Editor's Note: These informative tips were created by theKIDS Consortium, a Maine-based organization that involves K-12 students in addressing challenges in their communities.



KIDS Consortium has published an excellent book on service learning programs entitledKids as Planners: A Guide to Strengthening Students, Schools, and Communities through Service-Learning, which is available from PlanningBooks.com.

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Whether working on a service-learning project, bringing young people onto the school board, or embarking on any other project where youth and adults are collaborating, building effective youth-adult partnerships is key!

Here are some tips for getting started:

* Make sure everyone understands the goals of the project.

* Be aware of potential barriers and work to minimize them. These include: transportation, time of meetings, access to technology, funding, communication with parents/guardians, and skill sets individuals bring to the project.

* Avoid tokenism. One or two students in a group of adults can feel intimidated or uncomfortable representing the opinions and views of all of their peers.

* Build a strong team and show respect and trust. This means listening to one another, valuing individual contributions, sharing in results of the project-good and bad, and developing a system of open communication.

* Involve young people in decision- making and the negotiation of group and individual roles and responsibilities.

* Set up a system where experienced group members serve as mentors to new members.

* Set responsibilities at appropriate levels and give youth real power.

* Support and encourage young leaders so they can celebrate their successes and learn from their mistakes.

* Plan for structured reflections, both written and verbal. A key strategy for developing leadership skills involves learning from and applying experiences.

For more resources, visit:

At the Table
www.atthetable.org

The Freechild Project
www.freechild.org

Points of Light Foundation
www.pointsoflight.org

SoundOut!
www.soundout.org

Copyright KIDS Consortium, Lewiston, ME 2006