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Why
Youth Power Matters
Youth power. Why would this matter to
a community that is trying to be sustainable? What benefits are
there in having youth power
or activism? When discussing a sustainable community there are a
few key ingredients that are necessary. Involvement of youth and
including them in the many decision-making processes of community
is important for any community that wishes to be sustainable. The
principles of equality and ensuring that everyone, including the
youth, has a voice in the community should be a priority. The youth
of the community are the next generation of leaders, if they are
not included in the community when they are young, they may not stay
in the community to be the leaders of the future.
The value of youth power or participation in a community can
be seen in the perspectives that they bring to the table. Much
of the time youth see issues from another angle and are less
afraid to tackle an issue that is important to them. Young
people also have a better grasp of the reality of the community
as it is represented in school since schools are representative
of the community they serve. With this view the youth can answer
questions relating to education better than most other people
in the community.
Another point to note about youth power within a community
is that the youth are the future leaders of the community.
When you engage them from young age and encourage that they
actively participate, the community will benefit in the long
run from the attachment that the youth have developed to the
community.
One of the concerns may be how to create an atmosphere where
the youth want to get involved. Or, conversely, a community
may already have a group of youth that want to be involved
but the community does not want to include them. These are
concerns that hopefully will be addressed by the resources
in this section. It is important to remember, however, that
all communities are unique. What works in one community may
not work in another. The best way to get the youth involved
in the community is to ask them what they think about the community
and listen when they respond. In this section you will find
case studies on organizations that are trying actively to involve
the youth, indicators of youth power and activism and a list
of resources both governmental and non-governmental.
Case Studies & Examples
Appalshop Appalachian Media Institute
The
Appalachian Media Institute (AMI) is a program of Appalshop in
Whitesburg, Kentucky. The AMI brings high school students
together over the summer to train them in media production.
The students are broken up into groups and develop an idea
that they want to create a mini documentary on. When you first
look and listen to the videos you are struck with how powerful
they are. I think that this is because Appalshop is empowering
a generation that so frequently gets overlooked. It allows
people that normally do not have a voice a chance to shout
from the rooftops. It is important to have all members of a
community feel that they are a part of that community. Appalshop
has done this very well with the AMI summer program for students.
Three of the videos reviewed were Because of Oxycotin, Youth
Bored and Searching for an Accent.
Because of Oxycotin was about a problem facing many communities
across Appalachia. Many people across the region are abusing
the drug Oxycotin. The opening quote about this being a new
kind of mining instead of land though it is people summed up
what is happening right now. It should be noted that the people
are not the only reason this is happening; there are many doctors
in the region who will prescribe Oxy for anyone with a little
bit of pain, a couple of dollars or something else that the
doctor’s want. Throughout this video I was asking myself
why this happens. For this I do not have a definitive answer.
The next video was Searching for an Accent, which was about
the mountain accent and how people feel about it. In this video
there were several interviews with people about their mountain
accent. I think that many of the quotes were important in showing
that it is important to have a sense of place and be proud
of it. People change their accent because they do not want
to feel stupid, and they feel that they are more credible if
they don’t have a mountain accent. One woman said that
dialects aren’t allowed but if you take them away it
is like taking away the colors of a painting. I think that
this is something that many people have to deal with at sometime
in their life in Appalachia, but one woman summed it up best
when she said that it was an important part of who she was
and she was proud of it. I think that it is important for people
to have a sense of pride in where they come from so that they
may want to stay there, you cannot have a sustainable community
if people are always leaving it because they do not feel that
they have anything to be proud of in that community.
Youth Bored was a video about the teens of the community taking
their lives in their own hands and creating a place that they
can go and (hopefully) partake in clean activities that will
help themApril 10, 2007 6:09 PMce such as Youth Bored puts the teens in charge of their
own life making them feel empowered and like a part of the
community. This is really important especially for this age
group that usually seen leaving a community after college and
not staying in it. As I said before an empty community cannot
be sustainable. And by creating a way for teens to feel that
they are part of the community, be it through AMI or Youth
Bored, is very important in stopping the use of drugs, and
the out migration of the region.
