New Campaign Hopes to Persuade Charities to Fully Engage Young People’s Talents

Although most young Americans have some experience working for a community organization or grassroots campaign, only 15 per cent of U.S. non-profit groups actively involve young people in their work, a New York charity has found.

ALSO SEE:

Degree of Young People’s Involvement in Different Types of Groups

The charity, called Do Something, last week announced that it was starting a nationwide effort to change that situation. Through its new Community Connections Campaign it hopes to help many more civic organizations enlist the active support of people aged 15 to 29.

The charity has developed an educational handbook to help organizations recruit more young people and integrate them more effectively into their operations. It also plans a series of workshops and training sessions to help organizations cultivate young leaders for positions of responsibility.

The charity hopes to encourage older leaders in community organizations around the country to serve as “community coaches,” developing young people’s leadership potential and connecting them with opportunities to serve their communities.

“Young people are ready, willing, and able to do more to improve America’s communities,” said the actor Andrew Shue, co-founder of Do Something, which promotes volunteerism among teen-agers and young adults. “Our goal is to help community organizations actively engage young people in their efforts to change the world.”

The new campaign has been shaped by studies conducted during the past two years that show that young people want to get more involved in making their neighborhoods better places to live, but that few community organizations give them meaningful jobs to perform.

One survey of 1,000 young Americans, completed last summer, showed that nearly three-quarters of them have worked on behalf of a community group or grassroots effort. More than one-third of them have done so in the past year alone (The Chronicle, May 21).

But a separate study of 250 community organizations, completed last fall, found that while three-quarters of them employ people under age 30 and nearly 90 per cent of them use young people as volunteers, only one-third of them have young people serving on the board or in other positions of leadership or decision making.

And just 15 per cent of the groups give young people meaningful jobs that engage a full range of their talents. About 49 per cent of the organizations use people under 30 to a moderate extent, and 36 per cent use young people only to a minor extent or in limited ways.

Among other survey results:

* Political organizations are most likely to offer young people the opportunity for extensive involvement in their programs. Least likely to do so are health groups, arts groups, or organizations that help the poor, elderly, or homeless.

* Volunteers under 30 are valued especially for their new ideas and energy (by 89 per cent of the organizations surveyed), their skill with new technologies (88 per cent), and their idealism (82 per cent).

* Young people who learn about community organizations directly from their teachers, coaches, friends, or family are three times more likely than other young people to volunteer for such groups.

* Community-group leaders are more likely to see their young volunteers as being motivated by a desire to gain skills, training, or work experience than are the young people themselves, who more frequently mention their desire to help others and the enjoyment they get from working with people.

* More than a quarter of the leaders of community organizations, however, view young volunteers are less reliable than older ones, that they require too much supervision, and that they do not stay involved long enough to make training them worthwhile.

The new campaign is being financed by part of a three-year, $2.3-million grant to Do Something from the Pew Charitable Trusts.

“Connecting young people to civic life is vital for America’s future,” said Pew’s president, Rebecca W. Rimel. “Community organizations that tap into young people’s idealism, energy, and creativity will be the most successful in the 21st century.”

More information about the Community Connections Campaign is available from Do Something, 423 West 55th Street, Eighth Floor, New York 10019; (212) 523-1175. The research reports and the educational handbook may be viewed at the group’s World-Wide Web site (http://www.dosomething.org); eventually, the charity plans to post its training workshop schedule, volunteer openings at community groups, and other information on the site as well.