Youth – Youth Infusion

An Intergenerational Career Pipeline

More agencies, including service providers, recognize the need to infuse young people with lived experience right smack in their leadership circle.

Solid commitments to intergenerational collaboration build a career pipeline to attract young people of color that serves as a model for other organizations.

Maria Nuñez describes herself as defiant when she attended New Horizons in Pasco, Washington. School counselor Carolyn Cox’s Mindset Reset room is where any student could really blow off steam. Carolyn makes it clear that one’s Adverse Childhood Experiences (ACE) score does not define anyone. Maria was determined not to follow the traditional path of working in the fields or the factory. Carolyn’s SPARK program at this alternative school introduced this rebellious student to the hope of a career in behavioral health.

While working 2 jobs, being pregnant, and going to school, Maria got her GED at 19 shortly after having her daughter. She completed the training and state exam to become a Certified Peer Counselor (CPC) which is a Medicaid reimbursable service. Soon she was gainfully employed and then advanced to a Youth and Parent Certified Peer Counselor Trainer. The next rung on her career ladder was to join the SPARK Development Team as the Contract Manager where she explains the range of responsibilities.

“We plan out our classes, run the program, manage funds and deliverables, present to the community and across the state about the SPARK program.”

Maria shatters stereotypes. Her doctor could not believe that “I had this job with my bald head and tattoos.” At age 21, she just got promoted to fill a new position as SPARK Project Director for the Washington Statewide Youth Leadership Network.

Maria continues to defy expectations. She is the first Latina youth appointed to the Governor’s Behavioral Health Advisory Council. More agencies, including service providers, recognize the need to infuse young people with lived experience right smack in their leadership circle.

Organizational Structures Mandate Youth Involvement

A legal settlement and subsequent legislation mandated substantive youth involvement. A lawsuit required the state of Washington to build a mental health system for Medicaid-eligible children and youth age 20 or younger with complex emotional, behavioral, and social issues. Included in the agreement is licensed behavioral health agencies pay CPCs for their mental health and substance abuse peer counseling with Medicaid funds.

In addition to SPARK’s partnership with the Washington Health Care Authority to provide services along with workforce development, many CPCs participate in other policy making structures that explicitly rely on input from youth and young adults.

Maria and others from SPARK are involved in Family Youth System Partner Round Tables (FYSPRT) that meet monthly to suggest improvements for treatment and services at the local and regional levels.

Recent legislation added seats for two youth/young adults with lived experience to serve on a new subgroup, Youth and Young Adult Continuum of Care (YYACC), to prioritize issues identified by FYSPRT.

Another example of intentional youth infusion is the WA Behavioral Health Advisory Council that requires 51 percent community members, which include young people, who identify gaps and priorities in the federal SAMSHA block grant.

Back when Maria was in high school, she never imagined these ambitious roles and responsibilities. SPARK provides a home with a solid foundation of intergenerational interdependence.

Creating a Collegial Culture

It is apparent that Carolyn Cox, co-founder of SPARK, has an infectious spirit and terrific sense of humor along with her own history that she knows peer support could have made an enormous difference when she was young.

Board member Ahney King describes the “aura” that Carolyn creates because young people know “she really lets them be themselves, lets them feel, and lets them speak.” The attitude at SPARK seems to truly embrace new and untried approaches.

Carolyn regards Maria as “my right hand man” and Maria reciprocates, describing how they “bounce off” of each other. Ahney credits her continued learning to her interactions with young people:

“Maria’s courage inspires me to speak out rather than stay quiet.”

The power of peer-to-peer influence is undeniable and there are plenty of reasons why adult-run organizations lose out if they are not partnering with young people as colleagues.

RACIAL DIVERSITY. In the field of behavioral health–which is dominated by older white women–the outreach strategies by Maria and her peers result in attracting many people of color including young men to pursue CPC trainings, paid apprenticeships and higher education.

REALITY CHECK. Another obvious reason for enlisting people who are similar in age to those receiving services is to get informed, uncensored input essential for effective monitoring and evaluation.

SYSTEMS CHANGE. A team of SPARK Certified Peer Counselors now are co-designing a new program to reach current and formerly incarcerated juveniles that will differentiate from services for adults exiting the corrections system.

This model program demonstrates that it just makes sense for professionals to work with other trailblazers like Maria Nuñez. As Carolyn Cox sums up her core philosophy with typical ebullience.

