SR Vol 27 No 3, July 2009 - Nova Scotia Barristers' Society
SR Vol 27 No 3, July 2009 - Nova Scotia Barristers' Society
SR Vol 27 No 3, July 2009 - Nova Scotia Barristers' Society
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YOUTH WORK THAT WORKS<br />
If it’s about us, don’t do it without us<br />
group of innovators – including<br />
Emma Halpern A youth peer leaders – gathered<br />
NSBS Equity Officer recently on <strong>No</strong>va <strong>Scotia</strong>’s South<br />
Shore to brainstorm new ways of<br />
approaching youth work, youth organizing and youth advocacy.<br />
Youth Work That Works, held at White Point Beach Resort in May,<br />
was a three-day training experience that brought together pioneering<br />
youth organizations from across the northeastern U.S. and Atlantic<br />
Canada. It centered on dialogue and relationship-building with<br />
others who are passionate about engaging young people and seeking<br />
innovation in the youth field. It included opportunities to learn from<br />
youth workers who have explored, created and introduced practices<br />
that are shifting the nature of youth work itself, through new programs<br />
and more effective youth engagement.<br />
“The traditional service/client model in our communities is not<br />
serving youth,” said the event’s co-host Tim Merry, founder of the<br />
Split Rock Learning Centre in Yarmouth, a youth drop-in centre that<br />
offers regional programming for youth and youth workers. “Young<br />
leaders and adults working with youth are burning out and many of<br />
us who are innovating around what we’re hearing from youth feel like<br />
we’re working in isolation.”<br />
The White Point experience, then, was about bringing youth workers<br />
together to amplify what is working and leverage areas for change<br />
in this region. It was about working together to build resilient<br />
community leaders, activists and change agents.<br />
Much of the operational youth work facilitated by the event’s hosting<br />
team is grounded in the following core tenets:<br />
• If it’s about us, don’t do it without us.<br />
• You are the experts on youth.<br />
• Everyone is gifted, no one is broken.<br />
• Youth is the focus but the context is intergenerational.<br />
Simple – yet crucial – components of youth work that works.<br />
That’s why young people were fully involved in the design, delivery<br />
and followup for the training, with the Leaders of Today Youth<br />
Co-Hosting Team, sponsored by the <strong>No</strong>va <strong>Scotia</strong> Child and Youth<br />
Strategy and Youth Secretariat. The event was also spearheaded by<br />
Leave Out ViolencE (Halifax) and The Chill Zone youth centre<br />
(Gloucester, Massachusetts).<br />
The following questions formed some of the grounding for the<br />
training:<br />
• What kind of support do young people need to lead the way and<br />
own their destiny in our region?<br />
• How can we ensure any change we make lasts into the future?<br />
• How can we create the conditions for sustained innovation and<br />
growth in our youth organizing and engagement?<br />
Facilitators used the techniques and tools of the Art of Hosting to<br />
delve more deeply into these questions and assist participants to<br />
identify their own questions as they move forward with this work<br />
As the flyer indicated: “This is not for spectators.” All participants<br />
– of all ages – were invited to challenge their own assumptions and<br />
ultimately, take a step towards taking responsibility for what they care<br />
about in the world.<br />
28 The <strong>Society</strong> Record