by Rebecca Makar

Collaborative planning to support youth development was the theme of NLC?s recent leadership academy on city-schools youth planning in Baltimore in which 26 adults and teens participated.

The 14 municipal officials, seven school leaders and five youth came from 13 cities.  
These cities include: Charleston, S.C.; Des Moines, Iowa; Diamond Bar, Calif.; Edmond, Okla.; Indio, Calif.; Kansas City, Mo.; Lakewood, Ohio; Minneapolis, Minn.; Nampa, Idaho; Santa Fe, N.M.; Spokane, Wash.; Tampa, Fla.; and University City, Mo.

City-schools youth planning, sometimes referred to as youth master planning, is a cutting-edge process in which a broad range of community stakeholders come together to establish long-term, community-wide plans and priorities for youth.

The leadership academy, supported by the MetLife Foundation, featured both peer-led discussions and presentations from outside experts. 

City-Schools Youth Planning

City-schools youth planning can be broken into four stages, according to Cindy Carlson of Hampton, Va., one of the recognized experts in the field.
These are:

? Pre-planning, where one answers the tough questions that underlie a successful plan, such as who? why? and what?

? Initiating, in which the focus is on building support for youth and on understanding their world with the help of stakeholders and creating a vision of what the plan will help do.

? Action planning, which involves knowing where one is headed and choosing the strategies, outcomes and priorities to get there.

? Implementation, which keeps the plan alive in the community through celebrating, institutionalizing and mobilizing.

Both adult and youth participants agreed that young people can ? and should ? have meaningful roles throughout all four stages.
 
?Don?t be afraid to give youth some responsibilities,? said youth participant Jordan Clark of Spokane, Wash. ?Adults don?t have to do it all by themselves.?

Building Productive Relationships

For all three groups of participants ? school leaders, municipal officials and youth ? building relationships was cited again and again as the most important way to move forward in a collaborative planning process.

Political advice for involving city leaders in such collaborative initiatives was given by a panel composed of a mayor, a city councilmember, a school board member, a representative of a city manager?s office and a youth:
 
? Ask political leaders to be a part of a meeting, with invitations coming from youth an especially effective method to get them there.

? Be concise and clear about what you want city leaders to communicate to the public regarding the initiative.

? Be consistent in asking for their involvement and attention. City leaders need an ongoing relationship with initiative leaders for them to fully understand the planning process and to interact with youth and other planning members meaningfully.

After convincing a local political leader of the importance of the initiative, that leader can institutionalize this support for city-schools youth planning through policy, budget, legislative and program efforts.

Mayor Otis Johnson of Savannah, Ga., who also serves as vice chair of NLC?s Council on Youth, Education, and Families, gave an inspiring opening address.

While acknowledging that sometimes schools, cities and youth act in isolation of each other, he urged the participants to overcome this divide by emphasizing ?the mutual interest of preparing youth for adulthood.?

Working with Schools

A common theme in the two-day academy was the challenge of municipal governments and school districts working together. Several key ideas emerged.

Take the time to learn how to work together and to build relationships, as both groups want to better the lives and situations of youth. 
 
Other suggestions from the discussions about city-schools relationships include:

? Agree on a common language around youth development as an important first step.

? Give municipal staff, teachers and other school leaders concrete reasons why a joint planning process is important.

? Offer school credit for youth who participate in a city-schools youth planning process and for youth members who serve on the local school board or municipal youth council.

?The [academy] format provided an opportunity to share skills and expertise,? said Mary Hall, a city leader in Lakewood, Ohio, as well as ?a process for application to our home cities.?

Another participant reported that a skill learned at the academy was ?the importance of process vs. product. Effective programs and initiatives are strengthened when they are part of a master plan.? 
 
Details: More information on city-schools youth planning ? including some examples of city plans ? can be found at http://www.nlc.org/iyef/program_areas/youth_development/810.aspx. Or, contact Rebecca Makar at 202-626-3046 or makar@nlc.org.