Section 8. Including Youth on Your Board, Commission, or Committee

 

Parts of this section were adapted from “The Power of an Untapped Resource: Exploring Youth Representation on Your Board or Committee,” by Hans Bernard, published and edited by the Association of Alaska School Boards’ Initiative for Community Engagement, and the Alaska Department of Health and Social Services.

The board of the Coalition for Youth was at a loss. After a year of planning and another year of offering a variety of programs, the Coalition had reached only a small percentage of the adolescents it had hoped to involve. During a Board meeting, the director of the Teen Outreach Program pointed out that no young people served on the Board and that young people had not been meaningfully involved in planning the programs intended for them.

That observation raised an important question: If an organization makes decisions that substantially affect young people, how can young people have meaningful influence over those decisions?

Many Boards, commissions, committees, coalitions, and other decision-making bodies include young people as members or partners. This section will help you explore what meaningful youth participation can look like, what organizations should consider before inviting young people into governance, and how youth and adults can work together effectively.

The video below features a coalition that includes youth in decision-making – an important consideration for an initiative whose decisions affect young people.

What do we mean by including youth on your board or committee?

Including youth means creating meaningful roles for young people in the bodies that make, recommend, or influence decisions. Depending on the organization and applicable law, young people may serve as voting directors, non-voting members, advisory council members, commissioners, committee members, task-force members, or participants in another decision-making structure.

Meaningful youth participation is more than asking young people for opinions after major decisions have already been made. It means involving them early enough for their knowledge, priorities, questions, and recommendations to influence the work.

Young people may be especially important participants when a Board or committee makes decisions about schools, health, recreation, transportation, housing, community safety, employment, public spaces, technology, mental health, youth services, or other issues that substantially affect their lives.

For purposes of this section, youth generally refers to adolescents and other young people who are not yet legal adults. Avoid assuming that one particular age automatically determines whether someone is ready to participate. Consider the legal requirements of the position, the responsibilities involved, the person's interest and ability to fulfill them, and the support and accessibility of the organization's governance process.

Let's start with some definitions:

A nonprofit Board, or Board of Directors, is the governing body of many incorporated nonprofit organizations. Its responsibilities generally include oversight of the organization's mission, strategy, finances, legal and ethical integrity, resources, and chief executive. The Board provides governance rather than managing ordinary day-to-day operations.

An organization or initiative may use another structure, such as a steering committee, coordinating council, or membership body. The name alone does not determine the group's authority. Be clear about whether a body governs, advises, coordinates, or makes recommendations.

A commission is often a public body established to oversee, advise on, study, or make decisions about a particular area. The way commissioners are selected and the authority they hold depend on the law or policy that created the commission.

A committee is usually part of a larger Board, organization, government body, or initiative and is formed to address a particular area of work. Committees and task forces may have decision-making authority delegated to them or may make recommendations to another body.

In this section, we'll often use the word Board for readability, but the same principles may apply to commissions, committees, councils, and other decision-making bodies. Legal requirements and authority can differ substantially, however, so identify which type of body you actually have.

Including youth as full Board members

Where legally permitted, young people may serve as full voting members of a Board. In that role, they should receive the same fundamental governance rights and responsibilities as other directors, including access to the information needed to make decisions, participation in discussion and voting, and eligibility for leadership or committee responsibilities when allowed by law and the organization's governing documents.

Before inviting a minor to serve as a full director, check applicable state or local law, the organization's articles and bylaws, any rules governing the particular public body, insurance requirements, and any issues involving the legal capacity to enter contracts or undertake particular officer responsibilities. Don't assume that the absence of an age restriction in the bylaws by itself establishes eligibility.

If young people serve as full directors, avoid treating them as representatives responsible for explaining what all youth think. Like any other director, they bring their own judgment, experience, knowledge, and relationships. The organization should continue engaging a broader range of young people rather than expecting one or two directors to speak for an entire generation or community.

