Young people can be extremely powerful and effective activists. They bring new and fresh ideas, highly relevant information about the needs of youth, and knowledge of new media that can be useful to an organization.  Young people are also excellent organizers. Recruiting youth as partners in your campaigns and keeping them actively involved in organizational work is critically important to achieving your advocacy goals. This tip sheet provides strategies for recruiting, organizing and retaining youth activists.

Whether it is in sports, drama club, band or online community, young people are already active in a number of areas that impact their everyday lives. In order to recruit youth, you have to meet them where they already are, provide them with a logical rationale as to why they should become active in your organization, and ensure that your staff is ready to develop youth-friendly behaviors to accommodate young people as full partners.

Recruitment

In-Person Events

One of the best ways to recruit new members is to host events.  Unlike meetings, events bring in people who want to DO something, rather then just talk.  Example events are phone banks, petition drives, letter writing campaigns, rallies, teach-ins, or accountability sessions.

Ensure that events are accessible to youth by holding them after school hours or on weekends,  making them easy to get to, and providing food. Many young people don’t have reliable access to transportation or additional spending money for food. If you hold an event after school, you should have snacks available. If the event is on a weekend, then you should provide lunch or dinner, depending on the time of the event.

Lobby Days

Because lobby days involve meeting with elected representatives or their staff, this is one event that must be conducted during the week and often, during school hours. Planning an effective lobby day should take into account that young people will likely miss a day of school, need transportation to and from the visits, and require funds to cover meals. Time must also be allocated prior to the lobby day for training and practice sessions which should be done after hours or on weekends.

Look Within Your Network

Another great way to recruit new members is by networking with people you already know.  If, for example, you work with a core group of youth activists, ask each of them bring 3 friends to an event or meeting, or to tell 3 friends to call their legislator, or have 5 friends sign a petition. These friends then become the foundation for expanding your youth activists base.

Another source to expand your youth network is your staff. Ask your staff if they have children,  nieces or nephews, or young neighbors who might be interested in participating in an event like a lobby day or petition gathering.

Use New Media

Many young people spend hours a day online. Meet young people where they are by creating a Facebook group, updating your organization’s website to make it more youth-friendly (and to publicize upcoming events and highlight the amazing work of the youth already involved), or spreading the word by having people email their blogs to their friends.  Websites such as www.amplifyyourvoice.org can get young people interested in how policies impact their lives and make them feel as though they can change the direction of those policies. They will also feel that they are part of a greater community.

Recruit Often

Recruitment should never be thought of as a one-time thing, or a monthly thing.  Constantly reach out to people who might want to get more involved in order to build your campaign.

Brag a Little

People are drawn to success.  Talk about accomplishments and goals that have already been achieved to show that your organization knows how to get results. Keep a one-pager highlighting these successes and have it on-hand at events and whenever you are out and about.  This will help draw more people to your movement or a cause.

Keep Track of Newly Recruited Youth

This is essential! At each event, have multiple sign-in sheets with space for name, age, email address, phone number, street address, personal website, and any other information you might need. You’ll need this information to build your database and to engage these youth in your cause after the event through follow-up calls and emails. 

Retention

Getting someone to show up to a rally is one thing, but keeping him or her involved over a long time period can be more of a challenge.  Parents, school, work, relationships, changing perspectives and opinions, busy schedules, and disinterest can all play a role in young people becoming less involved.

Here are some ways to retain recruits:

• Set clear expectations and goals for the youth. Work with each young person to create individualized work plans based on their interest and availability. Short videos and blogs are creative and fun projects that young people enjoy working on. Some other ideas for work plan items are campaign slogans, artwork and layout of materials, and letters to the editor. But, do not overload them with work!
  
• New recruits may also feel like they are arriving in the middle of the party and this can turn many of them off.  To avoid this, eliminate any technical jargon or acronyms when you speak about your issue, pair new people with veterans during events like a phone bank or lobby days, and, above all, make sure that you individually check in with new people during an event.
  
• Empower youth to co-organize or take the lead on events and projects.
  
• Create a Facebook group and have everyone elect “officers” who can send messages to the whole group, edit the recent news section, and invite more friends to join the group.
• Use other online resources that are available such as Amplify, a youth activist blog-based website;  a state legislative website that includes contact information for legislators; or websites of similar organizations that have resources and publications available.
• Send periodic emails with interesting news stories, successes stories, etc.
• Avoid technical jargon-speak and use everyday terms.
• Set up a regular call or meeting time. Make sure that meetings and events happen during youth-friendly times such as late evening or weekends (not during school hours).
• Address other common youth-involvement barriers by providing meals or snacks anytime you meet and funds to reimburse youth or their parents or guardians for travel expenses.
• Call newly recruited youth after an event, thank them for participating, and find out if they can contribute to the organization in another, concrete way.
• Make sure that projects and tasks are interactive, useful and fulfilling.
• Train young people on the issues they will be working on. Use staff within your organization or reach out to national experts for training on sex education advocacy, media and messaging, youth-adult partnerships, etc.
• Train your organization’s staff on how to involve young people as true partners in their work. Many national organizations, like Advocates for Youth, provide technical assistance and training to help accomplish this.
• Keep parents and guardians updated on the council’s progress. When parents are actively involved, young people are more likely to remain involved
• Treat youth with respect! Don’t patronize young people or set low expectations for them – this is disrespectful and will turn them off to the campaign.

Assessment

Thinking about the work in terms of a ladder will assist you in assessing how active each young person is.  Set goals to move volunteers from the lower step (sending a letter to their representative or signing a petition) to a higher step (circulating a petition or writing an article) to an even higher step (conducting a school or community forum or organizing a lobby day). This way, you can ensure that each person has enough work to do for their interest and activity level.  For example, there might be 15 young people who show up to all the meetings, attend and plan many events, write blogs online, and overall seem highly engaged.  This is the top of the ladder.  One step below is a group who attends several meetings, goes to several events, and is moderately engaged.  Another level down would be people who rarely attend meetings but will write a letter to their representative and therefore are still involved, and the bottom could be people who have expressed interest but have not done anything yet.  Thinking about how active each type of volunteer is and giving them opportunities to move up the ladder (in terms of activity level-not competence) will help keep young people involved. 

Remember to always listen to the young people you are working with and remain flexible and open-minded. Working with youth on issues they care about can yield amazing results and  take your organization to new heights to help you accomplish your goals. 

This tip sheet drew on the following resources:

1. Bobo, Kimberley A. Organizing for social change Midwest Academy manual for activists. Santa Ana, Calif: Seven Locks P, 2001.
2. Alford, Sue, ed. Building Effective Youth-Adult Partnerships. Publication. Comp. Advocates For Youth.
3. Stanford University.  “Haas Notes On Recruiting New Members. ”
   

Written by Dan Jubelirer
Advocates for Youth © June 2009