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Abstract
This study examined the extent of youth participation in community service, community development, and other types of community projects. Adult leaders (n = 70) of Youth Community Action (YCA) projects in New York State completed a survey about the activities of youth and barriers to participation. Overall, the youth were highly involved in project planning, decision making, leadership, and implementation activities but less involved in aspects of publicity and the organizational infrastructure such as financing and organizing meetings. Time was the most frequently mentioned barrier to youth participation. Some differences based on the age of participating youth were noted. Recommendations include identifying ways youth can take on greater roles and responsibilities, providing resources and support to adult leaders and youth, and finding ways for older and younger youth to work together. Topics for further research are suggested.
Acknowledgments
The authors wish to thank Dr. Joseph Donnermeyer for his helpful comments on this article.
Notes
Note. Scheffé post-hoc comparisons indicated significant differences (p < .05) between youth over age 12 and mixed age groups for Contributing to Organizational Infrastructure and between youth under age 12 and mixed aged groups for Project Implementation and Generating Publicity.
*p < .05.
Due to the small sample sizes of some of the categories, a non-parametric Kruskall-Wallis test was run to identify any significant (p < .05) differences between the three age groups. The significant findings were the same as those for analysis of variance.
Due to the small sample size of one of the categories, a non-parametric Mann-Whitney test was run to identify any significant (p < .05) differences between the two groups. The significant findings were the same as those for t tests.