How can youth lead?
Read each statement below and reflect upon whether you think youth can lead in this area:
- Youth can be on boards
- Youth can do budgets
- Youth can hire staff
- Youth can plan events
- Youth can run meetings
Think about your answers.
- What are your assumptions about what youth can and cannot do?
- Why do you hold these assumptions?
- Where might you be wrong?
PART 1
Reflect
Exercises and ideas to help you think about your own beliefs and practices
Mattering & Youth Participation
Think about how you felt when you recalled a time when you mattered in the opening reflection.
Often youth feel like they matter when they are allowed to participate meaningfully in the activities that surround them at home, in school, and in music programs.
Youth Participation is another key concept of the Youth Development Approach. Young people are invested and build positive developmental outcomes when they can be involved in meaningful participation.
Reflection Questions
Think about the various ways you/your program interact/s with young people. Brainstorm answers to the following questions:
Relationship building
Where are you demonstrating that you are also still learning as an adult?
How do you ensure that you’re offering moments for youth to provide feedback on how they best learn?
Participating in programs
What are some ways your program ensures that young people are engaged in choosing what topics to focus on?
What types of group settings does your program offer that allow for more youth engagement/participation?
Running your organization
Where do you see young people making decisions that have impact beyond the program they are engaged in? Does this happen at your organization?
Engaging in the world
What are some examples you have seen firsthand where young people are making their own decisions — large or small? Hint: think about everything from playgrounds to political movements.
What other questions do you have about engaging young people and encouraging their full participation?
PART 2
Learn
Definitions and frameworks to help deepen your understanding
Youth Participation Definition
Youth participation means young people having the power to make and implement decisions and changes, with a shared responsibility for the results. Youth participation is happening when young people are involved in responsible, challenging actions to create positive change in themselves, their communities, and the world.
Planning & decision-making
This means involving youth in planning and in making decisions that affect themselves and others.
Youth-adult partnerships
Youth engagement happens in youth-adult partnerships that are structured so that both groups contribute, teach, and learn from each other.
(Adapted from HRiA’s BEST Initiative and Act for Youth)
Framework:
Levels of Youth Participation
Below are levels for engaging young people in your program:
| level of engagement | DESCRIPTION |
|---|---|
| None | Youth are not included. |
| Tokenism | Adults set the agenda and make decisions. One or two young people may be consulted or visible, but their views are not necessarily considered. |
| Consultation | Adults consult young people within adult parameters. |
| Representation | A select number of youth are put forward by their peers to work in collaboration with adults. |
| Participation | Youth set the agenda, decide on issues and activities, and have joint accountability with adults. |
| Self-Managing | Youth work with little or no adult authority. |
Framework:
Checklist for Youth-Adult Partnerships
Framework:
Core Principles for Working with Young People
Listen to young people
- Really listen, with an open mind.
- Support their thinking. Welcome young people’s ideas.
Encourage opportunities for leadership
- Control your tendency to take over both conversation and leadership.
- When you make suggestions, do so in the form of a question.
- Encourage young people to take responsibility and leadership where adults might normally do so.
Hold high expectations
- Really listen, with an open mind.
- Support their thinking. Welcome young people’s ideas.
Be authentic
- Young people want to know there are adults who care about them.
- Young people respect adults who show integrity and are consistent.
- Building relations is crucial and young people value healthy relationships with responsible adults.
- Never lie to them. We need to give young people real information about the way the world works, about experiences, and about relationships.
Exercise Understanding
- No matter what age, remember that we were all young once.
- Growing up is not the easiest time in a person’s life. Have compassion for the daily challenges that young people face.
- Respect each young person, no matter their age, and expect them to respect each other, at all ages.
Have fun
- Young people love to laugh.
- It keeps us all young!
(Adapted from Tomorrow Is Ours: An Organizing Handbook for Young People.
Children of War, 85 So. Oxford St., Brooklyn, NY)
PART 3
Observe
Spotlight on programs and projects that use a youth development approach
Program Spotlight:
Youth Action Hour
Youth Action Hour is a youth-of-color led media program that amplifies the power of young leaders across the USA. Starting in 2023, Youth Action Hour will host in-person and hybrid events focused on gathering communities for solutions-oriented conversations focused on transformative change. Building on its success as a national, digital-only series launched in January 2021, Youth Action Hour remains on a mission to empower and mobilize their communities.
An adult advisory panel helps open doors, but Youth Action Hour teens make all decisions about content, budget, and events. They create media content addressing issues that young people are facing — from civic engagement and education access to climate change and economic equity. The youth-led team has created a work culture that allows members to feel comfortable and be themselves, with adults who know when to get out of the way.
“We’ve been meeting young people where we are — social media. Our goal is to amplify the voices of young people who are demanding transformative change. The future will be our responsibility. It only makes sense for us to actively shape it to support ourselves and the generations that come after us.”
Youth Action Hour Participant
Watch this video of Youth Action Hour participants talking about their work.
Activity:
Youth Participation Examples
List the examples you hear in the video of Youth Participation.
Project Spotlight:
Show Us The Money Youth Panel
The Show Us The Money Youth Panel features a youth panel discussing the state of the Build Back Better Act as of November 18, 2021. Hosted by Luis Bautista (Opportunity Youth United), the Show Us The Money panelists are Gnora Gumanow (Alliance for Youth Action) and Wally Mazon (Sunrise Movement). In this video, they reflect on how negotiations have been handled and discuss what was promised and cut.
“Now is the time for elected officials to hear what we have to say about our future because any policy that does not explicitly designate young people as a priority is unlikely to reach them.”
Youth Action Hour Participant
Reflection Questions
CoNSIDER THE FOLLOWING QUESTIONS:
- Are there ways these young people are leading that surprise you?
- What services, opportunities, and supports do the youth in your program need to lead in a similar way?
PART 4
Engage
Reflection and planning tools to move towards implementation
Reflection Tool:
Youth Participation Scorecard
Planning Tool:
Youth Participation — Bump It Up!
Review your selections on the previous survey, and choose two items that you would like to focus on to increase youth participation in your organization.
Write down how youth are currently participating, and 1-3 concrete ideas that would increase, or “Bump Up,” the level of youth participation in that area:
ASK YOURSELF:
- How youth are participating now (include the “level of youth participation” if you like)?
- What are ideas to “Bump Up” youth participation?
PART 5
Resources
Resources to further your learning
“Participation & Decision Making,” Northern Ireland Youth Forum
