Youth Organizing and Leadership
Discover tools, stories, and strategies to harness your potential as a youth leader. Dive into guides, games, videos, and more to learn how YOU can shape the future through organizing, advocacy, and bold leadership!
What is Advocacy?
Advocacy is speaking up for something you care about or supporting others to make positive change. It means using your voice and actions to raise awareness, solve problems, and help your community or the world.
Big Acts:
Organizing a school-wide event or protest
Meeting with lawmakers or decision-makers to discuss changes in laws or policies
Organizing or joining a letter-writing campaign to influence policy or funding
Coordinating a donation drive for those in need (food, clothes, books)
Launching a public awareness campaign, such as through social media or local media outlets
Collaborating with organizations to create or improve programs and services
Little Acts:
Speaking up when you or someone else is being treated unfairly, and asking for respect or fair treatment
Posting or sharing accurate information about a social issue on your social media
Talking to friends or family to raise awareness about a cause
Communicating your needs to a teacher, counselor, or coach when you need help or accommodations
Wearing a button, t-shirt, or wristband that supports a movement
Youth Organizing & Leadership
The Funders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing (FCYO) Toolkits provide comprehensive resources designed to support youth-led organizing initiatives by offering practical strategies, best practices, and frameworks for empowering young leaders and driving social change.
The Organizing Strategies resource from Youth Justice LA offers actionable tools and techniques to support youth-led advocacy and community organizing efforts for systemic change.
The Advocating for Change guide from the Community Tool Box offers comprehensive strategies and resources to help individuals and groups effectively promote social, policy, and community change.
The Digital Organizing Strategies guide by The Colorado Trust provides practical tips and tools for leveraging digital platforms to enhance advocacy and community organizing efforts.
Becoming an Effective Leader and Organizer
The article What Makes a Good Leader: Ten Essential Qualities to Learn from Walden University outlines key leadership traits and skills necessary for effective and inspiring leadership in various contexts.
Campaigning 101
Campaigning is a sustained, strategic effort focused on achieving a specific social justice goal by applying ongoing pressure to a clearly defined target until the objective is won. Unlike one-time actions, campaigns build grassroots capacity and leadership while aiming for meaningful, concrete victories.
Key Characteristics
Focused Goal: Campaigns work toward a clear, specific change.
Strategic Actions: They use planned tactics (like protests or creative events) to put pressure on decision-makers.
Team Effort: Campaigns build and rely on group participation and leadership.
Ongoing Process: They keep going until the goal is won, rather than being just a one-time event.
Real Results: The goal is something real and achievable that makes a difference.
Youth-led Campaigns:
March For Our Lives – Student-led movement advocating for gun violence prevention.
Sunrise Movement – Youth-led campaign for climate action and the Green New Deal.
Know Your IX – Youth- and survivor-led project to end gender-based violence in schools.
Advocates for Youth – Empowers young people to advocate for sexual health and rights.
Gen Z for Change – Coalition using digital activism for progressive causes.
Campaigning & Taking Action
The Service and Social Change: A Process Guide equips youth with step-by-step strategies, tools, and frameworks to connect service work to broader social change and effectively organize for community impact.
The Organizing: People, Power, Change resource from the Commons Social Change Library provides practical guidance on community organizing, focusing on how to build collective power, develop leadership, and create strategic campaigns for meaningful social and systemic change.
Explore resources and tools designed to empower youth in campaigning for policy changes that support healthier communities at Voices for Healthy Kids.
The Youth Activist Toolkit by Advocates for Youth provides essential guidance, strategies, and resources to empower young people to organize and advocate for meaningful change in their communities.
Game On
The Project Honduras resource by Trócaire offers an interactive and educational experience that explores the challenges faced by communities in Honduras. It aims to build awareness and understanding of global justice and inequalities through storytelling and digital engagement.
The GO Goals Game by the United Nations Regional Information Centre (UNRIC) is an educational board game designed to teach children and young people about the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in a fun and engaging way, promoting awareness and understanding of global challenges.
The Games for Change website provides a curated collection of video and digital games designed to address social, civic, and environmental challenges. These games aim to inspire meaningful change through immersive experiences, storytelling, and interactive play.
Youth Leadership and Organizing Insights: Transformative TED Talks for Youth
"Youth Activism: Activating Your Voice" with Hannah Testa
Hannah Testa, a 17-year-old activist and founder of Hannah4Change, shares her journey as a youth leader tackling global issues and empowers young people to take action and create meaningful change in this inspiring TEDx talk.
"The Power of Youth - Changing the World" with Sanjana Buddi
High school senior Sanjana Buddi shares how youth-led organizing and collective action can create a powerful global impact, proving that young people have the ability to change the world in this inspiring TEDx talk.
"The critical importance of youth advocacy" with Lily Gardner
Lily Gardner, a passionate youth advocate from Eastern Kentucky, explores the power of student voices as thought leaders and change-makers, emphasizing their role in shaping education and economic futures in this compelling TEDx talk.
References:
Advancement Project. (n.d.). School closure action kit. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://advancementproject.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/AP-SchoolClosureActionKit_FINAL.pdfAdvocates for Youth. (2019). Youth activist toolkit. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://advocatesforyouth.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/Youth-Activist-Toolkit.pdf Building Movement Project. (n.d.). Service and social change: A process guide. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://www.buildingmovement.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/Service-and-Social-Change-A-Process-Guide.pdfCommons Social Change Library. (n.d.). Organizing: People, power, change. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://commonslibrary.org/organizing-people-power-change/ Community Toolbox. (n.d.). Advocating for change. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://ctb.ku.edu/en/advocating-changeFunders' Collaborative on Youth Organizing. (n.d.). Youth organizing: A method for civic engagement and strengthening democracy toolkit. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://fcyo.org/uploads/resources/roots-initiative-toolkit_resource_56be70e092e4157f25cc4bee.pdfGames for Change. (n.d.). Games for change. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://www.gamesforchange.org/games/Grassroots Policy Project. (n.d.). Community organizing: A brief introduction. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://learningforfunders.candid.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2018/12/commorg.pdfHampton, R. (n.d.). Advocacy 101: Big “A” vs. little “a”. Ryan Hampton. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://ryanhampton.org/advocacy-101-big-a-vs-little-a/ Hunter, B. (2019). Campaigning for social change (2nd ed.). Commons Social Change Library. Retrieved April 13, 2025, https://commonslibrary.org/wp-content/uploads/Campaigning-for-Social-Change.pdf The Colorado Trust. (2022). Digital organizing strategies. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://www.coloradotrust.org/wp-content/uploads/2022/06/Digital-Organizing-Strategies-vF.pdfTrócaire. (n.d.). Project Honduras. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://games.trocaire.org/project-honduras/United Nations Regional Information Centre. (n.d.). GO Goals Game. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://go-goals.org/Voices for Healthy Kids. (n.d.). Campaign training tools. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://voicesforhealthykids.org/internal/campaign-training-toolsWalden University. (n.d.). What makes a good leader: Ten essential qualities to learn. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://www.waldenu.edu/programs/business/resource/what-makes-a-good-leader-ten-essential-qualities-to-learn Wisconsin Public Health Association. (n.d.). Take action: Create change - A community organizer's toolkit. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://cdn.ymaws.com/www.wpha.org/resource/resmgr/health_&_racial_equity/lcat_take_action_create_chan.pdfYouth Justice LA. (n.d.). Organizing strategies. Retrieved April 13, 2025, from https://youthjusticela.org/organizing-strategies