Youth engagement is the sentiment

young people Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

feel towards a particular person, activity, place or outcome. It has been a focus of

youth development Positive youth development (PYD) programs are designed to optimize youth developmental progress. ''Youth.gov'' states that "PYD is an intentional, prosocial approach that engages youth within their communities, schools, organizations, peer groups, ...

public policy Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...

and

social change Social change is the alteration of the social order of a society which may include changes in social institutions, social behaviours or social relations. Definition Social change may not refer to the notion of social progress or sociocult ...

movements for at least forty years.Pittman, K. (n.d.
"Balancing the equation: Communities supporting youth, youth supporting communities."
Forum For Youth Investment. Retrieved 9/12/07. According to a

Cornell University Cornell University is a private statutory land-grant research university based in Ithaca, New York. It is a member of the Ivy League. Founded in 1865 by Ezra Cornell and Andrew Dickson White, Cornell was founded with the intention to teach an ...

program, "Youth engagement is one of the buzzwords in the youth development field. Similar terms are

youth voice Youth voice refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body. The term youth voice often groups together a diversity of perspectives and experiences, regardless of backgrounds, identit ...

, youth involvement,

youth participation ''Youth participation'' is the active engagement of young people throughout their own communities. It is often used as a shorthand for youth participation in any many forms, including decision-making, sports, schools and any activity where young p ...

, and youth in governance."

About

A study exploring foster youth and

aging out Aging out is American popular culture vernacular used to describe anytime a youth leaves a formal system of care designed to provide services below a certain age level. There are a variety of applications of the phrase throughout the youth develop ...

defines youth engagement as, "involving young people in the creation of their own destinies", and suggest that in

social work Social work is an academic discipline and practice-based profession concerned with meeting the basic needs of individuals, families, groups, communities, and society as a whole to enhance their individual and collective well-being. Social work ...

that means "genuinely involving them in case planning and encouraging them to advocate for themselves." This sentiment was best summarized by youth who said, "Nothing about us without us." The concept of youth engagement has emerged in recent years as a leading-edge, broad-based approach and best practice to meet the needs of youth, including youth at risk. It is a process that offers meaningful participation for youth—that is, participation with passion—and opportunities for youth to take responsibility and leadership while working in partnership with caring adults who value, respect and share power with them.'' Ontario Meeting the Needs of Ontario Youth].'' Trillium Foundation. Retrieved 2/6/08.

Activities

According to a variety of research, there are numerous personal, interpersonal, social, cultural and organizational avenues for youth engagement. These can include: * Supportive

family Family (from la, familia) is a Social group, group of people related either by consanguinity (by recognized birth) or Affinity (law), affinity (by marriage or other relationship). The purpose of the family is to maintain the well-being of its ...

background *

Mentor Mentorship is the influence, guidance, or direction given by a mentor. A mentor is someone who teaches or gives help and advice to a less experienced and often younger person. In an organizational setting, a mentor influences the personal and p ...

s or

role model A role model is a person whose behaviour, example, or success is or can be emulated by others, especially by younger people. The term ''role model'' is credited to sociologist Robert K. Merton, who hypothesized that individuals compare themselves ...

s * Involvement in cooperative activities * Cultivation of intrinsic interest * Awareness of

moral A moral (from Latin ''morālis'') is a message that is conveyed or a lesson to be learned from a story or event. The moral may be left to the hearer, reader, or viewer to determine for themselves, or may be explicitly encapsulated in a maxim. A ...

and

political Politics (from , ) is the set of activities that are associated with making decisions in groups, or other forms of power relations among individuals, such as the distribution of resources or status. The branch of social science that studies ...

issues * Traits such as moral sensitivity and

optimism Optimism is an attitude reflecting a belief or hope that the outcome of some specific endeavor, or outcomes in general, will be positive, favorable, and desirable. A common idiom used to illustrate optimism versus pessimism is a glass filled wi ...

Adult support An adult is a human or other animal that has reached full growth. In human context, the term ''adult'' has meanings associated with social and legal concepts. In contrast to a " minor", a legal adult is a person who has attained the age of major ...

