Youth organizing: From youth development to school reform

Abstract

Over the past twenty years, youth organizing has grown across the country. Through organizing, young people identify issues of concern and mobilize their peers to build action campaigns to achieve their objectives. Youth organizing has been appreciated for its contributions to youth and community development. The authors use two case studies to trace the more recent emergence of youth organizing as an important force for school reform. The Boston-based Hyde Square Task Force began with a focus on afterschool programming, but its youth leaders now organize to get Boston Public Schools to adopt a curriculum addressing sexual harassment. Meanwhile, the Baltimore Algebra Project began as a peer-to-peer tutoring program but now also organizes to demand greater funding for Baltimore schools. These cases illustrate a broader phenomenon where students reverse the deficit paradigm by acting out of their own self-interest to become agents of institutional change.

School-Based Health Centers to Advance Health Equity

“…Five studies 46,70,76,78,90 reported that a median of 69% (IQI=61%, 82%) of students who enrolled in SBHCs received services. Across 15 studies, 54,56,59,62,68,71,73,79,84,86–88,91,92,96 a median of 52% (IQI=38%, 61%) of students in schools with SBHCs used the clinics. A summary of evidence from included studies is available on the Community Guide website (www.thecommunityguide.org/healthequity/education/supportingmaterials/SET-schoolbasedhealthcenters.pdf).…”

“…Seventeen studies in 18 papers 46–49,56,65–69,74,78,85,88,89,91,92,94 assessed SBHC user–only effects by comparing users with non-users within SBHC schools (eight studies 46,68,69,78,88,91,92,94 ) or SBHC users with users of healthcare sources in non-SBHC settings (nine studies in ten papers 47–49,56,65–67,74,85,89 ). Four studies 59,76,78,90 assessed both whole-school and SBHC user–only effects.…”

“…Only three studies 51,75,92 evaluated hybrid school-based and school-linked centers, and no studies evaluated exclusively school-linked centers or mobile clinics. Results of this review are largely applicable to the urban context, as only ten studies in 11 papers 51,52,58,70,72,75,76,79,90,92,96 were conducted in mixed rural and urban or suburban areas, and none in predominantly rural areas.…”

Taking stock of youth organizing: An interdisciplinary perspective

“…Scholars of applied human development (Camino & Zeldin, 2002;Zeldin, Petrokubi & Camino, 2008), social work (Checkoway & Gutierrez, 2006;Delgado & Staples, 2008), education (Ginwright, 2010;Kirshner, 2009), sociology (Warren, Mira, & Nikundiwe, 2008), community health (Peterson, Dolan, & Hanft, 2010), and psychology (Christens & Dolan, 2011;Watts & Flanagan, 2007) have published recent studies of youth organizing efforts. In addition, foundations and intermediary groups have taken notice, resulting in a proliferation of publications on the practice (e.g., Fletcher & Vavrus, 2006) and impacts of youth organizing.…”

“…For instance, increasing educational inequality has fueled efforts by students and their allies to speak up for their rights to a quality education. These youth-driven efforts have paralleled an increasing focus on education among adult-led community organizing groups as well (Warren, Mira, & Nikundiwe, 2008). A second factor is the broader movement to include youth in civil society, including governance, citizenship, and organizations (Checkoway & Gutierrez, 2006;Christens & Zeldin, 2011).…”