Sell the Shadow for the Substance: On Developing a Youth Organizing Model

In the words of Sojourner Truth, “well chirren, where this is so much racket, there must be somethin out of kilter. Tween the negroes of the south and the white women of the north both talking bout they rights, the white man gonna be in a pretty bad fix and real soon”.

I’ve got competing voices in my head. One voice is saying ”youth led, youth voice” and the other voice is saying “youth-adult partnership” and I am in total agreement with both of them. Except something is missing. There has to be more than the sum-zero of these choices. And it is this space that I see us struggling to bring to the conversation. I keep returning to the language of Youth-Adult partnerships: conscious relationships, intergenerational equity, coaching, integral feedback. And as much as I believe there will be added value to our work when the adults and youth of our Youth Action teams commit to ongoing conversations around Youth-Adult partnership, I believe that it will continue to be a shadow conversation. Something is out kilter.

I get that we are organizing and supporting youth as change agents in their lives and in their communities. I know that we see the value of youth input and therefore use youth development strategies to help them think critically about issues that impact their lives. I agree that youth are our future and that an investment in them is ultimately about sustainability of social justice work and it is the right thing to do. I know we understand our civil rights history of young people as the frontline faces and voices of change. Still, something remains out of kilter.

What I hear from some youth is “our work is youth led and you keep making decisions about our work without consulting us” as it relates to grant applications and staffing. I understand the feelings of loss when youth have developed relationships with staff and they leave unexpectedly. I understand the importance of determining the direction of their work. This is where it gets murky. There are personnel issues, legal personnel issues, that prohibit us from discussing details of an employee termination. There are funding needs (the revolution is a beautiful machine and it needs MONEY to help it run) that require continuous fund development strategies, some are not always a direct path to the end cause. Why don’t we just say these things to young people?

No one wants to say it. No one wants to be the “grown folks in the room” because it ain’t sexy or cool. Except that the grown folks in the room have failed to acknowledge that this social justice organizing gig is also a business and as a business we exist within a system that requires some absolutes. Some of those absolutes don’t engage youth voice or participation. I know that eyes are rolling to the ceiling and whispers of “she really doesn’t get youth empowerment” are growing. Listen, grown folks, we start this awkward conversation by acknowledging what we bring to the table. It is our responsibility to clarify what roles we play in this model of community organizing. Not only have we failed to share this information, I believe we are afraid to share it. As though sharing what we contribute disempowers young people. Like one cancels out the other.

This liberation thing is our work too. We are in the room for a reason. When we fail to explain how business (nonprofits) functions, we negate the importance of workforce preparation. When we fail to identify the strength and talents adults bring to the work, we discount the mutual investment of both groups. When we choose not to share the challenges we face (i.e. getting meetings scheduled during out of school times, questioning when youth are not included in decision-making, pushing back when youth are relegated to the sole position of “spokeperson”), we are limiting young people’s access to information. One day they are going to be the “grown folks in the room”. And sometimes the information isn’t always what we want to hear nor does it come in the package that is comfortable. That’s are part of reality, why are afraid to speak truth unless it makes youth feel good? Oh that’s another blog. We need to help young people understand what adults do in this field of social justice organizing just as we celebrate the strength and talents of all young people. Just as we help them find their voice, we have to make it acceptable practice to recognize the adults in the room and claim the work as ours too. So often in our reflection, we only talk about what the youth have done to impact change. We do this because we want to celebrate them, we want to foster positive self esteem and because we believe inadvertently that “youth voice” means the adults are silent. I challenge us to share the functional/business aspect of our work with young people and to trust that they will help us sift through the substance and lead us where we need to go from there.

Enough said. I’m headed back to my porch.