Have you ever heard a program described as “For Women, By Women” or “For Veterans, By Veterans” or “For (a group of people), By (a group of people)”? Nonprofit leaders usually recognize the need to empower various adult populations to support themselves instead of simply prescribing solutions, but it’s easy to forget that youth can also be empowered to creatively solve problems and manage programs. In the latest episode of the Nonprofit Jenni Show, we talk with nonprofit leaders who help youth unlock their potential to create meaningful change, and help adults get out of the way!
All About the Youth United Program at United Way of Greater Atlanta
Our first guest this week was Claire Arnold, the Sr. Individual & Youth Engagement Manager at United Way of Greater Atlanta. Claire manages the Youth United program, which currently engages about 500 students per year in the Greater Atlanta area. Through Youth United, students can learn about different challenges facing their city and volunteer in the areas which interest them. The Youth United programs are planned and orchestrated by a board made up of 11th and 12th graders.
How United Way prepares youth leaders for Youth United projects
Claire explains that her team’s role is mainly to train the youth-led board on best practices for program management and help troubleshoot any problems the students face.
Before students can become board members, they must work through a rigorous application process which includes:
An essay and written application
An interview with United Way staff
Committing to minimum attendance and accountability requirements
A parent orientation, where students’ parents learn that the students will be held accountable for their work and attendance. (In other words, if a student is sick and needs to miss a meeting, the student is expected to call Claire’s team and let them know--the parent can’t do this for them.)
A student orientation, where students learn about United Way’s history and current initiatives, get to know one another, and agree upon a mission of their choice.
During the program, board members attend monthly trainings which help them develop leadership skills (such as public speaking and advocacy) and learn more about the service areas which interest them most. They also plan service projects, such as their Day of Innovation and supply drives which benefit nonprofits.
Challenges of working with youth leaders
I spoke with Claire about many of the concerns adults typically express when it comes to working with youth leaders. For example, adults may worry that youth are unreliable, inconsistent, or lack the experience necessary to lead impactful projects. While these concerns are certainly valid, Claire and I talked about how:
Volunteers in general can be unreliable, regardless of their ages. It’s helpful to include enough volunteers that you can still accomplish work if some people need to miss a meeting.
Young people are often limited by a lack of reliable transportation. Claire gets around this issue by involving students in text messages or the app GroupMe in between meetings.
Like adults, youth each have individual strengths and are in a different place along their journey toward self-responsibility. You do need to hold them accountable for their commitments, but this doesn’t mean they aren’t excited about the work they’ve committed to.
Like adults, youth are much more likely to meet your expectations if you clearly and specifically outline expectations at the outset.
The most reliable youth leaders are not necessarily those who have won awards or demonstrated high achievement--they are the students who express the most passion about service and community impact.
Why it’s important to empower youth leaders
Claire explains that even though supporting youth leaders takes a lot of work, Youth United’s mission is important because students are at the beginning of a long philanthropic journey. Their experiences now will shape the way they contribute to the causes they care about for the rest of their lives.
A Real Life Example of Successful Youth Leadership
My second podcast guest this episode was my good friend Jackie Hansom, who leads citywide youth initiatives in Nashville. She’s been working with youth for many years now, and even joined some of her colleagues in founding Write Creations Group to help organizations learn how to empower youth leaders. I asked Jackie to describe one of her favorite programs which supported youth who wanted to lead a meaningful service project.
Preparing for Global Youth Service Day
Using a grant from generationOn (a program of Points of Light), Jackie was able to work with twenty local 8th graders who wanted to plan and execute a service project for Global Youth Service Day. Over several months, Jackie led this group of passionate students through the following steps to make their vision a reality:
Jackie asked the students to brainstorm the type of project that would be most meaningful to them. They decided to transform a dangerous spot outside their school into a usable space.
The students engaged in some team building activities and learned to identify their leadership styles and strengths so they could choose their own roles within the project.
Jackie walked the students through some goal setting activities, planning tools, and training for soliciting and providing feedback. Through these activities, the students drafted plans to turn the space into a rain garden with picnic tables.
As the students made plans to solicit donations and coordinate volunteers to turn the project into a reality, Jackie offered tools and facilitated connections as needed.
All of the students’ planning led up to a work day where the students trained, educated, and delegated work to dozens of adult volunteers.
Brainstorm Marketing and Fundraising Plans for Your Youth-Led Project
Nonprofit Jenni offers free initial consultation calls to help with your management, marketing, and development needs. Schedule your free half hour call now to brainstorm ideas and develop plans with Jenni. And don’t forget to subscribe to the Nonprofit Jenni Show to have new episodes automatically download to your mobile device, tablet, or computer.
Also, we want to thank Little Green Light for sponsoring this episode! Little Green Light is our favorite donor management system, and they put together this free library of articles for Nonprofit Jenni Show listeners to help you learn about things like using online forms to simplify your work, how to ask for donations, and how to use Little Green Light at your school. Plus, you can get $150 off your first year when you use the discount code “Jenni” to sign up!
Another fundraising tool we love is DipJar, which lets people donate to your organization with a fun credit card machine. Seriously, it’s really fun! When someone dips their credit card to make a donation, it lights up and plays music. Different branches of United Way (plus hundreds of other nonprofits) trust DipJar for their events and everyday donations, and they offer a 5% discount to Nonprofit Jenni Show listeners.