Engaging Youth, Serving Community: Social Change Lessons from a 4-H Rural Youth Development Program

As a part of its collaboration with the Born This Way Foundation, the Berkman Center is publishing a series of papers that synthesize existing peer-reviewed research or equivalent scholarship and provide research-grounded insight to the variety of stakeholders working on issues related to youth empowerment and action towards creating a kinder, braver world. This series, called the The Kinder & Braver World Project: Research Series (danah boyd, John Palfrey, and Dena Sacco, editors), is presented by the Born This Way Foundation & the Berkman Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University, and supported by the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation.
 This set of papers involves topics related to the Role of Youth Organizations and Youth Movements for Social Change. Social change targeted at empowering youth requires youth and adults to work together as equals. Youth-adult partnerships create a platform to amplify youth voices. To succeed, youth-adult partnerships must be built on open communication and equal voice. By providing opportunities for youth to develop their voices and build positive relationships with adults, youth-adult partnerships help youth see themselves as competent individuals who can contribute to decisions that impact their communities while helping them develop leadership skills and improve their self-esteem. Such partnerships also help adults gain leadership skills and experience a renewed sense of energy and commitment to their work. Organizations benefit because youth bring fresh perspectives to decision-making processes. Communities are rejuvenated through youthful energy, and when fresh perspectives of societal issues provide new solutions. For such initiatives to succeed, public stakeholders must recognize the importance of youth participation. 4-H has developed an initiative that focuses on exactly this issue. 4-H is the largest youth development organization in the United States, with more than 6 million youth participants; 514,000 volunteers; 3,200 professionals; and over 70 million alumni. 4-H engages youth from elementary through high school in experiential learning activities through research-driven programming. The experiential learning model has five steps: experience and discover; share results; process information; generalize about the experience; and, apply to other areas. In a well-designed experiential learning model, youth are fully engaged in learning processes. Four basic youth needs are met by 4-H: Mastery, Belonging, Generosity, and Independence. Engaging Youth, Serving Community (EYSC) is a 4-H program funded through the National 4-H Council and the United States Department of Agriculture/National Institute of Food and Agriculture (USDA/NIFA). EYSC is designed to empower communities to involve youth as partners with adults in decision-making and governance. From 2006 to 2010, EYSC included 18 land-grant university projects representing 17 states. Each university worked with at least five rural underserved communities with a population of 10,000 people or less, reaching over 90 different communities during the five years. Using a case study, this paper shares six broadly applicable lessons learned through the EYSC program. Based on evaluation and understanding of the EYSC experience, it highlights examples of how youth-adult partnerships can promote social change and civic engagement.