Involving Youth in Positive Youth Development
Youth involvement can benefit organizations and their programs as well as the youth themselves. Programs that are developed in partnership with youth are more likely to be effective at engaging the population and, therefore, to have a greater impact. Involving youth as partners in making decisions that affect them increases the likelihood that the decisions will be accepted, adopted, and become part of their everyday lives. In addition, empowering youth to identify and respond to community needs helps them become empathetic, reflective individuals, setting them on a course to potentially continue this important work in their future. Meaningful youth engagement views youth as equal partners with adults in the decision-making process. Programs and activities are developed with youth, rather than for youth. In this kind of equal partnership, both adults and young people need to be fully engaged, open to change in how things are done, and share a unified vision for the partnership.
Here are some suggested steps to consider when trying to engage young people and ensure the experience is meaningful for the youth as well as for the program.
Assess
Consider where your program currently is on the continuum of youth engagement and where you would like to be. Not every program or activity can or should always involve youth at Level 5. Youth’s level of involvement may vary based on the capacity of program staff to spend time and resources on involving youth, the purpose of involving youth, and support within the organization for involving youth. Organizational infrastructure and support for involving youth are key concerns for sustainability of youth involvement.
Plan
- Look at your organization’s programs and determine where it would be most beneficial and feasible to involve youth. Define the purpose of involving youth in the selected activity. Based on the purpose, determine how to engage youth and the most appropriate level of involvement.
- Talk with other organizations and agencies that are already partnering with youth to learn how they went about doing this and any recommendations they have. Collaborating with other organizations that are engaging youth may help you avoid implementation challenges that others have faced.
Implement
- Identify how you will recruit youth and how you will keep them engaged in the process. Issues to consider are how to recruit youth who are representative of the population you serve, what skills and capabilities the youth need, and what training should be provided.
- Provide training for organization staff who will be working with youth to ensure they have an understanding of the rationale and purpose of partnering with youth, how it will benefit both the program and the youth, and the skills necessary to effectively work with youth.
Evaluate
- Develop a plan to review and monitor the youth involvement process.
- Engage the youth and adults to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of involving youth in the organization and program as well as its impact on the youth themselves.
- Share successes and challenges with others.
There are many ways youth can be involved in organizational decision-making structures and program development. Involving youth from the beginning of a project is ideal; suggestions about how and where youth can be involved include the following:
Assess
Needs assessment
An example of a needs assessment is the GIS (geographic information system) project from the U.S. Department of Agriculture, through which youth identified resources in their communities. The resources were uploaded into a community-wide map, which was then used to inform community leaders about existing gaps and challenges.
Prioritizing needs
Youth provide an excellent source of human and social capital within communities. Their networks consist of their peers as well as family members and adult friends who have access to local resources. Several federally funded programs are soliciting youth leadership in order to identify local priorities and achieve more meaningful results. These programs are tapping into the expertise of young people, relying on them to help determine the needs of their communities.
Plan
Identifying strategies to meet needs
The National 4-H Council's Engaging Youth, Serving Communities project requires adults to work with youth to organize community forum. The forum can be facilitated in partnership or solely by youth to discuss the needs of the community and how to devise a plan to address the needs.
Developing strategies/program activities
Youth can help create activities that will be of particular interest to their peers while effectively conveying program content. Many are familiar with age-appropriate team building exercises and activities that can be incorporated.
Implement
Promoting program/activities to other youth and adults
Youth should have a lead role in promoting and presenting information about the program and the activities that will be offered. Recruiting youth and getting them to participate in programs and activities can be strengthened when their peers describe what is available and how these opportunities were developed based on youth interests. Youth can also identify locations (e.g., libraries, schools, and recreational centers) that are frequented by potential participants.
School health councils/youth advisory boards
Communities are taking the voices of youth more seriously. In rural and urban areas alike, youth are participating in governing bodies such as library councils, parks and recreations boards, school boards, and even city councils. Many of these leadership groups give youth full voting privileges. Although this may not be allowed by some organizations, youth can still be given a chance to be heard as representatives of the communities in which they live.
Curriculum selection committees
Organizations and agencies are concerned about retaining youth within their programs. Before selecting a particular curriculum to use with a target audience or even after a curriculum has been selected, it may be advantageous to have youth assist in reviewing curricula or training materials to determine whether they will be appropriate for a specific age group and population.
Providing technical assistance on youth culture: How to effectively engage youth/how to work with youth
Youth can train adults who are interested in learning about youth culture. Youth can share what interests youth in general, conduct seminars on the relevance and use of innovative technologies such as web-based social networking, or serve on a panel to talk about what it takes to engage today’s youth.
Participating in action research
Young people make excellent data collectors. As they contribute to tasks such as conducting interviews, taking photos, and reviewing feedback from surveys, they are also developing analytical skills that can serve them well in other roles.
Evaluate
Developing evaluation instruments
Youth can brainstorm to create survey questions with adults. Once a draft of the survey is completed, youth can fill out the instrument and then provide feedback on what items were clear and unclear.
Developing criteria for success
Soliciting honest feedback from youth will help build methods into the evaluation process that can strengthen a program or project. Youth can provide insight on what outcomes they would like to see as a result of program efforts.
Collecting evaluation data
Youth can take photographs of the final results of project work, administer surveys, conduct structured interviews, and participate in focus groups.
Assisting in analyzing results
With the assistance of adults, youth can learn how to enter data into software programs, read through data to sort out common themes, and help with interpreting comments, reactions, and behaviors generated by participants. A guide (e.g., observation protocol) describing what to look for during the analysis may be helpful. The Youth Involvement and Engagement Assessment Tool can help assist organizations and community partnerships in determining how they involve youth in programs, whether youth are becoming more engaged in the community, and if certain strategies are helping to retain youth.
