“When young people feel their voices matter, they feel they matter — and are more engaged and better served in the systems that aim to support them.”
Youth voice is creativity. Innovation. Fresh and relevant perspectives that inform out-of-school time programming – and ensure the work truly meets the interests of the people it aims to serve. In this section, hear directly from youth and from adults who work with them about what youth voice means, and how to meaningfully increase youth voice.
Why youth voice – from teens. Click here to hear from young people as they define youth voice, how youth voice is critical, and what makes them feel heard. (If you prefer to read what they have to say, you can also click here.)
Why youth voice – from adults who work with youth. Click here to hear how youth voice deepens the impact of our work, and our role in ensuring those voices are heard and actualized effectively. (If you prefer to read what they have to say, you can also click here.)
DOs & DONTs for increasing youth voice in afterschool (handout) Click here to hear from young people about what works and what doesn’t.
Consciousness statement: Like a preamble to all of our work, please read about how youth voice is foundational, and a sense of real belonging in after-school and youth-development spaces.
Additional resources about youth voice in youth development:
Youth Voice is an evidence- and research-based “best practice” in the field of youth development. In Georgia, youth voice is a named standard of quality in the Georgia Afterschool & Youth Development Quality Standards.
Around the U.S. (and in fact the world), we see that when young people “see their ideas acted on, which empowers them to engage even more. Schools [and communities] benefit from their unique insights.”
- National Afterschool Association names “youth engagement, voice, and choice” as a core-competency” for professionals who work with and for youth
- The David P. Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality names Youth Voice as a key element in assessing for Youth Program Quality.
- The National Institute for Out of School Time names youth voice as a priority in their Afterschool Program Assessment System and how “including youth in the development and evaluation of out of-school time (OST) programs has positive effects on youth, the organizations that serve them, and the communities in which they live” in their “Afterschool Matters” journal.
- And a variety of national organizations have published journal articles and resources showing the priority of youth voice, including:
- Search Institute (a nonprofit research organization that promotes positive youth development):
– The Power of Sharing Power
– Student Voice Empowered to Transform Education - Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning (CASEL) shares: “SEL Trends: Empowering Youth Voice”
- youth.gov, a federally run platform, “helps you create, maintain, and strengthen effective youth programs: “Involving Youth in Positive Youth Development.”
- Search Institute (a nonprofit research organization that promotes positive youth development):
To hear more from youth about quality youth development:
Teens speak out about opportunities & barriers – In this video teens discuss who gets and who doesn’t get opportunities — and how quality youth-development organizations play an important role in access to opportunity.
Let’s talk about the language of youth development – In this video, teens share how some of the language of youth development impacts them personally — and offer suggestions to YD professionals to update their language so that their good intentions can “awaken each student’s personal abilities and allow them to shine in individual ways.”