OSYPAA was created in 2011 by a group of young people in Eugene. Roughly a year after hosting OSYPAA the young people’s committee in Eugene was struggling to find a purpose. No longer acting as a bid committee for OSYPAA the unity among YPAA’s in the area had dwindled considerably. Looking to unify the area, and ultimately the entire state, the group then known as EASYPAA (Eugene and Springfield Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous) would vote to disband. They immediately reformed as the first ever OSYPAA host committee.

Oregon State Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous® is a committee whose intent is to have a yearly conference in Oregon that will enrich and strengthen the young people’s fellowship across the state. OSYPAA’s aim is to reach young people in sobriety and carry the message of AA’s Twelve Steps while demonstrating that life as a sober young person is both exciting and worthwhile.

What is YPAA?

YPAA stands for Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous

What is OSYPAA?

OSYPAA stands for Oregon State Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous

It is a yearly conference that travels around Oregon, offering young people (or young at heart) an opportunity to be of service, have fun, and stay sober in a larger community. Throughout the year the host committee will have various fundraising events to help financially support the conference (see our events page for more info). The conference will have speakers, events, panel meetings, and lots of oportunites for fellowship. Everyone is welcome!

What is considered young?

YPAA is open to anyone regardless of age. Young means room to grow.

Isn't AA is for bums and old people?

The illness of alcoholism strikes people of all ages, races and economic situations. AA can and does help people from all walks of life.

(question and answer taken from Young People in AA pamphlet)

Is OSYPAA AA?

"From time to time the General Service Office is asked if ICYPAA and young people’s groups are “part of A.A.” The answer is definitely yes. ICYPAA and its attendees are committed to reaching out to newcomers–no alcoholic is ever turned away, regardless of age–and to involvement in all facets of A.A. service. In most local A.A. meeting directories, young people’s meetings are listed along with others, though in some areas asterisks may identify them as YPGs. Members of these groups often can be found serving at the national, state, area and group levels. ICYPAA conventions and conferences are vital A.A. activities and as such are listed in the Box 459 'Calendar of Events."

Reprinted from Box 4-5-9 (Vol. 51, No.2/April/May 2005, pg. 7) with permission of A.A. World Services, Inc.

Let us know if you have any other questions!

Upcoming Events

Upcoming Events

Our committee meets on the first and third Sunday of each month from 6:30-7:30pm at Emerald Valley Intergroup.

EVI is located at:

2160 W 11th Ave Unit I

Eugene, Oregon 97402

1. We admitted we were powerless over alcohol — that our lives had become unmanageable.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves could restore us to sanity.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of God as we understood Him.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves.

5. Admitted to God, to ourselves, and to another human being the exact nature of our wrongs.

6. Were entirely ready to have God remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked Him to remove our shortcomings.

8. Made a list of all persons we had harmed, and became willing to make amends to them all.

9. Made direct amends to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure them or others.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly admitted it.

11. Sought through prayer and meditation to improve our conscious contact with God as we understood Him, praying only for knowledge of His will for us and the power to carry that out.

12. Having had a spiritual awakening as the result of these Steps, we tried to carry this message to alcoholics, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

1. Our common welfare should come first; personal recovery depends upon A.A. unity.

2. For our group purpose there is but one ultimate authority — a loving God as He may express Himself in our group conscience. Our leaders are but trusted servants; they do not govern.

3. The only requirement for A.A. membership is a desire to stop drinking.

4. Each group should be autonomous except in matters affecting other groups or A.A. as a whole.

5. Each group has but one primary purpose — to carry its message to the alcoholic who still suffers.

6. An A.A. group ought never endorse, finance, or lend the A.A. name to any related facility or outside enterprise, lest problems of money, property, and prestige divert us from our primary purpose.

