Establishing Youth Organizations

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Establishing Youth Organizations
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Why establish youth organizations?

• Advantages for young people
• Develop important personal and interpersonal
  skills
• Gain self-confidence and self-esteem
• Reduce the risk of unsafe activities
• Develop job skills and acquire experience
• Offer opportunities for leadership
• Develop a strong support network of young people

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Why establish youth organizations?

• Advantages for the community
• Change public perception of young people
• Youth less likely to cause problems and more
  likely to want to look for solutions
• Allows youth to carefully develop their
  leadership potential
• Other community organizations can often partner
  with youth organizations, to mutual benefit

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When is a good time to establish an organization?

• When a dramatic, disturbing, or significant event
  occurs in the community
• At the beginning of the school year
• When new information becomes known.
• When a significant issue specifically concerning
  youth needs to be confronted.

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When is a good time to establish an organization?
(cont.)

• When current organizations are not meeting
  community needs.
• When a group wants to create broad, significant
  community changes.
• To respond to threats to the community, such as
  increased violence.

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How do you establish youth organizations?

• 1. Decide what type of youth organization you
  want to form.
• What problem is being solved
• Concerns
• Cause of the problem
• 2. Decide where the organization should be based.

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How do you establish youth organizations? (cont.)

• 3. Recruit members
• 4. Define your goals clearly with group members.
• What do we want to do?
• How should we go about doing that?
• 5. Find out what resources are available to your
  organization.

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How do you establish youth organizations? (cont.)

• 6. Obtain and use those resources.
• 7. Orient and train staff, adult assistants, and
  participants.
• 8. Get to work!
• 9. Celebrate your successes!