It’s Youth Voice Week! BGCA’s Director of YD Learning Development and Program Quality ROYALTY Leah Wallace is here with her first ClubX Blog post highlighting easy ways to authentically elevate the perspectives of young people.
“We offered a youth advisory council, but no one wanted to join.”
“We have open gym, but kids just play basketball every day with their same groups of friends. I wish they would try something different!”
Staff often struggle when they present young people with big, open-ended opportunities for youth voice and have limited response. When young people don’t engage or when they use open-ended free time to engage in a limited number of activities day after day, staff can become disenchanted with the idea of offering young people meaningful voice and choice.
Instead, there are some simple ways that staff can create small, scaffolded opportunities for youth voice that build young people’s confidence, skills and trust so that they are better prepared to take deeper ownership of their Club experience.
Here are three ways to scaffold youth voice:
Avoid too much open-ended choice by intentionally providing some guidance or specific options during free time.
If open gym or playground time is leading to young people playing only with existing friends and only a limited number of activities, have staff offer specific, new activities during that time. For example, during open-gym, have one staff offering to teach youth how to hula hoop and another staff person show young people how to use the ping-pong equipment. Once young people feel more comfortable with a skill or with using some equipment, they will be more likely to branch out beyond their few favorite activities. For another example, instead of just giving young people free-drawing time, first teach a particular skill and then ask people to create something that demonstrates that skill. This can actually spark more creativity and engagement from young people as they have more confidence in their skills.
Ask for and implement feedback on things that are important to young people.
If young people are less interested in big, formal leadership opportunities like a youth advisory council, create opportunities that are smaller and directly related to the youth’s experience. A great place to start including youth voice is in setting up behavior guidelines. This is because all youth are likely to have an opinion about how they want to be treated and be expected to behave in the space. It is important to follow up by actually enforcing and following young people’s created guidelines, building a sense of trust that young people’s opinions will be listened to.
Another small way to support youth voice is to give young people spaces that they are individually responsible for decorating. For example, have young people design their own locker spaces, name tags or other individual items.
Creative activities involve multiple opportunities for meaningful choices.
Activities that involve creativity, whether it’s drawing, writing or building, naturally involve many open-ended choices and a chance for youth to express their individuality. Giving prompts that encourage young people to share something about themselves can help keep them engaged. For example, asking young people to use a collection of colorful scrap materials to “create a sculpture representing your idea of a perfect day.”
Put it All Together:
Put it all together by inviting young people to create a personal crest that represents who they are and what matters to them, using a clear structure with meaningful choice. For younger youth, prompts can focus on approachable favorites such as a favorite animal, color, nickname, or activity, while still giving them ownership over how they decorate and design their crest. For older youth, offer more reflective prompts such as something they care about, something they’re good at, what motivates them, or a group or community where they feel they belong, and invite them to choose four that feel most relevant. Set clear expectations for using symbols, color, and design intentionally, while allowing flexibility in materials so youth can express themselves in developmentally appropriate ways. Make sharing optional and youth‑controlled, reinforcing that voice includes deciding what and how much to share. These crests can decorate personal spaces like locker cubbies if you have them, or program spaces and hallways, building both comfort and confidence as young people prepare to engage in deeper forms of voice and leadership.
Want to Dig Deeper?
Boys & Girls Club staff have access to learning opportunities to support strengthening youth voice. The Youth Voice Method, available in a self-guided session on Spillett Learning University (SLU) or an in-person workshop led by a Methods trainer, guides staff to support young people by providing opportunities for voice and choice. Additionally, Getting and Using Youth Input, also available in a self-guided session on SLU, helps Youth Development Professionals understand the dimensions of youth voice and offer strategies for soliciting feedback from youth. Learn more about the School of Youth Development on BGCA.net here.
The National Youth Outcomes Initiative is BGCA’s suite of resources to help you measure and improve members’ Club experience. Use the Annual Member Survey to see the overall trends, then use Pulse Checks and Listening Sessions to hear directly from youth and understand what needs to change. Another way to gather formal feedback is the Youth Voice Survey, available for tween and teen members and tweens and teens in your community who aren’t currently members on your own timeline. Learn more about all of these resources on BGCA.net.
What’s one example of youth feedback that led to a real change in your Club? How are you using tools like pulse checks, listening sessions, or creative activities to better understand youth experience? Comment below, on the BGCA Youth Development Facebook page, or email ClubXBlog@bgca.org.
About Leah Wallace
Leah is new to BGCA, but not to Youth Development, including previous experience at the Weikart Center for Youth Program Quality. When she’s not designing learning opportunities for Club staff, she’s reading a good book or hiking with her golden retrievers along Lake Michigan!
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