Friday 16 September 2011

Youth Engagement - Not Rocket Science

In March of 2009, the Canadian Heritage, Citizen Participation Branch in partnership with the Atlantic Evaluation Group, Inc. published a report entitled “Youth Participation in Arts, Heritage, Culture and Community” that explored the topic of engaging youth in our communities.  They talked with community organizations that work with youth as well as to the youth directly for their study.

The findings are not extreme, nor are they surprising but they shine a bright light onto the values of our youth.  Here are a few of the ideas that stood out for me while reading the article:
  1. Youth want to have positive relationships with adults, they seek to be treated with respect and to be heard.
  2. They want to be engaged as a whole person - in their feeling of belonging, in acknowledging their contributions and by providing them with opportunities to contribute to society.
  3. Young people feel that they do not know how to become involved in their communities - they need the encouragement of their mentors, teachers, parents or older youth to present them with opportunities to get involved.
  4. Youth want to be involved in all stages of projects - from planning, through implimentation and then be kept in the loop with the after-effects of their contributions.  A thank you note or an honorarium are also appreciated!
  5. “FACEBOOK DOES NOT REPLACE FACE-TO-FACE” (Fuller, 2009, pg, 16, emphasis added).  Youth still value interacting with each other in person - the internet is for communicating but does not override getting together.

How can you engage the youth in your community? How can you remove barriers to their involvement?   How can you help them find their voice and contribute in a meaningful way?

Read the full article here: http://www.pch.gc.ca/pgm/pc-cp/publctn/2009-01/index-eng.cfm 

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