-Julia Burgess

Too often, our families, community, and public institutions fail to recognize and harness the tremendous energy and commitment of young people to create positive social change. Although youth are often the majority of the population, and many youth in low-income communities have great untapped creative and leadership potential, little opportunity exists for their positive development. As we look ahead in this new millenium, some feel that the the only way to bring all residents together--to seriously address the future of the low-income areas that are under pressure from both external and internal forces--is through the leadership of our youth.

Across the country, hundreds of citizen organizations face formidable challenges as they work to rebuild low-income communities: crime, decreasing government funding, increasing responsibility for the provision of basic services to community residents. Most of these communities are in cities or close by, in suburbs that have become increasingly isolated both racially and economically. Many are undergoing rapid change in population because of soaring new immigration. At the same time, poor transportation, the high cost of new infrastructure development, and overdevelopment are causing many middle- and upper-income suburbanites to rethink their quality of life. Now the land on which these low-income communities sit is being looked at covetously by people who not too long ago had fled to the suburbs.

Low wages, poor schools, fear of displacement, and racial and ethnic tensions have created tremendous stress for low-income residents. This uncertainty is compounded by attempts of all different kinds of local organizations to begin taking a pro-active approach towards planning for the future of these areas. Many community residents feel that the leadership being demonstrated by some of these agencies and community leaders may not be in their best interests.

Real Change for Communities: Beyond Youth Participation
In these conditions, it is not surprising that many residents are uninvolved, pessimistic, and cynical. In the past, they have been promised much and have received little in return. Feeling incapable of acting to protect their interests, many residents turn inward, often engaging in self-destructive behavior and further isolating themselves from the mainstream. This has resulted in unstable grassroots community leadership, poor community integration, and relatively few efforts at community self-help in the face of the severe decrease in social services and changing population. The tangible evidence of this has been a lack of trust between racial and ethnic minorities, weak truly grassroots community organizations, and, sometimes, high gang activity, which has been fueled by the lucrative sale of illicit drugs.

In this context, youth have been seen not only as a barrier, but often as the cause of much of the deterioration that has plagued low-income communities. Existing youth groups are too often isolated or not included in community-based development plans. The result has been an increasing gap between our young people--alienated and angry--and the adults engaged in very well meaning community development or social change efforts.

A 1997 survey of more than 6,000 Seattle high school students revealed that 86 percent of them --residents of the central city as well as those living in affluent suburbs--felt that their community did not care about them. In his influential 1994 report, "Involving Young People in Neighborhood Development,"* Barry Checkoway of the University of Michigan School of Social Work found that, while "neighborhood development organizations are strategically situated to promote youth participation. . . most do little or nothing to promote" the involvement of young people. "Why is it," he asks, "that neighborhood activists who are progressive on matters of race, class, or gender tend to be conservative on matters of youth participation?"

Young people rightly expect adults to provide them with the tools they need for a decent future. One way to achieve that is for community-based organizations to engage and involve youth in their work: to encourage young people to recognize their own leadership potential, to understand the broader barriers to community change, and to act with other youth or in concert with adults to confront and overcome those barriers.

However, action research undertaken by two organizations--the Center for Youth Development and Policy Research and the Center for Community Change--leads to one inescapable conclusion: The fear and cynicism within low-income communities and their grassroots organizations has become so deep that it can only be overcome if youth organize to educate and convince adults that they must find meaningful ways to involve young people if communities are to survive.

Right now, many community groups organize adult residents to have ownership and control of their own neighborhoods. Some of these groups actively include young people in their work. They offer encouragement to youth initiatives, help them get organized, provide resources for activities, and promote participation in the community. But real change will require going even further, beyond having a "youth program" or viewing "youth as resources." Young people will need to be integrated into the overall community development work of an organization.

It will not be easy. Adults, and even many young people, will first need to be convinced that such an effort can be successful. The integration of young people in community-based work for social change means changing the very culture of our community organizations, and creating bridges between existing youth and adult groups. It means providing a forum for, and listening to, a wide range of young people. It means going beyond the "successful" young leaders, and listening--really listening--to the rest: the gang members, the quiet achievers, the influential "clique" members. It means incorporating and acting on a youth-led agenda for change. It means designing or supporting leadership and educational programs for young people and adults, through which they can build their sense of belonging to a community, channel their anger, and develop their skills as leaders in the context of real social and community change.

Building Bridges: The Power of Community-Based Organizations
In the past few years, more and more community-based organizations, organizations that are accountable to their constituencies, are beginning to grapple with this issue. They are finding that young people are able to bridge many of the perceived differences within communities, especially racial and ethnic, that keep adults from working together. These community-based organizations are showing that when young people are successfully engaged in community change work, the results provide the opportunity to nurture and develop the potential of all neighborhood residents. Some examples follow.

PUEBLO
PUEBLO is a membership organization with representatives from throughout the city of Oakland. Youth of Oakland United (YOU) serves as a youth committee for PUEBLO members, ages 15-21. In 1996, PUEBLO successfully spearheaded the "Kids First Campaign," a city-wide campaign seeking funding for children and youth services in Oakland, CA. Hundreds of young people were involved in this effort, which resulted in guaranteed budget allocations for children and youth services, a youth advisory council, and improved monitoring of youth service agencies. As a result of their work, youth sit on a council that determines budget allocations and grants for recreation and other youth services.

Youth Force
Begun in 1994, Youth Force is primarily a youth-run, youth-led organization of young people under the age of 24 in the Bronx, NY. Full-time youth and young adult staff work with part-time youth staff to plan and coordinate organizing campaigns, outreach events, and leadership programming. Current programs include a Community Justice Center (youth court, juvenile court referrals, prevention outreach), tenant organizing, Politix (advocacy around juvenile justice and other youth concerns) and Street University (training institute on organizing and advocacy). In order to strengthen their organizing base, Youth Force is in the process of developing a membership and organizing campaign which will focus on a particular geographic area within the Bronx. This area will be call the "Democracy Multiplied Zone" (DMZ). The DMZ will function as a safe zone for young people, uniting residents to support a youth-led movement for social change.

