Youth-Adult Partnerships

A training for volunteer administrators working to build partnerships among youth and adults

Overview

• • • • • • • Youth Boards = Youth-Adult Partnerships Self-Assessment Building Youth-Adult Partnerships Characteristics of Effective Y-A Partnerships Identifying Barriers to Effective Partnerships Mapping Youth-Adult Partnerships Developing a Common Vision

Effective Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Each person is able to contribute his/her unique talents, skills and knowledge • Youth and adults share equally in the decision making process • Each group is treated with respect and dignity

Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Do NOT occur any time youth and adults are present in the same room!

• DO occur when youth and adults plan, learn and work together, with both groups sharing equally in the decision making process

Claiming Your Voice

• Objective: Creates an opportunity for youth and adults to understand each other’s perspectives and have dialogue about power.

• Agree/Disagree Statements • No conversation, comment or debate

Agree or Disagree

Youth should be able to evaluate the programs and agencies that serve them.

Agree or Disagree

Young people don’t have enough life experience to make informed choices about their lives.

Agree or Disagree

Youth should be involved in hiring staff.

Agree or Disagree

Adults don’t listen to the opinions of young people when program planning.

Agree or Disagree

Every youth agency should have young people on its board of directors.

Agree or Disagree

Elected officials should involve young people in making every decision that affects youth.

Agree or Disagree

Young people should sit on the school board.

Youth-Adult Partnership Self-Assessment

• Examine how you are doing as an active participant in a youth-adult partnership – YOUTH BOARD • Identify current strengths, motivations, actions and needs • Support you in establishing new goals and pinpointing areas of development that you may want to focus on • Assist youth-adult partnerships in becoming more effective

Building Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Basic Principles and Values of Partnerships – Acknowledging that everyone has something to say and that everyone should be listened to equally.

– Adults publicly say that they respect youth, and youth publicly say that they respect adults.

– Understanding that there is a difference between doing something with youth and doing something for youth.

Building Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Conditions must be in place for partnership to succeed: – Adults need to be willing to share their power and responsibility.

– Youth need to be willing to gain power and take on responsibility.

– Both youth and adults need the skills to work successfully together.

– Everyone needs to forget everything they have ever though about youth and adults as separate groups and start treating them the way they would treat their peers.

Adults Need to Remember:

• Don’t expect more from a youth than you would from another adult.

• Treat young people as individuals; don’t make one youth represent all youth.

• Be careful about interruptions when young people are speaking.

• It’s okay to ask for help when you don’t know how to do something.

Youth Need to Remember:

• Criticism doesn’t necessarily equate to condescension.

• Adults may not be aware of how capable youth are.

• Adults will feel responsible for the success or failure of the project.

• It’s okay to ask for help when you don’t know how to do something.

Identifying Characteristics of Effective Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Think about a time when you were a part of a successful youth-adult partnership: – What do you remember?

– How did it feel?

– What made it work?

• What are some of the characteristics that are important to you?

Identifying Characteristics of Effective Youth-Adult Partnerships

Effective youth-adult partnerships…

Identifying Barriers

• • • • • • How do adults view young people?

How do young people view adults?

What behaviors have you experienced in intergenerational meetings that would not be helpful in building healthy partnerships?

What behaviors have you seen that help build strong partnerships?

What blocks us from building effective working relationships between youth and adults?

How can we ensure that barriers to building effective partnerships are minimized or eliminated?

Timing is Everything

• Plan a two-hour meeting as quickly as possible • Rules: – No one may cancel any appointment, and they may only move the underlined appointments – Each person must be asked about a specific slot in order to reply. A person cannot offer up she he/she is free but can only answer specific questions!

Mapping Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Think of the last decision made that affected your 4-H program – Who identified the problem or issue?

– Who made the decision?

– How did everyone find out about the decision once it was made?

Mapping Youth-Adult Partnerships

• • • List all committees, task forces, coalitions, etc., that make decisions affecting your 4-H program.

Think about where youth are involved in the decision making of all these groups. Circle the groups that use youth-adult partnerships.

Think about the groups that could have youth-adult teams or that could increase the level of youth-adult partnership. – Find at least five new areas

Developing a Common Vision

• Envision the future of your Youth Board… – What specific project(s) might you work on?

– What roles can the youth and adults play to get the work done?

– What outcomes do you want to achieve in a year or two?

In 2 to 3 years…

• What do we want to see in place?

– Imagine it is two years from now. What are your Youth Board’s accomplishments?

– What have you learned?

– What are others saying about your Youth Board?

– Who has been affected?

How does this relate?

• Successful youth-adult partnerships will lead to a successful Youth Board • Youth Board members need youth-adult partnership training • Let them know they are a part of a youth adult partnership Information and activities adapted from: www.theinnovationcenter.org