“The youth that I get to see and learn from bring so much to the table. We want to continue to grow our programs for our youth with our youth. We couldn’t do this without their input.”

Could your organization learn from SPARK to build a career pipeline to remedy the acute shortages not only in behavioral health but other sectors?

Could your organization change its culture and structure to hire more young people who grow into leadership positions?

Contact us about our online workshops that are designed to help you and your team achieve these objectives and more!

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Does Your Youth Program Transact or Transform?

Transformational or transactional youth activities — Are your youth activities transformational or transactional?

When was the last time you thought about WHY young people come to your youth program or classroom?

Do they come to get jobs, earn money, and in order to become gainfully employed?
Are there rewards for attendance or contests for participating?
Are youth punished in some way for not attending?

These are traits of a transactional youth activity.

Do youth see their capacity to create, build, change, and make the life they want to live as the most important reason for coming?
Are adults seeking to learn with youth or take action together for change?
Can young people choose whether or not they want to be there and adapt for changing times?

This is a transformational program.

Transactional Youth Activities

A lot of youth programs in general are built on transactional relationships based in giving and receiving, i.e. “I give you this and you get that.” Forming the premise for much of our economy, this type of relationship is evident in…

Many schools where students earn grades by performing certain tasks;
Stores where youth pay money for food, clothes, music and more;
Friendships that are reliant on trading attention when needed.

A lot of youth involvement, youth voice, and youth engagement activities are transactional relationships where young people become involved because they can get a reward for being there. This might be a grade, kuddos from adults, or a bullet point on their resume.

Transactional youth activities have several elements. They…

Focus on extrinsic motivation
Appear practical
Resist change
Discourage independent youth actions, thinking and reactions
Reward performance
Constrain thinking
Rely on passive youth voice
Deliver directive youth activities
Emphasize formal structure
Focus youth on their own self-interest and reassure adults’ self-interest

They are also common, and easily compared to other youth-serving activities. Sometimes these relationships are necessary, especially at the outset of a youth activity. However, the challenge is that many adults believe this is the only way to involve young people.

Transformational Youth Activities

Alternatively, Youth Infusion insists that youth and adults join in together because each age group changes because of the interaction. These transformational relationships allow everyone the room they need in order to be whole, become engaged, and make a difference in their own lives as well as the lives of the people around them.

Transformational youth programs have many elements. They…

Check adultism
Are clearly co-led with youth and adults
Encourage healthy risk-taking
Engage youth in difficult decision-making
Share organizational consciousness between youth and adults
Inspire and foster new thinking
Adapt, pivot and respond
Are proactive
Are visionary

Transformational youth activities are unfortunately rare throughout the youth service sector, and throughout education. Throughout their processes, they are revelatory, teaching youth and adults new things while expanding the impact each has on the other and on themselves. By their nature, transformational youth activities are creative, necessitating unique, divergent, and eclectic thinking, actions, and outcomes. Because of this, they are also particularly lifting to those who are involved.

Is your program transactional or transformational? Are you ready for transformation? It’s exciting, rewarding and enlivening to be engaged in transformational work, but can be frustrating to change from one style to the next. It can also be necessary to focus on basic human needs and interact in a transactional way with youth, at least for a period of time.

If you’re ready to explore whether your youth activity, youth program, youth organization or K-12 school can move from transactional to transformational approaches, we want to help. Contact us to learn more about Youth Infusion right now »

Self-Care for Youth & Adult Allies

Whether you are younger or older, here are some points you can learn to help with your self-care.

If you are engaging in youth infusion during the pandemic, you might be affected by online activities differently than other people in your family or organization, including other youth and adults, too!

Youth and adult allies need to take care of their mental health, social health, emotional health and physical health. Since people involved in youth infusion can feel more responsibility than many others, we need to be intentional about taking care of ourselves.

Whether you are younger or older, here are some points you can learn to help with your self-care.

1. Watch Your Thinking

Online activities can be isolating for everyone, and being apart from youth and adults can be hard. Adults—including youth workers, teachers, nonprofit leaders and others—should reinforce to young people that they need to maintain their friendships and other relationships. We should do that too! It is actually an important way to develop and build lifelong communication skills, and can also make stressful situations a little more bearable.