* Youth-friendly environment * Completion of meaningful tasks * Learning and utilization of new

skill A skill is the learned ability to act with determined results with good execution often within a given amount of time, energy, or both. Skills can often be divided into domain-general and domain-specific skills. For example, in the domain of wo ...

s Specific activities have been cited as fostering youth engagement as well. They include: *

Youth council Youth councils are a form of youth voice engaged in community decision-making. Youth councils are appointed bodies that exist on local, state, provincial, regional, national, and international levels among governments, non governmental organisati ...

s *

Youth-led media Youth-led media is any effort created, planned, implemented, and reflected upon by young people in the form of media, including websites, newspapers, television shows and publications. Movement These efforts form the basis of an international move ...

Youth advisory board Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

s * Youth organizing * Self-advocacy *

Community youth development Community Youth Development (CYD) is a philosophy emphasizing the symbiotic nature of youth development to community development The United Nations defines community development as "a process where community members come together to take collec ...

* Consulting on

* Community coalitions * Organizational decision-making * School-based

service learning Service-learning is an educational approach that combines learning objectives with community service in order to provide a pragmatic, progressive learning experience while meeting societal needs. Service-learning involves students in service proje ...

, and *

Youth conference Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. You ...

s Both the philosophy and activities within a program or activity need to be a "good fit" for the young people participating in them. In the United States, activities and campaigns including those by the

National Commission on Resources for Youth The National Commission on Resources for Youth was an American program established in 1970. The Commission was charged with identifying and promoting youth participation in schools and communities across the United States, and was largely funded thr ...

, the Freechild Institute and

Youth Communications Youth Communication is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit youth media organization based in New York City that promotes youth literacy and civic engagement through youth-led media. The organization was founded in 1980 by youth rights pioneer Keith Hefner, who w ...

have been cited for their effectiveness in engaging young people.

Spectra of activities

Research has identified a spectrum of approaches to youth engagement, beginning with training for adults that work with youth. These range from traditional programs that treat youth as clients to organizations that are led by youth and for youth. There are also groups who foster engagement among traditionally non-involved youth by working to foster more significant

outside of the program or organization itself. Other points in this spectrum can include: * Youth-serving: The program targets youth as consumers of service * Youth input: Youth evaluate or provide feedback on the program * Youth-engaged: Youth are involved in program development and/or delivery and * Youth-led: The program concept and/or organization came from youth * Youth-connecting: The activity facilitates youth interaction and builds connections through social mediums Each has value, and where a program or groups sits depends on the degree to which youth are engaged in the program with meaningful participation, and the degree to which the organization offering the program has policies and infrastructures to support youth involvement in a meaningful way.

Outcomes

A number of foundations recognize youth engagement as a best practice in programs for young people. For example, the Paul Allen Foundation promotes youth engagement as an avenue to achieving early reading proficiency, expand opportunities for

experiential learning Experiential learning (ExL) is the process of learning through experience, and is more narrowly defined as "learning through reflection on doing". Hands-on learning can be a form of experiential learning, but does not necessarily involve students ...

, and involve young people in addressing community needs. The Walter and Duncan Gordon Foundation in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

supports youth engagement because it believes young Canadians, "already tend to think globally; take advantage of opportunities to expand their understanding of global challenges; want to contribute new ideas and perspectives to the discussion about Canadian international policy and; are creative in their use of new technologies to further their engagement in the world." The Ontario Trillium Foundation recognizes youth engagement as a best practice and has been developing a framework to support youth engagement in its grantmaking and encourage applications that include a youth engagement approach. Hands On Learning Australia implement youth engagement programs as an integral part of secondary education in Australian schools. These programs attempt to reengage school age youth through building strong relationships within the context of practical activities, and also address literacy and numeracy issues. Youth engagement has been identified as a key measure in promoting

adolescent health Adolescent health, or youth health, is the range of approaches to preventing, detecting or treating young people's health and well-being. The term adolescent and young people are often used interchangeably, as are the terms Adolescent Health and Y ...

programs. Increasing the likelihood of young people voting has also been an outcome of said programs. Engaging youth in pro-social opportunities is also a goal in the field of

Positive Youth Development Positive youth development (PYD) programs are designed to optimize youth developmental progress. ''Youth.gov'' states that "PYD is an intentional, prosocial approach that engages youth within their communities, schools, organizations, peer groups, ...

