Youth-Adult Partnerships

1
Youth-Adult Partnerships

• A training for volunteer administrators working
  to build partnerships among youth and adults

2
Overview

• Youth Boards Youth-Adult Partnerships
• Self-Assessment
• Building Youth-Adult Partnerships
• Characteristics of Effective Y-A Partnerships
• Identifying Barriers to Effective Partnerships
• Mapping Youth-Adult Partnerships
• Developing a Common Vision

3
Effective Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Each person is able to contribute his/her unique
  talents, skills and knowledge
• Youth and adults share equally in the decision
  making process
• Each group is treated with respect and dignity

4
Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Do NOT occur any time youth and adults are
  present in the same room!
• DO occur when youth and adults plan, learn and
  work together, with both groups sharing equally
  in the decision-making process

5
Claiming Your Voice

• Objective Creates an opportunity for youth and
  adults to understand each others perspectives
  and have dialogue about power.
• Agree/Disagree Statements
• No conversation, comment or debate

6
Agree or Disagree

• Youth should be able to evaluate the programs and
  agencies that serve them.

7
Agree or Disagree

• Young people dont have enough life experience to
  make informed choices
• about their lives.

8
Agree or Disagree

• Youth should be involved in hiring staff.

9
Agree or Disagree

• Adults dont listen to the opinions of young
  people when program planning.

10
Agree or Disagree

• Every youth agency should have young people on
  its board of directors.

11
Agree or Disagree

• Elected officials should involve young people in
  making every decision that affects youth.

12
Agree or Disagree

• Young people should sit on the school board.

13
Youth-Adult PartnershipSelf-Assessment

• Examine how you are doing as an active
  participant in a youth-adult partnership YOUTH
  BOARD
• Identify current strengths, motivations, actions
  and needs
• Support you in establishing new goals and
  pinpointing areas of development that you may
  want to focus on
• Assist youth-adult partnerships in becoming more
  effective

14
Building Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Basic Principles and Values of Partnerships
• Acknowledging that everyone has something to say
  and that everyone should be listened to equally.
• Adults publicly say that they respect youth, and
  youth publicly say that they respect adults.
• Understanding that there is a difference between
  doing something with youth and doing something
  for youth.

15
Building Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Conditions must be in place for partnership to
  succeed
• Adults need to be willing to share their power
  and responsibility.
• Youth need to be willing to gain power and take
  on responsibility.
• Both youth and adults need the skills to work
  successfully together.
• Everyone needs to forget everything they have
  ever though about youth and adults as separate
  groups and start treating them the way they would
  treat their peers.

16
Adults Need to Remember

• Dont expect more from a youth than you would
  from another adult.
• Treat young people as individuals dont make one
  youth represent all youth.
• Be careful about interruptions when young people
  are speaking.
• Its okay to ask for help when you dont know how
  to do something.

17
Youth Need to Remember

• Criticism doesnt necessarily equate to
  condescension.
• Adults may not be aware of how capable youth are.
• Adults will feel responsible for the success or
  failure of the project.
• Its okay to ask for help when you dont know how
  to do something.

18
Identifying Characteristics of Effective
Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Think about a time when you were a part of a
  successful youth-adult partnership
• What do you remember?
• How did it feel?
• What made it work?
• What are some of the characteristics that are
  important to you?

19
Identifying Characteristics of Effective
Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Effective youth-adult partnerships

20
Identifying Barriers

• How do adults view young people?
• How do young people view adults?
• What behaviors have you experienced in
  intergenerational meetings that would not be
  helpful in building healthy partnerships?
• What behaviors have you seen that help build
  strong partnerships?
• What blocks us from building effective working
  relationships between youth and adults?
• How can we ensure that barriers to building
  effective partnerships are minimized or
  eliminated?

21
Timing is Everything

• Plan a two-hour meeting as quickly as possible
• Rules
• No one may cancel any appointment, and they may
  only move the underlined appointments
• Each person must be asked about a specific slot
  in order to reply. A person cannot offer up she
  he/she is free but can only answer specific
  questions!

22
Mapping Youth-Adult Partnerships

• Think of the last decision made that affected
  your 4-H program
• Who identified the problem or issue?
• Who made the decision?
• How did everyone find out about the decision once
  it was made?

23
Mapping Youth-Adult Partnerships

• List all committees, task forces, coalitions,
  etc., that make decisions affecting your 4-H
  program.
• Think about where youth are involved in the
  decision making of all these groups. Circle the
  groups that use youth-adult partnerships.
• Think about the groups that could have
  youth-adult teams or that could increase the
  level of youth-adult partnership.
• Find at least five new areas

24
Developing a Common Vision

• Envision the future of your Youth Board
• What specific project(s) might you work on?
• What roles can the youth and adults play to get
  the work done?
• What outcomes do you want to achieve in a year or
  two?

25
In 2 to 3 years

• What do we want to see in place?
• Imagine it is two years from now. What are your
  Youth Boards accomplishments?
• What have you learned?
• What are others saying about your Youth Board?
• Who has been affected?

26
How does this relate?

• Successful youth-adult partnerships will lead to
  a successful Youth Board
• Youth Board members need youth-adult partnership
  training
• Let them know they are a part of a youth-adult
  partnership

Information and activities adapted from
www.theinnovationcenter.org