Youth and adults should learn together to…

Listen to your self-talk. You should give yourself credit for building youth infusion and not be too self-critical
Keep things in perspective, try not to gossip, get the facts, and assume the best intent when possible
Acknowledge to themselves and others when things are weird, whether during the pandemic or otherwise
Remember changing to online activities can be hard work for yourself, and remember that nobody should be expected to get everything right
Its essential to take breaks when needed

2. Keep In Touch

Youth infusion can be hard on emotional and mental health, especially when we’re working online! It is common for both youth and adults to feel more depressed or anxious during conference calls, video trainings, or other online activities, especially during the pandemic. Many people are still figuring out how to adjust to programs, learning and activities that requires so much self-motivation. This can make young people and adults feel guilty or stressed for not infusing youth enough into their organizations, movements or lives.

Adults and youth should learn together that…

Communication and collaboration makes the distance feel less distant between partners, including young people and older people
It’s important for youth and adults to take time to do things with people other than youth infusion activities. They should know that living youth infusion all the time can make it hard to separate from non-infused life from the rest of life
Many young people and adults are dealing with similar hard things in online activities, and they aren’t alone

3. You’re Not Alone

It can be boring and feel repetitive to be on the computer for every interaction with youth and adults. Learning we’re not alone, even if we’re one our own at home during the day, is important for youth infusion.

Youth and adults should learn to…

Talk to other people—including other students and adults—about what they’re struggling with and how they are taking action
Find hobbies, ways to relax, and healthy places to process difficult feelings brought on by youth infusion, whether online or in-person
Be encouraged to focus on the positives as much as possible

4. Move Your Body

Sitting in front of a screen all day is hard on your eyes and your whole body. Feeling responsible for youth infusion can add to those difficulties. Remember that, even though young people and adults are exercising our minds throughout the day, our bodies needs care too. In addition to helping with learning, moving can help with mental and emotional challenges too. Things like stress and depression can affect the body in physical ways too.

Youth and adults should learn to…

Stretch, take walks and breaks, and get outside if they can
Pay attention to posture and go easy on their backs
Keep a routine with things like food, sleep, etc.
Exercise to release toxic thoughts and stress, whether its simple or complicated activity

These are just a few thoughts about what young people and adults should learn about self-care. What would YOU add?

Internships v. Youth Infusion

Instead of one lone intern, the new model is a cohort of young people embedded in a community-based organization, advocacy group, coalition, foundation, or government agencies.

Service-learning as been the dominant civic engagement opportunity for the last two decades. Student volunteers may move from a potentially seminal experience such as helping at a women’s shelter and then analyze the root cause. Rarely, though, is there a pathway for these passionate Gen Zers to deepen their involvement and pursue remedies.

Internships adhere to a one-sided model where the intern gains valuable skills, perhaps plans a conference or writes a report, and then exits after a few months.
One reason why internships rarely evolve into youth infusion is the organization does not have stated commitment to graduate to a new level of intergenerational teamwork.

Instead of one lone intern, the new model is a cohort of young people embedded in a community-based organization, advocacy group, coalition, foundation, or government agencies. Serious preparation for all involved is essential. Many young people will walk into an adult-run organization full of apprehension and awkwardness when interacting with people typically viewed as authority figures, who either have had the final say or fail to pay attention to their ideas.

Many adults, who frequently do not interact with the very people their organization serves, will revert to roles as parents, teachers or mentors which reinforce the habits and stereotypes that aggravate the generation gap. Adult attitudes are shifting, recognizing that young people have a lot to offer now–not just in the future.

“As a young person, I am very excited about the world, my future and the endless possibilities both offer. I want to make a positive difference. The adults I am drawn to are those who have not completely forgotten their adolescence and its open-mindedness. They believe in me and my abilities and encourage me to attain my goals. Some adults surprise and inspire me.”

Think back to when you were a young adult. Did you feel intimidated or distrustful of those over 30? How would you try to welcome young colleagues—rather than interns–into your organization?

Lower Voting Age to 16

Extending suffrage to minors will signal a major shift in how local elected officials pay attention to demands and dreams of “kids.”

A broad community coalition in San Francisco had the audacity to try again to extend voting rights to minors. The Vote16 ballot measure in the 16th largest US city, earned more than 205,000 votes but finished at 49.2%, just short of the 50% threshold needed to pass. This Charter Amendment won 30,000 more total votes and a higher percentage than the first try in 2016.

The shift is coming in how local elected officials pay attention to demands and dreams of “kids.” What does it say the the San Francisco Board of Supervisors and Board of Education members agreed unanimously to put this measure on the ballot? I still am as optimistic about Vote16 campaigns across the country and abroad since my TEDTalk. The testimony by two San Francisco teens still sticks with me:

As a child of an incarcerated adult, my dad doesn’t have the right to vote…I would love to vote on issues that affect my family.

