“Listen to Us”: Examining the Impact of Youth Participatory Research on Community Development within a Multi-Year Regional Project

Background: Youth participatory action research (YPAR) represents a powerful approach to engaging youth in community development. This paper examines the impact of a multi-year YPAR process on strengthening youth voice in community development within a large metropolitan region, by showcasing (1) the YPAR process and highlighting the process of engaging youth voice in the project and (2) exploring the impact of the project on youth-led community development in the region.

Utilizing YPAR approaches, this project involved a team of high school aged youth in developing a large scale youth participatory social justice assessment.  Over 1100 young people participated in the assessment.  Results of the assessment led to a youth-driven regional summit and the development of a social justice grants fund through a community foundation. The policy fellows played vital roles in the development of the grants fund and in the vetting of proposed projects.  Ultimately 18 youth-led projects aimed at strengthening schools, organizations, and community opportunities were funded. 

Methods: This paper presents results from a mixed-methods case study, including participatory reports, organizational documents, process evaluations, participant reflections, focus groups to examine the impact of the YPAR process on the engaging youth voice in community development.       It also presents results from an online survey of the 18 youth-led projects to assess learning, process, and impact of the projects on organizational and community development.  The various data points allows for capturing the depth and breadth of the project and examining the multiple impacts of this project on various stakeholders. 

Findings/Results: The findings of the YPAR process showcase the impact of the project on increasing young people’s voice in the community.  The youth’s research and findings influenced the development of a large-scale social justice grants fund initiated by a community foundation and led to the development of a larger regional discussion about youth voice in community change.  The project had direct impact of creating a series of public disseminations of the YPAR findings including the development of a youth organizational network and website, sharing of youth created videos and policy advice sheets for community leaders, and the airing of a local PBS affiliate television town hall on the impact of youth leadership in the future of the region. In addition, the success of the YPAR process influenced the way adults in the region viewed young people’s contributions and led to innovations in program development, increasing roles of youth leadership, and influencing larger scale community changes.

Implications: As a process, YPAR is an innovative model for social work practice and research and more scholarship is needed on this approach to examine the beneficial impacts for broader community and regional development efforts. Future research should continue to build on case examples to develop a systematic framework of explore the multi-level impacts of YPAR and the contributions of young people’s voice in creating healthier communities.