Youth Adult Partnerships: Cultivating agency in youth and adults

1. Youth Adult Partnerships: Cultivating agency in youth and adults Fe Moncloa and Fiona reyes University of California

2. Meet the presenters

3. Learning Objectives • Increased understanding of core elements of youth-adult partnerships • Identify challenges and opportunities of youth participation • Increased understanding of strategies to sustain youth engagement in community health councils

4. Agenda • Overview • Youth engagement and YAP- a definition • Challenges and opportunities • Creating Welcoming Spaces • Decision-making & power • Sustaining youth engagement • Closing

5. Meaningful youth engagement means • Young people have opportunities to participate in decision making • Young people have opportunities to learn and practice leadership • Young people experience a sense of belonging • Young people and adults are working together, with both groups sharing equally in the decision-making (i.e., Youth-Adult Partnerships) Community Network for Youth Development (2001); Gambone, Klem, & Connell (2002); Hart (1992); National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (2002)

6. How do you know if youth are engaged in your community health council? • Youth interests are reflected in the committee/task force/ program • Youth are involved in stating goals/needs • Youth are involved in activity/program planning and evaluation • Youth-led activities • Youth are peer trainers, teachers, advocates, or counselors • Youth engagement and mentoring happens over time • Youth are involved in civic/social justice movements • Youth hold positions of power in the committee/task force/ agency • Youth have fun and are excited to be a part of the activity, program or agency • Youth report feeling valued and respected as partners in the agency Horrilo, S. & Moncloa, F. (2018)

7. Why Engage Youth as Partners? • Youth need opportunities for active learning • Youth need opportunities for new roles/responsibilities • Youth offer unique insight on policy/program design • Legitimate opportunities to engage in the present encourage youth to engage in the future • Youth are isolated from public decision making/work

8. Adult Roles in Youth-Adult Partnership • Adults may create the space for youth to co-lead within programs, organizations & communities • Adults may also serve as allies and mentors on issues that are important to youth • A partnership exists when both groups contribute and are mutually respected

9. What are youth-adult partnerships? Youth-adult partnership is the practice of: multiple youth and multiple adults deliberating andacting together, in a collective fashion,over a sustained period of time, through shared work,intended to promote social justice, strengthen an organization and/or affirmatively address a community issue. (Zeldin et al 2012)

10. Meet Nancy

11. my grandparents to take me places • I was given personal invitations and was encouraged often to get involved I can communicate with the team using Google hangouts, or online meeting after I get out of school only during the summer if I am not working schedule meetings for 4:00 p.m. if they want youth participation close to a bus or metro station

12. Youth at the table

13. Youth at the table • Setting: A community health task force meeting just ended. The meeting started with everyone saying their names, but no icebreaker. After the meeting a couple of adults have the following conversation • https://youtu.be/Ncd5L_dgaK0

14. What is going on?

15. Power & decision-making

16. Brainstorm of Ideas Setting: A community health task force with 25 adults and eight youth. Youth are actively participating in the conversation on how to improve sexuality education in the school. The chair person stated that this is a brainstorm, and that all ideas are good ideas. She adds, that during brainstorm sessions, there is no discussion, only idea generating. And that she will be recording the ideas.

17. Scenario

18. What is going on?

19. Sustaining youth engagement

20. Youth-adult partnerships

22. Levels of Youth Participation (Hart, 1992)

23. In closing…

24. Resources for Youth-Adult Partnerships Zeldin, S. & Collura, J. (2010). Being Y-AP Savvy: A Primer on Creating & Sustaining Youth-Adult Partnerships. Ithaca, NY:ACT For Youth Center of Excellence. http://ecommons.library.cornell.edu/bitstream/1813/19325/2/YAP-Savvy.pdf Camino, L., et al. (2006)Youth and Adult Leaders for Program Excellence: A Practical Guide for Program Assessment and Action Planning (YALPE). Ithaca, NY: ACT for Youth Center of Excellence. http://www.actforyouth.net

25. For more info • Youth-Adult Partnership Training: A Resource for Volunteers and New Professionals is an online training. • Each session has 1 – 4 short readings and is accompanied by videos of people in, or speaking of, their Youth-Adult Partnership experiences. • More information: https://fyi.uwex.edu/youthadultpartnership/.

26. References • Gambone, M.A., Klem, A., & . J.P. (2002). Finding out what matters for youth: Testing key links in a community action framework for youth development. Philadelphia: Youth Development Strategies Inc., and Institute for Research and Reform in Education • Hart, R. (1992). Ladder of participation, children’s participation: From Tokenism to citizenship. Innocenti Essays, 4. • Horrillo, S. & Moncloa, F. (2018, April). Making it Count: Strategies for increasing meaningful youth engagement in Extension work. [poster]. University of California, Agriculture and Natural Resources Strategic Initiative Conference. Retrieved https://ucanr.edu/sites/statewideconference2018/files/282706.pdf • National Commission on Resources for Youth (1974). New roles for youth in the school and community. New York. • National Research Council and Institute of Medicine (2002). Community programs to promote youth development. National Research Council: National Academy Press: Washington D.C. • Zeldin, S. Christens, B., Powers, J. (2012). The psychology and practice of youth-adult partnership: Bridging generations for youth development and community change. American Journal of Community Psychology, 51(3-4): 385-397 .

27. Well Connected Communities is a nationwide effort to cultivate wellness led by America's Cooperative Extension System, in partnership with National 4-H Council, with support from the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation.