About the Theme

“It’s better for us to ask for what we need, instead of everybody else coming and saying, ‘Oh give the teens their jobs.'”

Destiny Fernandes, teen participant in a rally for state-funded jobs

Leadership development and succession planning are struggles for many community-based organizations. In low-income, disadvantaged neighborhoods in particular, youth are too often looked at as a problem to be managed rather than a positive force to be tapped.

Forty percent of the Dudley neighborhood was 19 years old or younger in the late-2000s, so in many ways, for DSNI, youth development is community development. Gaining Ground showcases many examples of youth in action—producing the Dudley Youth Council radio show, lobbying for teen jobs funding at the statehouse, and running the landscaping of the land trust’s common areas.

DSNI has taken very intentional steps to empower its youth members: not only does the organization help them organize and advocate for themselves, but internally its leaders have made sure power is shared by setting aside dedicated seats for youth on the board and experimenting with ways to give groups of youth control over a program budget. This kind of authentic power sharing in turn encourages more youth engagement and participation in the organization as they feel heard and respected. And as they move into these opportunities, they develop their skills and leadership, and have a greater positive impact on the community that believes in them.

In part, this commitment to include youth members is so strong because in the 1990s, young people followed the example of DSNI’s founders and demanded a role in the organization, much the way DSNI’s founders rejected an attempt by outside organizations to speak for them in the 1980s. John Barros was DSNI’s first youth board member; by the time of Gaining Ground he had become the organization’s executive director.

“For me focusing on young people is the best way to make change in a neighborhood.”

Alicia Mooltrey, DSNI staff

Questions for discussion:

1. Which moment in the film represented the strongest moment of youth empowerment for you?
2. How did the youth in the film defy stereotypes of people their age and race? What are some of the characteristics of DSNI’s approach to youth development? What impact do you see?
3. We see several clips in the film of the Dudley Youth Council radio show. What impact do you think this program had on the youth involved? How about those listening? Are there particular situations where you think a public forum for youth voices could make a difference?
4. John Barros talks about his experience as a young person getting into fights and being stopped by the police. “I understand good people making bad choices.” Have you heard a person in a position of responsibility discuss experiences like this openly before? How do you expect Barros’s (and Webb’s and Henriquez’s) experiences in this regard to influence the group’s work with today’s youth? How about their feelings about working with the police?
5. In the film May Louie says “You create safety by having youth opportunities and youth development.” Do you agree with her assertion that crime arises from lack of youth activity/employment/empowerment? Why or why not?
6. How did you expect the landscaping budget decision to work out? What do you imagine you would have done in their shoes? Would the exercise still have been a success if they’d chosen to pay themselves the higher amount? Think of other programs you know that employ youth; how would managers and employers in those programs need to change their expectations to allow those youth to manage their own budgets or projects?
7. How do you think DSNI’s leaders reacted the first time a teenager wanted to run for the board or a group of teens demanded more of a say in how the organization was run? What might have been their fears, or what challenges might they have expected? Imagine how leaders of other community organizations you are familiar with might have reacted.
8. Jason Webb, director of the Dudley Neighbors Inc. Land Trust, who grew up in DSNI, says in the film, “The youth basically muscled their way into the organization, saying ‘We’re a part of this too,’ and now you have the youth that grew up in the organization running it.” The youth demanded a leadership role in DSNI, it wasn’t handed to them—but that doesn’t happen, or doesn’t succeed, in every community organization, even though they all have youth in their service areas. What do you think might have been the conditions that allowed it to work in DSNI? Would it work for adults to encourage such leadership if youth weren’t asking for it? What organization would you have wanted to influence as a teenager and how?
9. What might be the strengths that youth would bring to a decision-making board?
10. How do you think organizations like DSNI can stay true to their mission and original goals while passing on leadership to a new generation? Should they be trying to?

Suggestions for further reading/watching

Youth Rising.
http://landofopportunityinteractive.com/#/video/youth-rising
(Gaining Ground youth clips with supplemental information)

“Healthy Yards with Youth in Charge,” By Asa Needle, Jonathan Rodrigues, and Matt Feinstein, Shelterforce, Spring 2012.
http://www.shelterforce.org/article/2767/healthy_yards_with_youth_in_charge/

Community Learning in Boston’s Dudley Street Neighborhood.
http://colabradio.mit.edu/community-learning-in-bostons-dudley-street-neighborhood/

“Youth Leadership Development: A Space, a Voice and Some Power,” by John Barros, NonProfit Quarterly.
https://nonprofitquarterly.org/governancevoice/118-youth-leadership-development-a-space-a-voice-and-some-power.html

“Seven things you should know about John Barros,” Boston Globe, October 19, 2014.
http://www.bostonglobe.com/business/2014/10/18/seven-things-you-should-know-about-john-barros-boston-chief-economic-development/BOboEtfwnT4dZ5K7YtWNSI/story.html

“Don’t F*ck with Linda,” Boston Magazine, July 2014.
http://www.bostonmagazine.com/news/article/2014/06/24/dont-mess-with-linda-dorcena-forry/

“Employment as Crime Prevention,” Kari Lederson, Rooflines: The Shelterforce Blog, July 31, 2008.
http://www.rooflines.org/1058/employment_as_crime_prevention/

Youth Unemployment and Youth Jobs Funding in Massachusetts.
http://massbudget.org/report_window.php?loc=massbudget_youth_employment.html

Youth UpRising
http://www.youthuprising.org/

Youth Radio
https://youthradio.org/

“Youth Board Members: Can minors serve on a nonprofit board?” Nonprofit Law Blog.
http://www.nonprofitlawblog.com/youth-board-members-can-minors-serve-on-a-nonprofit-board/  (contains links for further research on this angle)

“The Power of Transformative Youth Leadership: A Field Analysis of Youth Organizing in Pittsburgh,” by Movement Strategy Center (Sept. 2012).
http://movementbuilding.movementstrategy.org/media/docs/3127_HeinzPghYouthLeadership.pdf

“Now or Never: The Fight for the Millennial Generation” by Funders Collaborative On Youth Organizing (Feb. 2015).
https://fcyo.org/uploads/resources/now-or-never-the-fight-for-the-millennial-generation_resource_56bea217b1b568422b0664a6.pdf

Boston After School and Beyond ACT Framework: http://bostonbeyond.org/initiatives/act_framework/

“Essential Partners: The Integration of Youth Development and Community Building”, Prepared by Urban Strategies Council – Julie Lieberman Neale – for the Annie E. Casey Foundation, July 1999.

Notes for educators/facilitators

• On the DVD, refer to the youth development module for relevant film clips.
• Students can watch the youth leadership-related sections of the film on their own via the Land of Opportunity Youth Rising multi-media video (http://landofopportunityinteractive.com/#/video/youth-rising). This platform has “triggers” at various points in the film where you can get more information about what’s being shown. The main Youth Rising video includes the general youth empowerment and teen jobs themes in Gaining Ground, and includes supplemental information about youth organizing in other areas and links to clips of other parts of Gaining Ground, including the part where the CommunityScapes junior supervisors have to decide how much to pay themselves and others.
• For students with workplace experience, consider raising the concept of “responsibility without authority” and what an awkward position that is to be in. How does that relate to the way young people are treated when it comes to improving their own neighborhoods?
• For more interactive exercises/small group discussion:
  • Consider dividing your students into small groups with a set of budget and staffing decisions to make similar to the CommunityScapes project.
  • If you are doing field work or internships, ask students to examine how the organization they are working with involves youth and compare it to DSNI. For example, different levels of engagement, in the governance structure, etc.