Engaging young people in social change
Written on 19-Nov-2009 by Matt Kepple
Had an amazing conversation with Duane Melius www.wemakesense.org and Naomi Jane www.live4wd.wordpress.com last week; one of those conversations which is dangerous, because it has in it the infectious momentum of a good idea you find yourself powerless to resist!
Duane was a little frustrated. Expelled from school as a teenager he’s a classic rags to (not-quite-yet)-riches social entrepreneur! In brief, he turned his life around when he cofounded Sense Magazine for young people. He’s worked with young people and seen them take positive strides in life as a result of his projects. But his frustration came from knowing that there are other plenty of organisations keen to apply better models to their youth engagements but which did not know how to. I shared his enthusiasm and Naomi wasn’t far behind. How could we combine our resources, experience and contacts to create a broader movement of improvement within youth engagement for social change?
And so began the arguments! What is “youth”? Is it a homogenous group or a group of overlapping tribes? How much of a strategy for engaging 20 year old university students can be applied to engaging 15 year olds who have dropped out of education? What is “engagement”? Is it inspiration, hand-holding, awareness raising, getting young people to do what you want, getting young people to do what they want? And what role do I play as the person working with young people? Am I one of them or do I lead them? Do I get them to lead themselves? What about mistakes? Do I let them make them?
Well, what if it’s all if the above?
We got excited!
We are now creating a practitioners model for engaging young people in social change. One that acknowledges the variety and homogeneity within youth, the spectrum of ‘engagement’ and the tension between adult leadership and youth empowerment. What do you think? As Social Enterprise Day dawns, join the discussion around how we engage this next generation.
Twitter: #SocEnt
Unprofessional and Unpredictable
Written on 4-Mar-2009 by Nick Micinski
Young people often scare policy makers and other management types because they are seen as unprofessional and unpredictable. Youth sometimes come late to meetings, don’t follow procedures, and don’t respect the assumed social norms that make up ‘professional’ behavior.
I think this fear is more about the threat active young people represent to the status quo than it is about disregarded behavior or clothing. While in theory new ideas are encouraged, in practice they are threatening to those currently in power.
Ignoring formal procedures and just being real with each other is one way of circumventing bureaucracy. Youth have an amazing ability to make things happen—which sometimes only comes from breaking a few rules.
That being said, young people do not have a blank check to say or do what ever they like. We have a responsibility to treat our peers and elders with respect while pushing each other to not get stuck in the status quo and outdated ideas.
But it’s this balancing act that is difficult for youth and adults to get right.
Youth: Unprofessional, Unpredictable, Unreliable, Unengaged, and Un-experienced?
Written on 23-Feb-2009 by Nick Micinski
Young people often get called a lot of dirty words (with only a few of them in this title…) but how much of it is true? Many a youth worker will recant their top ten horrendous youth stories, but generalizations about youth and their capabilities should not be quickly accepted.
In the following series of blog posts, I hope to examine the various labels the youth sector uses to describe young people.
The problem with young people is that…
They are unprofessional and unpredictable.
They are unreliable.
They are unengaged.
They are un-experienced.
While these statements are sometimes true, their labels are ultimately problematic because they constrain young people to stereotypes and don’t acknowledge the positive side of having fresh perspectives.
Check back every few days as I post the next blog in this series.