7. Every A.A. group ought to be fully self-supporting, declining outside contributions.

8. Alcoholics Anonymous should remain forever non-professional, but our service centers may employ special workers.

9. A.A., as such, ought never be organized; but we may create service boards or committees directly responsible to those they serve.

10. Alcoholics Anonymous has no opinion on outside issues; hence the A.A. name ought never be drawn into public controversy.

11. Our public relations policy is based on attraction rather than promotion; we need always maintain personal anonymity at the level of press, radio, and films.

12. Anonymity is the spiritual foundation of all our traditions, ever reminding us to place principles before personalities.

12 Concepts

12 Concepts

If your YPAA committee would like to bid to host the conference in 2025, please take a look at the bid requirements. A bid will be presented to our Advisory Committee at the 2024 conference and the location of the following year's conference will be announced on Saturday night at the conference. If you need assistance with putting together a bid packet, please reach out to any local YPAA members or contact OSYPAA Advisory at [insert email address]

1. Each bidding committee must have at least three AA members who have been continuously sober for a minimum of one year.

2. Bidders must have commitments from at least two appropriate facilities (Hotels, Universities, Convention Centers, Gymnasiums, etc.) so sized as to accommodate the entire conference. Please include proposed dates for the conference (October or early November) and a showing of available meeting space. The cost of the facility must be included. Bidders must provide information regarding housing for attendees, including cost and accessibility to the proposed conference site. If awarded the conference, the host committee agrees to have a signed contract within 60 days.

3. Bidders must provide a permanent mailing address for their committee, and if available provide an email address also.

4. A letter of assurance from a local AA service body (district, intergroup, etc.) stating that no large scale AA activity will be held in the proposed general service area within a period of 30 days before, and 30 days after the proposed conference dates, is required.

5. Please demonstrate how the bid committee has been involved with General Service (some have chosen to get a letter of support, or to show how their group was active in area or district service).

6. Bid committees should be able to demonstrate financial autonomy and responsibility, within the spirit of the 12 Traditions of AA.

7. Bidders must show how they have worked to improve unity in their city and also statewide. Provide a list of past and planned outreach. Show how the committee has outreached the current OSYPAA conference in the bid committee’s home area.

8. If awarded the conference, the new host committee must agree that all proceeds, after conference and "core" advisory expenses and donations of up to 25% of the remaining proceeds to AA service bodies in their area, will be turned over to the OSYPAA Advisory Council for their disposition following the conference.

9. Bids can take no longer than 20 minutes to present.

10. Please draft a statement illustrating the reasons why you wish to host OSYPAA in your area.

The members of the OSYPAA Advisory Council, have formed for the purpose of establishing a rotating body of past OSYPAA Host Committee members who shall act as guardians of the conference integrity and experience. The OSYPAA Advisory Council is a service body, which is directly responsible to all AA members who wish to participate in anything having to do with OSYPAA. In all its proceedings, the OSYPAA Advisory Council shall observe the spirit of the A.A. Traditions and Concepts, taking great care that the Conference never becomes the seat of perilous wealth or power; that sufficient operating funds, plus an ample reserve, be its prudent financial principle; that none of the Advisory Council members shall ever be placed in a position of unqualified authority over any of the others; that all important decisions be reached by discussion, vote, and, whenever possible, by substantial unanimity; that no Advisory Council action ever be personally punitive or an incitement to public controversy; that though the Advisory Council may act for the service of OSYPAA, it shall never perform any acts of government; and that, like the society of Alcoholics Anonymous which it serves, the Advisory Council itself will always remain democratic in thought and action.

As such, it will make itself available to answer questions from any AA member who wishes. The Advisory Council takes a proactive role to assist the current Host Committee throughout the duration of the conference, and actively assists with the financial welfare of the conference. It also places itself at the disposal of the current Host Committee, and all Bid Committees to offer any assistance, which is with its power to provide. We recognize that not all AA members will find our conference necessary to their recovery from alcoholism; we aim only to serve those who desire our assistance.

Current Advisory Members