Including youth as non-voting or advisory members

In some organizations, applicable law or governing documents may not permit minors to serve as voting directors. In other situations, a youth advisory structure may better fit the organization's purpose. Possibilities include:

• Non-voting Board membership. Young people participate in Board meetings, discussions, committees, and recommendations but do not cast formal Board votes.
• Youth advisory council or committee. Young people meet as a separate body with a clearly defined relationship to the governing Board and specific opportunities to influence decisions.
• Committee or task-force membership. Young people participate fully in a particular area of Board or organizational work.
• Observer or liaison roles. Young people attend meetings or particular portions of meetings and may communicate information between the Board and another group. If this model is used, define how their observations and recommendations will actually be considered.

An advisory role should not simply provide the appearance of youth participation. Be clear about what influence the advisory group has, which decisions it will be consulted on, how recommendations reach decision-makers, and how the Board will communicate what happened as a result.

Including youth as members of Board committees

Young people may also serve on Board committees, task forces, commissions, research groups, planning bodies, hiring panels, program-design teams, or other groups connected with the organization. Their authority should be defined just as it would be for adult members.

Meaningful participation requires more than inviting young people into the room. If legal or structural restrictions limit their formal authority, give them the greatest meaningful role that is appropriate and be transparent about what they can and cannot decide.

Avoid tokenism -- including young people primarily so the organization can claim youth representation while giving them little opportunity to influence decisions. If a Board invites youth participation, it should be prepared to listen seriously, explain how decisions are made, and share power where the governance structure allows.

Why include youth on Boards, committees, and other similar bodies?

Meaningful youth participation can benefit both organizations and young people. The specific benefits depend on the purpose of the Board, the quality of the participation, and the extent to which young people actually influence the work.

Benefits of youth Board membership

The Board can gain perspectives and knowledge that may otherwise be missing.

Young people have direct experience with schools, youth programs, community spaces, digital environments, transportation, health and social services, relationships, and other systems that affect them. Their experience can help a Board recognize assumptions, barriers, opportunities, and consequences that might otherwise be overlooked.

No young person can speak for all youth. A young director can contribute their own perspective and what they have learned from others, but the Board should continue using surveys, listening sessions, advisory groups, outreach, and other forms of engagement to understand the diversity of youth experiences.

Youth participation can improve decisions that affect young people.

When young people are involved early in defining problems, designing programs, setting priorities, and evaluating results, organizations can make decisions with better information about how those decisions may work in practice.

Youth participation can strengthen the organization's accountability.

Organizations that say they value youth leadership should consider whether young people actually have meaningful opportunities to influence decisions. Governance participation can be one way to align organizational practice with stated commitments.

Board service can provide opportunities for civic participation and leadership development.

Young people can learn about governance, budgets, strategy, community issues, deliberation, policy, collaboration, and organizational decision-making through Board service. Adults can also learn from working in genuine partnership with young people.

Youth–adult partnership can strengthen relationships across generations.

Working together on meaningful responsibilities gives youth and adults opportunities to understand one another's experiences and assumptions. It can also help organizations build a culture in which age does not automatically determine whose ideas are treated as important.

Youth participation can strengthen broader community participation.

Young people may have relationships and communication networks that differ from those of older Board members. Their involvement can help an organization identify additional people who should be engaged, although youth directors should not automatically be assigned responsibility for recruiting or communicating with all young people.

Challenges to meaningful youth Board membership

The most important challenges often concern organizational structure, adult assumptions, access, and unequal power rather than deficiencies in young people themselves.

