A Focus On Youth – Social Participation During and After the COVID-19 Crisis

By: Brittany Molner, BSc, former Graduate Research Assistant, Centre for Healthy Communities

July 31, 2020

Engagement with community has positive, lasting impacts on youth mental and social health. Equally important is for service providers and community organizations, such as local youth centres or support services, to meaningfully engage with youth to encourage youth participation in the community. This is especially true for underserved youth (which can include racialized, Indigenous, immigrant, or LGBTQ2+ youth) who may experience inequities that result in inferior health, employment, or education outcomes.  By identifying the important issues experienced by diverse groups of young people, we can help promote inclusion, equity and wellbeing in our communities.

The issues impacting youth in today’s society have been amplified by the current global pandemic, as youth face increased challenges regarding employment, mental health, and family health. Engaging with youth will be even more pressing at this time.

There are many ways that community organizations can promote youth social participation:

  • Arts-based activities can foster social support and community engagement while promoting self-expression, cultural learning, and examination of community issues, including possible solutions. Activities can be coordinated online (for example the creation of music videos or short films) or can take place while following physical distancing guidelines (such as painting murals, creating jewellery, or t-shirt designs). Where possible align the art medium with community or cultural values, such as the use of traditional story telling among Indigenous cultures.1
  • Community service activities help youth learn firsthand about their local communities and invite their involvement. Activities can include almost anything – from refereeing sporting events or organizing community fundraisers to leading health outreach events or presenting on relevant community health issues. These experiences are great preparation for youth’s future academic and career goals. They also can increase youths’ confidence, feelings of empowerment, sense of belonging, and group unity.
  • Participatory research activities involve the community, or research participants, in all aspects of research with a goal to work with a community instead of on a community. These activities connect youth with researchers to explore community issues and act to address them. For example, youth bring important voice and perspective to issues like inequity in schools, violence prevention, immigration experiences, environmental issues, and substance use and abuse. These collaborative activities can lead to novel solutions to community issues, and increase youths’ knowledge of their community as well as their research, leadership, and presentation skills.2, 3
  • Civic youth councils involve youth in the civic decision-making process. Youth councils can highlight the needs and values of youth to local policy makers. Specific activities that youth councils can be involved with include raising awareness of community issues, developing community assessments to influence policy, and/or passing municipal regulations, for example. Youth may feel empowered and confident as a result. Youth councils can occur anywhere from city halls to schools, but during the pandemic, online participation is the safest option for protecting everyone’s health. It is important to provide youth with the technology they need to participate.

Remember to check-in with youth to hear about their experiences, encourage meaningful engagement, and provide them with a safe space to talk. This is a great way to ensure the program benefits youth and promotes authentic social participation. Consider involving youth in the development of an evaluation plan to understand what is – or is not – working with the participation program. This will help you to refine your program to better serve youth.
 
For more information on evaluation, have a look at the following resources:
Tamarack Institute – Resources Library
Public Health Ontario – Program Planning and Evaluation

  1. Fletcher S, Mullett J. Digital stories as a tool for health promotion and youth engagement. Can J Public Health. 2016;107(2):e183-e187.
  2. Kulbok PA, Meszaros PS, Bond DC, et al. Youths as partners in a community participatory project for substance use prevention. Fam Community Health. 2015;38(1):3-11.
  3.  Brickle MB, Evans-Agnew R. Photovoice and youth empowerment in environmental justice research: A pilot study examining woodsmoke pollution in a Pacific Northwest community. J Community Health Nurs. 2017;34(2):89-101.