Building Power, Transforming Communities: Developing a Framework for Understanding Models of Youth Organizing

• In Event: Perspectives on Youth Community Organizing: Young People Transforming Structures, Building Power, and Healing Beyond the Self

Abstract

Objectives
Collective power building to transform institutional structures of oppression is a fundamental component of Youth Organizing, but how young people build political power has been strangely understudied (Kirshner et al., under review). What is the process, or model, that organizers employ to develop youth leadership and transform oppressive institutions? Our purpose is to share findings from research with a cohort of 16 youth organizing groups that shed light on power-building strategies and the challenges groups faced in building a framework that would support cross-organizational understanding.

Theoretical framework
Lukes’s (1974/2005) three faces of power metaphor informs our analysis of how organizing groups think about and build political power. This framework, coming from political science, offers a useful lens when applied to the field of youth organizing, because it offers theoretical precision for understanding differences in types of governing power and is increasingly used by grassroots activists (Han, McKenna, & Oyakama, 2017; Healey, 2015).

Methods & data sources
We utilize qualitative, interpretive methods to make sense of four types of data: participant observations of three in-person convenings, one-time organizational surveys, artifacts and organizational documents, and video-conferencing consultations with 15 groups. Analysis, guided by our questions about how organizations theorize and build power, began in research team meetings and continued with systematic review of data sources.

Claims
Each of the participating organizations has a rich track record of working with young people from historically marginalized communities across the U.S. Participants in the cohort expressed a strong desire to learn from various models of youth organizing in order to increase their impact. Discussion of strategies included approaches to “building base” forming strategic alliances, and changing public narratives about issues such as immigration and policing. In response to questions about their models of organizing and theories of change, we found some similarities and two types of variation. The broad similarity was that most groups wanted to strengthen distributed leadership practices, which shift more responsibility for organizing to youth members and leaders (vs. paid organizers). Many saw this as a key strategy for building youth-led movements during a time of scarce resources for infrastructure and paid staff. We also saw two types of variation: 1) variation in the approaches groups took to building power and cultivating leadership in young people, which created opportunities for learning and organizational development; and 2) variation in how people used the word ‘model’ to describe their work, which posed challenges for shared understanding and exchange of strategy across groups.

Significance
Across the field of youth organizing, hundreds of organizations take up the call to build power, to transform institutions of oppression, and develop the leadership of young people from historically marginalized communities. As this field grows we hope that organizations continue to develop models and processes that can be shared across groups and movements. With this intention in mind, our paper defines underlying concepts to offer common language for scholars and organizers alike for describing models and process that build transformative power and, ultimately, more just and healthy communities.

Authors

• Blanca Elena Trejo, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Ben Kirshner, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Siomara Valladares, CU Boulder