3. Effective Mechanisms to Engage Youth

Summary:

  • Engagement activities should involve young people from the beginning to end, through recruitment to program design, delivery, and consider what happens after the project ends
  • Providing recognition and awards to appreciate young people’s contributions increases engagement and improves the experience for them.
  • It is important to create safe and welcoming youth-friendly space for engagement activities.

Roundtable discussions with youth revealed a variety of mechanisms that are effective in engaging youth. In particular, participants described program design elements, delivery approaches, and non-program factors that facilitate youth engagement. Observations about youth engagement practices have been organized into practices that work at the beginning, middle, and end of an engagement project, as well as all around good practice for all stages of a project. In addition to separating observations into these four categories, where observations specific to the arts, heritage, and culture sectors were made, these are noted.

3.1 Get Young People Involved from the Beginning to the End

Recruitment

Participants emphasized that programs need to start by meeting young people where they literally are: in schools, community centres, recreational facilities. Engage them in their own environment (while playing sports, or at the youth centre).

“A huge problem for getting involved is HOW! I know a handful of students and peers who are highly interested in getting involved; they just don’t know how. Yes, we have announcements at school, but we can never hear them so we don’t know what’s happening” - EWC Participant

Several organizations advised that it is important to communicate early; specific communications strategies discussed included promoting activities at least three months in advance through radio, posters, or the Internet, and reaching out to youth through in-person contact in places they already are (e.g., go to schools and host booths at the lunch hour).

“The awareness surrounding these programs is minimal. I never knew a lot of them existed, and I am a very active community person. I believe that if youth actually knew about the programs, they would get involved. By using TV, Internet, and other social networks, I think you would see the number of interested youth increase.” – EWC Participant

Young people expressed loud and clear a sense that they do not know how to become engaged. They are either not aware of opportunities or do not feel comfortable approaching projects or organizations when they want to become involved.

Program Design

A major theme among organizations that effectively engage youth was the involvement of young people (either youth or young adults) in designing programs. The consensus was that, in order to be culturally relevant to youth, programs need to have youth input in design. Youth-led organizations must demonstrate that youth are capable of designing and delivering highly successful and relevant programs. Organizations suggested there is a need to find effective ways to allow youth involvement in all levels of project design, and ensure that thoughts and ideas are heard, put in place, and implemented in the project design. A youth council seems to be a commonly used method of achieving youth input into programs. Youth and young adult boards exist across the country, providing significant leadership opportunities for young people.

Participants acknowledged that programs should have limits to their scope. They suggest it is important to consider the audience for programs, and the reasons why engagement is necessary, and behave accordingly. It is important to identify the target group that is being served and not try to be everything to everyone. They also suggested articulating what specific interest is to be met. It was observed that organizations and program quality suffer when they try to be “everything to everyone.”

Extra time and resources for organizations were also deemed necessary to allow for trial and error, especially with youth-driven projects. Some participants said that it is important to make mistakes and learn, allowing for a learning curve with financial and human resource support. Some individuals felt that the common perception among funders is that youth work takes fewer resources, but they feel that, in reality, it takes more.

A few participants noted that incorporating youth engagement into organizational policy and procedures at decision-making and leadership levels leads to validating the importance of involving young people, and has a trickle-down effect throughout the organization. Some participating adult-led organizations suggested incorporating youth voice beyond the project level, into the core of the organization, as a means to truly engage youth. For youth-led organizations, this practice is already a part of their work by the very nature of being youth-led.

Program Delivery

Participants suggested that partnering with other organizations is a good way to effectively build sense of community and provide youth with the information and supports they need. No one organization can meet all the needs of a young person, so partnerships help ensure that the community better responds to their needs.

Organizations suggested that programs need to adapt to young people, and not expect young people to change immediately. Many challenges around youth engagement were thought to be not about youth disengagement but rather adult disengagement from youth. For this reason, it was suggested that accessible language be used, and that organizations operate in welcoming and more informal ways. One participant noted that people delivering programs to young people have to be ready to be changed by their work with youth as much as they are ready to change youth. It was also suggested by other participants that successful engagement is an exchange and a partnership, not a one-way street.

“Youth are a huge part of our society and so often we’re dismissed... it takes a very determined and intelligent youth to get involved or be heard.” - EWC Participant

Producing a tangible end product is something generally considered important for young people, according to some participants. Producing something meaningful and gaining a sense of contribution was seen to have positive effects for youth self esteem and feelings of belonging.

After the Project Ends

Young people, along with some organizations, noted the importance of maintaining connections with young people and sharing developments that have arisen from their participation. They suggested preparing for the project ending, and working with young people to determine what next steps or supports need to be in place for continuity. Action planning was seen by several organizations as a large part of youth conferences or short-term projects.

3.2 Provide for Recognition and Awards

"I also find it very hard to do as much as I do and rarely get a thank-you." - EWC Participant

Compensation

Many organizations and young people alike emphasized the importance of respecting what youth have sacrificed in order to participate (free time, employment opportunities, etc.), and providing for transportation and food as well as possibly an honorarium to compensate them for their time or recognize their contribution.

