The sequence of disengaging Youth Voice:
- Youth aren’t prepared to engage with adults.
- Adults aren’t prepared to engage with young people.
- Youth are limited to working only on issues affecting youth.
- Adding Youth Voice is an afterthought to planning, occurring only the day of the meeting, rather than as a course of action with framing and reflecting activities.
- The meeting was not announced in enough time to allow young people participants to prepare.
- Meeting times conflict with previously planned activities, limiting the participation of more young people.
- Youth are not told about expectations for their involvement.
- Young people did not receive training on committee participation or the issues addressed by the organization.
- There is inequitable representation between young people and adults.
- Youth have no structured reflection to focus on their experience of being involved in the committee.
- Adults are armed with good intentions instead of experience-driven practice.
- Adults don’t have knowledge of or access to materials to help them develop their committee.
- The nature of the activity has limited appeal to historically non-involved youth.
- Participation is seen as separate and unrelated from classes or youth programs, despite the opportunities for applied learning in communication, leadership, and social awareness.
- Youth Voice opportunities are seen as separate and unrelated from youth service activities, despite the connections between serving on the committee and community service.
- Adults make no overt concessions designed to engage young people in activities.
- Adults rely on young people to answer questions like, “What do you think?” in the same way another adult would.
- Lacking opportunities to reflect on their participation, youth complain to other youth about the experience, further disinteresting other youth from becoming involved.
- Adults’ perceptions of young people and their involvement further alienate diverse Youth Voice.
