Impactful Engagement: Successful Strategies for Working with Urban Teens

Adolescence is often described as one of the most difficult periods in the life course. The pre-teen and teen years play a critical role in shaping pathways to adulthood. High-quality educational experiences have been shown to increase the likelihood of future workplace success. There is a well-document disparity in educational quality between urban, suburban, and rural public schools. Across America, school- and community-based programs attempt to augment the impact secondary education on young people by creating new opportunities for exploring interests, skills acquisition, and increasing social capital. Extra-school programs aim to bridge the gap to boost student achievement and expand horizons for successful adolescent development. In many urban neighborhoods, there is a dearth of options for families who search for opportunities for their adolescents. Urban GEMS (Gardening Entrepreneurs Motivating Sustainability) is a positive youth development program that uses gardening to improve outcomes for urban youth participants. The Urban GEMS program was designed to address the well-documented link between food insecurity and school failure at a neighborhood level. Addressing both the educational and nutritional (basic needs) of young people growing up in economically challenged environments requires new thinking. Urban GEMS features project-based learning and youth leadership opportunities, which include tackling real and significant challenges facing the African American community. This ignite session will provide highlights of engagement strategies, effective lesson plans, effective event highlights, and preliminary outcome data associated with participation in Urban GEMS. One key to success has been employing credible educators drawn from the local communities to help develop and then teach the curriculum. Another successful approach included providing a welcoming youth-friendly program space in which urban youth were encouraged to feel like the space was partially theirs. In a short amount of time, our team created a brand "OSU Urban GEMS" and spread awareness of our mission to reach our goals. The curriculum takes a holistic approach to integrating the principles of positive youth development and youth empowerment, while also remaining grounded in the social conditions in the neighborhoods we serve. Community partnerships and involvement in all aspects of Urban GEMS keep us hopeful that it will become sustainable beyond the initial grant funding. The program evaluation data help us to understand what impact our efforts are having on the youth and their families and make adjustments for lessons that are not successful.AUTHOR AFFILIATION: Deanna Wilkinson, associate professor, Ohio State Department of Human SciencesUrban GEMS (Gardening Entrepreneurs Motivating Sustainability) is a positive youth development program that uses gardening to improve outcomes for urban youth participants. The Urban GEMS program was designed to address the well-documented link between food insecurity and school failure at a neighborhood level. Addressing both the educational and nutritional (basic needs) of young people growing up in economically-challenged environments requires new thinking. Urban GEMS features project-based learning and youth leadership opportunities, which include tackling real and significant challenges facing the African American community. This ignite session will provide highlights of engagement strategies, effective lesson plans, effective event highlights, and preliminary outcome data associated with participation in Urban GEMS