Putting Teens in the Drivers Seat:

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Putting Teens in the Drivers Seat

• How to Create a Youth-led Interfaith Program
• Janet Penn, Executive Director
• Interfaith Action, Inc.
• Nain Connect, June 2009

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Workshop Objectives

• Understand program, methodology core principles
• Learn about TIDE plans to provide training
  throughout U.S.
• Share successes challenges
• Describe program in context of theory of social
  change

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Introductions

• Name and affiliation (if any)
• Have current youth program or want to start one?
• Did you attend the teens workshop?
• What is one thing hope take away from todays
  workshop?

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VISION

• Teens create a culture of pluralism, inspire
  adults by their example

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How IFAs Youth Leadershp Program works

• Meetings twice a month planned and run by senior
  facilitators
• Community programs run by teens

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Methodology

• Reflection
• Connection
• Action

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Senior Facilitators

• Chosen by their peers
• Training
• Day-long retreat
• Monthly planning meetings
• Co-facilitate regular meetings

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Typical Meetings

• Ice breaker
• Main activity? changes each year with Senior
  Facilitators
• Faith learning through the five senses
• Discussions hot topics
• Dialogues

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Examples of Successful Programs

• Community programs
• Sharing Sacred Seasons
• One Town, Many Stories
• Community dialogues films
• Conferences
• TIDE
• Jordan
• School programs
• Elementary
• Middle
• High school
• Workshops
• IFYC
• Emory University
• Tufts University
• NAIN
• ? Melbourne

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Core Principle 1

• Maintain profound respect and belief in wisdom
  capabilities of teens
• Change teacher-student paradigm
• How do you want enhance pluralism in the
  community?
• 18 and under get the vote

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Core Principle 2

• Set the bar high
• Teens set goals
• TIDE
• Sacred Seasons

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Core Principle 3

• Dont be afraid of failure
• I want you to fail
• One Bag, One Life
• Debrief
• Outcomes
• Comfortable taking risks, working with a diverse
  group of people
• Sharpen planning skills
• Own process ? deep commitment

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Core Principle 4

• Be prepared to encounter difficulties
• Unique historical, cultural, political
  perspectives
• Find place between we all love peace (Kumbaya
  syndrome) and chaos and anger.

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Core Principle 5

• Support all youth to be leaders

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Core Principle 6

• Plan proactively and dont be afraid to seize
  opportunities
• Amritsar, India
• Imams from Middle East
• Young leaders from Iraq
• Tony Blair Faiths Acts Fellows

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Core Principle 7

• Be inclusive of all interested youth
• Who joins (include atheists, pagan)
• Why join (college resume, parent)

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Core Principle 8

• Recognize the complexity of adolescent identity
• Religion
• Ethnicity
• Sexual orientation/identity

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Keys to Success

• Training
• Communication skills
• Community organizing
• Mentoring
• Transform adult teen relationship

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Training Goals

• Develop ability to engage in respectful
  conversation when very different points of view
  are expressed.
• Develop community organizing skills, plan
  programs that enhance pluralism.

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Interpersonal Communication

• Understand ground rules?what and why
• Active listening?listening for understanding
• Speaking ones own truth
• Developing a common language? labels, stereotypes

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2. Lead community programs that enhance pluralism

• Develop goals objectives of program/workshop
• Get comfortable presenting in front of people
• Develop content or draw from existing content
• Engage in self evaluation and receive feedback
  from others
• what I liked about
• what I wished you had done differently

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3. Facilitate interfaith dialogue

• Understand structure and function of dialogue
• Present ground rules
• Develop goals
• Develop questions for participants
• Practice asking clarifying questions to deepen
  experience
• Provide tools for dealing with difficult
  situations

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4. Community organizing

• Importance of having a vision, setting goals
• How to turn goals ? outcomes
• Work plans
• Agendas
• Running meetings
• De-briefing

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5. Mentor training adults

• In process
• Adults do
• Reflect
• Observe
• Give feedback
• Help network
• Adults dont
• Decide project scope
• Save from failure

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Evaluation

• What is the impact?
• Individual
• Society
• Written evaluations while in program interviews
  six years after graduation

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Challenges

• Over-reach
• Process takes time
• Misunderstandings are common
• Lack of follow-through
• Difficult to balance school demands and YLP
• Desire to rescue teens

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Initial Recruitment

• Clergy
• Directors of Religious Education
• Community Service Learning at high school
• Direct outreach to informal community leaders

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Current Recruitment

• Word of mouth
• Selective outreach to mirror community
  demographic
• Programs bring in teens

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Funding

• Grants
• Most local
• Beginning to research natl. grants
• Individual donations
• Board of Advisors

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Future Plans

• Pilot training in NYC
• Offer training to teens/train-the-trainer
• Expand TIDE national, international
• Trained teens help plan and implement

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Dreams Further Down the Road

• Connect all high school programs (national,
  international) to share
• Best practices
• Models
• Resources
• Teens connect
• Use social networking and media to transform fear
  ?hope, misunderstanding ? respect

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Interfaith Youth Movement Social Change

• Role of community engagement in pluralism
• Sharon Pluralism Network
• Town infrastructure

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Youth Voices

• Kids get committed because they run it. In the
  YLP, youth inspire youth to take leadership. It
  becomes self-sustaining as others say I want to
  do that too!

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Youth Voices

• I learned about leadership, youth empowerment,
  the value of dialogue, the common threads that
  bond all humans no matter what they believe, and
  about myself as a leader, facilitator, and
  person.

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How to reach us

• www.ifaction.org
• 781-784-0651
• Janet Penn janet_at_ifaction.org

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Thank you!!!!

• Q A