Youth/Adult Partnerships

Here are some ideas and tips to help you build effective youth and adult partnerships in your organizations and communities.  For additional ideas, look at, Making It Work: A Guide to Successful Youth-Adult Partnerships.

What are Youth Adult Partnerships?

A youth and adult partnership is a joint effort between youth and adults who are working together to establish and achieve common goals.  The partnership is one in which both parties share equal power and control over making decisions on what gets done, who does what and how.

There are many ways to include youth in the decision-making process.  Youth can partner with adults to serve on an organization's Board of Directors, they can team up with adults to perform community needs assessments, conduct voter-registrations, neighborhood clean-up parties, community service, or form Youth Councils to help youth identify ways they could participate in civic governance.  However, we must recognize that there are three conditions that should be met before embarking on a youth and adult partnership:

• Adults need to be willing to share their power and responsibility with young people;
• Young people need to be willing to take on responsibility and;
• Both groups need skills to work together.

Tips for Building Youth Adult Partnerships

Working Effectively with Youth:
Adults who want to work with young people need to respect them as individuals who can make contributions to the well being of the community.  While it is important to recognize the differences between adolescents and adults, it is as important to recognize the similarities.  The first task that a collaboration needs to undertake when involving youth is to spend some time listening.  Ask them about their concerns, what they like to do, their suggestions for addressing identified needs and what kinds of support from adults would be helpful.

Ten Tips for Working with Youth:

1. Share the responsibility of leadership.  Provide guidance, but avoid total control.
2. Listen carefully to youth and try to understand their perspective.
3. Provide meaningful roles and assignments for youth.
4. Share all work activities, even tedious ones.
5. Treat young people as equals and develop a partnership relationship.
6. Keep youth informed about activities, even when problems occur.
7. Be energetic and excited about activities.  Have a positive, open attitude.
8. Make activities fun and challenging.
9. Be clear about the levels of authority for youth and back their decisions when they fall within the agreed upon guidelines.
10. Serve as role models for the youths, and be fair and consistent in your actions.

Top

Tips for Working with Adults: 

1. Most adults have good intentions. Remember that they are simply not used to working in partnership with young people.
2. Criticism doesn't necessarily mean adults are putting you down or that an adult doesn't value your contribution. It may mean the adult is treating you the same way he/she would an adult colleague. Remember that adults are used to critiquing each other's work and offering constructive ideas to improve a project.  Just because an adult doesn't agree with someone, it doesn't mean that he/she disrespects that person.
3. Adults may not be aware of the capabilities of young people. They can be told a hundred times that young people are mature, but showing them that you can act maturely is the best way to make the case.
4. Adults often feel responsible for the success or failure of the project. This is what makes it hard for them to share power. They may need to know that you are willing to share in both the successes and the failures.
5. Adults are just as uncertain as youth. They have just learned to hide it better.
6. Sometimes adults use phrases and expressions, whether consciously or not, that annoy young people and are red flags that they aren't treating youth as partners.  Like an annoying drip of water, these phrases and expressions can ruin a relationship. Be prepared to speak up and tell adults how you feel when they say certain things.
7. Don't be afraid to ask questions or for an adult to go over something again. Adults often use words, phrases, and acronyms that you might not understand. Adults new to the program usually do not understand them either.
8. Don't be afraid to say, "No, I can’t do that or no, I can’t help on that project, etc." Adults will understand that you have other important commitments, like your education, family, friends, hobbies, and sports. 

Source: Developed by Advocates for Youth’s Teen Council (A Youth Advisory Board) with assistance from the Young Women’s Project, Washington, D.C. Advocates for Youth Transitions, Vol. 14, No. 1

Top

Four Strategies for Promoting Youth Involvement:

Youth as Representatives to Primarily Adult Committees or Collaborations.  Youth can provide valuable insight into how programs affect them and their peers.  They can also provide a reality check on the appropriateness of activities planned for youth.  Adults need to be careful to avoid using youth as tokens.  Youth should only be invited if there is a sincere recognition that youth are a valuable resource.

Youth as an Advisory Committee to an Adult Committee.  Creating a youth advisory committee is an effective way to include more young people.  It eliminates the need for changes in meetings that conform to adult schedules (often meet during school hours).  It also allows a more representative perspective by including youth from many different backgrounds.  Youth often feel more comfortable in primarily youth groups.  Finally, it offers a better opportunity for youth to serve in leadership roles.  A youth representative or two can sit on the Steering Committee and provide input for the whole youth group.

Combined Youth / Adult Collaborations.  This type of youth involvement is especially suited to collaborations made of youth membership organizations.  Adults and youth leaders from each organization can work together representing their organizations.  This mechanism offers a unique opportunity for youth and adults to form mentor relationships.  Leadership meetings can offer opportunities for developing youth and adult partnerships by creating shared positions.  The two groups can meet individually at times and together at times.  This allows the best of both worlds.

Independent Youth Collaborations.  Recently, there has been an increase in youth forming their own collaborations.  They have become effective spokespeople for youth concerns and often carry a great deal of clout among their peers and in the general community.  These collaborations are sponsored by youth sensitive organizations and involve some adults as advisors.  Adult collaborations should work to develop healthy relationships with these youth collaborations if they are present in the community.

Examples of Youth Adult Partnerships

We are looking for examples of youth and adult partnerships from Texas.  If you have an example you would like to share and post on this page, please let us know! 

Youth Adult Partnerships Self-Assessment Tool

This is not a test!  Rate yourself on a scale from 1-5, “one” being a beginner in this area.  In the first column, put where you see yourself now.  In the second column, put where you would like to be.

Where I am now:	Where I would like to be:
_______	_______	I am familiar with resources about youth participation and youth and adult partnerships (e.g., technical assistance, books, etc.).
_______	_______	I affirm and support both young people and adults’ feelings and ideas.
_______	_______	I treat all group members with respect, regardless of age.
_______	_______	I appreciate and incorporate the strength of similarities and differences among people (gender, spiritual, class, etc.).
_______	_______	I resist the urge to take over.
_______	_______	I am careful about interrupting people of all ages.
_______	_______	I provide opportunities that allow youth to reflect and learn.
_______	_______	I believe in the potential and empowerment of all youth.
_______	_______	I trust youth to have the power to make decisions on how a youth program is designed.
_______	_______	I have the ability to identify positive possibilities in difficult situations.
_______	_______	I listen carefully to people of all ages.
_______	_______	I get involved and provide support to persons when they are being put down.
_______	_______	I seek to learn from people.
_______	_______	I expect youth to make their own decisions.
_______	_______	I say something when young people’s rights and due respect are being denied or violated.
_______	_______	I celebrate people’s successes.
_______	_______	I advocate for improvement of youth / adult partnerships in teams, organizations, and communities.

Copyright @ 2008 TNOYS. All rights reserved Contact Us | Contact Webmaster | Site Map