Zeldin found in Youth as Agents of Adult and Community Development: Mapping the Processes and Outcomes of Youth Engaged in Organizational Governance that youth-adult partnerships have an array of benefits.  Indeed, adult and organizational development may be promoted just as strongly as youth development.

Heather Ramey conducted a meta-analysis of existing research Organizational Outcomes of Youth Involvement in Organizational Decision making:  A Synthesis of Qualitative Research.  She concludes that youth voice in decision making strengths organizations in multiple ways, from improving program design, to maximizing youth engagement, and inspiring adult staff to do their best.  

Steven Eric Krauss, Shepherd Zeldin and their associates have been studying the Gaya Island Youth Association, off the coast of Borneo in Malaysia. This youth association has intentionally broadened its impact over the years. It started as a youth sports-oriented organization and then started working with schools of educational issues. Most recently, the Youth Association […]

Julie Petrokubi, assisted by Shep Zeldin, conducted a two year case study of the Multnomah Youth Commission in Portland, Oregon.   The title of the report is “Promoting Thriving Youth and Communities through Youth-Adult Partnership.” Research demonstrated that the youth commissioners benefited greatly from their participation. Equally important, there were positive collective outcomes on the community […]

Many of us get asked the same question: Why should we bother to include youth in organizational and coalition decision making? This research provides an answer — involving youth promotes competence and confidence among adults, not only youth. Further, involving youth enhancing the outreach capacity of organizations and allows organizations to be more responsive to […]