The idea for a Southwest Area Conference for Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous was originally conceived by regular attendees of annual YPAA Conferences between 2006 and 2010, a nearly five year stretch of time during which there was only one year with a regional Young People’s Conference inside of a day’s drive for residents of the Continental American Southwest. The simultaneous growth occurring in the population of YPAAs in states like Utah, Colorado, New Mexico, Nevada and Arizona led to the creation of the Four Corners Summit in 2010, an annual Campout aimed at promoting participation, enthusiasm, unity and excitement about Alcoholics Anonymous and sobriety for young people in the Southwest who didn’t have another annual gathering in their immediate vicinity that they could attend or host. Many YPAAs within the region of the Four Corners Summit had made a regular habit of traveling to nearby states to attend their annual conferences, however found themselves frustrated by the fact they could never bring those Round-Ups to their area. There was a desire to participate in the kind of spiritual growth they heard was experienced by those involved in hosting large conferences.
During the three years after the Four Corners Summit was created, it became apparent to those involved that its attendees desired to keep that event small and intimate. The idea for creating an additional, larger conference for the Southwest region was born. After the unanimous blessing of the WACYPAA Advisory Council, YPAAs from Utah, Colorado, Arizona and Nevada planned an informal gathering at the 2013 WACYPAA in Tucson, AZ, where an Advisory Council to lead the idea from concept to actualization was formed. From there the work to make SWACYPAA a reality began as the elected Advisory Council began to hold monthly video conference calls.
The Southwest Area Conference for Young People in Alcoholics Anonymous has been established as an annual gathering to promote participation, unity, and enthusiasm about recovery among young AAs in the region. All across the Southwest there are young people achieving long-term, lasting recovery from alcoholism, but until now there has been no consistent vehicle for newcomers to be introduced to this reality. To fill this void, SWACYPAA has been designed to enable smaller, sometimes less populated cities with growing YPAA communities to experience attending, bidding, and hosting a local area conference.