Partnership Spectrum: Emerging Stage

Young people begin co-facilitating meetings, participating in advisory groups and contributing to shared decisions. Adults are learning to shift traditional power dynamics, communicate more transparently and create space for youth-led ideas.

Organizations experiment with shared leadership while navigating challenges related to equity, feedback, role clarity and the pace of change.

• Develop and document clear roles and responsibilities for youth and adults.
• Establish consistent feedback loops that demonstrate how youth input influences decisions.
• Prepare adults to share authority, facilitate collaboratively and navigate conflict.
• Make organizational processes more accessible through plain language, clear expectations and shared information.
• Strengthen staffing, compensation and administrative systems to support growing youth participation.

• Young people co-facilitate meetings and serve in defined advisory or leadership roles.
• Youth and adult responsibilities, expectations and decision-making processes are documented.
• Organizations communicate decision timelines, criteria and constraints in advance.
• Young people receive consistent compensation for their contributions.
• Staff time and resources are dedicated to supporting youth-adult partnership.
• Feedback loops demonstrate how youth perspectives inform organizational decisions.

• Inconsistent follow-through or limited communication about how youth input is used.
• Young people participating in technical discussions without adequate preparation or context.
• Adults retaining final decision-making authority despite shared processes.
• Overreliance on a small group of highly engaged young people, increasing the risk of burnout.
• Disconnected departments slowing or preventing broader adoption of partnership practices.

Emerging partnerships require growing organizational capacity, consistent resources and intentional support for both youth and adults.

Organizations should dedicate staff time to coordinating partnerships, facilitating meetings and maintaining feedback loops. They should also invest in reliable youth compensation, training, accessible meeting formats and opportunities for young people to participate in decisions about hiring, budgeting and program design.

As partnerships develop, organizations must strengthen cross-departmental support so shared leadership becomes a consistent practice rather than depending on individual champions.