Development of a Youth Civic Engagement Program: Process and Pilot Testing with a Youth-Partnered Research Team

Area of Science:

• Community Psychology
• Youth Development
• Public Health Interventions

Background:

• Neighborhood factors significantly impact youth well-being.
• Few interventions involve youth in addressing these neighborhood-level factors.
• Community engagement is a potential avenue for improving youth outcomes.

Purpose of the Study:

• To describe a three-step process for collaborating with youth to develop a civic engagement intervention.
• To focus on youth perceptions of their neighborhoods and their role in addressing problems.
• To create an intervention promoting youth involvement in neighborhood improvement.

Main Methods:

• Qualitative interviews with youth in low-income communities to understand their neighborhood perceptions.
• Development of a civic engagement and leadership program (LEAP) based on identified themes.
• Collaboration with youth to refine the pilot program through feedback.

Main Results:

• Identified key themes: community pride, desire for change, and perceived power/responsibility.
• Developed the LEAP program to foster youth's active role in addressing neighborhood issues.
• Finalized the intervention based on youth feedback for future large-scale testing.

Conclusions:

• Emphasizes the critical importance of incorporating youth voices in intervention design.
• Highlights the need for research on civic engagement as a mechanism for youth involvement in health disparities.
• Suggests exploring potential psychological costs associated with youth civic engagement.