Leading Now provides training and support to young leaders and adult allies of all kinds. Below is a list of workshop topics that can be provided individually or as part of a complete short-term or long-term consultation in your community. To arrange for a workshop in your community, visit our "Contact Us" page or give us a call. Individual workshops are also held at conferences and other events around the country from time to time.

Workshops

Note: All workshops are open to both youth and adults. The adult workshops focus on program and organization development, while the youth sessions aim to help young people develop their own skills. But all workshops are interactive and engaging, and will be adapted to the audience.

For youth and adults:

Introduction to Youth Participation

This workshop introduces the concept of youth participation and examines several different approaches from around the world. We will discuss the challenges of youth participation, such as potential costs and time considerations, recruitment, representativeness and “ageism,” and share some of the ways communities have addressed these challenges. We’ll help you begin thinking about short-term and long-term goals and potential strategies, and how to get buy-in from community partners and leaders.

Youth Policy Summit

Teams of youth and adults from different communities or organizations come together for one full day to develop policy action plans on issues that they identify prior to the event. Leading Now will work with you to develop an agenda for the summit, identify speakers (local or state policymakers and experts on your issue) and facilitate the event. This is an action-packed, fun day that promotes team building and networking with other groups. Each team will leave with a plan to guide their policy advocacy back home and a schedule for check-ins with the rest of the teams to ensure continued progress.

For adults:

Building a Culture of Participation

This course is for those seeking to change an organization from within, to encourage leaders within the organization to engage young people in decision-making in different ways. Recognizing that such work can be extremely challenging, the course focuses on identifying allies, building a network of support and developing a clear action plan.

Funding Participation

This workshop helps participants identify sources of potential funding beyond the typical foundation grant proposal. The emphasis is on developing policies, processes and partnerships that lead to long-term support for your plan.

Participatory Budgeting with Young People

This course provides an introduction to the process of working with young people to allocate public funds. Participatory budgeting, first used in Brazil in the late 1990s, has spread to communities all over the world and is a very effective way of getting young people's input on actual policy decisions.

Young Grant-Makers

Foundations and public sector agencies have for many years engaged young people in awarding grants for small and large projects designed to benefit their communities. Participants in this course will learn how to engage and support young people in grant-making. Topics include recruitment and training of young grant-makers, establishing funding priorities, designing a request for proposals, developing award criteria, making awards and providing feedback to applicants.

Youth Participation Planning

This in-depth process is designed to help your community develop a clear plan for youth participation. Leading Now will help you identify stakeholders and engage them in creating a long-term plan with specific strategies and benchmarks for success. This comprehensive process requires significant commitment from stakeholders at all levels, including a willingness to change policies and longstanding practices if needed.

Involving Young People in Hiring

One of the most effective ways to ensure your organization meets the needs of young people is to involve them in hiring new staff. This is especially true when adding people who will work directly with youth. But even when hiring for other roles, young people can make important contributions. This workshop will show you how to prepare staff and young people so you hire the best person for the job, demonstrate to candidates and your existing staff the importance of youth participation and help young people expand their skill set.

For young people:

Me...A Policymaker? Yes!

It can be difficult and intimidating for even the most confident young person to imagine him- or herself having influence among adult community members and leaders. But it happens all the time, and we'll show you! This course is aimed at young people who have already been invited to participate in decision-making and governance as well as those who wish to make the case to adult community leaders for more opportunities for youth participation. We'll train you so you can train others!

Public Engagement

Planning a big project and need input from your community? Tired of sending out surveys that don’t get returned? Leading Now can help you design a public engagement process that provides the information you need and can help you gain the support of other young community members, their families and the decision-makers in the community. We’ll help you learn about a variety of public engagement techniques and assist you in developing a plan that uses the techniques that will work best for your particular situation.