Building Relationships in the Context of Identity: Promising Practices Among Civic Activist Organizations

This article focuses on the promising practices of youth organizations, like Tohono O'odham Community Action (TOCA), that make identity a centerpiece of their work. More broadly, their approach is in keeping with what Ginwright & James (2002), have called a social justice approach to youth development; that is, one that makes identity central, analyzes power in social relationships, promotes systemic social change, encourages collective action and embraces youth culture (2002; p.34). The findings presented in this article emerged from a two-year evaluation of the Youth Leadership Development Initiative (YLDI), a project funded by the Ford Foundation and managed by the Innovation Center for Youth and Community Development. In evaluating the initiative, they created in-depth case studies of 12 civic activism organizations across the country and measured the types of youth development supports and opportunities young people were receiving within them. In surveys, young people within YLDI organizations reported consistently high quality relationships with adults (i.e. guidance, emotional support, practical support), at rates more than twice as high as those of youth within non-civic activist organizations who have administered the same survey (Lewis-Charp, et al; 2003). Although all YLDI organizations were highly successful at building youth-adult relationships, this article focuses on the work of five identity-support organizations that were particularly effective and innovative in this regard. Although the approaches used by these organizations varied considerably, there were common practices that contributed to their success at building positive and supportive youth-adult relationships. First, identity-support organizations paid attention to the context within which adult-youth relationships occurred, making sure to create a setting that fostered mutual learning and respect. Second, they were intentional about celebrating and affirming identity, imparting information on the history, art, and spiritual traditions of their group, and equipping youth with knowledge and skills to deal with prejudice. Lastly, identity-support organizations did not perceive identity as an immutable or "essential" set of cultural characteristics or personal qualities. In contrast, they sought to transform society and social relations through a process of critical self-reflection. They pushed youth out of their "comfort zones" so that would consider how injustice is internalized and perpetuated within themselves and their communities, as well as how they might work to counter it. (authors)