TIPS For Working with Youth in Community Development Projects

Project Goals and Objectives

Some youth workers think that it is important to look at and understand community attitudes and beliefs about youth issues as a starting point in project goal setting. Seek information about potential support and roadblocks before the project starts up. This will allow for a better understanding about difficulties the project might encounter.

The goals of the project must be realistic and within the imagination and understanding of the youth involved. Adults should work with youth to set project goals and objectives. This goal-setting process should not take an undue length of time; youth and adults alike tend to get frustrated by lengthy delays.

The goals must provide an opportunity for personal development and growth to keep youth interested and involved.

The project should be seen as a series of stages of group development and community change. The way things are done in one phase of the project may be different from the way things are done in another. At different stages, the project may become a public educator, a community developer, an advocate, a lobby group or a training body.

If a project goal has already been determined, it is better to begin planning within that goal, rather than having participants think that there is an open-ended agenda. In this case, the goals and objectives of the project should be clearly outlined and explained at the beginning of the project.

If youth and adults work together to set their own goals, the goals they seek will be within the reach of the people involved. Groups will not seek a future beyond their own ability to imagine or visualize it.

Groups should try to come up with ways to seek change that are practical and involve cooperation between groups. This effort will have the effect of bringing together youth needs with service providers.

Sometimes, the goals and direction of the project need to change. This may require the assistance of an objective outside person who is familiar with group dynamics and the intent of the project to assist the group in working through this change.

The project group will have to develop different skills so that it can deal with changes that may happen when the project is being implemented. These skills might include community education, dealing with the media, facilitating discussion groups and workshops, and one-on-one interventions.

The more quickly the project group moves toward the production of something that the community and youth see as important, the more youth will stay involved and the more the project will move toward its desired goal.

Wherever possible, the project should try to create opportunities for job creation and skill development. These opportunities will help keep youth involved by tying the community goals together with personal development.

Projects should always be thinking about ways in which the project can continue after funding has run out. This thinking should begin early in the project.