Urban Youth Lead

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Urban Youth Lead

• Erica Gates,
• Jessica Russo, and Mimi Erenberg

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Overview

• Whats Up Study in St. Paul
• Urban Context
• Urban Youth Lead what is it?
• Foundations of a youth leadership program (What
  influences our approach)
• Curriculum guide components
• Experience sample activities
• Urban Youth Lead at Andersen
• Evaluation
• Dialogue to process replication strategies

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Is there a need for adolescent programs?
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Yes!

• Heavy emphasis on school achievement overshadows
  learning opportunities for adolescents (Pittman,
  Irby, Tolman, Yolalem, Ferber, 2001)
• Programs often geared toward younger children
• Lack of programs designed for adolescents
• Fewer and fewer for children, youth, and
  families
• Nonformal learning environments play a critical
  role in the acculturation of immigrant
  adolescents
• (Skuza, 2003 2005)

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Whats Up Study in St. Paul

• Method
• Written surveys and qualitative semi-structured
  interviews
• 410 parents and youth participated
• St. Paul Findings
• Youth and parents possess a compelling interest
  in higher education and careers.
• Need for non-sports related activities
• Need for programs designed for adolescents
• Unlike other communities, parents and young
  people of St. Paul appear to be more strategic
  about the kinds of activities the young people
  are involved in.
• However, similar to other communities, both
  parents and young people often lack a vision of
  the possibilities for St. Paul.  

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Our Urban Context

• Minneapolis and St. Paul
• Largest urban Hmong population in US
• Largest Somali refugee population in US
• Latino/a youth are the fastest growing population
• 66 of school-aged students are from low-income
  households
• Densely populated and culturally diverse
  neighborhoods
• Programs take place in schools, housing
  complexes, and community centers

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What is Urban Youth Lead?

• a way to work with youth to build awareness and
  leadership skills so that ultimately, they become
  the authors of their own lives.

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Urban Youth Lead is

• Youth building awareness, strengthening
  interactions, and becoming leaders
• Exploring the possibilities of higher education
  and careers
• Working with youth in an innovative youth
  development process

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Foundations of a Learning Environment
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What influences our approach

• Nonformal learning environment
• Experiential learning
• Youth leadership
• Ladder of participation

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Youth Leadership

• Inspired by Paulo Freire
• A type of personal leadership
• Youth understand their world
• Youth name their place in the world
• Youth build skills and knowledge to help them get
  where they want to go

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Paulo Freire

• Exiled from Brazil for 20 years
• Developed a liberation theory of education
• All human beings are capable of looking
  critically at the world (reading the world)
• I can begin to liberate myself by understanding
  the context of my learning
• The roles of student and teacher are both to
  learn both to teach

Education can become the practice of freedom
people dealing critically and creatively with
reality and discovering how to participate
in the transformation of their world.
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Paulo Freire
Pedagogy which begins with the egoistic
interests of the oppressorsand makes of the
oppressed the objects of its humanitarianism,
itself maintains and embodies oppression. It is
an instrument of dehumanization.
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In other words

• Youth learn about
• The possibilities
• Their potential
• The doors they have and want open
• How they can open those doors

youth become the authors of their lives.
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Ladder of Participation
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Urban Youth Lead Guide

This guide helps program leaders create a
democratic learning environment in which youth
identify their interests and discover
possibilities for their futures.  
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Overview of Urban Youth Lead Introduction
Purpose of This Guide Youth Programs Meet
Youth Needs Section 1 Foundations of a Youth
Leadership Program Nonformal Learning
Environment Experiential Learning Youth
Leadership Ladder of Participation Section
2 Youth Leadership Building Awareness
Strengthening Interactions Becoming a
Leader Section 3 Evaluation Evaluate Youth
Learning Evaluate the Learning Environment
Youth Learning Evaluation Tools Learning
Environment Survey Section 4 Resources Appendix
Endnotes
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Section 2 Youth Leadership
Three phases of youth leadership Phase 1
Building Awareness Phase 2 Strengthening
Interactions Phase 3 Becoming a Leader
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Building AwarenessAwareness is a continual
process of personal discovery and exploration.

• Awareness of self
• Leadership styles and personal qualities
• Influences and biases
• Motivations and areas of growth
• Awareness of community
• Urban environment and diversity
• Community issues
• Their roles in their communities
• Awareness of possibilities
• Explore interests
• Goals
• Move past barriers
• Research resources

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Strengthening Interactions

• Critical thinking
• Asking questions
• Communication
• Practicing dialogue
• Decision-making
• Vision statements

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Becoming a Leader
So the point is not to become a leader. The
point is to become yourself, to use yourself
completely all your skills, gifts, and energies
in order to make your vision manifest. You must
withhold nothing. You must, in sum, become the
person you started out to be, and enjoy the
process of becoming. --Warren Bennis

• Personal learning experience
• A transformation process whereby youth see
  themselves as leaders
• Realize a vision for themselves and their
  futures
• Apply their leadership skills in real situations.
• Learning portfolio/biography
• Youth present their learning to others.

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Urban Youth Lead at Andersen
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Andersen Open School

• Youth in Urban Youth Lead chose to raise
  awareness of leadership and their community.
• Partnered with Phillips Community Television to
  address topic through a documentary video
• Developed questions related to their topic and
  interviewed students, teachers, and community
  members.

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Other parts of the guide

• Evaluation
• Resources
• Handouts from activities
• Ladder of participation in actionexample

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Evaluations
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Learning Environment Evaluation

• This survey measures the effectiveness of the
  learning environment in terms of five factors on
  a 6-point scale.
• Program planning and delivery
• Intentional learning environment
• Safe learning environment
• Membership and inclusion
• Relationship with adults/community connections

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Youth Learning Evaluation

• Adolescents will also describe their personal
  learning experiences
• Phenomenological essay method.
• Data from these essays will give program leaders
  a clear picture of the adolescents learning
  experiences.
• These data will also be used to update the Urban
  Youth Lead curriculum and will be used in various
  publications written for those working in the
  fields of youth development and education.

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Replicating an Urban Youth Lead program
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Contact Information

• Urban 4-H Youth Development
• University of Minnesota Extension Service
• Erica Gates
• gates015_at_umn.edu
• Jessica Pierson Russo
• pier0237_at_umn.edu
• Mimi Erenberg
• erenberg_at_umn.edu