Tools for building youth driven spaces:

What are Youth Driven Spaces & Programs?:

within these spaces the youth experience a high degree of ownership & empowerment, as well as development of leadership & planning skills. It is our job to create student-centered learning experiences that facilitate meaningful youth development.

A Comparison of Youth- Driven Programs & Adult-Driven Youth Programs: Balancing inputs from youth and adults

By Reed Larson. Kathrin Walker, and Nickki Pearce, The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Resources & content below gathered from the Neutral Zone, a youth driven teen-center based in MI where teens lead, create & innovate:

  • YDS Formative Index:

    YDS Formative Index: The Formative Index is a compilation of program and organizational practices that helps guide and assess the structural changes sites can implement in adopting the YDS model.

  • Youth Work Methods Pyramid of Program Quality:

    Explore the resources provided by The Forum of Youth Investment, including the Youth Work Methods Pyramid of Program Quality attached below. The forum offers to help build safe, supportive, interactive, & engaging environments in which young people can successfully develop higher-order learning & leadership skills.

  • Youth Adult Partnership Rubric:

    Youth-Adult Partnership RUBRIC: A tool for professional development and program evaluation in youth settings. Youth-Adult Partnership (Y-AP) is an approach increasingly adopted in youth settings that involves youth and adults acting as partners for a common goal. Similar to the concepts of “youth-driven,” “youth participation” and “youth civic engagement,” it aims to increase youth voice and youth leadership in affairs that affect them and their communities.