Balancing Youth Leadership With Adult Support

At a glance

  • Youth Advisory Councils (YACs) need the knowledge, skills, and support from adults to help the group succeed.
  • Adults manage access to money, meeting spaces, and other resources that can affect the YAC’s work.
  • A well-balanced YAC requires guidelines and takes practice for all to work effectively together.

Overview

A teacher speaking with students sitting around a table.
Balancing adult support with youth leadership can be hard. It takes practice.

Adults must:

  • Take youth seriously.
  • Listen and respect young people's decision-making power.
  • Understand that youth need ongoing support.
  • Help youth make real change for themselves and their peers.

How it works

Adults make decisions in schools and other organizations that serve youth. Yet adults do care about what students can offer. When adults and youth do not work together to make decisions, adults miss the chance to learn from young people’s lived experiences about important issues and ways to address those issues.

Opportunities for youth to lead:

  • Set the agenda.
  • Share experiences.
  • Play the primary role in developing goals.
  • Direct the development and completion of projects.
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Content Source:
Division of Adolescent and School Health; National Center for Chronic Disease Prevention and Health Promotion