Presenting results
Once youth have had a role in all levels of a program, most are more than willing to share the results of their hard work. Giving them the opportunity to share what a difference the experience has made in their lives will also resonate with the audience. This is very important if youth are presenting information to local leaders who can serve as potential partners and also help make a difference in the community.
Resources
HHS/ASPE
Adolescent Health: Think, Act Grow® (TAG)
TAG is a national call to action to improve adolescent health in the U.S. The section of youth.gov provides action steps and resources that organizations and individuals can use to prioritize activities that can support the health and healthy development of youth. The TAG site provides access points to their resources broken down by audience: professionals, parents and caregivers, or teens. Resources also include successful strategies from across the country, multimedia tools, and other materials to help organizations get involved.
Youth Engagement at the Federal Level: A Compilation of Strategies and Practices (PDF, 53 pages)
This compilation of briefs on the youth engagement efforts of 12 agencies and departments describes the accomplishments and basic mechanisms of these strategies while also noting barriers, challenges, and vision for the future. The conversations that informed this report consistently clarified that federal policymakers engaging young adults do so with two clear goals in mind: 1) to better support completion of their agencies’ missions, and 2) to support the development of young adults.
HHS/ACF/CB
Engaging Youth in Foster Care Podcast
In this podcast for child welfare caseworkers, the CEO of Think of Us and consultant on youth issues for the Capacity Building Center for States shares his perspectives as a former youth in foster care for engaging youth in future-planning. Topics include use of social media to support youth in foster care; knowledge gaps of youth transitioning into adulthood; and tips to help youth recognize and build relationships with supportive adults in their lives.
Introduction to the National Youth in Transition Database (NYTD) Video Series
This six-part video series provides an overview of the NYTD and the NYTD Review, which assesses how states collect and report data on youth transitioning out of foster care. Videos cover the following topics: (1) history and implementation of NYTD, (2) NYTD data collection and reporting, (3) introduction to the NYTD review, (4) system demonstration and survey methodology, (5) case record review, and (6) stakeholder interviews.
NYTD Reviews
This webpage provides overall information on the NYTD and the purpose of the NYTD Review. Links are also provided to tools and resources for planning and conducting NYTD Reviews, final reports by state, and links to federal and state NYTD Reviewer opportunities.
Federal NYTD Reviewer Opportunity
This webpage includes resources for recruiting and training young people to serve as Reviewers on the Federal Review Team for the NYTD Reviews. Links are provided for reviewer qualifications and responsibilities, as well as downloadable recruitment postcard and fliers for distribution.
HHS/ASH/OPA
Meaningful Youth Engagement
This webpage describes youth listening session (YLS), which offer an opportunity to meaningfully engage youth, signal that their opinions are valuable, and incorporate their voices into programs. The webpage includes the Listen Up! Toolkit to help organizations start planning their YLS.
HHS/CDC/SAMHSA
Youth Advisory Councils
This webpage provides a detailed overview of Youth Advisory Councils (YACs). It describes the role YACs play in improving the schools and communities they serve, discusses how they can use data to make decisions and create action plans, and outlines the structure of a YAC.
Youth Engagement Guidance: Strategies, Tools, and Tips for Supportive and Meaningful Youth Engagement in Federal Government-Sponsored Meetings and Events
This manual provides recommendations and resources for engaging youth in government-sponsored events and meetings. The guide is broken into three sections: (1) broad goals, including strategies that are centered on informing an agency’s policies and practices on youth engagement; (2) tools and resources for government representatives to fully implement and model youth engagement, and (3) tips for government representatives to use for successful engagement of youth before, during, and after government-sponsored events.
FEMA
Teen CERT: Launching and Maintaining the Training
The Community Emergency Response Team (CERT) Program educates people about disaster preparedness for hazards that may impact their area. The Teen CERT program was created to address preparedness and response from within high schools. This page includes information and resources to assist in locating CERT groups, starting a CERT group, as well as training information and manuals.
HUD
Guide for Engaging Youth in Decision Making and Planning
Designed as a guide for local Continuums of Care working to prevent and end youth homelessness, the document suggests steps for effectively engaging young adults in project development processes. Also included are best practices and a guide to the levels of decision-making for youth.
Youth Homelessness Demonstration Program (YHDP) Community Resources
This webpage contains resources helpful to all communities working on preventing and ending youth homelessness. Information is organized in three topical sections. The Resources section contains a guide for supporting communities advising youth about work-related travel as part of a Youth Action Board, Lessons Learned from the YHDP), and a youth collaboration webinar. The YHDP Coordinated Community Plans section provides links to the plans for the first two rounds of selected communities. Finally, the 100-Day Challenge section provides links to various communities’ summary and case study reports on innovative practices implemented to end youth homelessness in their communities.
Peace Corps
Life Skills and Leadership Manual (PDF, 400 pages)
This manual aims to help Peace Corps Volunteers, and their counterparts who work with youth worldwide, to develop the knowledge, skills, and attitudes integral to three youth in development sector competencies: 1) support healthy lifestyles and prepare youth for family life, 2) prepare youth for work, and 3) engage youth as active citizens.
Additional Federal Resources
School Connectedness: Strategies for Increasing Protective Factors Among Youth
This publication identifies six strategies that teachers, administrators and other school staff, and parents can implement to increase the extent to which students feel connected to school.
Reconnecting Youth and Community: A Youth Development Approach (PDF; 59 pages)
This resource focuses on how communities can shift from a problem-focused approach to serving youth to a community-youth involvement model that captures the talents, abilities, and worth of youth.