Youth empowerment
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Youth empowerment is an attitudinal, structural, and cultural process whereby young people gain the ability, authority, and agency to make decisions and implement change in their own lives and the lives of other people, including youth and adults.[1]
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[edit] Background
[edit] United States
Youth empowerment in the U.S. became an apparent movement in the late 1800s and early 1900s in the form of the Newsboys Strike. Mother Jones was an early advocate of youth empowerment, openly embracing the energy and ability of young people to change society during her 1908 child laborer march on Washington, DC. In the 1920s educator John Dewey argued for the acknowledgment of "students' power" over their own learning in schools.[2] Her example was supported by the 1930s advocacy of the American Youth Congress, a group of young people who presented the Youth Bill of Rights to the US Congress in 1936. In the mid-1940s First Lady Eleanor Roosevelt took up their cause, fomenting the creation of the National Youth Administration, the first and only federal program to coordinate youth-oriented out-of-school services and funding provided by the national government.
During the Civil Rights era southern folk educator Myles Horton became a leading proponent of youth empowerment when his Highlander Folk School began training young people to participate in the Civil Rights movement. In addition to influencing Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., Horton also encouraged the Freedom Riders and the South Carolina food counter boycotts of the 1950s.
In the late 1950s the youth empowerment movement took shape in across the U.S. with efforts by Youth Liberation (Ann Arbor) and the Students for a Democratic Society, whose manifesto entitled the Port Huron Statement inspired the coming generation of "hippies". In the early 1970s publications by Brazilian critical pedagogue Paulo Freire and American theorist Ivan Illich, along with John Holt, further emboldened a generation of youth empowerment activists, who openly sought lower voting ages and youth liberation.
Today youth empowerment is said to occur in homes, at schools, through youth organizations, government policy-making and community organizing campaigns[3] [4]. Major structural activities where youth empowerment happens throughout society include community decision-making, organizational planning, and education reform.
Classroom activities that empower youth include student-centered learning, popular education, and service learning. In communities, youth empowerment takes form through youth voice, community youth development, and youth leadership programs. Contributions by scholars such as Shawn Ginwright, Henry Giroux, Barry Checkoway and Mike Males, coupled with the actions of activists including William Upski Wimsatt, Alex Koroknay-Palicz and Adam Fletcher continue to move youth empowerment forward.
[edit] Political action
Each major political party in the United States, including the Republicans, the Democrats, and the Green Party, as well as many major European, African, South American, and Australian political parties have statements supporting youth empowerment. Youth empowerment is also a central tenet of the United Nations Convention on the Rights of the Child, which every country in the world (minus the U.S. and Somalia) has signed into law.
[edit] Outcomes
Youth empowerment is often addressed as a gateway to intergenerational equity, civic engagement and democracy building. Many local, state, provencial, regional, national, and international government agencies and nonprofit community-based organizations provide programs centered on youth empowerment[5]. Activities involved therein may focus on youth-led media, youth rights, youth councils, youth activism, youth involvement in community decision-making[6], and other methods.
[edit] See also
[edit] List of youth empowerment-related articles
- Youth voice
- Youth activism
- Community youth development
- Empowerment
- Youth rights
- Youth participation
- Youth/adult partnerships
- Intergenerational equity
[edit] List of youth empowerment organization articles
- Freechild Project
- Global Youth Action Network
- Millennium Kids
- National Youth Rights Association
- Taking Children Seriously
- Youth Activism Project
- Not Back to School Camp
- Seeds of Peace
[edit] List of historical youth empowerment articles
- American Youth Congress
- Students for a Democratic Society
- Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
- The Newsboys Strike
- Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor
- National Youth Administration
- National Commission on Resources for Youth
- Company of Young Canadians
[edit] External examples
- Youth Taking Action - Promoting youth leadership and involvement in social issues worldwide.
- Global Youth Awards: Acknowledging youth achievement around the world
- Collegiate Forum, the first international student policy center
- National Youth Rights Association
- SoundOut
- The Freechild Project
- Youth On Board
- The Youth Innovation Fund
- The Wellspring, a web log about youth affairs opportunities in Australia and at the United Nations (UN).
- The Pro-Youth Pages
- Youth Coalition Santa Cruz, a Santa Cruz youth empowerment group run by youth.
- Uth TV, Original media created by and for youth.
- The YesYesNowNow.com "List" — A look at young people doing inspirational things around the world. Showing that youth culture can be a positive thing.
- YoMo Support & Resources for youth participation.
- Youth Liberation Front, an insurrectionary, anti-school form of youth empowerment
- Californians for Justice - CA
- Youth Together - Oakland, CA
- AYPAL - Oakland, CA
- Kids First - Oakland, CA
- Huatec - Bay Area, CA
- YMAC - San Francisco, CA
- YUCA - East Palo Alto, CA
- HOMEY - San Francisco, CA
- Students United
- Hope Street Youth Development - Topeka, KS
- Teen Empowerment - Boston, MA
- Yomo
[edit] References
- ^ Vavrus, J. & Fletcher, A. (2006). Guide to Social Change Led By and With Young People. The Freechild Project.
- ^ Dewey, J. Democracy and Education.
- ^ Fletcher, A. (2005) Guide to Students as Partners in School Change Olympia, WA: CommonAction.
- ^ (1993) "Double Standard for Youth Involvement" Journal of Extension, Fall 1993.
- ^ (1998) "Examining empowerment: A 'how-to' guide for youth development professionals" Journal of Extension, December 1998
- ^ Sazama, J. & Young, K. (2006) 15 Points to Successfully Involving Youth in Decision-Making, Boston: Youth On Board.
| Basics: | Youth • Empowerment • Youth empowerment organizations • Youth empowerment individuals • Youth-led organizations |
| Theory: | Youth voice • Youth/adult partnerships • Intergenerational equity • Youth rights • Positive youth development • Evolving capacities |
| Issues: | Youth activism • Student voice • Youth participation • Community youth development • Youth leadership • Youth court • Youth council • Youth service • Student activism • Youth vote • Youth politics • Youth-led media • Youth movement • Student rights • Student-centered learning • Free school • Adultism • Ephebiphobia |
| History: | American Youth Congress • Students for a Democratic Society • Youth Liberation of Ann Arbor • History of Youth Rights in the United States • International Youth Year |
| Documents: | Convention on the Rights of the Child • The Teenage Liberation Handbook • Pedagogy of the Oppressed • Youth: The 26% Solution |
Anti-oppressive education • Banking • Conscientization • Critical consciousness • Critical pedagogy • Pedagogy of the Oppressed • Popular education • Praxis • Teaching for social justice • Youth empowerment
