Complete the Youth Infusion Self Assessment. Consider where your program currently is on the continuum of youth engagement, and where you would like to be. Not every program or activity can or should always involve youth at level five. Their level of involvement may vary based on the capacity of program staff to spend time and resources on involving youth, the purpose of involving youth, and support within the organization for involving youth. Organizational infrastructure and support for involving youth is a key concern for sustainability of youth involvement.

• Look at your organization’s programs and determine where it would be most beneficial and feasible to involve youth. Define the purpose of involving youth in the selected activity. Based on the purpose, determine how to engage youth and the most appropriate level of involvement.
• Talk with other organizations and agencies who are already partnering with young people to learn how they did it and any recommendations they have. Collaborating with other organizations that are engaging youth may help you meet your goals.

• Identify how you will recruit youth and how you will keep them engaged in the process. Issues to consider are how to recruit youth who are representative of the population you serve, what skills and capabilities the youth need, and what training should be provided.
• Provide training for organization staff who will be working with youth to ensure they have an understanding of the rationale and purpose of partnering with youth, how it will benefit both the program and the youth, and the skills necessary to effectively work with youth.

• Develop a plan to review and monitor the youth involvement process.
• Engage the youth and adults who work with them to evaluate the effectiveness and impact of involving youth on the organization and program, as well as its impact on the youth themselves.
• Share successes and challenges with others.

Needs assessment

An example of needs assessment is the USDA’s GIS project, through which youth identified resources in their community that were uploaded into a community-wide map. The map was then used to inform community leaders about existing gaps and challenges. Learn more about Youth Mapping.

Prioritizing needs

Youth provide an excellent source of human and social capital within communities. Their networks consist of their peers as well as family members and adult friends who have access to local resources. Several federally funded programs are soliciting youth leadership in order to achieve more meaningful results. These programs are tapping into the expertise of young people, relying on them to help determine the needs of their community.

Identifying strategies to meet needs

The National 4-H Council's Engaging Youth, Serving Communities project requires adults to work with youth to organize community forums. The forums can be facilitated in partnership or solely by youth to discuss the needs of the community and how to devise a plan to address them.

Developing strategies/program activities

Youth can help create activities that will be of particular interest to their peers. Many of them are familiar with age appropriate team building exercises and activities that can be incorporated.

Promoting program/activities to other youth and adults

Youth should have a lead role in promoting and presenting information that they have created and/or participated in from the beginning. This provides them with ownership of their efforts. They can also identify locations (e.g., libraries, schools, and recreational centers) that are frequented by potential participants.

School health councils/youth advisory boards

Communities are taking the voice of youth more seriously. In rural and urban areas alike, you can find youth on such governing bodies as library councils, parks and recreations boards, school boards and even city councils. Many of these give youth full voting privileges. Although this may not be allowed by some organizations, youth can still be given a chance to be heard as a representative of the community in which they live.

Curriculum selection committees

Organizations and agencies are concerned about retaining youth within their programs. Before selecting a particular curriculum to use with a target audience, it may be advantageous to have youth assist in reviewing a curriculum or training materials to determine if it will be appropriate for a specific age group.

Providing technical assistance on youth culture: How to effectively engage youth/how to work with youth

Youth can assist in training adults who are interested in learning about changing dynamics. Youth can share what is of interest to youth in general, conduct a seminar on the relevance and use of web-based social networking, or serve on a panel to talk about what it takes to engage youth of today.

Participating in action research

Young people make excellent data collectors. As they assist in tasks such as conducting interviews, taking photos, and reviewing feedback from surveys, they are also developing analytical skills that can serve them well in other roles.

Developing evaluation instruments

Youth can brainstorm to create survey questions with adults. Once a draft of the survey is completed, youth can fill out the instrument, and then provide feedback on what items were clear and unclear.

Developing criteria for success

Soliciting honest feedback from youth will help build methods into the evaluation process that can strengthen a program or project. Youth can provide insight on what outcomes they would like to see as a result of program efforts.

Collecting evaluation data

Youth can take photographs of the final results of project work, administer surveys, conduct structured interviews, or participate in focus groups.

Assisting in analyzing results

With the assistance of adults, youth can learn how to enter data into software programs, read through data to sort out common themes, and help with interpreting comments, reactions, and behaviors generated by participants. A guide (e.g., observation protocol) describing what to look for during the analysis may be helpful.

Presenting results

Once youth have had a role in all levels of a program, most are more than willing to share the results of their hard work. Giving them the opportunity to share what a difference the experience has made in their lives will also resonate with the audience. This is very important if youth are presenting information to local leaders who can serve as potential partners and also help make a difference in the community.