If you look at Yes! and MeToWe you know what positive change truly is about : "Young People as Agents of Social Change in their Communities"
Taking your local young crowd to Yes! high end activism... maybe later, but - MeToWe shows what's possible right away with local kids in school groups, trainings and academy days.
The Innovation Centre for Youth Leadership and Community Development offers another useful asset besides consultation and trainings : a treasure box of useful materials *for free download* : Tool-kits, Guides and Resources for Strategies, Planning and Project Development covering (maybe) all the important points in detail. Definitely follow these links to get an impression of what's available for your own upgrading and sharing with others:
- Get Ready – Get to know your community and your partners and build relationships
- Plan – Create a vision and plan for where you want to go
- Implement – Take action to make your community stronger
- Sustain – Reflect, improve and make connections so your work will last.
The Innovation Centre is managed by Founding President Wendy Wheeler, and managed with an experienced staff and strong alliances with other actors in the field of youth leadership in several US American states.
| Wendy seeks out, nurtures, and brings to scale exceptional strategies to support young people, strengthen communities, and promote social justice. An expert in training and organizational, youth, community, and leadership development, Wendy consults for organizations, universities, and philanthropic institutions to increase youth engagement in communities and adult partnerships with youth. Prior to founding the Innovation Center, she held leadership posts at the YMCA, YWCA, Girl Scouts of the USA, and holds posts for youth leadership programs at universities. She has written numerous articles for both practitioners and academics, but her true love is creating practical training materials for youth and adults who want to create change.
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It is great to have Wendy taking Youth Leadership to Higher Education. And to offer a bunch of valuable things required to 'prove' that Youth Leadership works: Studies and Research @ http://theinnovationcenter.org/catalog/reports/research
EEEHM, WE DON'T EXACTLY HAVE SUCH WHERE I LIVE.
WHAT CAN WE DO ABOUT THIS?
If mis-interpretations of Youth Participation such as
(1) "writing a letter of advocacy to the United Nations General Assembly"
(2) "deciding whether to put the flower pot left or right of the school entrance"
makes your eyes bulge, teeth grind, fingers twitch, and your mouth go Uuuuaaahh, the following may be a little cure and help you throw a magic pebble in the pool of ignorance, so that over time its ripples may change the way people tick:
Essential of course, is that young people become aware of their inner potentials. Besides having mind and heart opening experiences, and knowledge of useful strategies. In any case, it's safe to trust that the combination of the following will add to their awakening and blooming.
- With YL Magazine, we are trying to do our part in making this exciting world visible to young people. Online and locally, through Positive News Boards in schools and public spaces. This can trigger a lot of dialogue, community-building and action.
- The living examples of youth leaders and the great videos produced by Yes! and MeToWe are a massive source of inspiration.
- The Innovation Centre's Activity Tips (see links above), studies and link collection.
For schools,
- one of the best programs for soft introdcution of positive change action in schools is the Life-Link Schools program @ http://www.life-link.org/home.php, which follows the 4 steps 'Care for Myself, Cafe for Others, care for Nature, Let's Get Organised'. www.IHTEC.org's ISPG-program is a good way for permanently installing sustainability topics on the school ground, and across the curriculum. Many activities can evolve around thes eprograms. The UN Decade of Education for Sustainable Development 2005-2014 offers the perfect wave to surf on. It supports the full range of positive change activities, including informal learning. YL Magazine, for example, has status as Official UN Decade project in Germany. For valuable tips and coop options see Positive News Boards.
Of course, there's more great tools to help you:
- Self-reflective, lifestyle-oriented sites like www.myfootprint.org, www.waterfootprint.org are well-received by students
- Action-oriented www.ourpriorities.org and www.myhandprint.org offer easy access to involvement. We are re-launching the sites.
- A good example of a global online community is www.takingitglobal.org
- A good tool for assessing group views and opinion is www.dotmocracy.org
This was a little choice of what you find in YL Magazine's Upgrade Yourself. If you have suggestions, tell us!
WEBSITE : www.theinnovationcentre.org
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