and representative on the Conference Life Committee, a group chaired by the PO's and made up of a representative from each state.  The CLC's function is similar to that of the California Youth and Government Program Committee. Each state nominates a delegate to serve as first & second Committee Chair, and 18 are chosen. Each state also nominates delegates to serve as Proposal Sharing Group Chairs. Proposal Sharing Groups are small committees designed to facilitate interaction and discussion between delegates before the intense debate begins. In order to facilitate discussion within delegation meetings regarding how everyone is dealing with the emotional pressure of the conference, each state also has a delegation Round Table Leader.

Perhaps the most valuable aspect of the Conference on National Affairs is that it broadens the political and social perspectives of its participants. Interactions occur both in and out of the debate halls that underscore the diversity of the American political spectrum.

Related Links

• YMCA Youth Conference on National Affairs Website

• YMCA Blue Ridge Assembly Conference Center Website

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