TIPS For Working with Youth in Community Development Projects

Communications

Projects need to find a balance between the need for youth to work out their own communications before meeting with adults and the need to have these communications as an ongoing process between youth and adults. The project should create opportunities for youth to meet ahead of youth/adult meetings to work out what they want to say. Another option is to have an opportunity for youth to break out of meetings, have a discussion and return with their ideas better formed.

Projects should take every opportunity to communicate to the general public the needs of the youth and other youth issues related to the project. If possible, the project should use methods and contacts developed by the sponsor and other agencies already involved rather than trying to develop its own.

Projects should try to get public input into the project implementation process at all stages. Public input will clarify the project's intentions to the community, build support and help relieve any fears the public may have.

The project should have a discussion near its beginning about how communication will happen between funders, sponsors, project coordinator and youth. All information should be given at an appropriate level of literacy.

Getting Youth Involved in the Project, and Keeping Them There

Youth should be encouraged to recruit new youth members at all times. Try to create circumstances where the youth will feel that they are involved in a larger movement of youth in the community, region, province/territory or country. Connection to the broader picture will increase the chances that the participants will feel that their work is important. Recruiting should be done by asking potential new members to help the project in very specific tasks. These tasks should also have a limited time frame and be feasible to do with little or no training. The best methods for recruiting new youth to the project include:

• an invitation from another youth who is seen as a leader,
• an invitation from a friend who is already involved, and/or
• an invitation from a service provider or other significant adult in the life of the youth.

Include a representative mix of youth, remembering that those who may find it difficult to participate (e.g., single mothers) may also have the best experiences to share with the group and the project.

Youth may be more interested in staying involved with the project when:

• training is provided;
• they are helping others;
• they are doing meaningful community work;
• opportunities are provided to meet community leaders; and
• certificates of merit, school credits or work experiences are provided.

Payment of money to youth should be used when there is a job to be done that the project would otherwise hire someone to do (e.g., distributing flyers, doing surveys). Money should not be used as an incentive for youth to stay involved but as a fair and reasonable benefit for doing a job.

When possible, recruiting efforts should be among youth who have previous community experience and where there are a couple of youth who have some relationship with each other. If they are already associated with an existing youth group or organization, the chances are better that the work will continue after the project is complete. This is particularly true for projects with many sites separated geographically.

In projects that cover a large geographical area, having a group of youth from each location rather than single representatives from each site, strengthens the group, makes the potential for local team building better and increases the likelihood of the project continuing.

Recruiting youth who have some experience doing community work, and some understanding of their role as leaders, appears to shorten the group's development process and its work toward its goals.

Recruiting youth members who are more "mainstream" with those who used to be street-involved may move the project to a more health promotion/prevention approach and away from a treatment/rehabilitation approach.

The power of youth involvement will increase as youth begin to learn new skills and become meaningful participants in decision making. Likewise, their sense of control and ownership for the project will also increase. This development will require deliberate efforts, time, patience and resources.

Education and skill development are most effective in the context of a real situation, allowing youth to practise what they have learned.

Youth may not stay involved in the project if:

• it is too restrictive,
• there are little or no opportunities for control or learning,
• it is boring,
• there are leadership problems,
• their friends have left the project,
• there is too much discipline, or
• they develop other interests.

Group development and growth appears to be an important social outlet for some of the group members. Team building, therefore, is an essential element in group development.

Tasks assigned to group members, mentors and other volunteers should be closely related to the goals, have a deadline and be achievable.

One of the most valuable skills that youth can learn through the project is conflict resolution.