Youth activism is best summarized as youth voice engaged in community organizing for social change. Around the world young people are engaged as activism planners, researchers, teachers, evaluators, decision-makers, advocates and leading actors in the environmental movement, social justice organizations, and anti-racism and anti-homophobia campaigns. As the central beneficiaries of public schools, youth are also advocating for student-led school change through student activism and meaningful student involvement. Youth voice is a fairly common neologism to refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body. ... Community organizing is a process by which people are brought together to act in common self-interest. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, this article or section may require cleanup. ... Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social or political change. ... This article or section may contain original research or unverified claims. ... Social justice refers to conceptions of justice applied to an entire society. ... Anti-racism refers to beliefs, actions, movements, and policies adopted or developed to oppose racism. ... Homophobia is the fear of, aversion to, or discrimination against homosexuality or homosexuals. ... The term public school has two contrary meanings: In England, one of a small number of prestigious historic schools open to the public which normally charge fees and are financed by bodies other than the state, commonly as private charitable trusts; here the word public is used much as in... // Student-led school change Student-led school change is a growing movement taking root in communities across the United States. ... Students occupying Sheffield town hall over the introduction of higher education fees Student activism is work done by students to effect political, environmental, economic, or social change. ...

Forms

There are three main forms of youth activism. The first simply relies on youth involvement in social activism. This is the predominant form of youth activism today, as millions of young people around the world participate in social activism that is organized, informed, led, and assessed by adults. Many efforts, including education reform, children's rights, and government reform call on youth to participate this way, often called youth voice. Youth councils are an example of this. Education reform is a plan, program, or movement which attempts to bring about a systematic change in educational theory or practice across a community or society. ... The childrens rights movement was born in the 1800s with the orphan train. ... Youth voice is a fairly common neologism to refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body. ... Youth councils are an example of youth voice engaged in youth-led decision-making. ...

Youth-driven activism requires young people to be the primary movers within an adult-led movement. Such is the case with the Sierra Club, where youth compell their peers to join and become active in the environmental movement. This is also true of many organizations that were founded by youth who became adults, such as SEAC, National Youth Rights Association, Global Youth Action Network, and Free the Children. Such is also the case with the European Youth Union. This is a disambiguation page — a navigational aid which lists other pages that might otherwise share the same title. ... NYRA logo The National Youth Rights Association is the largest Youth Rights group in the United States, with several thousand members. ...

The third form of youth activism is the increasingly common neologism youth-led community organizing. This title encompasses action which is conceived of, designed, enacted, challenged, redesigned, and driven entirely by young people. While there is no current national or international movement that is entirely led by youth, a number of local initiatives serve as examples, including Seattle Young Peoples Project in the US and Article 12 in Scotland.

In the United States

Youth activism as a social phenomenon in the United States truly became defined in the mid- to late-nineteenth century when young people began forming labor strikes in response to their working conditions, wages, and hours. Child laborers in the coal mines of Appalachia began this trend, with newspaper carriers, soon following. These actions isolated youths' interests in the popular media of the times, and separated young people from their contemporary adult labor counterparts. // Child labor or labour is the employment of children under an age determined by law or custom. ... This article is about the modern area called Appalachia. ...

This separation continued through the 1930s, when the American Youth Congress presented a "Bill of Youth Rights" to the US Congress. Their actions were indicative of a growing student movement present throughout the US from the 1920s through the early 1940s. The 1950s saw the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee and Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. bring young people into larger movements for civil rights. This led to the outbreak of youth activism in the 1960s. American Youth Congress (AYC) was an early youth voice organization composed of youth from all across the country to discuss the problems facing youth as a whole in the 1930s. ... The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee (or SNCC, pronounced snick) was one of the primary institutions of the American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s. ... To meet Wikipedias quality standards, the lead section of this article may need to be expanded. ... Civil rights or positive rights are those legal rights retained by citizens and protected by the government. ...