Several benefits of offering an honorarium were shared:

  • A monetary exchange provides validity to the activity. Honorariums are about valuing and appreciating the young person for making the choice to engage.
  • Young people are often choosing between competing ways to spend their time, and often money plays a role in their deciding what they do.
  • Celebrating successes and accomplishments is an essential piece of good youth engagement practice. Symbols of recognition are important.

Arts and culture organizations suggested valuing youth talent and contributions to the arts by rewarding young artists for their efforts–pay for their work, commission their work to an exhibition, host public performances, or share their accomplishments with the media.

Employment

Employment opportunities and internships can be very effective (yet relatively under-funded) mechanisms to engage young people. Arts and culture institutions observed that university co-op programs exist in science and engineering, but are not common in arts and culture. Heritage organizations expressed appreciation for the Young Canada Works program, but felt it could be expanded.

Awards

Participants also recognized the value in providing young people with awards and public recognition, such as media coverage, for successful accomplishments. Many communities currently do offer youth awards, and participants often listed this action as a form of engagement activity that was currently used in their organizations.

3.3 Create a Safe and Welcoming Youth-Friendly Space

"Meet Them Where They're At"

In terms of being welcoming and youth-friendly, the most frequently cited suggestion was to “meet young people where they’re at” figuratively by operating in a way that is developmentally and culturally appropriate. Dress codes and ways of working can be more informal, and participants suggested using fun, creative, and active approaches whenever possible. It was suggested by some participants that facilitators be youth or adults who are youth-friendly and familiar with the language and culture that is accessible to youth. Although this was seen to be crucial, some participants cautioned that this should not be taken too far or done carelessly, as youth live up (or down) to the expectations set for them and see through fake interactions. Taken too far or done without care, participants felt this approach could leave youth feeling belittled or treated without respect.

Facebook is No Replacement for Face-to-Face

Technology can be a great communication tool, but stakeholders (especially youth themselves) repeated very clearly that tools like Facebook do not replace face-to-face interactions. Community organizations need support to update their websites and develop a Web-presence that is accessible to young people. But the Web is a communication tool not an engagement tool. Some youth organizations excel at Web-based communications (particularly youth-led organizations), and perhaps mentorship opportunities could be fostered to help all organizations develop their capacity in this milieu.

“More activities would give people more chances to communicate and discuss in person rather than on Facebook or MSN. In our society, we need to keep our personal connection with one another and become one whole community.” – EWC Participant

Create Safe Space That is Comfortable, Accessible, and Actually Safe and Secure, Where Young People Feel Welcome

Examples provided of making safe spaces for youth included actually removing desks and office equipment from spaces and replacing them with couches to create an open and informal environment. Storefront and studio spaces were considered to be very youth-friendly.

Relationship Building

Participants reflected that relationships are a core component of effective youth engagement and creating a youth-friendly and welcoming environment, and this has implications across several domains of practice:

  • Trained, qualified, accessible employees who can act as role models, and are well paid and valued by the organization (both to show youth they are valued, and to reduce turnover that disrupts programs).
  • Mentorship that works both ways–young people can act as mentors to adults, especially when those adults need to understand youth culture. Work with young people, not just for them.
  • Program longevity so that employees can build relationships and participants can become engaged on a long term basis.
  • Incorporate ways for young people to evaluate their experience and provide feedback.

3.4 Youth Engagement Practices That are Arts/Heritage/Culture-Specific

It was suggested as a best practice by several arts, heritage, and culture organizations to have young people participate actively in the production as well as in the appreciation of arts, heritage, and culture, through activities like jurying work and participating in its analysis, designing and delivering historical animation, or producing a performance piece.

Some participants suggested the practice of bringing events (such as travelling shows or exhibits), and bringing artists and makers of culture, as well as persons who can speak to a particular heritage event (e.g., veterans) directly to young people. Role modelling and demonstrating the potential for a career were considered to be important aspects of connecting young people with arts, heritage, and culture professionals.

“I would like there to be a big forum on immigration and how immigrants are to be respected as a vital part of Canadian culture. In my opinion, the culture of Canada, as a mosaic, is the culture of the world.” – EWC Participant

Participants considered engaging activities to be ones that are relevant to the lives of young people within the scope of arts, heritage, and culture. As one participant from an arts background suggested, Shakespeare may not always be relevant to the lives of youth; sometimes spoken word may be more successful. However many participants considered it equally important to be sensitive to specific interests and needs of communities and audiences, as there can be different needs and opportunities (e.g., one stakeholder organization offered free ballet lessons to boys, and over 70 enrolled).

Helping youth identify with their own cultures is seen to be essential, especially in minority groups. Specific groups mentioned included Francophones, Aboriginal peoples, and new Canadians. This means engaging these cultures in the design and delivery of programs, which can be a challenge for many organizations.

The importance of expertise was given in the example of teaching art; artists need to be taught about teaching, and teachers need to be taught about arts, or they can work together. Teachers and artists have different expertise, so to ensure programs are delivered expertly, participants stressed that professional development, as well as partnerships, can be effective ways to add expertise to a youth program.

In addition, it was suggested that collaboration between sectors can be an effective way to serve youth in arts, heritage, and culture programming. Several stakeholder organizations have been modeling programs after recreation (which has been engaging youth successfully for a very long time) and working with youth organizations to make programs more youth-friendly.

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