A new youth engagement guide, published by America’s Promise, contains actionable strategies that educators, program providers, coaches, mentors, and other youth-supporting adults can use to authentically listen to and engage with young people about how they experience social, emotional, and cognitive development. The guide features 10 steps for meaningful and mutually beneficial engagement, as follows:
- Define your purpose.
- Identify young people to engage. Seek out multiple points of view. Include formal and informal leaders.
- Choose a place where young people feel comfortable, and create a welcoming environment.
- Show that you respect young people’s time and their expertise.
- Co-create the agenda with participants.
- Ensure privacy, establish confidentiality, and obtain consent.
- Reflect on your own biases.
- Warm up, ask your key questions, and cool down.
- Document themes and stories.
- Listen
Although this guide was designed as a companion to the All of who I Am study (summarized here: https://www.coreeducationllc.com/blog2/all-of-who-i-am/), it is useful for anyone who wishes to gather youth input about the topics that affect them.
For more, see https://www.americaspromise.org/resource/youth-engagement-guide
