Youth-Adult Partnership: Impacting Individuals and Communities

Youth-adult partnership (Y-AP) in community decision making and collective action has gained momentum as a key element of prevention programming. There is now a solid body of evidence demonstrating that these partnerships have developmental benefits for youth. There is also an increasing awareness that Y-AP may also produce positive community-level outcomes. However, only a few studies have explored the influence of Y-AP on adult, organizational, or community development.

This article explores the full range of outcomes that might emerge when organizations adopt Y-AP as a core organizational approach to practice, and outlines a framework for explaining how organizations promote these positive outcomes. In the end, it finds that when organizations adopt Y-AP as a priority, good things happen - a culture of partnership can be created, which in turn, directly impacts participating youth, staff, community leaders, and public institutions.