ERIC Number: EJ927767
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2011-Jun
Pages: 21
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0044-118X
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Interweaving Youth Development, Community Development, and Social Change through Youth Organizing
Christens, Brian D.; Dolan, Tom
Youth & Society, v43 n2 p528-548 Jun 2011
Community organizing groups that have built coalitions for local change over the past few decades are now involving young people as leaders in efforts to improve quality of life. The current study explores a particularly effective youth organizing initiative through review of organizational documents and collection and analysis of qualitative data. The study finds that this model for youth organizing is effective at producing impacts at multiple levels because it weaves together youth development, community development, and social change into a unified organizing cycle. The initiative encourages participants by promoting psychological empowerment, leadership development, and sociopolitical development. Simultaneously, youth organizing produces community-level impacts, including new program implementation, policy change, and institution building. Social changes include intergenerational and multicultural collaboration in the exercise of power. This interplay between youth development, community development, and social change is discussed in relation to the growing field of youth organizing and other efforts to engage youth in civil society. (Contains 2 figures.)
Descriptors: Community Development, Community Action, Community Organizations, Social Change, Youth Programs, Leadership Training, Synthesis, Program Implementation, Program Effectiveness
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Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Secondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A