YouthMapping: the power of a fact-finding experience

Posted June 9, 2021 by Melanie Wilson

A youthmapper at work in western Massachusetts, 2019.

Youth Catalytics has a produced a YouthMap toolkit and support materials. Contact Cindy Carraway-Wilson to learn how to bring youthmapping to your community.

Of all the crises that pummeled America in 2020, one got much more attention than the others. It obviously made sense to move hard and fast on the pandemic; it was life and death, after all. But another crisis is life and death, too, and ultimately likely to hurt our nation far more than the pandemic: the public’s apparent inability to discern fact from fiction and its sinister sidekick, disinformation.

Older people who have nestled happily inside their own info-wormholes may be unsalvageable. Young people certainly are not. That’s why affirmatively teaching them how to uncover and test facts is so vital.

Before becoming a researcher and program evaluator, I was a newspaper reporter, and the lessons I learned in journalism have lasted me a lifetime. If I could do one thing for youth growing up right now — just one — it would be create the same hands-on fact-finding experience for them.

What would such an experience look like? How about training young people themselves to investigate issues and resources in their communities? How about teaching them how to collect and fact-check information, provide background and context, and summarize it all for their peers? And to do it in a way guaranteed to make adults in their lives, including local policymakers, take note?

In 2008, as part of a federal capacity-building grant for rural youth-serving agencies, we developed YouthMap to do precisely this. As we saw it, young people participating in this project would:

• Learn how their communities were constructed and uncover resources that lay just under the surface,

• Consider which new kinds of information would help them and their peers be healthy and productive,

• Improve their oral and written communications skills and ability to write for an audience of their peers, and

• Become more confident talking to a wide range of adults, especially adults outside their usual orbits such as town officials, business owners, and artists.

In Windham County, Vt., the 2008 pilot site for YouthMap, young people told us they wanted to find out about three topics: where they could get free groceries or meals, what kind of internships were available to them, and where they might find interesting volunteer opportunities.

With the help of an adult facilitator, they drew up an initial list of interviewees on each topic, and asked their sources for additional referrals as they went along. In the end, the mappers conducted about 36 interviews over nine months, each one on-site and in person. They travelled as teams, one young person asking questions and another taking notes, often accompanied by the adult facilitator.

“Many potential opportunities for young people — opportunities that could end up changing their lives but will definitely grow their skills — will always go undeveloped until some young person knocks on the door and just starts asking about them. As always, the magic for young people is in simple connection.”

We were delighted by the questions they asked of the dozen food pantries and soup kitchens in the county. “Do I have to bring an adult in order to get a meal or groceries?” “What’s the vibe like — do fights ever break out?” “Do you have ice cream?” These were hopeful but worried queries, focusing mostly on whether they would really be welcome in spaces usually dominated by adults.

But the big surprise was in the other two areas, where youth not only uncovered work and volunteer opportunities that were already available, but actually created new opportunities. At least four interviewees — a local glass blower, a home restoration company owner, a national prisoner advocacy group, and a dentist — offered to begin accepting youth interns or volunteers, simply as a result of their conversation with youthmappers. Interviewing source after source, mappers found that the invisible wall between teens and adults in the community was actually more permeable than they had imagined, creating pleasant surprises for the folks on each side.

These projects were time-limited, but the truth is the mapping process could literally go on forever, since young people never stop growing up and communities never stop changing. And many potential opportunities for young people — opportunities that could end up changing their lives but will definitely grow their skills — will always go undeveloped until some young person knocks on the door and just starts asking about them. As always, the magic for young people is in simple connection.

Youth Catalytics went onto roll out youthmapping in Western Massachusetts in 2019, as part of a four-county youth-focused opioid-reduction grant. As in the earlier project, young people selected their own topics to explore given their particular interests and the conditions in their local communities. One group chose to investigate possibilities and requirements for post-high school jobs in early childcare; another interviewed community mental health care providers about the mental health resources for young people. Each mapping group turned their findings into their own unique product: one a podcast, one an information booklet for peers, one a set of postings for their online community calendar.