When discussing a sustainable community there are a few key
ingredients that are necessary. A true community must exist
before a sustainable one can. Sustainability has three pillars,
social, economic and environmental. All of these pillars must
be in balance to have true sustainability. Under the social
pillar, especially when thinking in terms of a small community,
there must be a balance of people being needed and feeling
needed within the community and people giving back. If people
are questioning where they come from, in the case of Accent,
or do not feel that they are part of the community, Youth,
there is not a true community. Because of this you will have
people who are searching for their identity and if they have
no other mechanism than drugs for this “exploration” you
get the situation that was shown with Oxycotin. It is important
to have people who are empowered and part of the community.
Links to other examples:
Resources
- National Resources for Youth Power: Study Circle
The Study Circle Program offers a model for communities to
bring together the youth and the adults of the community to
discuss issues, which are relevant to the community in a way
that is respectful to all. Study circles provide a process
to help build the trusting relationships necessary for long-term
change. They bring people from diverse backgrounds and experiences
together so they can develop trust, understand each other's
experiences and find ways to work together.
- YesWorld
YES! is a nonprofit
organization that connects, inspires and empowers the youth of
the community to join forces for a
thriving, just and sustainable way of life for all. To do this
YES! offers
and attends many conferences and workshops throughout the
year in order to empower and encourage youth in the development
of their ideals.
- America’s
Promise
The
mission of America’s promise is to “mobilize
people from every sector of American life to build the character
and competence of our nation’s youth by fulfilling
Five Promises:
- Caring Adults: Ongoing relationships
with caring adults — parents,
mentors, tutors or coaches — offer youth support,
care and guidance.
- Safe Places: Safe places with structured
activities during non-school hours provide both physical
and emotional
safety
for youth.
- A Healthy Start: Adequate nutrition, exercise
and health care pave the way for healthy bodies, healthy
minds and smart
habits for adulthood.
- Marketable Skills: Marketable skills
through effective education help youth navigate the transition
from school
to work successfully.
- Opportunities to Serve: Opportunities
to give back through community service enhance self-esteem,
boost confidence and
heighten a sense of responsibility to the community.”
- TakingItGlobal
TakingItGlobal
is an international organization, led by youth that works through
technology to bring together
young people
in more than 200 countries within international networks
to collaborate on concrete projects addressing global
problems and creating positive change. This is a resource
that enables
youth from around the world to become actively engaged
in issues
relating to their community. TakingItGlobal works to
provide youth with: Inspiration to make a difference;
Information
to realize their potential; Involvement where their voice
counts;
Action opportunities to translate their ideas into reality;
and Connection to a worldwide community - to take it global.
- Global Youth Village
A
summer camp in Virginia for youth from all over the world ages
11-14. Gain skills and perspectives on development issues,
prejudice, peace building and community action. Lifelong friendships,
practical skills, new perspectives and personal triumphs are
hallmarks of the program, which serves all vegetarian food.
(Adapted from Yes World.)
Regional Resources
- Owsley County
Fund for Excellence: Investing in Youth
The Fund for Excellence program is based on the idea that
investing in children will result in adults who value life-long
learning, possess financial skills and want to serve their community.
During the last years of schooling in a community the youth
make many decisions about their life, whether to go to college
or not, whether to stay in the community or not. In Owsley
County a volunteer program by the residents is investing time
and money in students during the years that young people are
making these choices. The Fund for Excellence program is based
on the idea that investing in children will result in adults
who value life-long learning, possess financial skills and
want to serve their community. (Adapted from Communities
By Choice .)
For more information, the Owsley County Fund for Excellence
can be reached at PO Box 931, Booneville, KY 41314. Molly Turner
can be reached by phone at (606) 593-5818 or by e-mail at
- Appalshop Appalachian
Media Institute
Appalshop is a nonprofit organization
in Whitesburg Kentucky that works to promote local culture.
Through their Appalachian
Media Institute (AMI) in the summer they train groups of
local youth in video production. The youth are then in charge
of
creating a video on a topic that they are interested in.
Through this project videos have been made concerning drug
problems
in Appalachia, pride in one’s own community, and several
other social issues relating to the community. This is a
valuable Resource for empowering local youth and creating
knowledge
of community that will help the community in the long run.
