Keeping Kids Incorporated
Nothing empowers a community more than inclusive planning, where its members create the better place they want to live, work, and learn.
When it comes to youth master planning, municipal leaders all over the country are recognizing the importance of bringing youth to the table and letting them have their say. We sampled several master plans and found some innovative approaches to reaching and inspiring young people.
Make it fun. Several cities offered social opportunities for youth to talk to each other and elected officials. Grand Rapids, Mich., for example, hosts an annual Youth Night Out where young people get to mix and mingle with the mayor and ask questions. In planning for its youth master plan, Claremont, Calif., hosted a youth Fun Day with activities from rock climbing to a hip hop concert and dance interspersed with teen surveying and information sharing on the master plan.
Meet youth where they are. Youth want their voices heard, but kids are busy and so are their parents. That’s why planners in Charleston, S.C., Lakewood, Ohio, and Temecula, Calif., held several youth focus groups in venues like school libraries and cafeterias. Others held community workshops outside of schools to spread as big a net as possible. To encourage participation, cities held raffles for iPods, skateboards, gift cards, and other prizes kids valued.
Appoint youth as decision makers and leaders. Appoint young people to the team responsible for developing the youth master plan. Some areas had planning committees on which one or two youth sat; others convened a special steering committee made up of a couple dozen youth from middle and high schools. Even better, offer leadership roles to young people on the planning team.
Ask young people. Every municipality we reviewed had some systematic way of polling young people, by sending home questionnaires from school or mailings from youth-serving programs. The surveys asked what activities youth like, what hinders them from participating in out-of-school activities and what issues—from drugs to finding an afterschool job—they feel are most important to youth in their community.
Empower all youth. It’s easy for youth to feel disenfranchised and as if their voices aren’t being heard. It’s also easy for a small group of youth (especially those who are very popular or known for excelling academically) to be routinely picked for opportunities to speak out. When it comes to youth master planning, engaging a diverse group of youth with different perspectives is critical. Remember to consult students outside mainstream schools to ensure voices of at-risk and special needs students are considered.
Leverage technology. Youth tend to embrace the latest technology, and the best planners found a way to infuse technology to engage young people in the process. Claremont used “live voting” at its Fun Day so youth could register their opinions on issues in the master plan. Nearly all of the cities with master plans created a Web site for the plan, some of which allowed youth to make comments. Youth workers can also use some of the new social networking sites, like Facebook, make a page for their organizations, and ask young people to become friends, to keep them updated on youth master planning.
Young people provide a fresh voice to the planning dialogue and serve as important partners in the process. In fact, youth can contribute to all aspects of youth master planning, from initial meetings to generating enthusiasm and publicity for the plan. For more ideas about involving youth in master planning, follow these links:
