Skip to main content Accessibility help

We use cookies to distinguish you from other users and to provide you with a better experience on our websites. Close this message to accept cookies or find out how to manage your cookie settings.

Close cookie message
×
Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-p9bg8 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T06:33:25.721Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

1 - Youth Organizing

from Part I - Organizing and Activism

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  18 April 2024

By
Jerusha Conner
Edited by
Brian D. Christens
Brian D. Christens
Affiliation:
Vanderbilt University, Tennessee
Get access

Summary

The field of youth organizing emerged in the 1990s, as nonprofit organizations began engaging low-income youth of color, aged thirteen to nineteen, in political education and community organizing work while also providing developmental supports, such as academic tutoring and mental health resources. Over the last thirty years, the field has expanded rapidly. This chapter discusses the unique features of youth organizing and identifies trends in the field, including the growth in different kinds of youth organizing groups, the rise of coalitions, and changes in the demographic makeup of participants. It then presents a case description of a long-standing youth organizing group, Asian/Pacific Islander Youth Promoting Advocacy and Leadership (AYPAL), based in Oakland, California. Next, the chapter reviews the literature addressing how youth organizing promotes the psychological empowerment of its participants and builds community power situationally, institutionally, and systemically. It concludes by highlighting the implications of this research and suggesting opportunities for future scholarship.

Keywords

youth organizingyoung peoplepolitical participationcollective actionprotestsempowermentpowerGen Z
Type
Chapter
Information
The Cambridge Handbook of Community Empowerment , pp. 35 - 58
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Print publication year: 2024

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Abad, M. (2021). Movement vulnerability and the quotidian dimensions of youth organizing. Paper delivered at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
AEJ. (n.d.). Alliance for Educational Justice [Facebook page]. www.facebook.com/4EdJustice/Google Scholar
AYPAL. (2021, April 14). Power to the youth. www.aypal.org/Google Scholar
Baker-Doyle, K. (2016). Studying sociopolitical development through social network theory. In Conner, J. & Rosen, S. (Eds.), Contemporary youth activism: Advancing social justice in the United States (pp. 163–184). Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braxton, E. (2016). Youth leadership for social justice: Past and present. In Conner, J. & Rosen, S. (Eds.), Contemporary youth activism: Advancing social justice in the United States (pp. 25–38). Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Braxton, E., Buford, W., & Marasigan, L. (2013). National field scan. Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing.Google Scholar
Christens, B. D. (2019). Community power and empowerment. Oxford University Press.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christens, B. D., & Dolan, T. (2011). Interweaving youth development, community development, and social change through youth organizing. Youth & Society, 43, 528–548.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christens, B. D., & Kirshner, B. (2011). Taking stock of youth organizing: An interdisciplinary perspective. New Directions for Child and Adolescent Development, 134, 27–41.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Christens, B. D., Winn, L. T., & Duke, A. M. (2016). Empowerment and critical consciousness: A conceptual cross-fertilization. Adolescent Research Review, 1(1), 15–27.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
CIRCLE. (2021). Youth activism and community change. CIRCLE. https://circle.tufts.edu/our-research/youth-activism-and-community-changeGoogle Scholar
Conner, J. (2011). Youth organizers as young adults: Their commitments and contributions. Journal of Research on Adolescence, 21(4), 923–942.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conner, J. (2014). Lessons that last: Former youth organizers’ reflections on what and how they learned. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 23, 447–484.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conner, J. (2016). Pawns or power players? The grounds on which adults dismiss or defend youth organizers. Journal of Youth Studies, 19(3), 403–420.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conner, J., & Rosen, S. M. (2015). Zombies, truants, and flash mobs: How youth organizers respond to and shape youth policy. In Conner, J., Ebby-Rosin, R., & Brown, A. S. (Eds.), Student voice in American educational policy (pp. 203–220). Teachers College Record.Google Scholar
Conner, J., & Rosen, S. M. (Eds.). (2016). Contemporary youth activism: Advancing social justice in the United States. Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Conner, J., Zaino, K., & Scarola, E. (2013). “Very powerful voices”: The influence of youth organizing on educational policy. Educational Policy, 27, 561–588.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Constanza-Chock, S., Schweidler, C., Basilio, T., McDermott, M., Lo, P., & Ortenbuger, M. (2016). Media in action: A field scan of media & youth organizing in the United States. Journal of Digital and Media Literacy, 4(1–2).Google Scholar
Curnow, J., Davis, A., & Asher, L. (2019). Politicization in process: Developing articles, political concepts, practices, epistemologies, and identities through activist engagement. American Educational Research Journal, 56(3), 716–752.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Delgado, M., & Staples, L. (2008). Youth-led community organizing: Theory and action. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Engler, M., & Engler, P. (2016). This is an uprising: How nonviolent revolt is shaping the twenty-first century. Bold Type Books.Google Scholar
Fernandez, J., Kirshner, B., & Lewis, D. (2016). Strategies for systemic change: Youth community organizing to disrupt the school-to-prison nexus. In Conner, J. & Rosen, S. (Eds.), Contemporary youth activism: Advancing social justice in the United States (pp. 93–112). Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Flores, K. S. (2020). Transforming positive youth development: A case for youth organizing. Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing.Google Scholar
Freire, P. (1973). Education for critical consciousness. Continuum.Google Scholar
Gallay, E., Lupinacci, J., Sarmiento, C., Flanagan, C., & Lowenstein, E. (2016). Youth environmental stewardship and activism for the environmental commons. In Conner, J. & Rosen, S. M. (Eds.), Contemporary youth activism (pp. 113–132). Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Gambone, M., Yu, H., Lewis-Charp, H., Sipe, C., & Lacoe, J. (2006). Youth organizing, identity-support, and youth development agencies as avenues for involvement. Journal of Community Practice, 14(1), 235–253.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Garcia, K. (2020). Chicago youth activists for #CopsOutCPS provide answers to questions about police free schools. The Tribe. https://thetriibe.com/2020/07/chicago-youth-activists-for-cops-out-cps-provide-answers-to-questions-about-police-free-schools/Google Scholar
Ginwright, S. (2010). Black youth rising: Activism and healing in urban America. Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Ginwright, S. (2015). Hope and healing in urban education: How urban activists and teachers are reclaiming matters of the heart. Routledge.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Ginwright, S., & Cammarota, J. (2006). Introduction. In Ginwright, S., Noguera, P., & Cammarota, J. (Eds.), Beyond resistance: Youth activism and community change (pp. xii–xxii). Routledge.Google Scholar
Govan, R. H., Fernandez, J. S., Lewis, D. G., & Kirshner, B. (2015). International perspectives on youth leadership development through community organizing. New Directions for Student Leadership, 2015(148), 87–99.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Kennelly, J. (2011). Citizen youth: Culture, activism, and agency in a neoliberal era. Palgrave McMillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Kirshner, B. (2015). Youth activism in an era of education inequity. New York University Press.Google Scholar
Kwon, S. A. (2013). Uncivil youth: Race, activism, and affirmative governmentality. Duke University Press.Google Scholar
Lee, J. F. (2019). We passed and implemented a historic data resolution [Video]. Vimeo. https://vimeo.com/313232421Google Scholar
Lewis-Charp, H., Yu, H., Soukamneuth, S., & Lacoe, J. (2003). Extending the reach of youth development through civic activism: Outcomes of the youth leadership development initiative. Social Policy Research Associates.Google Scholar
Light, J. (2015). Putting our conversation in context: Youth, old media and political participation 1800–1971. In Allen, D. & Light, J. (Eds.), From voice to influence: Understanding citizenship in the digital age (pp. 19–33). University of Chicago Press.Google Scholar
Listen, Inc. (2003). An emerging model for working with youth (Occasional Papers Series on Youth Organizing No. 1). Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing.Google Scholar
Lukes, S. (1974). Power: A radical view. Macmillan.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
McAdam, D. (1988). Freedom summer. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Mira, M. (2013). Pushing the boundaries: What youth organizers at Boston’s Hyde Square Task Force have to teach us about civic engagement. Democracy and Education, 21, 1–13.Google Scholar
Moore, J. (2011). No transportation, no education! Voices in Urban Education, 30, 5–12.Google Scholar
Moya, J. (2017). Examining how youth take on critical civic identities in classrooms and youth organizing spaces. Critical Questions in Education, 8(4), 457–475.Google Scholar
Negron-Gonzalez, G. (2016). Unlawful entry: Civil disobedience and the undocumented youth movement. In Conner, J. & Rosen, S. (Eds.), Contemporary youth activism: Advancing social justice in the United States (pp. 271–288). Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholas, C., & Eastmann-Mueller, H. (2020). Supporting critical social analysis: Empowerment processes in youth organizing. Urban Review, 52, 708–729.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nicholas, C., Eastmann-Mueller, H., & Barbich, N. (2019). Empowering change agents: Youth organizing groups as sites for sociopolitical development. American Journal of Community Psychology, 63, 46–60.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Nguyen, C., & Quinn, R. (2018) “We share similar struggles”: How a Vietnamese immigrant youth organizing program shapes participants’ critical consciousness of interracial tension, Race Ethnicity and Education, 21(5), 626–642.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Nygreen, K., Kwon, S., & Sánchez, P. (2006). Urban youth building community: Social change and participatory research in schools, homes, and community-based organizations. Journal of Community Practice, 14(1–2), 107–123.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Oakes, J., & Rogers, J. (with Lipton, M.). (2006). Learning power: Organizing for education and justice. Teachers College Press.Google Scholar
Ortega-Williams, A., Wernick, L., DeBower, J., & Braithwaite, B. (2020). Finding relief in action: The intersection of youth-led community organizing and mental health in Brooklyn, New York City. Youth & Society, 52(4), 618–638.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Quinn, R., & Nguyen, C. (2017). Immigrant youth organizing as civic preparation. American Educational Research Journal, 54(5), 972–1005.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, J., & Terriquez, V. (2013). Learning to lead: The impact of youth organizing and the educational and civic trajectories of low-income youth. Institute for Democracy, Education, and Access.Google Scholar
Rogers, J., & Terriquez, V. (2016). “It shaped who I am as a person”: Youth organizing and the educational and civic trajectories of low-income youth. In Conner, J. & Rosen, S. (Eds.), Contemporary youth activism: Advancing social justice in the United States (pp. 141–161). Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rogers, J., Mediratta, K., & Shah, S. (2012). Building power, learning democracy: Youth organizing as a site of civic development. Review of Research in Education, 36, 43–66.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, M., Gennari, A., & Mandic, C. (2018). Youth-led organizing: A strategy for healing and child welfare systems change. Foster Youth in Action.Google Scholar
Rosen, S. (2016). Identity performance and collectivist leadership in the Philadelphia Student Union. International Journal of Leadership in Education: Theory and Practice, 19(2), 224–240.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, S. (2019). So much of my very soul: How youth organizers’ identity projects pave agentive pathways for civic engagement American Educational Research Journal, 56(1), 237–243.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, S., & Conner, J. (2016). Conceptualizing youth activists’ leadership: A multidimensional framework. In Conner, J. & Rosen, S. (Eds.), Contemporary youth activism: Advancing social justice in the United States (pp. 59–78). Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Rosen, S., & Conner, J. (2021). Negotiating power: How youth organizers recast the debate about school reform. Journal of Community Psychology, 49(8), 3017–3032.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
Shah, S. (2011). Building transformative youth leadership: Data on the impacts of youth organizing. Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing.Google Scholar
Shah, S., Buford, W., & Braxton, E. (2018). Transforming youth and communities: New findings on the impact of youth organizing. Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing.Google Scholar
Sinclair-Lewis, K., & Rodriguez, S. (2021). “Love us, don’t harm us!” Youth organizing for racial justice and police-free schools in Washington DC. Paper delivered at the annual meeting of the American Educational Research Association.Google Scholar
Su, C. (2009). Streetwise for booksmarts: Grassroots organizing and education reform in the Bronx. Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Terriquez, V. (2015). Training young activists: Grassroots organizing and youths’ civic and political trajectories. Sociological Perspectives, 58(2), 223–242.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Terriquez, V. (2017). Building healthy communities through youth leadership. USC Program for Environmental and Regional Equity.Google Scholar
Terriquez, V., Villegas, R., Villalobos, R, & Xu, J. (2020). The political socialization of Latinx youth in a conservative political context. Journal of Applied Developmental Psychology, 70, 101188.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
The White House (2021, February 18). Readout of the White House’s meeting with young community violence prevention advocates. The White House. www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/02/18/readout-of-the-white-houses-meeting-with-young-community-violence-prevention-advocates/?emci=080d7f9e-4075-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&emdi=0b0d7f9e-4075-eb11-9889-00155d43c992&ceid=1549635Google Scholar
Tivaringe, T., & Kirshner, B. (2021). Learning to claim power in a contentious public sphere: A study of youth movement formation in South Africa. Journal of the Learning Sciences, 30, 125–150.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Valladares, S., Valladares, M. R., Garcia, M., Baca, K., Kirshner, B., Terriquez, V., Sanchez, J., & Kroehle, K. (2021). 2020 Field Scan. Funders’ Collaborative on Youth Organizing.Google Scholar
Warren, M. (2018). “Lift us up, don’t push us out!” Voices from the frontlines of the education justice movement. Beacon.Google Scholar
Warren, M. (2021). Remarks delivered at the business meeting of the Grassroots Youth and Community Organizing special interest group of the American Educational Research Association.Google Scholar
Warren, M. & Kupscznk, L. (2016). The emergence of a youth justice movement in the United States. In Conner, J. & Rosen, S. (Eds.), Contemporary youth activism: Advancing social justice in the United States (pp. 39–58). Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Warren, M., Mapp, K., & The Community Organizing and School Reform Project. (2011). A match on dry grass: Community organizing as a catalyst for school reform. Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Warren, M., Mira, M., & Nikundiwe, T. (2008). Youth organizing: From youth development to school reform. New Directions for Youth Development, 117, 27–42.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, R., & Flanagan, C. (2007). Pushing the envelope on youth civic engagement: A developmental and liberation psychology perspective. Journal of Community Psychology, 35, 1–14.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Watts, R., Kirshner, B., Govan, R., & Fernandez, J. (2018, August 11). Powerful youth, powerful communities: An international study of youth organizing. research2action.net. www.research2action.net/wp-content/uploads/2019/03/2018-Powerful-Youth-Powerful-Communities-Final-Research-Report-4dist.pdfGoogle Scholar
Werner, E. (2009). In pursuit of liberty: Coming of age in the American Revolution. Potomac Books.Google Scholar
Yee, M. (2016). “We have the power to make change”: The struggle of Asian immigrant youth against school violence. In Conner, J. & Rosen, S. (Eds.), Contemporary youth activism: Advancing social justice in the United States (pp. 289–310). Praeger.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Zimmerman, M., & Zahniser, J. (1991). Refinements of sphere‐specific measures of perceived control: Development of a sociopolitical control scale. Journal of Community Psychology, 19(2), 189–204.3.0.CO;2-6>CrossRefGoogle Scholar

Save book to Kindle

To save this book to your Kindle, first ensure no-reply@cambridge.org is added to your Approved Personal Document E-mail List under your Personal Document Settings on the Manage Your Content and Devices page of your Amazon account. Then enter the ‘name’ part of your Kindle email address below. Find out more about saving to your Kindle.

Note you can select to save to either the @free.kindle.com or @kindle.com variations. ‘@free.kindle.com’ emails are free but can only be saved to your device when it is connected to wi-fi. ‘@kindle.com’ emails can be delivered even when you are not connected to wi-fi, but note that service fees apply.

Find out more about the Kindle Personal Document Service.

Available formats
×

Save book to Dropbox

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Dropbox.

Available formats
×

Save book to Google Drive

To save content items to your account, please confirm that you agree to abide by our usage policies. If this is the first time you use this feature, you will be asked to authorise Cambridge Core to connect with your account. Find out more about saving content to Google Drive.

Available formats
×