Southwest Organizing Project
Founded 19 years ago, the Southwest Organizing Project (SWOP) carries out community organizing and advocacy on social justice issues in Albuquerque, NM. SWOP's "Jovenes Unidos" program was begun about four years ago as an arts program for youth and has now expanded to youth organizing. Jovenes Unidos recently sponsored a play, Zoot Suit, which was a tremendous success. It addressed the discrimination faced by Latino youth many years ago--the "zoot suit" was a style of dress they wore. Youth organizing has focused on unfair treatment regarding overly strict dress codes in the schools, the treatment of truants, and attempts to stop "mall loitering" by teens. Youth have conducted surveys related to their issues, carried out demonstrations, and advocated with state and congressional legislators regarding juvenile justice legislation.

Direct Action for Rights and Equality
Direct Action for Rights and Equality (DARE) is a 15-year-old membership organization in Providence, RI. START--Students and Parent Taking Action for a Real Tomorrow--is a DARE campaign, designed by youth, that is bringing together youth and adults to ensure more accountability to quality education from the Providence public school system. The main tool will be a Student Bill of Rights, which is being constructed through input from members and a survey. Young people are building a strong intergenerational campaign of students and parents, building youth leadership into DARE, creating a Bill of Rights Defense Force or a complaint process, developing allies from other community organizations, and monitoring and negotiating with the school board and superintendent. Recruitment is taking place at schools and through door to door work.

The Chinese Staff and Workers Association
The Chinese Staff and Workers Association is a 20-year-old membership organization in Chinatown, New York City, which responds to the unfair labor practices of garment, restaurant, and office employers. CSWA's most successful project involving young people took place in 1995 when CSWA led a hunger strike as a protest to labor practices at a local restaurant. College age young people led and implemented the strike after being recruited by CSWA organizers. Today young people work as organizers, bridging the community and labor issues that are so intertwined in Chinatown.

Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth
Coleman Advocates for Children and Youth is an advocacy organization which solicits the membership of organizations and individuals in support of city-wide issues in San Francisco, CA. Y-MAC (Youtb Making a Change) was founded several years ago as a continuation of youth efforts during a Children's Amendment campaign in 1992. Youth are recruited and hired from area high schools to serve as organizers with Y-MAC. Y-MAC organizers, in turn, receive stipends to plan and coordinate youth advocacy in the policy areas of education, juvenile justice, voter education, health services for youth, and recreational services for adolescents. Current projects include the replication of a successful school-based health clinic, the passage of a "police in schools" resolution (which limits police involvement in schools and advocates against police brutality), and the acquisition of a facility to support the development of youth-run recreation and entreprenurial activities. Youth are providing the leadership to make Coleman Advocates community based.

El Centro Hispano
El Centro Hispano was founded in 1992 by Catholic Social Ministries in Durham, NC. Over the years it has grown to provide services, leadership development, and advocacy for the Latino community. As members of the organization, community residents, including young people, can elect board members and attend regular membership meetings where decisions are made about the direction of the organization. Youth are working with adults around issues of immigration, education, and housing conditions. It is especially through the youth that communication and joint work are carried out with the African-American community. This is especially important with rapid new immigration.

The Point
Operating out of a renovated warehouse in Hunts Point in the Bronx, NY for the past six years, The Point has been carrying out extensive arts programming and incubating youth-run businesses to encourage "self-investment" amongst Bronx residents. Hunts Point is home to the largest wholesale produce market in the world, as well as a principal collection and distribution site for garbage. As a result, there are severe environmental problems due to truck emissions and smell in general. Involved youth are now being organized to address these environmental issues and educate and mobilize the public to take a more pro-active approach in alleviating the problem. It is hoped that truck emission standards will be strengthened and that the Hunts Point Beach will be re-opened.

These are only a few examples of what is happening to bring youth and adults together to unite and rebuild low income communities. However, as community residents develop increased pride in their neighborhoods through personal investment, these communities continue to have a bad public image with respect to crime, education, and other quality of life indicators. A major factor in garnering broader support for these community efforts generally depends on changing the external perception that a concentration of low-income people, generally of color, means a "bad" community; a community that may be dangerous to white people. A powerful and continuing public relations campaign must be launched to inform the wider public of the positive sense of community in low-income areas, and to encourage renewed acceptance of the idea that all types of people can live together successfully.

In conclusion, when young people take a positive leadership role in the community, adults are moved into similar activity. With youth at the helm, residents can take a good look at themselves and their community. They begin to demand a qualitatively different standard of behavior for themselves, their neighbors, and local institutions: one that commands respect towards one another. Collaboration amongst all residents increases the sense of personal and community control that people feel they have. Residents begin to expect better police accountability, better schools, and investment in the housing stock. This encourages community self-sufficiency, citizen participation, and civic engagement.

Julia Burgess is the Director of Special Initiatives at the Center for Community Change in Washington, DC. For over 30 years the Center has been working to revitalize poor communities by providing technical assistance and training to community-based organizations and coalitions in low-income and minority neighborhoods across the nation; helping poor people achieve a voice on public policies that affect them; and launching special projects to conduct studies, test new approaches to community development, and broaden support for worthwhile grassroots efforts. Julia directs the Center's work in organizing around community services and policy change. This includes building consumer input in the developing health care debate, involving youth in community development, and helping grassroots groups do outreach for the 2000 census. She has a BA and MSW from the University of Michigan.