Excellent piece. And though this comment relates to an age group above that discussed in the post, I think the same concepts apply. Everyone is freaking out about the increased HIV infection rate in young men--usually discussed as men in their 20s and early 30s. (Do teens not have sex anymore? Or will they quit having sex if we pretend they don't?) And yet I see very little commentary or material on the subject that is generated by men in that age group. Mostly what I read are denouncements of unsafe sex practices delivered by older people. I doubt there's any way to make that approach effective, as the numbers seem to bear out.

Greg,

I agree with you wholeheartedly. I have seen a number of situations when the youth outreach programs had no actual young people even involved. It has been mostly well-meaning adults.

IMO, some of the most innovative ideas for organizing and educational outreach has come from young people. We should do far more to develop leadership among young people and to support youth-created and youth-led organizing projects.

The adults come with the money and the all the spiffy new "theoretical frameworks". Unfortunately the other thing they come with is an inability to relinquish control.

Any organization that contemplates youth oriented programming should have a youth advisory board/committee. These boards help, and in many cases lead the way, in identifying both needs and interventions.

It isn't rocket science, but it does require a commitment to inclusivity and power sharing.

If your organization is going after federal funds to do programming community input is almost universally required on grant applications.

gregC, you're so right. I forgot about that little wrinkle. I have very often worked in and with organizations which were led by older people who, for all their invaluable experience and talents, could not relinquish control often or long enough for younger people to lead in a relevant direction. These have mostly been leather social clubs, so their demise due to inflexibility is not particularly dire for the community as a whole. However, I'm sure the phenomenon has worse implications elsewhere.

yay for this post!

as a young adult who focuses on queer youth work, i am delighted to see somebody writing about this.

my "queer mama" as i like to call her, and dear mentor, randi romo of the center for artistic revolution (CAR) in arkansas (www.artisticrevolution.org) makes it a priority to recruit youth and young adults for CAR's board. i learned all about movement building and organizing by being a part of this process, and the board helped shape the direction of the organization for more youth initiatives. i encourage all boards of directors to recruit youth participation in their boards, so that youth have meaningful input in decision-making processes. it makes a huge difference not only in programming, but also in the personal development of our nation's queer youth!

Absolutely.

One problem that we have run into with one organization is that we have asked 20 somethings and even teens for help in planning and organizing. There is even an offer to put some actual young people on the board of directors and frankly the youth have not stepped up to do it.

Since I mentioned Youth Advisory Boards I thought I'd pass along a link to one such board. This is one is organized by a for profit enterprise, but I think it illustrates the idea pretty well.

State Farm YAB

Amen.