Youth have much to offer and can be powerful catalysts for change, and they should be actively engaged in the creation of just, safe, and healthy communities. Youth are seen as a collection of problems instead of future parents, neighbors, and workers who need maximum adult involvement, teaching, and encouragement to grow and be productive citizens. Change happens through collective, civic action. All humans are resources. All young people develop.
Personal mastery occurs through participation and discovery.
Communities will not improve without our young people as a driving force, in partnership with caring adults. Profound social change based on principles of the inter-relationship among humans and with the environment and a view of communities as settings for meaning, making, and human development. Youth and adults can and should learn together. Everyone and every community has assets. A strengths-based approach is congruent with development.