Youth on Board (YOB) was a nonprofit youth empowerment program based in the Boston, Massachusetts area for more than 20 years. It was a youth-led, adult supported program that worked in more than 5 countries, 27 states, and over 100 schools. It was a project of YouthBuild USA.
YOB was founded by Karen Young after working as a national student organizer with Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL). In 1993 Karen met Jenny Sazama and received initial funding from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. Jenny was brought in as YOB's associate director and later became co-director with Karen. Jenny became the director of Youth on Board when Karen moved on to do other projects in 2010. [1]
YOB is widely known for the contributions to Project 540, a national student engagement program for 100,000 students in more than 100 high schools across the country. With funding from several sources, including W.K. Kellogg Foundation, Boston Public Schools, and others, Youth on Board has published numerous important materials. Most notable is 15 Points to Successfully Involving Youth in Decision-Making. Other publications by YOB include Your Guide to Youth Board Involvement and the Law, [2] and many others. [3]
In 2014 YOB was one of eight organizations selected by the Susan Crown Exchange to be part of their research and documentation project on social emotional learning called Preparing Youth to Thrive. [4]
Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC)
The Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC) is a group of student leader from Boston public schools who work on issues that affect young people both inside and outside of school. BSAC is made up entirely of low-income students of color who as key stakeholders are at the center of the decisions that affect them the most. Through a partnership with the Boston Public School district (BPS), YOB co-administers this citywide body of student leaders that represents most high schools in the district.
Consulting and Technical Assistance
Youth on Board provided trainings and technical assistance in various areas, including youth/adult partnership, youth leadership development, adultism, and establishing a student advisory council.
Support the Youth Voice in Decision-Making Movement
YOB supported youth voice in decision-making on a local and national level through speaking engagements, coalitions, consultations, writing articles, participating in research studies, and writing and selling publications. They were regularly called upon by foundations, think tanks, Federal and State DOE, media outlets, and researchers. [5]
The National Civic League is an American nonpartisan, non-profit organization founded in 1894 as the "National Municipal League," it adopted its new name in 1937. Its mission is to advance civic engagement to create equitable, thriving communities. To upgrade quality and efficiency of government in cities it enlists the business and professional classes, and promotes greater involvement in government. It also sought create merit-based systems for selecting public officials. The League envisions a country where the full diversity of community members are actively and meaningfully engaged in local governance, including both decision making and implementation of activities to advance the common good. It also promotes professional management of local government through publication of "model charters" for both city and county governments.
Youth empowerment is a process where children and young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They do this by addressing their situation and then take action in order to improve their access to resources and transform their consciousness through their beliefs, values, and attitudes. Youth empowerment aims to improve quality of life. Youth empowerment is achieved through participation in youth empowerment programs. However scholars argue that children's rights implementation should go beyond learning about formal rights and procedures to give birth to a concrete experience of rights. There are numerous models that youth empowerment programs use that help youth achieve empowerment. A variety of youth empowerment initiatives are underway around the world. These programs can be through non-profit organizations, government organizations, schools or private organizations.
Youth voice refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body. The term youth voice often groups together a diversity of perspectives and experiences, regardless of backgrounds, identities, and cultural differences. It is frequently associated with the successful application of a variety of youth development activities, including service learning, youth research, and leadership training. Additional research has shown that engaging youth voice is an essential element of effective organizational development among community and youth-serving organizations.
Adultism is a bias or prejudice against children or youth. It has been defined as "the power adults have over children", "prejudice and accompanying systematic discrimination against young people", and "bias towards adults... and the social addiction to adults, including their ideas, activities, and attitudes".
Youth participation is the active engagement of young people throughout their own communities. It is often used as a shorthand for youth participation in any many forms, including decision-making, sports, schools and any activity where young people are not historically engaged.
Civic engagement or civic participation is any individual or group activity addressing issues of public concern. Civic engagement includes communities working together or individuals working alone in both political and non-political actions to protect public values or make a change in a community. The goal of civic engagement is to address public concerns and promote the quality of the community.
Student voice is the individual and collective perspective and actions of students within the context of learning and education. It is identified in schools as both a metaphorical practice and as a pragmatic concern. Tech educator Dennis Harper noted that student voice gives students "the ability to influence learning to include policies, programs, contexts and principles."
Youth-adult partnership is a conscious relationship that establishes and sustains intergenerational equity between young people and adults. Youth-adult partnerships often display a high degree of youth rights and autonomy, and is often synonymous with meaningful youth participation. Typically seen with adults acting in a mentor capacity, providing scaffolding to the youth. Unlike traditional mentoring, youth-adult partnerships are categorized by multiple adults and multiple youth and there must also be a mutuality where adults and youth teach and learn from one another, working together in their community.
