Youth Adult Partnership
2023 | March
Youth Adult Partnership
What Does Youth Adult Partnership Actually Look Like?
By John Weiss and Tom Akiva
An excerpt from The Heartbeat of the Youth Development Field: Professional Journeys of Growth, Connection, and Transformation (2023)
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The term Youth Adult Partnerships (YAP) has an intuitive meaning for many people in the youth field; however, nearly two decades of research and scholarship (Zeldin et al., 2013; Kirscher 2015) provide a deeper and intentional understanding of the term and its most important components. As defined by Zeldin and colleagues (2013), youth adult partnerships is the practice of: (a) multiple youth and multiple adults deliberating and acting together, (b) in a collective [democratic] fashion (c) over a sustained period of time, (d) through shared work, (e) intended to promote social justice, strengthen an organization and/or affirmatively address a community issue.
To break this definition down deeper, consider the following ideas. Multiple youth and multiple adults acting together can provide a more co-equal, democratic and reciprocal group dynamic that is different from the typical youth-adult interactions found in traditional youth programs. In those programs normally a lone adult guides or facilitates the youth members, as its mentor; there is little or no emphasis on development of a co-equal intergenerational group. Furthermore, strong YAPs work democratically across the group over a sustained period of time, not simply on a short term project. The purpose of the work is for some meaningful community or organizational based change, as opposed to say a simple skills development based project.
Furthermore this scholarship identifies four components which drive successful YAPs: authentic decision making, natural mentors, reciprocal activity, and community connectedness (Zeldin et al., 2013). Authentic decision making, tied directly to the developmental need of meaningful participation, has been found to lead to the development of agency as well as confidence to achieve one’s personal goals, both important facets of engagement. Natural mentorship is the concept of letting youth naturally choose the adults they feel most connected to and to (informally or formally) rely on them as mentors. This turns the traditional approach to mentorship programs upside down where adults are assigned to youth. Furthermore the effectiveness of natural mentorships relies on their being multiple adults, hopefully with varying identities and interests, for youth to seek out and naturally connect with. Reciprocity is the idea that youth can contribute and co-create alongside adults, especially by recognizing and revering their unique perspectives and experiences which are often very different than the adults. Their contributions are especially important in YAPs in which the group is working to strengthen an organization with a youth service mission. Finally, community connectedness is the idea of linking the work of the YAP to the larger community. This has several benefits including providing access for youth to people, organizations and networks that expand their social capital. Furthermore youth feelings of connectedness with adults and public institutions are shown to be strong predictors of future civic engagement. And lastly, community connectedness helps to transform the large communities perceptions of youth from the negative stereotypes to those of competent, engaged citizens.
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A brief story below elucidates a successful YAP from Neutral Zone. The story takes place in the context of the Youth Driven Spaces (YDS) initiative, which involves young people as teen interns and trainers who work closely with staff to plan and implement the capacity building work Neutral Zone supports with other community-based organizations.
In 2018, Sanvi, a high school junior,was chosen to serve as an intern for YDS. Sanvi enthusiastically jumped into her internship, working alongside the 3 adult staff who led the YDS training and coaching activities and also with 11 peers--teen leaders and emerging leaders who met monthly to be trained as trainers. One of Sanvi’s first tasks was helping to select six partner organizations that would receive training and coaching through a grant funded project. She read through the applications, scored a readiness rubric for each organization, and helped conduct phone interviews with several of the applying organizations. Sanvi was an integral and important part of the selection team, offering insights and ideas that were unique to her experience as a teen participant at a youth-driven organization. Her contributions helped us reconsider and invite one organization that the adult staff wasn’t sure was ready and also affirmed a barrier for another organization that we asked to wait a year before joining as a partner. Sanvi continued to deepen her involvement as a lead teen trainer, working closely with Karen and Naja (two of the NZ staff) and on evaluative aspects of the project with John (Weiss).
This story illustrates effective youth-adult partnerships. Sanvi served with a group of multiple youth and adults, working democratically, over a sustained period of time to help strengthen the work of Neutral Zone and that of its community partners. Through her involvement across various aspects of the project, she made authentic decisions and participated in reciprocity, contributing via her unique positionality as a teen to help select partner organizations and subsequently be a supportive trainer to peers from other organizations. Sanvi sought out natural mentorships, learning from each of the adult staff and connecting with them over their identities or areas of expertise. Finally Sanvi’s work provided her wide access to a range of other organizations, especially peers from outside the city, with whom she maintained relationships beyond the project.
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Starr, Elizabeth, et al. The Heartbeat of the Youth Development Field: Professional Journeys of Growth, Connection, and Transformation. United States, Information Age Publishing, Incorporated, 2022. p68-72
Tools | Youth Adult Partnership
The Ladder of Student Involvement
The Ladder of Student Involvement was developed by Adam Fletcher (2011) to "encourage students and adults to examine why and how students participate throughout schools". The ladder can be used as a reflection and planning tool in schools and community organizations.
Youth adult partnership is the highest rung on the ladder (described as student/adult equity), demonstrating it is a youth engagement approach that many strive for and that, according to Fletcher, "requires conscious commitment by all participants to overcome all barriers".
A rubric describing each rung and it's associated challenges and rewards, can be found here.
Evaluating Youth Adult Partnerships
The Youth-Adult Partnership Rubric is a tool for professional development and program evaluation in youth settings. It was developed by Michigan State University and Neutral Zone. The Rubric evaluates four critical dimensions of Youth Adult Partnership: (1) authentic decision-making, (2) natural mentors, (3) reciprocity, and (4) community connectedness.
Your Turn!
Identify a program or settings that involves multiple high school aged youth and adult(s) working together toward a common goal and have someone observe, take notes, and complete the Rubric.
