Welcome
1. Statement of Conduct for Working with Youth
Rotary District 5190 (“the District”) is responsible for adhering to and administering Rotary’s safe environment and youth protection policies in all district and club activities and programs.
2. Definitions
Volunteer — Any adult (Rotarian or not) involved with Rotary youth activities who interacts
directly with youth, whether supervised or unsupervised.
Youth Program Participant – Anyone under the age of 18 who participates in a Rotary- sponsored program conducted by a club or the district.
3. Organization and Liability Insurance
Club and district youth programs are a part of an entity known as Rotary International District 5190. This entity is an association that has been formed by Rotary International (“RI”), serving parts of California and Nevada. Clubs are associations chartered by Rotary International and assigned to District 5190.
The district governor is responsible for supervision and control of all youth activities in the district. The district governor appoints a Youth Service Chair and chairs of various youth programs to administer and operate various District programs. Clubs may participate in these district programs, and may also conduct youth programs of their own.
Both the clubs and the district are provided liability insurance by Rotary International with appropriate coverage and policy limits. This policy protects the organization from third-party claims and lawsuits alleging negligence by the organization, its employees, or its volunteers.
Rotary District 5190 (“the District”) is responsible for adhering to and administering Rotary’s safe environment and youth protection policies in all district and club activities and programs.
2. Definitions
Volunteer — Any adult (Rotarian or not) involved with Rotary youth activities who interacts
directly with youth, whether supervised or unsupervised.
Youth Program Participant – Anyone under the age of 18 who participates in a Rotary- sponsored program conducted by a club or the district.
3. Organization and Liability Insurance
Club and district youth programs are a part of an entity known as Rotary International District 5190. This entity is an association that has been formed by Rotary International (“RI”), serving parts of California and Nevada. Clubs are associations chartered by Rotary International and assigned to District 5190.
The district governor is responsible for supervision and control of all youth activities in the district. The district governor appoints a Youth Service Chair and chairs of various youth programs to administer and operate various District programs. Clubs may participate in these district programs, and may also conduct youth programs of their own.
Both the clubs and the district are provided liability insurance by Rotary International with appropriate coverage and policy limits. This policy protects the organization from third-party claims and lawsuits alleging negligence by the organization, its employees, or its volunteers.
4. Club Compliance
All Clubs participating in District youth programs and/or conducting youth programs of their own are required and are responsible to follow the youth protection policies of the district. The District will monitor clubs to ensure compliance with district youth protection policies.
For more detail on this, please see the section on Leadership and Responsibilities.
5. District Compliance
All District volunteers are responsible to follow the youth protection policy of the District.
For more detail on this, please see the section on Leadership and Responsibilities.
6. Applicability
All procedures, including travel, (Item 7) MUST be followed in all instances of club and district activities and programs involving youth (e.g., Interact, Achievement Beyond Obstacles, youth overnight stays for district functions, and other club and district programs, including one- time events and those held on a scheduled basis).
Volunteer Selection & Screening and Training Procedures (included in Item 7) MUST be followed for all youth activities and programs except when youth are participating in club, district, or public meetings or functions which are held on an occasional or one-time basis lasting 4 hours or less, in a group setting, and typically involving Rotarians, parents, and/or members of the public, such as scholarship presentations, student of the month programs, and other such events, such as a club’s regular meeting.
7. Guidelines and Procedures – To be followed at all times
a) “Two Deep Rule” – No private situations with one adult and one youth are authorized. Adults must ensure private situations never occur with fewer than two adults (preferably one of each gender) and one youth, or no less than one adult and two youth. The purpose of this rule is to assure that youth and adults are never in a one-on-one situation, to reduce the risks to all involved.
b) The “Two Deep Rule” also applies to digital communications. There will be no one- on-one private online communications, including email, social media, games, etc. between adults and youth participants. Adults shall copy a parent, school personnel or another Rotarian in digital and online communication with youth participants. While it is permissible for Rotarians to "friend" a youth (i.e. on Facebook) since postings, comments and "likes"are visible to the social media world, it is not permissible to
use social media as a means to communicate one-on-one. Another approach is to build 3

group sites to avoid one-on-one situations. All efforts will be made to avoid one-on-one situations in text, social media, or other forms of online or digital communication.
