We talk a lot about bringing youth to the table and engaging them in coalition work, but what happens once they’re there? If we want to be serious about our prevention efforts, we must invest in youth leadership and make space for them to lead within the community coalition structure.
If you’re not quite sure where to start when it comes to assigning youth roles within your coalition, you’re not alone. Here are a few different ways young people can get involved and assist with your coalition’s day-to-day work:
- Facilitate Program Meetings: Youth work with an adult advisor to plan and facilitate their own program meetings. Adult advisors serve as support during the meetings and encourage ongoing reflection.
- Ownership of Physical Spaces: Youth design their own meeting and hangout spaces by adorning the walls with original art installations, painting murals, and hanging posters or flyers.
- Governance Leadership: Youth participate in governance decisions about policies, budget and procedures by serving on the Board of Directors and Board Committees.
- Community Outreach: Youth reach out to the broader community through presentations, dinners, point-of-entry meetings and tours to share the organization’s mission and programs.
These are just a few ideas to get you started and only a small glimpse into what CADCA’s new Youth Engagement for Adults training covers. By the end of the workshop, participants will learn practical strategies to build relationships with youth, understand the components of strong youth-adult partnerships and how to sustain them, develop a youth-friendly elevator pitch to help with recruitment efforts, and much more.
If you’re ready to build more effective youth-adult partnerships in your coalition and learn how to keep them involved in your coalition’s work, this training is designed for you! Youth Engagement for Adults will be unveiled publicly for the first time at CADCA’s Mid-Year Training Institute, July 20-24, in Nashville, TN.
Interested in bringing this training to your team? It’s also available for purchase. Get the full details here.
