2. Decide where the organization should be based.

Where the organization is based has a lot to do in determining who will join. Many of your meetings and other activities will be held there. You may get resources, such as money and supplies, depending on where you are located. And possibly most important, a lot of people who join the organization may join because they are already affiliated with the organization's home base -- they're students at the school, or members of the church, or so on. It's important to realize, too, that some young people may not join an organization because of where it's located. For example, a high school dropout may not want to come back to her old school for any reason.

Very commonly, youth organizations operate out of schools, churches and synagogues, social service agencies, or informally out of someone's home. Each of these options--as well as others you might come up with--will have advantages and disadvantages. You'll want to think this through before you decide where to set it up.

Maybe this isn't even a question for your group. If you want to convince young people who have dropped out of school to return to class or obtain their GEDs, a high school clearly isn't the place to find participants. However, for a coach who is interested in forming a chapter of SADD (Students Against Drunk Driving), the local high school is absolutely the best place to do it. Not only is the group, by nature, a student organization, with many of its activities run in conjunction with other school activities (such as prom), the coach will have most credibility at her school, where she and the students already know each other.

However, the situation isn't always as clear-cut as those above. For example, your organization might have been given some seed money to work with young people that came with very loose guidelines. If you want to, you could base the group at the high school (where a lot of kids are), at your organization (you really don't have much room, but at least you know where everything is), or maybe you should partner with the local YMCA, where a lot of the kids hang out. What do you do?

When the proposed location isn't absolutely clear, then those people who are starting the organization might want to sit down and discuss what makes most sense for the group. You might start by brainstorming all of the possible places where you could host the group, and then list the advantages and disadvantages of each. Members of the group might discuss:

• Would this place be willing to host us?

• Would the young people we want to recruit feel comfortable going there?

• Would there be any financial costs to our group?

• Would this place be willing to help us out with resources?

• Is it a place that agrees with (or at least, isn't opposed to) what we are doing? (For example, a Catholic school might not be the ideal location for safe sex education that included a discussion of birth control.)

• Do members of our group have strong ties to this place?

• How difficult would it be for young people to get to this place?

Often, after looking at these questions (and others that members of your group might think of), answers to this problem become completely clear. If you're still having a hard time deciding, see Chapter 17, Section 6: Generating Community Ideas and Choosing Solutions.

 

3. Recruit members (and, if necessary, adult assistants)

Of course, you can't have an organization--youth-based or otherwise--without members. And so your next step is to get the word out about what you are doing. How you will do this will depend on who you want to recruit. Do you want to recruit only students? Members of your parish? Young people from all over town? The process of recruiting members can be as simple as making an announcement in an assembly or after church or as complicated as running a campaign with radio public service announcements getting the word out across town. Chapter 6: Promoting Interest in Community Issues offers suggestions on different techniques to get the word out about your organization.

With all the possibilities, however, it's important that you don't forget plain old word of mouth. Getting kids to talk up your group is the best way to ensure that you have the members you want and need. This is often especially true when dealing with "at-risk" youth, who may not even be at school or church when you make your announcement.

As we mentioned above, if your group has been started by young people, you might decide to involve adults as sponsors or facilitators. In that case, decide whom you would feel comfortable with as your sponsor, and exactly what you would want him to do for your group. It's probably best to decide on a short list of (four or five) people to ask, in case your first choice(s) don't have the time or interest to help your group out.

Before you approach someone, you should also have an understanding of exactly what you would want her to do for your organization. For example, would she need to show up at every meeting? Speak up for the organization at faculty meetings? Help you obtain resources, such as money, equipment, and a meeting place? If you haven't thought this out and discussed it with your potential sponsor, neither you nor the sponsor will be clear on her role. This can easily lead to frustration, anger, and missed opportunities for everyone involved.