In recent years, scholars such as the Paulo Freire, Henry Giroux, Howard Zinn, Alfie Kohn, and Jonathan Kozol have all called for young people to become central actors in the guidance of schools and communities. Community organizations such as Children's Defense Fund, Sierra Club, and The Freechild Project have supported this call, providing training, resources, and other support. Advocates have included John Holt, Myles Horton and William Upski Wimsatt. Paulo Freire Paulo Freire (Recife, Brazil September 19, 1921 - São Paulo, Brazil May 2, 1997) was a Brazilian educator and influential theorist of education. ... Henry Giroux, born September 18, 1943, is a US cultural critic. ... Alfie Kohn Alfie Kohn is an American lecturer and author in the fields of education, psychology and parenting, residing in Belmont, Massachusetts. ... Jonathan Kozol at Pomona College April 17, 2003 Jonathan Kozol (born 1936 in Boston, Massachusetts) is a non-fiction writer, educator, and activist, best known for his books on public education in the United States. ... The Sierra Club is an American environmental organization founded on May 28, 1892 in San Francisco, California by the well-known conservationist John Muir, who became its first president. ... The Freechild Project logo The Freechild Project (or Freechild) is an international non-governmental program founded in August 2001 in Olympia, Washington, USA by community organizing activists from the youth voice, youth-led media, and youth rights communities. ... John Caldwell Holt (April 14, 1923 - September 14, 1985) was an American author and educator, one of the best known proponents of homeschooling, and a pioneer in youth rights theory. ... Myles Horton, born in Savannah, Tennessee (July 5, 1905 - January, 1990) was an American popular educator and founder of the Highlander Folk School, famous for its role in the Civil Rights Movement. ... William Upski Wimsatt (born 1973 in Chicago, Illinois) is an artist, journalist, author, entrepreneur, multi-issue organizer, philanthropist, organization-builder and lecturer. ...

Another example of youth activism is seen in the anti-globalization movement, which is made up largely of young people. A small group of youthful anarchists gained international attention during the WTO Ministerial Conference of 1999 when, in a formation known as a black bloc, they smashed windows of multinational corporations and clashed with police. Wikipedia does not have an article with this exact name. ... Anarchists can refer to several things, among which: The movie Anarchists Supporters of the principles of anarchism The Anarchists (Les Anarchistes), a famous song from Léo Ferré A List of anarchists This is a disambiguation page—a list of articles associated with the same title. ... On November 30, 1999, the World Trade Organization convened in Seattle, Washington, USA, for what was to be the launch of a new millennial round of trade negotiations. ... Black Bloc at April 12, 2003 anti-war demonstration in Washington DC. A black bloc is an affinity group of individuals, that come together during some sort of protest, demonstration, or event involving class struggle, anti-capitalism, or anti-globalization, and wear all black. ...

See also

• Youth voice
• Youth movements
• Student activism
• Youth empowerment
• Community youth development

Youth voice is a fairly common neologism to refers to the distinct ideas, opinions, attitudes, knowledge, and actions of young people as a collective body. ... A Youth organization is a formal organization aimed at children and adolescents for education and socialization. ... Students occupying Sheffield town hall over the introduction of higher education fees Student activism is work done by students to effect political, environmental, economic, or social change. ... ... Community youth development, or CYD, is a philosophy emphasizing the uniquely symbiotic nature of youth development to community development by situating the two practices in a common framework. ...

Examples

• Examples of Youth-Led Social Activism
• Inner-City Struggle
• Collegiate Forum, the first international student policy center
• National Youth Rights Association
• Sierra Student Coalition - The youth-led arm of the Sierra Club in the United States
• Sierra Youth Coalition - The youth-led arm of the Sierra Club of Canada
• Community Coalition (South Los Angeles)
• Progressive U
• The Roosevelt Institution, a network of student think tanks
• North Carolina Lambda Youth Network
• Youth Innovation Fund

External links

• Guide to Social Change Led By and With Young People
• STIR! Young Activists fighting global poverty and injustice Youth Initiative of World Vision Australia
• ACTivist Magazine
• Young Communist League
• At The Table Initiative
• Publications on Youth Activism
• CampusActivism
• Activism in the Midwest
• General College Truth Movement
• University of Washington Libraries Digital Collections - Vietnam Era Ephemera This collection contains leaflets and newspapers that were distributed on the University of Washington campus during the decades of the 1960s and 1970s. They reflect the social environment and political activities of the youth movement in Seattle during that period.
• SoundOut Student Activism Map - Activism led by young people focused on changing schools and the public education system.
• The YesYesNowNow.com "List" — A look at young people doing inspirational things around the world. Showing that youth culture can be a positive thing.