• Legal eligibility may differ. Laws, bylaws, public-body rules, contractual capacity, or insurance requirements may limit some formal roles for minors. Determine those restrictions before recruiting someone.
• Board processes may be unfamiliar. Governance terminology, budgets, parliamentary procedures, organizational history, and meeting practices may be unfamiliar to any new director. Provide clear orientation and continuing education to all members.
• Adultism can limit participation. Adults may interrupt young members, dismiss their ideas, expect them to defer automatically to older participants, or assume that disagreement reflects immaturity. The Chair and Board should address these dynamics directly.
• Young people may face practical barriers to participation. School, work, extracurricular activities, transportation, technology, meals, caregiving, disability access, and meeting times may all affect participation.
• One young person can become isolated or tokenized. When feasible, involve more than one young person and make sure youth participation is integrated throughout the Board rather than assigning one individual responsibility for all youth-related issues.
• Confidentiality and safeguarding require attention. Some Boards discuss personnel, legal, health, financial, or other sensitive information. Make sure all members understand confidentiality requirements and determine whether additional safeguarding or privacy procedures are necessary for minors.
• Unpaid participation can create inequity. Consider transportation reimbursement, meals, technology, childcare or caregiving needs, stipends or compensation where lawful and appropriate, and other supports so participation does not depend on a young person's or family's ability to absorb the cost.

When is a good time to add youth members or representatives?

The best time to involve young people is early enough for their participation to influence the work. This is particularly important when an organization is being created, developing a youth-focused initiative, making major strategic changes, or designing programs and policies that substantially affect young people.

When you're starting a new organization or initiative

Including young people during the earliest planning stages can help ensure that the organization's mission, priorities, governance structure, and strategies are shaped with youth rather than presented to them after the fact.

Youth and adult members may disagree about strategy, advocacy, or communication. That disagreement should be handled through the same respectful deliberation expected among other Board members. Young people should not be expected to make their views less direct simply because adults are uncomfortable with them.

When young people are not responding well to a program or initiative intended for them. Lack of participation may indicate that the program does not fit people's priorities, schedules, access needs, communication preferences, or experiences. Involving young people can help the organization understand those barriers and redesign the work.

It is better to engage young people from the beginning when possible. If that did not happen, involving them meaningfully later is still better than continuing to make decisions without their input.

When youth participation is required by a funder or policy. Treat the requirement as an opportunity for meaningful participation rather than recruiting someone simply to fill a designated seat.

When the Board recognizes that important perspectives are missing. Youth Board membership may be one part of a broader youth-engagement strategy that also includes advisory groups, listening sessions, surveys, partnerships, and other ways of hearing from young people.

When the organization is committed to youth leadership and shared decision-making. Board membership can demonstrate that young people are not merely recipients of programs but participants in shaping community institutions.

Who should be involved in including youth on Boards and committees?

There are two questions to consider: Which organizations might benefit from youth participation in governance, and which young people might be interested and prepared to contribute?

Organizations, institutions, and initiatives that might include youth on their Boards

Youth participation can be relevant across many sectors, particularly where decisions affect young people's lives. The question should not be whether a topic is supposedly too technical or uninteresting for youth, but whether young people have a legitimate stake in the decisions and whether the organization can create a meaningful and legally appropriate role.

Possible settings include:

Educational organizations and initiatives

• School Boards or school advisory bodies where legally permitted
• Colleges, universities, and postsecondary programs
• Public, private, alternative, and charter schools
• Literacy, workforce, and alternative-education programs serving young people

Youth-focused organizations and initiatives

• Peer-support, peer-education, and tutoring programs
• Recreation, arts, sports, and youth-development programs
• Health, mental-health, violence-prevention, substance-use prevention and treatment, sexual-health, suicide-prevention, and other youth health initiatives
• Organizations serving young people experiencing homelessness, foster care, justice-system involvement, disability-related barriers, or other circumstances relevant to the organization's mission
• Service-learning, civic-engagement, and youth community-action programs

Community-wide organizations and institutions whose decisions affect youth

• Community-development and neighborhood organizations
• Public-health and healthy-community initiatives
• Hospitals, clinics, behavioral-health organizations, and other health providers
• Poverty-reduction, housing, community-safety, and violence-prevention initiatives
• Human-service and social-service organizations
• State, tribal, and local government bodies where legally appropriate
• Workforce-development and employment organizations

Young people who might be recruited as Board members

Avoid limiting recruitment to students with high grades, formal leadership titles, strong résumés, or existing connections to adults on the Board. Those young people may contribute greatly, but so may young people whose perspectives have rarely been included in institutional decision-making.