. It is also seen as central to developing "inclusive participation" in

civil society Civil society can be understood as the "third sector" of society, distinct from government and business, and including the family and the private sphere.civic engagement Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to ...

social justice Social justice is justice in terms of the distribution of wealth, opportunities, and privileges within a society. In Western and Asian cultures, the concept of social justice has often referred to the process of ensuring that individuals fu ...

and

education reform Education reform is the name given to the goal of changing public education. The meaning and education methods have changed through debates over what content or experiences result in an educated individual or an educated society. Historically, t ...

. In the latter field,

student engagement Student engagement occurs when "students make a psychological investment in learning. They try hard to learn what school offers. They take pride not simply in earning the formal indicators of success (grades), but in understanding the material and ...

is used to specifically address this issues within

school A school is an educational institution designed to provide learning spaces and learning environments for the teaching of students under the direction of teachers. Most countries have systems of formal education, which is sometimes compuls ...

environments. Several researchers, such as

Barry Checkoway Barry N. Checkoway is Arthur Dunham Collegiate Professor Emeritus of Social Work and Professor Emeritus of Urban Planning at the University of Michigan School of Social Work. Checkoway is internationally renowned for his contributions to the field ...

, Peter Levine and

Shawn Ginwright Shawn A. Ginwright is Professor of Africana Studies at San Francisco State University and author. His research examines the ways in which youth in urban communities navigate through the constraints of poverty and struggle to create equality and j ...

, as well as advocates including

Karen Pittman } Karen Pittman is an American actress. Born in Mississippi and raised in Nashville, Tennessee, Pittman received a Bachelor of Arts in Voice and Opera at Northwestern University and a Masters of Fine Arts from NYU's Graduate Acting Program. Pittma ...

and Adam Fletcher have been acknowledged for their efforts to promote youth engagement.

Challenges

Youth engagement faces a variety of obstacles. They include a "disjunction in what adults believe is important to do with young people, and what they actually do," as well as social norms that encourage youth engagement, and the presence of strong norms that discourage

youth-adult partnership Youth-adult partnership is a conscious relationship that establishes and sustains intergenerational equity between young people and adults. Youth-adult partnerships often display a high degree of youth rights and autonomy, and is often synonymo ...

s. A historical disconnect between

positive youth development Positive youth development (PYD) programs are designed to optimize youth developmental progress. ''Youth.gov'' states that "PYD is an intentional, prosocial approach that engages youth within their communities, schools, organizations, peer groups, ...

and civic engagement has also been cited as a leading barrier.

Innovations

Youth engagement has taken a huge growth over the past six years with the advent of social networks. The activities that promote youth development and social change movements are now shifting to the World Wide Web, fostering online communities based on interests, causes, and purpose. Young people are promoting ideas, vocalizing their goals, organizing community groups, engaging in political discussions, reclaiming identities, creating identities, connecting with others, and taking over these networks full force as their own personal environments. The engagement over social networks "forms and maintains social capital, a dimension that assesses one’s ability to stay connected with members of a community."Ellison, N. B., Steinfeld, C., Lampe, C
"The benefits of Facebook “friends:” Social capital and college students’ use of online social network sites."
Journal of Computer-Mediated Communication, 12(4), article 1. Retrieved 4/12/10. This connection is stimulated by the activity characteristic of the particular virtual community. Social network sites engage activity such as individual presentation of oneself, articulating and building outside networks, creating work-related collaboration, building romantic relationships, provoking political debates, connecting college student populations and opportunities, sharing hobbies and interests, and essentially forming anything that meets the imagination, made possible through the innovative capacities of current technology. Today’s youth are able to "tie offline networks to online memberships" through current social network sites like Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace, Friendster, and Blogger. They support the "maintenance of existing social ties and the formation of new connections, connecting with others outside their pre-existing social group or location, liberating them to form communities around shared interests." This increased social capital enhances youth engagement and manages interactions regarding current events around the world, major life changes, and relations as they move from one offline community to another such as changing schools or joining different civic and community groups. The intensity and usage over online communities are reliable indicators of current trends among youth and psychological well-being. The robust growth of this current technology is steadily growing and becoming a greater percentage of daily youth interactions.

References

{{Youth empowerment Philosophy of education E Community building