ACEL to Extension: Youth Leadership and Empowerment: Creating a Culture of Engagement

Youth programs can be a space wherein youth can learn to be leaders, not only through occupying leadership positions but also by participating in meaningful community engagement activities, regardless of position. To cultivate opportunities where youth are able to learn skills and develop the self-efficacy to be engaged citizens and leaders, purposeful planning of activities is needed. Empowerment frameworks offer practitioners a way to reflect on their own perceptions of youth engagement and develop programs that can have impact on both the youth and their community. Participants will be able to:

• Recognize different youth empowerment frameworks
• Reflect on and describe their own perceptions of youth engagement and how they have worked with youth through their programs
• Identify activities that can be utilized in their programs to develop leadership skills and empower youth
• Identify strategies for empowering youth through the evaluation of their programming