What is a Youth Advocate? What will a Youth Advocate do in the Youth Empowerment Project?
Every organization that provides youth services should consider the suggestions provided by the youth you are serving. Youth involvement provides valuable insight into the needs of adolescents. Youth involvement also builds the leadership and communication skills of young people, creating effective youth involvement. This challenging process requires commitment and flexibility on the part of both community organizations and young people themselves to be effective in addressing the unmet needs of the youth experiencing challenges related to mental illness.
Youth involvement is equally important in the development and implementation of an advocacy project. Young people can provide accurate and unique insights into the effects of various policies, or lack of policies, on their peers, and can help an advocacy network better define its goals, objectives, and strategies. The presence of youth in all network events and activities serves as a reminder of the issues bringing the members together, and healing young people develop leadership skills and confidence and gain work experience.
Youth involvement is more than just young people being present at a meeting or serving as spokespeople. Youth should play important roles in the network as do adult members, and they should participate in all critical decision-making, planning, and implementation of activities.
Youth are a tremendous resource for an advocacy project. Bringing youth into the process early and getting adults and youth to agree on some first steps to build their communication and collaboration with each program subsiding in California will help create the foundation of a sustainable effort.
In the Youth Empowerment Project Youth Will Have the Opportunity to…
- Plan the strategy
- Do interviews with the media
- Plan a program
- Design educational materials
- Educate the community, other youth, etc.
- Write letters to newspapers
- Represent youth support for program funders
- Keep the network in touch with the trends and challenges of youth in the community
- Plan and conduct a conference
- Speak to community leaders
- Evaluate a program
- Get other young people involved
- Conduct community interviews, research, or needs assessment
- Be a spokesperson for the network
- Help represent the network to funders
- Evaluate the friendliness of information and clinical services programs for youth
Please share this information with any youth within your program or youth being served by your program that would like to be a part of this project. I strongly encourage you to invite them into the empowerment process of this strength-building program. Please include their information on the Transitional Age Youth Survey that you will be sending back to us. We are looking for as many youth that would like to be involved. For any questions or if you would like to participate please e-mail your contact information to Rachel Goldmark: Rgoldmark@MHAC.org
1127 11th St., Suite 925 Sacramento, CA 95814 | Tel: (916) 557-1166 | Fax: (916) 447-2350