In an important sense, though, they all achieved the same thing: an understanding that their communities were friendlier than they thought, opportunities for them were more plentiful, and information — authentic, factual information — could be discovered by going directly to the right people. And that’s a lesson that lasts forever.

Below are two postings from Wind Tunnel, the online map of opportunities youthmappers in Windham County created. All posts were reported and written by young people. Read them with an eye toward what’s possible in your own community.

RESOURCE CATEGORY: INTERNSHIPS

Jonathan Jesup Restoration Inc. 119 S Goddard Road, Putney, Vermont

Jonathan Jesup Restoration Incorporated

Email: ___________

Phone: ___________ Contact: __________. Open 7-5 Monday to Friday, all year round

Jonathan Jesup is a homebuilder specializing in 18th- to 19th-century homes. He founded and owns this 30-year-old company.

Opportunities

This company hires young people 18 and older as a carpenter assistant. They work alongside the carpenter, using tools to measure, cut, and attach wood for structures. They learn to anticipate what they need to do next to help assist the main carpenters.

Payment and Other Benefits

The pay for this position starts at $10.00 to $12.00 per hour. Another benefit is to be able to work with a great group of people that talk about interesting things.

Qualifications

Jonathan likes to hire people who have attended college, though the only requirement is the willingness to learn, to listen, and to work hard. It is helpful to have the structural ability to see things in three dimensions, be courteous and polite (have good communication skills), and have a commitment to clean up completely after their work is done. It is expected that people be on the job site alcohol- and drug-free but they do not drug test. Jonathan has never actually had an intern, but would be willing to take one on.

The Environment

95% of the work is on a job site, which is a raw piece of land or an existing home. The crew is outside all day long until they progress to a covered building. It is challenging to take in all the information but they support a new carpenter helper to try new things even if they fail, supporting their ability to work independently and not rely on other people. There is lots of flexibility to stretch yourself. They will loan tools for a newcomer. Over the last 30 years, the company has hired 20 people under the age of 20 and of those at least half are now in business for themselves.

RESOURCE CATEGORY: COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNING

Our Place Drop-In Center

4 Island St. Bellows Falls, Vermont

Phone: __________

Contact: __________

Open: M, T & Th 9 am-4 pm, Wed 1 pm-3 pm, Fri 9 am-3 pm

This is a day shelter, local food shelter and meal site serving nine communities in the area. There are usually two meals a day: breakfast 9-10:30 am and lunch 11:30 am-12:30 pm, and if there are leftovers, people can take them home. Wednesdays there is a lunch of light sandwiches from 1 pm-3 pm. The food shelf is open 21 hours a week. Our Place has a paid staff of four; only the director works full time.

Opportunities

Volunteer opportunities include cooking, cleaning up, stocking shelves, helping with mailings, gardening, and assisting with fundraisers. Volunteers work from a couple of hours up to 20 hours a week. In the past, youth volunteers have helped serve holiday meals or helped with one-time fundraisers. Our Place is open to more youth volunteers, though, and even to having a young person serve on the board.

Payment and other Benefits

This is volunteer work, and doing it makes you feel good — you know that because of your efforts, your community will be stronger and healthier.

Qualifications

Staff expect the same quality of work from a volunteer as from a paid employee. Volunteers must be respectful of a diverse population, have empathy, and be able to listen. A sense of humor is crucial, and all workers are expected to respect the privacy and confidentiality of the guests. Volunteers must also respect proper boundaries: they can’t give people rides, call them at home, or give out their phone number. Our Place does not drug test.

The Environment

This is a comfortable place, with lots of good-natured chatter and excellent cooking. “You hear interesting stories from people,” staff say. “It’s like a school cafeteria without the food fights.” One of the best parts about volunteering here is that young people come to understand why and how people struggle financially. The hard part, though, is that sometimes it’s busy and sometimes it’s slow, so teens may occasionally get bored.