Youth Participation/ Engagement

#1 *Engages participants with a variety of strategies.

Tips for Success

As a youth practitioner, you are aware of the benefits of engaging youth in meaningful experiences that build a sense of connection to their community, encourage civic awareness, and create opportunities to build self-esteem. Here are some strategies for engaging young people in program planning and organizational development:

• Be clear as to why young people are being asked to join the team. Create a purpose statement.

• Acknowledge young people as full members of the team. Be clear about their roles.

• Establish at least two youth positions. Young people feel more comfortable when they have a peer present.

• Choose a convenient meeting time and place for young people.

• Host an orientation for youth members. Review the organization’s mission, history, structure, and the responsibilities of the team members.

• Make meetings interactive through icebreakers, small group discussions, partner chats, team-building activities, and large group share-outs.

• Encourage young leaders to recommend other youth when their term or involvement is ending. 5

The Power of Youth Voice!
A teen summit can be an empowering experience for young people as they exchange ideas, explore unfamiliar issues, and identify opportunities to contribute back to their communities. Young people can be engaged in planning the agenda, assigning tasks, facilitating workshops, and reflecting on their accomplishments and challenges. Having a teen summit sends a clear message: young people are resources and agents of change. The following tips are based on the lessons learned by the staff at Henry Street Settlement’s Boys and Girls Republic, and can help to ensure successful and empowering experiences for youth:

• Seek out youth-led conferences, events, and trainings, and bring youth from your program to participate.

• Meet with other youth agencies that have coordinated youth-led activities to get ideas and share lessons learned.

• Clarify roles and deliverables for all youth involved. Remember that process is just as important as the event.

• Create a planning committee that consists of adults and youth; support and train young people to lead the planning process.

• Train youth on the basics of workshop facilitation; if possible, provide advanced training.

• On the day of the event, make sure there are opportunities for movement throughout the day.

• If appropriate, include live performances.

• Make sure that healthy food is provided and the menu appeals to the youth.

• Acknowledge the contributions and accomplishments of all youth and adults involved in planning and organizing the event.

Authentic Youth Involvement
Karen Pittman, Executive Director of Forum for Youth Investment, has described a key paradigm shift taking place in youth work around youth engagement which offers another perspective to consider in program planning.

“Youth participation for youth development. Youth participation for community change. Different goals, different strategies; maybe even different proponents and funders. This isn't semantics: it's a critical distinction that I, for one, have been slow to grasp. It is a distinction that, if grabbed, will shape the way youth development ideas are marketed in the years ahead.” ⁶

Thinking of youth development work in this way can help organizations shift beyond being a “service provider” to being a partner.