Congratulations! You’ve made a great decision to involve young people. The first steps to take will be thinking about attitudes, opportunities and diversity.
OK, take a minute to reflect on why you want to involve young people. Which of the following are your reasons?
If it’s just the last one, you’ll need to rethink about how ready you really are to involve young people!
Young people will become involved in organisations or community groups for a combination of different reasons.
Here are some tips for organisations who want to involve young people as volunteers:
Want some more ideas before you get started? Watch SYN’s and YACVic’s series about how to involve young volunteers:
There are lots of different ways you can involve young people. These don’t have to be limited to formal, structured processes or groups. In fact, less formal approaches – activities, projects or programs that are based around interests or hobbies – are sometimes a better way to start. Creating a variety of opportunities for young people to get involved with your organisation or community will help them feel valued, building mutual trust and respect.
Read more about different ways to involve young people.
Young people aren’t one big group, who are into the same things. Like all people, they’re diverse – each young person is a unique individual, with their own personal talents, skills and interests. And each young person’s identity will be shaped by their own social and cultural backgrounds and experiences.
When thinking about involving young people, it’s good to first recognise and understand the diversity of young Victorians. And it’s important to reflect on how assumptions about cultures, genders, sexuality or abilities can contribute to discrimination or exclusion of certain groups. If you want some help in thinking these ideas through, you can read more about involving young people from diverse backgrounds. You might also consider taking some cultural, disability or sexuality awareness training before you start involving young people.
Some of the benefits for organisations involving young people from diverse backgrounds include:
See how this Life Saving Club involved a diverse group of young people to learn, have fun and serve their community.
So is your community or organisation ready to involve young people? Ask yourself the following questions:
If you can’t answer all the questions yet, don’t worry – Yerp is here to help you, just read on! :)
Yerp is framed around three key values: respect, commitment and exchange. These are our guiding principles for involving young…