Youth Action & Agency

This course moves the focus from supporting youth development to discussing theories and practices that support young people to develop programs and communities. In line with a youth development philosophy that posits that young people are assets to any endeavor, this course will help youth-workers explore the conditions that support productive partnerships between adults and young people. Course readings will include literature in the following content areas: youth development, critical youth development, community-youth development, youth participatory action research, youth participatory evaluation, youth civic engagement, adult-youth partnerships, and youth activism. Students will also explore how to measure outcomes on the individual, programmatic and community level. An integral component of this course is conducting a mini-participatory project with young people. This combination of theory and practice is designed to deepen knowledge acquisition in the course by engaging students in experiential learning and reflection in addition to reading and class discussion. The in-class work is designed to model promising practices in youth development such as an attention to social group work, an awareness of learning styles, and student-centered engagement strategies.

Fall, Spring

036243