I’m art of the one-third of SF immigrant community, I’m the only one in my household who can have a potential vote.

In neighboring Oakland, a ballot measure to extend voting rights to 16- and 17-years olds for all Board of Education candidates won by a whopping 67 percent. As this coalition website exclaims:

Thanks to the amazing leadership of students across Oakland, youth have won the right to vote in School Board elections!! Thank you to all of you who supported the young people’s movement to center youth power and strengthen democracy!

Extending suffrage to minors will have a ripple effect. Not only will elected officials have reason to listen and respond to this new constituency, but this new found respect will spill over to community leaders, government agencies, etc. which will set in motion more acceptance of youth infusion. Neuroscientific research confirms brain circuitry necessary for cold cognition is mature by mid-adolescence and 16-year-olds are just as capable as adults at “making informed and reasonable political decisions.”

Similar Vote16 campaigns are underway across the cities across the country.

If you have the opportunity to vote for a similar proposal where you live, please share whether you would vote yea or nay!

Student Election Poll Workers

More than half the states have lowered the age to 16 for poll workers. Opening up these paid positions certainly signals an attitudinal shift.

November 3, 2020 is guaranteed to be a historic election. COVID has thrown a wrench into the entire system of voting. Even prior to the pandemic, election officials foresaw a crisis. Staffing polling sites has been increasingly difficult and now an estimated 250K workers are needed. The shortage is predictable with 60% who are 61 or older. One solution gaining traction is to widen the pipeline by relying on those not yet old enough to vote.

More than half the states–34–have lowered the age to 16 for poll workers. Opening up these paid positions certainly signals an attitudinal shift. Teens can be trusted for this serious work as election judges. Most states pay minimum wage to cover hours spent for both prior training and election day. Bottom line: demographics demand it.

It is not only the graying of America that necessitates engaging high school students but their digital skills fill a real need at polling stations. This trend is an example of multigenerational collaboration but if state and county board of election officials applied our Youth Infusion principle, this opportunity to participate in our democracy could be dramatically different by intentionally engaging the most marginalized and underrepresented.

NOW IMAGINE REAL YOUTH INPUT

Let’s imagine how a group of young consultants could have contributed if they had been involved at the very start in weighing numerous decisions that could result in a broader pool of student poll workers who could have this rare civic leadership experience. A few hypothetical examples:

Eligibility requirements range from 2.5 GPA, 3.0 in other states, to “exemplary academic standing.” Would these grades deny too many deserving students this opportunity?
High School Poll Worker recruitment flyer details about time commitment and compensation. Would youth emphasize other information and pick other photos?
Application questions like Utah’s include “Are you comfortable working with electronic equipment and entering voter information on a tablet/computer?” Would they reword this requirement?

In this case, young people can be enlisted to flag and circumvent potential barriers that could prevent their peers from applying, for example, having to print out the document and have postage stamps. In addition to inside knowledge of Generation Z, collaborating with a cohort of teens begins to pull down the wall of age segregation. We envision structural organizational change where boards of elections would intentionally recruit young people to expand those involved on the frontlines not only on Nov 3rd but every election day.

What’s your reaction about this trend of trusting teens with this responsibility? We are eager to hear your opinion!

Youth ALWAYS Matter

There are some people in our society who think that there are times and places where young people should not or do not need to be involved. Since we know that people under 18-years-old make up more than 29% of the world’s population, that’s an unfortunate belief.

Youth always matter.

These children and youth are members of families, neighborhoods, schools, faith groups, and organizations of all kinds.

Many work, spend money, and contribute to society in meaningful ways.

Volunteering is a serious habit among many Gen Zers who start their own groups, engage in community organizing, join coalitions, advocate for policy changes, build local and even global movements.

Even the young people who are not contributing otherwise inherently matter.

“The young, free to act on their initiative, can lead their elders in the direction of the unknown. The children, the young, must ask the questions that we would never think to ask, but enough trust must be re-established so that elders will be permitted to work with them on the answers.” – Margaret Mead (Culture and Commitment: A Study of the Generation Gap, pp. 73-74) .

This is the preamble of why Youth Infusion is such an opportunity and so critical! We’d love to know what you think. Share your thoughts in the comments section!