Tips for Tapping Youth Volunteer Potential

by Susan J. Ellis, Anne Weisbord, and Katherine H. Noyes

While many might agree with the theoretical concept of youth as volunteers, it is a different matter to put it into practice. Here are concrete guidelines for you to use if you decide to start a youth service learning project.

1. Be sure salaried staff members participate in the planning process. Be alert to expressed and unexpressed reservations and deal with them early on.
2. Do not forget that adult volunteers will also be affected; enlist their aid in generating ideas for implementing youth volunteer projects.
3. The first way you might want to involve youth is as advisers to you. Talk with them and get their opinions and ideas about ways youth could become volunteers in your program.
4. Beware of the myth that youth will do anything "because they're young." The best jobs are the ones the kids want to do.
5. Ask yourself, "What will the young person get from this volunteer assignment?" Develop jobs that build on motivations such as learning something new, feeling important and being of real help.
6. At the same time, your desire to provide a "good experience" for young volunteers should not overshadow your responsibilities to your clients. So also ask yourself, "Does this job meet a real need?" This must be the bottom-line question.
7. Write a job description for every assignment, even if the job is very simple. The job description is a tool for you to pinpoint exactly what you want to have happen.
8. To recruit your volunteers, ask yourself where youth can be found, and don't stop after answering "at school!" Other sources that can be tapped include church and synagogue groups, after-school recreation programs, community centers, camps, sports leagues and video game arcades.
9. The most important thing in recruitment is to find some personal way of asking each young person to become involved. Kids will respond most positively to a direct, face-to-face appeal.
10. Success in working with young people relies more on an innate "sixth sense" than on hard-and-fast rules. Certainly you should have policies and procedures, but be open to the unexpected. Remember that one of the main reasons you recruited young people is to benefit from their fresh approach and creativity, so don't squelch the potential.
11. Adult supervisors will find themselves acting as "teachers" when supervising young volunteers. This is natural and positive. Youth need to have their work placed into the broader context, which is usually new to them.
12. Youth can be given substantial independent responsibility once they are trained and accustomed to their assignments. They should know who is in charge if a question arises, but constant supervision should not be necessary.
13. Give tangible, immediate rewards for work accomplished. Also, consider ways to recognize each young person publicly within peer group settings and via school and community newspapers, church or synagogue bulletins, etc. Parties are a good forum for recognizing the contribution of your young volunteers.