Youth Development

Youth development must change. For 75 years experts and organizations have been working to standardize the way young people physically, mentally, morally and socially grow. This standardization has happened in programs, classrooms, hospitals and other settings where young people are grouped together according to "ability" and age. This process has been called "youth development".

Many young people have not responded well to this standardization. Despite laws enforcing standardized behavior and activities, in spite of the standardized educational practices and high stakes testing in schools and completely opposite of how many youth workers, sociologists, educators and researchers have expected. Young people and the organizations that serve them are increasingly identifying the flaws of standardization, and are working to transform these perspectives.

Following are resources that show a new perspective of how youth development happens.

Resources related to Youth Development

Algebra Project
AP uses a successful model of paid tutoring as an organizing platform for student advocacy and activism. They create crucial after-school jobs for youth and help students become more engaged in learning.

Community IMPACT!
Oasis Center's Community IMPACT! program engages youth in advocacy against predatory lending. Young people are engaged in a variety of community-based economics work that increases the scope of their financial education, and youth organize for curricular changes to make economics classes more relevant to low-income students.

Lakota Action Network
LAN is an intergenerational organization that provides sustainable building and renewable energy education for young people through hands-on building of a community house actually owned by youth.

Collaborative Fund for Youth-Led Social Change

CFYS grew out of an effort of funders and youth practitioners to support work at the intersection of youth development, youth organizing and gender.

Publications

The Evolving Capacities of the Child by Gerrison Landsown for UNICEF. The Convention on the Rights of the Child introduced for the first time in an international human rights treaty, the concept of the ‘evolving capacities’ of the child. This principle recognizes that, as children acquire enhanced competencies, there is a diminishing need for protection and a greater capacity to take responsibility for decisions affecting their lives. The purpose of the study is to open the discussion and promote debate to achieve a better understanding of how children can be protected, in accordance with their evolving capacities, and also provided with opportunities to participate in the fulfillment of their rights.

Bringing It Together: Uniting Youth Organizing, Development and Services for Long-Term Sustainability by K. Zimmerman, M. Chow and T. James for the Movement Strategy Center. Links to The Freechild Project review.

An Emerging Model for Working with Youth: Community Organizing + Youth Development = Youth Organizing by the training and support organization LISTEN, Inc. This paper explores the influences of community organizing and youth development on youth organizing; describes a continuum that identifies different levels and models of youth engagement; and outlines the fundamentals of youth organizing: its processes, guiding principles, practices and impacts.

Youth Activism and Youth Development among African American Youth in Urban Communities by S. Ginwright. This paper is guided by three objectives. First this paper builds knowledge through qualitative investigation about how youth in urban neighborhoods develop political awareness and participate in civic activities. The study details the community, familial, peer group and social influences on political and civic participation among African American youth ages of 15 and 25 develop in Oakland, California. Second the paper document interventions and organizational practices in schools, community centers, churches that shape civic and political participation. Third the paper advances sociological theory regarding youth political engagement by developing a framework that deepens our understanding of the relationship between urban environments and the development of political ideas among youth.