c) Counseling or disciplining of individual youth must follow the “Two Deep Rule”. When necessary, it will be done with two adults and one youth. Under no circumstances will counseling or discipline occur in a one-on-one setting. In situations requiring a personal conference, the meeting is to be conducted with the knowledge and in view of other adults and/or youth.
d) Travel by car. All travel must follow the rule of no one-on-one situations. An adult driver may not have just one youth passenger, unless it is the driver’s child. One adult may drive 2 or more youth, or at least 2 adults may travel with one youth.
e) Inappropriate use of smart phones, cameras, imaging, or digital devices is prohibited. Although most youth and adults use cameras and other imaging devices responsibly, it is easy to unintentionally or inadvertently invade the privacy of other individuals with such devices. Taking and transmission of inappropriate images is prohibited. The use of any device capable of recording or transmitting visual images where privacy is expected is inappropriate.
f) Appropriate attire is required for all activities. Proper clothing for activities is required, and clothing containing inappropriate or offensive messages is prohibited.
g) No hazing. Hazing and initiations are prohibited and may not be included as part of any activity.
h) No bullying. Verbal, physical, and cyber bullying are prohibited.
i) Do not use full names of youth in social media, websites or printed material. The posting of appropriate pictures of youth on websites and social media shall only include the youth’s first name and last initial.
j) Travel outside District 5190. Youth travel farther than 50 miles outside of the District boundaries will comply with all youth protection policy and procedures. In addition activity leaders will be responsible to complete the following steps before departure:
a. Obtain written permission from the parents or legal guardians of youth participants.
b. Give parents and legal guardians details about the travel, including locations, accommodations, itineraries, and the organizer’s contact information.
c. Verify that program participants have adequate insurance coverage.
k) Volunteer Selection & Screening (see exceptions under Applicability, Section6)
a. All Rotarian and non-Rotarian volunteers interested in working with youth participants must meet RI and district eligibility requirements. RI prohibits the membership in Rotary and the participation of any volunteer who has admitted to, been convicted of, or otherwise have been found to have engaged in sexual abuse or harassment.
b. All Rotarian and non-Rotarian volunteers must complete an application form prior to working with youth participants (see Volunteer Application). The club youth service chair, president, or other club official assigned by the president shall review and approve the application prior to the applicant working with youth participants. The application shall be kept on file for 3 years, and available for review by district representatives.
c. Other organizations’ youth protection policies prevail.
a. When working with youth participants in a school setting, the
school youth protection policy prevails unless this district policy is
stricter.
b. When working with youth under the auspices of any Scouting
program, the Scouting youth protection policy prevails unless the district policy is stricter.
8. Training (see exceptions under Applicability, Section 6)
Successful completion of on-line Youth Protection Training is required of all Rotarians
working with youth participants.
Training will be done via the online NAYEN (North American Youth Exchange Network) and is accessed by requesting a link from the District Youth Protection Training Officer. This training must be repeated once every three years.
Contact the Youth Protection Training Officer at ypt5190@gmail.org for a link to the training module. The link will be emailed within a few days.
The District Youth Protection Training Officer will keep records of completed training for review by district representatives. These records will be stored on the District 5190 Egnyte cloud storage.
9. Procedures for Reporting Suspected AbusiveSituations
Please see the Section on Reporting Suspected Abusive Situations. 10. Summary
• Both the clubs and the district must follow the district youth protection policy.
• When conducting youth programs, district youth protection procedures (Section 7) must
be followed at all times.
• Except for some short-term group activities, all youth program participants will complete
an application, which will be reviewed, approved and filed by a responsible club official.
• Except for some short-term group activities, all youth program participants will complete
the volunteer application and the prescribed on-line youth protection training.
• All volunteers will report suspected abusive situations to public and Rotary officials.
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