Youth engagement is the sentiment young people feel towards a particular person, activity, place or outcome. It has been a focus of youth development, public policy and social change movements for at least forty years. According to a Cornell University program, "Youth engagement is one of the buzzwords in the youth development field. Similar terms are youth voice, youth involvement, youth participation, and youth in governance."
Bobby William Austin is an American sociologist, lecturer, and writer. He is a leading scholar on African-American men and boys and was the first person, as a Program Officer with the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, to fund major philanthropic initiatives for African-American men and boys. Over the past 30 years, in the fields of education, social policy, youth development, cultural theory, philanthropy and religion, he has created a series of structured venues as pathways for how citizens might live life in communities as individuals and as members of groups where peace, meaning, and innovation are nurtured. He is currently President of the Neighborhood Associates Corporation and managing director of the EducationThinkTank.
The youth rights movement seeks to grant the rights to young people that are traditionally reserved for adults, due to having reached a specific age or sufficient maturity. This is closely akin to the notion of evolving capacities within the children's rights movement, but the youth rights movement differs from the children's rights movement in that the latter places emphasis on the welfare and protection of children through the actions and decisions of adults, while the youth rights movement seeks to grant youth the liberty to make their own decisions autonomously in the ways adults are permitted to, or to lower the legal minimum ages at which such rights are acquired, such as the age of majority and the voting age.
The McCall Outdoor Science School (MOSS) is a year-round learning center that serves over 2500 Idaho K-12 students annually in residential and outreach settings. Field instructors for outdoor science programs are University of Idaho College of Natural Resources graduate students completing a certificate and master's degree in environmental education. The McCall Outdoor Science School also offers programs open to the public including Field Seminars, Faculty Lectures, and Community Partnerships. MOSS is Idaho's only residential outdoor science school.
The Freechild Institute for Youth Engagement is a nonprofit organization focused on creating connections between adults and young people through programs, technical assistance, publications, training, and curriculum. Adam Fletcher is the executive director, and the institute is located in Olympia, Washington. The School Library Journal has said Freechild's website is, "By far the largest repository of projects, ideas, and organizational links, this resource provides more than adequate information to help students brainstorm ideas in order to start their own initiatives."
Russell G. Mawby was an American academic and philanthropist who served as chairman emeritus of the W.K. Kellogg Foundation. He led the W.K. Kellogg Foundation for 25 years, during which he was credited for creativity in programming by providing opportunities for youth and leadership in the field.
Julian Samora was an American teacher, scholar and community activist who helped to pioneer the field of Latino Studies. Samora was the first Mexican-American to ever receive a doctorate in sociology; and, by the end of his academic career, he was named Professor Emeritus at the University of Notre Dame. He received numerous honors across his career, including the order of the Aztec Eagle, the highest honor Mexico bestows on non-Mexican citizens.
Youth councils or parliaments, are a form of youth voice engaged in community decision-making. Youth councils are appointed bodies that exist on local, state, provincial, regional, national, and international levels among governments, non governmental organisations (NGOs), schools, and other entities. Groups that include children often call themselves children's parliaments and are paired with youth parliaments of older kids.
Teaching for Change is a non-profit organization founded in 1989 and based in Washington, D.C., with the motto of "building social justice, starting in the classroom." This organization uses publications, professional development, and parent organizing programs to accomplish this goal.
Liberty's Kitchen is a non-profit organization, located in the Mid-City New Orleans Neighborhood. Liberty's Kitchen opened its doors in April 2009 after a grant from the W. K. Kellogg Foundation. This nonprofit cafe doubles as a training program for teens and young adults who want to change the course of their lives. Liberty's Kitchen provides their students with marketable job skills and experience, and allows them to learn the culinary techniques behind cooking from scratch.
Northport Public School is a K-12 public school in Northport, Michigan, located at 104 Wing Street. It is one of seven high schools in Leelanau County. The K-12 enrollment is approximately 150 students. Northport is located in the Northport Public Schools school district. Northport offers classes for students in grades kindergarten–12. Additionally, students are given the option to dual enroll and attend classes at Northwestern Michigan College or the Traverse Bay Area Intermediate School District. In addition to the dual enrollment program, AP Biology and English classes are offered.
Action civics is a modern and alternative form of civics education in the United States. Action civics is an applied civic education process in which participants learn about government by examining issues in their own community and then select a focus issue for action through a process of debate, research the issue and learn advocacy strategies, develop civic skills such as public speaking, formulate a plan, mobilize, educate, then evaluate, and reflect on their experience. Participants' voices are encouraged, valued and incorporated. Participants learn by doing, with a focus on collective action. Action civics can encompass a number of different actions from community service to electoral engagement and from talking about concerns with public officials to creating peer education campaigns.