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Guidelines for Youth
Voice
By Adam
Fletcher
 In
a growing number of communities across the state
young people and their adult allies are betting on
Youth Voice to lead to civic engagement, which is
that perfect mix of investment, engagement and
ownership in the public good that makes being a
community member meaningful. The Freechild
Project has identified five Rules of Engagement for
Youth Voice.
Guideline #1: Every community should engage every
young person. Learning ability, age, outward
interest… none of these should be seen or addressed
as barriers to Youth Voice. Instead, these are
points to build upon and learned from. Youth Voice
is an active, intentional process whereupon young
people become purposefully compelled as allies and
partners.
Guideline #2: Youth Voice does not end at the
doors to a youth program. Young people must be
active within their families and throughout their
communities. That goes far beyond classroom
assignments or community service. Consistently
providing young people with active roles in
democratic governance, powerful opportunities for
cultural expression, and meaningful experiences of
freedom of speech throughout their community can
open the doors for Youth Voice.
Guideline #3: Every adult in a young person’s
life should feel responsible for engaging that young
person throughout their communities. Only
through the constant encouragement and focus of
parents, teachers, youth workers, principals,
religious leaders, counselors, and other supportive
adults will young people feel there is a real
investment in their lives that extends beyond their
own interests. Every young people should feel that
community success is their personal responsibility;
likewise, every adult should feel that Youth Voice
is theirs.
Guideline #4: Give a young person a lesson about
democracy and they’ll think for an hour; teach them
how to be a democrat and they will learn a lifetime.
Being a (lower-case) democrat is a job that many
adults aspire to impart to young people without
every being explicit in their intentions. Every
young person must have a meaningful understanding of
the nature of democracy, the purpose of community,
the course of the community action, and the arch of
civic engagement. From kindergarten through
graduation, adult allies have more than the
opportunity to teach young people about democracy;
they have an obligation.
Guideline #5: Youth Voice is never done.
Will Rogers once said, “Even if you’re on the right
track you’ll get run over if you don’t move.” We
live in a world of transition and change; young
people change with the times, and often with the
days. Do the same old thing and we’ll get the same
old outcomes we’ve always had. Many adults report
that young people have changed more in the last 5
years than communities have in the last 25. That
gives adults a lot of opportunity to learn from
children and youth – and to change communities to
really engage Youth Voice. Engagement in change is
at the core of lifelong engagement; that should be
what community are all about.
©
2010. Adam Fletcher owns the copyright
for this material on behalf of The Freechild
Project. You are welcome to print out
this material for educational purposes
only - you cannot make any financial
gain from them without the explicit
permission of the author. You may not
photocopy any part of this material
without explicit permission of the
author. For more
information write info [at] freechild.org
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