- Eastern
Tennessee State University Community Partnership Center
ETSU’s community partnership center offers a multi-faceted
youth enrichment program. The Center works with Schools,
Johnson City Parks and Recreation, and the Johnson City Housing
Authority
to offer after school program for middle school youth, academic
support, community service opportunities for youth, field
trips to various employment settings, field trips to vocational
and
other post-secondary educational settings, youth technology
training, mentoring, job shadowing, summer youth employment
drug and alcohol abuse prevention programs, family services
workshops and educational field trips to work places, museums,
arts programs.
- Brushy
Fork Institute Eastern Kentucky Leadership Network Youth
Leadership Program
The Eastern Kentucky Leadership Network
(EKLN) has a goal to strengthen and encourage civic involvement
in Eastern
Kentucky
through its programs. One Program, the Youth Leadership
Program, works with local public boards to get teens
to serve on the
boards with one of the adult members acting as a mentor.
The goals
of the youth leadership program are:
- To engage under-involved
teens in East Kentucky in the civic life of their communities.
- To provide these teens with leadership training and leadership
opportunities.
- To promote practices and processes on
public boards that are conducive to citizen involvement.
- To strengthen networking and collaboration among leadership
programs and program graduates.
The program also requires that the teens participate in several
workshops on topics such as communication, conflict resolution,
public speaking, project planning and the role of a board member.
The participants also reflect and share their experiences at
the conferences. (Adapted from Brushy
Fork's East Kentucky Leadership Network.)
- Berea College
Students for Appalachia HEAL
The HEAL mission is to cultivate
the ecological awareness of our community through direct
action, to revive and inspire
the strength of human spirit in those with whom we work and
for whom we serve, and to participate in the global healing
of the illusory separation between human beings and their life-giving
home. HEAL works to transform Berea into an environmentally
sustainable campus. We conduct ongoing programs like helping
with campus recycling and one-time service projects such as
clean-ups and habitat restorations. As a group, we work for
regional and national change.
Governmental Organizations
- Future State: The US State
Department’s website for Youth
This website is sponsored
by the US State department as a way to interest and educate
youth in the area of diplomacy and
current events. This website is geared towards more education
of issues and has material relevant to most age groups. The
goals of the website are to encourage youth and create an interest
in the issues that the state department deals with. This would
be a valuable resource for developing a more globally aware
youth population that is interested in and educated about the
issues of foreign policy and diplomacy.
- Environmental Protection
Agency High School Environmental Center
This is a resource
for high school age students to become educated on issues
related to the environment. There are links from
the main page that provide access to current issues relating
to health and safety, air, water, conservation and ecosystems.
There are also links to scholarships and other resources
that are valuable in educating students on the environment.
- EPA Student Center
This
is a website for 5th to 8th grade students to educate them
on issues relating to the environment. This includes games
and activities as well as links to information on ecosystems,
human health, waste and recycling, air and conservation.
There are also links on this page for teachers to provide
information
that can aid in teaching about environmental issues.
- Appalachian Regional
Commission Youth Leadership Resources
This is a very comprehensive
list of resources that are focused on developing youth
leadership within the community. There
are links by state to agencies that work on youth leadership
and development. There are many organizations and links
to funding opportunities on the extensive website. This link,
since the Appalachian Regional Commission sponsors it,
is
geared very much toward the Appalachia and has links
that deal with
issues relating to youth in Appalachia specifically.
- Youth
at the United Nations Network
This resource, which is
sponsored by the UN, also offers a list of extensive resources
that work on youth issues within
the UN framework. This site offers much information on the
UN youth Agenda as well as new and events, resources and
numerous other links and resources. The goal of the “United
Nations aims to enhance awareness of the global situation
of youth.
It works towards greater participation of young people in
the social and economic life of their societies.”
Indicators
Indicators of anything are difficult to come up with. When
thinking about youth power, activism, engagement or what
have you, there are many possible indicators. When designing
a list of indicators it is important to have indicators that
are community-specific as well as goal-oriented. If the community’s
goal is to have a more civically engaged youth population,
a possible indicator could be number of hours that students
from the local high school volunteer that are not required
for graduation. Other indicators for youth power could be
the number of youth who belong to an interest group, the
number of youth who stay and leave the community after graduation
and the number of youth that serve on community advisory
boards. It is important to remember that there also should
be diversity among youth in the indicators. If you have the
same youth doing all of the indicators for community it may
or may not show that the community is reaching its goal.
Below are some links that offer possible indicators for a
community to evaluate and also how to create effective indicators.
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