Team Up With Youth!
A Guide for Youth Service Professionals
Why team up with youth?
As someone who works with adolescents every day, you want to give all young people the keys to success. You probably know that the best way to help youth become happy, productive adults is to involve them in programs and activities that give them opportunities to grow and lead. But you may not always know exactly what those programs should be.
Many youth serving organizations have found an easy solution to that problem: Ask youth what they need! Get them involved in planning and running the programs that will help them best. Incorporate their ideas into every decision, from the personal (such as what they eat) to the bureaucratic (such as how to evaluate your programs). The strategy works because young people are more likely to trust adults who trust them and to invest in programs in which they have a say.
Giving youth decisionmaking power can enable an organization to increase the effectiveness of its programs and better fulfill its mission to serve young people.
How can youth-serving organizations team up with youth?
Any youth-serving organization can
- Invite youth to sit on your board of directors or on board subcommittees
- Assign youth to help interview new staff or sit on hiring committees
- Seek youth input into new programs, from planning to writing grant proposals to implementing the programs
- Ask youth to help raise funds, either for the overall organization or for youth-planned activities
- Find ways for youth to volunteer within the organization, for instance by mentoring or tutoring other youth
- Employ youth, particularly current and former clients, in the organization, perhaps as peer counselors, resident managers, staff aides, or interns
- Create an organizational process through which youth, moderated by staff, can adjudicate personal disputes with each other
- Encourage youth to plan group recreational and educational activities
- Invite youth to participate in discussions about enhancing the physical space of your organization, and then ask them to help plan and make the changes
- Solicit feedback or advice from alumni of your programs
- Have youth act as spokespeople for your organization and for youth issues at community events and forums where legislators or funders are present
A residential program can
- Help youth create their own treatment plans
- Hold regular “youth council” meetings in which youth make decisions about activities, policies (such as curfew hours and rules for visitors), and day-to-day issues
- Ask youth to help plan meals, shop, and budget for groceries
- Allow youth to lead their own discharge planning team, made up of people they choose, to put together a plan for their relationships, employment, housing, and finances after they leave the program
- Help youth create a personal file or portfolio of documents and items relating to their past, present, and future; items could include report cards, school records, photos, artwork, and personal documents
Resources
Print
14 Points: Successfully Involving Youth in Decision Making. Authors: K. Young and J. Sazama. 2001. Available from Youth on Board, (617) 623-9900 x1242; www.youthonboard.org.
At the Table: Making the Case for Youth in Decision-Making: Research Highlights from a Study on the Impacts of Youth on Adults and Organizations. Author: Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development. 2001. Available from the Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development, (301) 270-1700; www.theinnovationcenter.org.
A Guide to Youth Development, Second Edition. Author: Networks for Youth Development, Youth Development Institute. 1998. Available from Networks for Youth Development, Youth Development Institute, Fund for the City of New York, (212) 925-6675; www.fcny.org.
Working Shoulder to Shoulder: Stories and Strategies of Youth-Adult Partnerships That Succeed. Author: Deborah Fisher. 2004. Available from Search Institute, (800) 888-7828; www.search-institute.org.
Web
At the Table
www.atthetable.org
Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development
www.theinnovationcenter.org
National 4-H Council
www.fourhcouncil.edu
Youth in Action
http://www.youthlink.org/us
Team Up With Youth! A Guide for Youth Service Professionals was developed by the National Clearinghouse on Families & Youth (NCFY) for the Family and Youth Services Bureau; Administration on Children, Youth and Families; Administration for Children and Families; U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. For more information on positive ways to work with youth, please go to ncfy.acf.hhs.gov, or contact NCFY at (301) 608-8098 or ncfy@acf.hhs.gov. Revised June 2006.
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