Youth Adult Partnerships

In 2021, Des Moines Public Schools removed police officers from local schools, based largely on data commissioned by the student members of the Iowa Collaboration for Youth Development’s Youth Action Squad, with the support of the Iowa Department of Humans Rights. Here’s a look inside the youth-adult partnership.

Youth Action Hour, a national narrative effort designed and led entirely by young people of color in partnership with national youth-serving organizations, is connecting and amplifying the social justice solutions of young leaders across the U.S.

In 2020, the city of New Orleans adopted the vision statement, "“New Orleans is a city where the self-expression, leadership, creativity, and culture of all children and youth comes together to create a true community where everyone succeeds," crafted by nearly 100 young people from across the city.

The Youth Data Squad hopes that by publishing their data-driven report with their policy recommendations, they can avoid data mischaracterizations.

In Iowa, the nonprofit organization Al Éxito uses a youth participatory action model to uplift Latino students as leaders in designing their own opportunities and futures.

This guide is designed for school, district, out-of-school time, and other community leaders or youth-supporting adults who wish to partner with young people in their communities to better understand their experiences with issues that matter to them.

Two young adults and one researcher share the challenges of isolation facing youth during the pandemic and identify specific steps supportive adults can take to help youth cope.

Are you using the developmental practices in your work with young people? An asset mapping process can help answer that, and support cross-system dialogue about how to improve staff practices, everywhere youth spend their time.

In Minneapolis, “nothing about us without us” is more than a motto. Here’s how the Minneapolis Youth Congress, a longstanding youth-adult partnership, is shaping city policy and the local community.

“I have more responsibility and I feel like I have more power here.”