Workshop: E6 - The Youth Empowerment Model for Adults

By Parrish Ravelli, BA, Youth Empowerment Coordinator/Program Director, NC School Community Health Alliance/Youth Empowered Solutions, Durham, NC

Working with youth is exciting, inspiring, and yes, a challenge. It requires development, training and practice (and patience)...because let's be honest, working with youth is tough! In this workshop you will gain the tools necessary to establish - and enjoy - an empowered group of young advocates.

Youth have the capacity to change the way our organizations look, feel, and operate. They also have the capacity to significantly increase our organizations’ outcomes. To create an environment that is conducive to youth empowerment we, as adults, need to be equipped with tools to develop youth-adult partnerships. The YES! Youth Empowerment Model is a process as much as it is a culture. It is meant to strengthen a youth program as much as it is to strengthen a youth-serving organization.

We will talk about our role as Adult Allies, reflect on the Millennial Generation (as well as our own), and look at how the YES! Youth Empowerment Model is applied within recruitment and retention strategies. Hopefully this workshop will bring to light for you what it has for us, that the success and sustainability of your school-based health centers can drastically be improved by the degree to which you are engaging those youth that you serve.