Promoting Participation of Older Youth

Session 1: 11:00-11:55 (55 minute workshop)

Recognizing that youth have more say as they get older about what they do in their leisure time, we need to learn more about what attracts and interests them (Lauver et al., 2004; Weiss et al., 2005; Marczak et al., 2006; Saito, 2006) if we are to build engaging programs and opportunities. We also need to find effective ways of marketing these developmental opportunities to and with them.  This workshop will explore how mentoring programs can attract and retain older youth in mentoring relationships. 

Related links:

Promoting Participation of Older Youth Research Paper 

Youth Development Research

Intended Workshop Audience: All Audiences

Presented by Rebecca Saito, Senior Research Associate at the University of Minnesota Extension Center for Youth Development

Rebecca Saito is a researcher, evaluator, consultant, facilitator, speaker, and author, who has focused her passion and work over the past 25+ years on deepening our understanding of, and impact on, the well-being of young people and communities. Her current work focuses heavily on learning, promoting and supporting youth engagement, community-based strategies to promote positive youth development, youth violence prevention through public information and mobilization, formal and informal mentoring and research and program evaluation that helps build stronger youth development programs and practices.  Saito, along with her husband R. Delroy Calhoun, were the recipients of the 2004-2005 Howland Family Endowment for Youth Leadership Development Chair. Through their work in their own neighborhood as Endowed Chairs, they created the Youth Action Crew project—a “youth-driven” social marketing project that is designed to increase awareness of and engagement in youth programs and opportunities.