Establishing Youth Organizations
Main Section	Contributed by Catie Heaven and Jenette Nagy  Edited by Kate Nagy and Jerry Schultz

What form can a youth organization take?

Why establish youth organizations?

Who should establish youth organizations?

When should you establish a youth organization?

How do you establish a youth organization?

Special section: Help for adults seeking success in building a youth organization

 

You're an adult, walking through the shopping mall, when you see a bunch of teenagers horsing around. You're amazed at their energy--or maybe, you're appalled by some of their antics. You wish (for the hundredth time--you have kids of your own) that you could channel that energy into something productive.

Or maybe you're a teenager, and a girl at school just committed suicide. She wasn't a good friend of yours, but still--you feel really bad. You wonder what you could have done, or if there were signs you just missed. You even look on the Internet for some information on teen suicide, but you need more than facts. You want to find a way to make sure that this doesn't happen again at your school. You know that some of your friends feel the same way--but what can you all do?

Either as a concerned young person or an interested adult, one option open to you is starting a youth organization. Organizations that are run by or for youth can offer a lot to your community. Think of all of the organizations you already know about--you've probably been involved in some yourself, at one time or another. There are groups centered around almost every topic you can think of, with a huge variety of goals. Here's a grab-bag of examples:

• Boy Scouts

• Soccer leagues

• SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving)

• A student chapter of Amnesty International

• A class that volunteers in the community

• A teen advisory panel for a city-wide health organization

 

Youth organizations can be started by young people themselves or by interested adults. In this section, we'll try to look at the steps in developing a youth organization from the perspectives of both groups. We'll start with a look at what a youth group can be, and at the overall advantages of starting one. Then we'll talk briefly about who should start such a group, and the unique advantages of an adult organizing the group or of the young people doing it themselves. Next, we'll look at the right time for starting such a group, and then at how you should go about doing it. Finally, we'll wrap up with a section for adult mentors, with special tips on working with young people.

 

What form can a youth organization take?

A youth organization can be almost as broad--or as narrow--in scope as an organization for adults, or for the community as a whole. Youth organizations can be run through schools, in churches, in neighborhoods, or at local rec centers. They may operate on a local, national, or even international level. They can be organized and run by young people themselves, or they might be developed by adults such as coaches, ministers, or staff of the local YWCA. A local youth organization can also be one branch of a larger group; for example, a local coalition to decrease substance abuse might have a youth advisory board that offers suggestions as to what they think will work to stop young people from drinking.

In this section, we are going to concentrate primarily on youth organizations that are developed specifically to improve the community--for example, health organizations such as Students Against Drunk Driving--or groups that are formed to increase participation in civic life. However, many of the ideas that we discuss here can be easily translated to any type of student group, such as youth theater or sports teams.

Example: CityKids

One example of a successful youth organization is CityKids. CityKids is an organization with branches across the United States. Their mission is to engage and develop diverse young people to positively impact the world.

Their goals are:

• Having a safe space for youth

• Promoting open youth-to-youth communication

• Multicultural bridge building

• Enhancing leadership development among young people

The group does many different things to try and attain these goals. For example, they hold a weekly "Coalition" meeting where they bring together diverse groups of young people to explore cultural, racial, and sexual issues. The group is involved in many aspects of youth's lives, and offers opportunities for leadership development and guidance for both education and careers.

An off-shoot of CityKids is the CityKids Repertory Company, in which young people transform feelings and experiences about youth issues into music, dance, and drama. They perform their skits in their neighborhoods and at schools, community centers, and prisons. They have performed on stage, and some of their work has been developed into videos and shown on television. For example, the group developed Kayla's story, a video that documents a fictional teen pregnancy. The video is distributed across the nation.

CityKids is a successful example of young people choosing issues they find important, finding a safe space, and helping one another strengthen their community. The organization helps them gain leadership skills and a close-knit peer group, and it sends a positive message to youth throughout the community.

 

Why establish youth organizations?

Participation in a youth organization has many advantages for the youth themselves, as well as for the entire community. Of course, the most obvious advantage of membership is that youth organizations provide young people a forum to fully, effectively deal with an issue that is especially important to them, such as youth violence or education. However, there are a lot of other advantages to youth groups. We list some of these advantages below.

Advantages for young people:

• Being part of a group can help young people develop important personal and interpersonal skills. These include the ability to think critically and solve problems, and the assumption of personal and group responsibility.

• It can also help young people gain self-confidence and self-esteem. Contributing to a group can help them see themselves as being able to really help other people, and having something important to offer.

• It can help reduce the risk of becoming involved in unsafe activities, such as using drugs and alcohol. Being involved in community activities has been shown to be a protective factor--that is, it helps young people to make healthy choices. That's because by being involved in an organization, they can develop a "safe" identity, and are less likely to participate in unsafe activities (such as becoming sexually active before they are ready) to feel they belong. For more information on risk and protective factors, see Chapter 19, Section 2: Understanding Risk and Protective Factors: A Tool for Selecting Ingredients for Community Health and Development Initiatives.

• Young people involved in organizations can develop job skills, including organization, the ability to run meetings, and experience working with a wide variety of people. These skills that young people learn from being part of a group can help them be better prepared for any job they might choose.

• Often, organizations give youth a "safe space" that they wouldn't have otherwise--a place where they can express themselves through arts and activities, or just by being able to talk openly with peers and caring adults.

• Youth organizations offer opportunities for leadership that young people might not get otherwise.

• Young people involved in organizations can receive information on staying safe and healthy from their peers or adults they know and respect. They then pass on this information to other young people. In this way, youth organizations offer a credible way for young people to learn about staying healthy, because they can learn about it from friends they admire, rather than adults or other outsiders whose opinions they might not value.

• Young people can develop a strong support network of other young people who make healthy choices, and who can help convince them to stay healthy, too.

Advantages for the community: