Examples

Policy Developmentyouth on board

  • In June 2007 Youth on Board supported the BSAC members of the Greater Boston Students 4 Peace as they presented the results of their Opt-Out Campaign at City Hall Plaza.
  • Supported the Boston Student Advisory Council (BSAC) in developing and implementing a cell phone policy in the Boston Public Schools. When Boston came under pressure to ban cell phones in all school buildings, BSAC quickly jumped on the task of writing a district-wide policy, perceiving that a policy developed with young people's input would be seen as more credible and fair by the students it affected. The Boston School Committee voted to approve the district-wide policy, which retains the original wording proposed by BSAC. Youth on Board staff, serving as BSAC Advisors, provided the critical support the group needed to develop and implement the policy.
  • Helped BSAC successfully lobby the schools, School Committee, and Superintendent to re-evaluate the Boston Public Schools "lockout policy," which allowed schools to lock tardy students out of the school building for the rest of the day. BSAC surveyed students on their attitudes toward being locked out and used the data to build a case for eliminating the lockout policy throughout the district, citing its negative impact on student morale and attendance. BSAC's proposal was quickly accepted by the School Committee, which agreed to remove the lockout component from all tardiness policies in all Boston schools.

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Youth Organizing and Activism

  • Helped vamp up the Boston Student Advisory Council, known as BSAC. When Boston Public Schools called in Youth on Board to redesign the program, Youth on Board helped actively engage students in decision-making, and placed a student representative on the Boston School Committee. In one year, BSAC grew from a fledging program to a fully functional advisory council made up of over 40 students representing schools from all over the city. 
  • Advised students, faculty, and staff at The Social Justice Academy on the development of unique governing committees. Made up of students and a faculty advisor, each of these 14 committees oversee an aspect of school life-school scheduling, student newspaper, school web page, rules, attendance, and so on. All 350 students in the school choose a committee on which to serve, allowing 100% student participation in school governance.
  • Helped the Massachusetts Coalition of School-Based Health Centers organize Youth Resource Groups that initiate their own activism projects around school and health issues. One group organized a day of education about teen pregnancy. Another group offered students healthier snacks and foods as an alternative to their school's lunches. At another school, the Youth Resource Group set up a confidential counseling service where students who feel disrespected by teachers can talk about their situation and how to handle it.
  • Facilitated workshop for youth workers at a conference on organizing in South Africa, and led workshops on youth engagement in the  Johannesburg public schools. Youth on Board talked to students about the incredible role that young black people played in South Africa's revolution, how they inspired young activists all over the world, and how young people needed to continue to lead the way for change.
  • Led a week of workshops for youth workers and young people in Budapest focused on fostering youth/adult partnerships. This group then set up support systems at the University of Budapest and in surrounding communities to address the growing alienation of young people.
  • Conducted community-wide forums and workshops in Kyoto, Osaka, Tokyo, and Nagoya. The forums were organized by POWER, a group of student activists who wanted greater involvement in Japan's newly formed nonprofit sector. Youth on Board helped these communities explore ways to include young people in policy discussions and have them participate in the formation of nonprofit organizations.
  • Coached youth workers in Mexico City on building close relationships with young people, and led five days of workshops supporting youth workers and parents. The workshops featured a panel of young people who talked to participants about youth/adult relationships.

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Program and Curriculum Development

  • Designed a train-the-trainer civic dialogue curriculum for Project 540, and then used the curriculum to train 1000 students from 250 high schools across the country. This project engaged 170,000 students in dialogues where they discussed school and community issues and developed action plans to address them.
  • Coauthored a publication for Wellesley College's Stone Center about what it means to really listen to young people. Youth on Board assisted in the development of the publication, based on findings from a series of focus groups we conducted under an endowment from the Stone family. In the focus groups, people were asked what it means to be a caring adult and what made caring, healthy youth/adult relationships possible.
  • Created a comprehensive youth involvement program for the Massachusetts Coalition of School-Based Health Centers. The program included:
    1) hiring and training community organizers to run the program at each site;
    2) creating Youth Resource Groups to plan and implement health education activities (see Youth Organizing and Activism);
    3) creating youth-run Speakers' Bureaus;
    4) outreach to the community;
    5) outreach to parents;
    6) enhancing the support of school administrations; and
    7) recruiting and supporting young people and parents to serve on health center boards.
    Youth on Board also developed a Project Book containing handouts and literature from each event.

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Involving Young People in Decision-Making

  • Worked with the Boston Public Schools Office of High School Renewal to ensure that students' voices were heard during the small school design process. Youth on Board engaged over 600 students at Hyde Park High School in a discussion on the importance of student involvement in school decisions, particularly in the redesign of Hyde Park High into three smaller schools. As a result of Youth on Board's assistance, student representatives served on the design teams that developed and submitted 5 new school designs. The Boston Public Schools system now has a standard for student involvement and a student advisory board set up to guide the superintendent's office in new school design.
  • Facilitated a town meeting in Bath, Maine attended by young people, town council members, city planners, and representatives from the school system and police department. Youth on Board then helped the city through a planning process to change the governance structure so that young people had a role in decision-making. Our work in Bath led to young people's increased involvement in city governance.

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Improving School Culture

  • Moved Watertown High School students and teachers away from traditional strategies of violence prevention such as metal detectors and expulsion to biweekly dialogue meetings to discuss issues around school safety, peer pressure, and relationships with teachers. Over a two-week period, we trained an entire freshmen class in this dialogue process, which they then utilized and passed on to incoming freshmen students.
  • Helped Monument High School restructure and strengthen its student government, adding more student representatives and developing a core group of committed student leaders. Student government is now in charge of planning the school's Community Days, dedicated to creating opportunities for dialogue and relationship building throughout the school. Youth on Board also helped Monument to engage the entire student body in the three-year accreditation process, and hired a team of four students to advise the Instructional Leadership Team on this process

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Strategic Development

  • Assisted in the development and design of the Food Project's organizational structure and philosophy to fully include young people among their staff, volunteers, and board.
  • Worked with CAPAY (Coalition for Asian Pacific American Youth) during its creation to support the development of this youth-run/youth-led organization and assisted in the creation of an adult advisory board.
  • Worked over several years with City Year Boston to help them develop multiple strategies to support youth involvement in their organization. Strategies included:
    1) creating a youth advisory board;
    2) placing a young person on the City Year Boston board of directors; and
    3) developing a weekly support system for young staff members.

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Coaching Adult Allies

  • Developed a support platform for the Boston Public Schools advisory program, in which a teacher and a small group of students meet regularly to get to know each other and talk about important issues. The advisory support platform seeks to ensure that advisories live up to their intended purpose of helping teachers and students connect and collaborate. The advisory support platform consists of:
    1) twice-yearly surveys soliciting teacher and student feedback on advisories;
    2) Student Development Advisors working with Youth on Board to support advisories;
    3) advisory "days of support" where facilitators check in, discuss curriculum, and share ideas and resources; and
    4) monthly town meetings for advisories at each grade level.
    This platform can serve as a model for other school systems using the advisory program.

Want to know more? Contact us for a free initial consultation.

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