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Core Insights

Seven Insights for Stronger Youth-Adult Partnerships

Building effective youth-adult partnerships requires more than inviting young people to participate. Organizations must share decision-making authority, prepare adults for collaboration and establish systems that support meaningful youth leadership.

Through the Annie E. Casey Foundation’s two-year Intergenerational Learning Collaborative, youth and adult leaders identified seven core insights about the challenges and conditions that shape successful intergenerational partnerships.

These findings highlight what organizations can do to strengthen shared leadership, build trust and sustain youth-adult collaboration.

To put these insights into action, explore the tool kit’s six core practices, which offer practical strategies for strengthening youth-adult partnerships. Learn how organizations can apply these practices to build trust, share decision-making power and sustain meaningful collaboration.

Explore the Six Core Practices

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Insight 1: Move Beyond Youth Participation to Shared Decision Making

Young people need meaningful influence over decisions, not just opportunities to participate

  • Share meaningful decision-making authority. Involve young people in decisions about organizational direction, staffing and program design.
  • Provide access to information. Share relevant budgets, resources, trade-offs and constraints so youth can make informed decisions.
  • Engage youth early. Include young people in defining problems, developing strategies and designing programs.
  • Create leadership pathways. Support young people as they grow from participants into facilitators, advisers, staff members and decision makers.

Insight 2: Build Organizational Readiness Before Expanding Youth Leadership

Organizations need reliable systems and adequate capacity to support authentic youth-adult partnerships

  • Assess readiness before implementation. Evaluate whether organizational systems and staff can support meaningful shared leadership.
  • Establish dependable systems. Ensure youth compensation, communication and onboarding processes work consistently.
  • Coordinate across departments. Engage human resources, finance, program teams and organizational leadership in supporting youth participation.
  • Reassess readiness regularly. Review organizational capacity as staffing, youth cohorts and partnership responsibilities change.

Insight 3: Prepare Adults to Share Leadership With Young People

Adult preparation is critical to overcoming barriers to intergenerational partnership

  • Invest in adult development. Make ongoing preparation for shared leadership a core organizational responsibility.
  • Build skills before engaging youth. Train adults in collaboration, conflict resolution and intergenerational meeting facilitation.
  • Create space for learning. Help staff navigate uncertainty and discomfort while modeling openness and humility.
  • Establish accountability. Create formal opportunities for young people to provide feedback on adult behaviors and partnership practices.

Insight 4: Navigate Different Expectations About the Pace of Change

Youth and adults may experience organizational change at different speeds, making shared planning essential

  • Acknowledge differences in pace. Discuss how organizational processes and expectations affect the speed of change.
  • Value youth urgency. Recognize young people's desire for progress as a source of energy and innovation.
  • Develop timelines together. Involve youth and adults in planning and explain organizational constraints and decision-making processes.
  • Celebrate early progress. Identify achievable milestones that demonstrate movement toward larger goals.

Insight 5: Recognize That Intergenerational Partnership Is Not Linear

Progress in youth-adult partnership is cyclical and requires organizations to revisit foundational practices

  • Expect progress to be cyclical. Recognize that revisiting foundational practices is a normal part of organizational development.
  • Build flexibility into plans. Allow different teams and programs to advance at different speeds.
  • Invest in relationships with each new cohort. Give new youth participants and adult partners time to establish trust and shared expectations.

Insight 6: Strengthen Both Organizational Systems and Relationships

Strong youth-adult partnerships depend on reliable systems and trusting relationships

  • Invest in systems and relationships together. Pair operational improvements with intentional relationship building.
  • Make relationship building ongoing. Create regular opportunities for youth and adults to develop trust and understanding.
  • Align policies with organizational values. Design systems that reinforce care, respect and mutual accountability.
  • Create psychologically safe environments. Prepare adults to support honest communication, navigate discomfort and respond constructively to young people's experiences.

Insight 7: Turn Youth-Adult Partnership Values Into Everyday Practice

Organizations need concrete policies, tools and processes to make shared leadership part of daily operations

  • Create practical tools and processes. Embed shared leadership into meetings, hiring, budgeting, evaluation and organizational decisions.
  • Formalize expectations. Include intergenerational partnership responsibilities in policies, job descriptions and standard procedures.
  • Design processes for youth participation. Adapt meetings, communication and decision-making practices so young people can participate fully.
  • Provide ongoing coaching and support. Reinforce new practices through training, modeling and continuous improvement.

Is Your Organization Ready for Shared Leadership?

Discover where your organization stands, identify strengths and gaps and understand what it takes to sustain meaningful shared leadership.
Take the Organizational Readiness Assessment