Building Trust, Sharing Power: The Promises and Challenges of Youth-Adult Partnerships in Out-of-School Time Programs

Session Type: Symposium

Abstract

Authentic youth-adult partnerships are often a cornerstone of positive youth development--providing opportunity for individual and collective transformation. However, research rarely explores the principles foundational to intergenerational collaboration or the tensions inherent in this work. Building on Zeldin, Christens, and Powers (2012) definition of youth-adult partnerships (multiple youth and adults working together for a sustained period of time, in a democratic fashion, with the goal of promoting social justice, strengthening an organization, or addressing a community issue), this symposium explores the research and practice of youth-adult partnerships. To do so, we bring together scholars and organizational stakeholders from across the United States to wrestle with four emerging foundational principles of the work: trust-building, problem-posing methodologies, democratic participation, and collective action.

Sub Unit

• SIG-Out-of-School Time

Chair

• Gretchen A. Brion-Meisels, Harvard University

Papers

• Trust Formation in Youth-Adult Relationships in Out-of-School Time Organizations - Aisha Griffith, University of Illinois at Chicago

• Art Education and the Problem-Posing Methodology: A Critical Approach to Learning From and Working With Students and Their Communities - Luis Genaro Garcia, California State University - Sacramento

• Critical Reflections on Tensions in Authentic Youth-Adult Partnerships - Bianca Jontae Baldridge, Harvard University; Juan Carlos Medina, University of Wisconsin - Madison; Tanya Wiggins

• Hip-Hop Music-Making as a Context for Relational Equity Among Youth and Youth Workers - Ben Kirshner, University of Colorado - Boulder; Erica Jeanne Van Steenis, University of Colorado - Boulder

• Framing Youth-Adult Partnership and the Struggle for Collective Well-Being - Jessica T. Fei, Sadie Nash Leadership Project

Discussant

• Deepa Sriya Vasudevan, Wellesley College