Author Response to Youth Participation in Community Planning: A Framework for Youth Empowerment

Abstract

Children, Youth and Environments Vol 13, No.1 (Spring 2003) ISSN 1546-2250 Author Response to Youth Participation in Community Planning A Framework for Youth Empowerment Yve Susskind Vashon Island Youth Council Since the publication of Youth Participation in Community Planning, I have completed the research on which the two in-depth case studies were based. Four years ago several teenagers and I, from the small island community in Puget Sound where I live, started a youth-led activist organization where we had the opportunity to test the findings of the research. In that time, several other important pieces of research and theory have been published which help to further ground the ideas which I see emerging. I call the work that we are involved in “youth empowerment.” While the term “empowerment” is over-used (and often wrongly and manipulatively used, as when corporations call their teen marketing research empowerment), it does have a meaning which I have found fits well with the community change work that young people and their adult allies are doing: empowerment is both the increase in the capacity of an individual, group or community to create change as well as the process and outcomes of actual change in the conditions that oppress people, resulting in an enduring redistribution of power and resources. Based on my research and the recent work of others, I offer a framework for planners who want to begin involving young people in ways that empower participants, organizations and communities. This framework has three components: the activities of the participants, the characteristics of the settings in which participation takes place, and conditions in the larger community that allow empowered youth participation to take place. As a planner, what can you expect the young people that you work with to do? Whether youth working with planners on community designs, serving on local commissions, or engaging in their own youth-initiated social change efforts, empowerment takes place when young people are targeting significant community needs by addressing root causes of problems, and using multiple and appropriate forms of activism (which could be anything from advocacy, to planning, to civil disobedience and direct action).They are not working in isolation, but are connected to and part of public dialogue and decision making . They are not operating solely on their hunches and preconceived ideas, but are using history to understand and inspire and they are researching their issues to develop sophisticated analyses. Perhaps most challenging for adult allies who are trying to fit youth participation into their existing institutional structures, empowering youth involvement is a continuing and ongoing process, not a one-time event. Recent empirical research has also shown that certain structures are in place where young people’s participation in community change processes leads to empowerment. These settings are democratically managed. To the greatest extent possible, given each participant’s level of development, skill and knowledge as well as desired role, these projects use cooperative decision making processes that include youth fully and equally; young people initiate, design, manage and implement efforts. Partnership with adults is essential as adults share their knowledge, experience, contacts and access to power. In addition to these structures of 232 leadership and decision making, such projects offer support for young people’s personal, social and activist needs. Young people, especially those from disadvantaged backgrounds, often do not have access to the personal supports that adult workers take for granted, such as transportation and food. Projects often pay youth stipends, create opportunities for socializing, and, when necessary assist in accessing health or social services. Perhaps most importantly, such projects prioritize learning. They expect that people will learn and they value individual and organizational change that result from people’s learning, and deliberately create formal and informal opportunities for learning. It also appears that when all participants are considered learners, and the organization is set up as a learning laboratory, that everyone’s knowledge, expertise, and contribution is valued. These programs recognize that for some participants to fully learn and contribute, there must be deliberate investment in the capacity of underserved and under-represented youth. A question of particular interest to urban planners, and one which has not yet been adequately...