How We Work
Inside & Outside the Classroom
Central to the Y-PLAN pedagogy is the idea that young people are “agents of change.” This means that young people have the capacity – the creativity and the knowledge – necessary to enact meaningful change in their communities. The Y-PLAN framework nourishes that leadership ability in its students by connecting them with civic and community leaders, engaging them in solving authentic challenges – from unequal digital technology access to the lack of safe play spaces for children to the “hidden secret” of domestic violence. It uses a five-step participatory action research methodology that exposes students to the terms and processes of professional practice. Y-PLAN is committed to shifting existing power dynamics and bridging divisions between young people and adults, and prioritizes the voices of low-income young people of color in planning for cities now and in the future.
In the global partnerships, Y-PLAN prepares students to creatively confront problems in their home communities. Over a decade of global exchange leadership experience has demonstrated this authentic, experiential learning methodology offers profound and life changing outcomes when students return home.
In these programs, students work through the Y-PLAN roadmap over the course of a few days and up to several weeks. As teams of students begin to tackle a range of locally identified community projects, they work through the five-step system on behalf of a “Client” (a community leader) here in the Bay Area,studying an area that has shared context and similarities to their home communities. Simultaneously, students are creating action plans, using the steps to implement changes in their own communities when they return home. Y-PLAN teaches students the skills they need to accomplish their goals, while lifting up the expertise and aptitudes they already possess.