Consider young people who:

• Are interested in the organization's mission and willing to fulfill the responsibilities of the role
• Have lived experience relevant to the issues the organization addresses
• Participate in the organization's programs or services
• Have experience with schools, foster care, housing instability, disability, health or behavioral-health services, justice systems, immigration systems, employment barriers, or other systems relevant to the work
• Are already active in schools, sports, arts, faith communities, neighborhood groups, advocacy, volunteering, employment, or community organizations
• Question established practices or bring perspectives that may not already be represented on the Board
• Are interested in civic participation or leadership but have not previously had formal opportunities

Disability, academic difficulties, family circumstances, systems involvement, or other experiences should not automatically disqualify someone from governance participation. Determine what the role actually requires and what reasonable accommodations or supports can make participation possible.

How do you engage youth on Boards and committees?

Once you've decided that youth participation could strengthen your Board, focus not only on recruiting young people but also on whether the organization is prepared to share information, authority, and responsibility with them.

Decide what form of youth participation fits your Board

Ask:

• Does applicable law allow minors to serve as voting directors or commissioners?
• What do the bylaws and other governing documents allow?
• What authority would young members actually have?
• Would a full Board seat, non-voting membership, advisory council, committee role, or another structure create meaningful influence?
• What confidentiality, contractual, insurance, or safeguarding requirements need to be addressed?
• Can the organization provide the practical support necessary for participation?

Don't establish a youth position simply so the organization can say young people are represented. If the Board is unwilling to consider young people's ideas or adapt any of its practices, address that problem before recruiting youth.

Clarify the role of youth members

Young people serving as directors should first and foremost be directors. They should not automatically be assigned responsibility for recruiting youth, interpreting youth culture, managing social media, explaining technology, appearing in publicity, or speaking on behalf of every young person in the community.

As with any Board member, additional responsibilities should reflect the person's interests, skills, knowledge, capacity, and willingness. A young director may be especially interested in finance, policy, fundraising, evaluation, programs, communications, technology, community engagement, or another area unrelated to age.

Assess the Board's readiness for meaningful youth participation

Ask:

• Do current members believe young people can contribute meaningfully to governance, including when they disagree with adults?
• Will youth members receive the same access to appropriate Board materials and information as other members in comparable roles?
• Are Board members prepared to recognize and address adultism, tokenism, interruptions, dismissive behavior, or assumptions that age determines the value of an idea?
• Is the Board prepared to orient all new members clearly rather than relying on unexplained institutional language or unwritten rules?
• Can meeting times, transportation, remote access, meals, technology, disability access, school schedules, work schedules, and other participation needs be accommodated reasonably?
• Will youth have genuine opportunities to influence decisions rather than being consulted only on topics adults consider "youth issues"?

Prepare the Board

• Discuss why the organization wants youth participation, what authority youth members will have, and how success will be assessed.
• Review Board culture and procedures for unnecessary barriers, including jargon, inaccessible materials, long meetings, inconvenient times, transportation requirements, technology, and unwritten social expectations.
• Make any necessary bylaw or policy changes and verify applicable legal requirements before selecting youth members.
• Plan orientation, mentoring or peer support, transportation or technology assistance, expense reimbursement or compensation where appropriate, and other supports.
• Establish appropriate safeguarding, privacy, emergency-contact, consent or notification, and confidentiality procedures when required.
• Decide how youth and adult members will evaluate whether participation is meaningful and what should change.

Recruit youth Board members

Recruitment should be broad enough that youth participation does not depend only on which young people current Board members already know.

• Consider involving more than one young person when feasible so that no individual is isolated or expected to represent all youth.
• Use a recruitment and selection process appropriate to the role and as comparable as possible to the process used for other Board members.
• Reach out through schools, youth-led organizations, community groups, recreation programs, cultural organizations, health and social-service organizations, workforce programs, faith communities, digital channels, and other networks used by young people.
• Invite nominations and self-nominations where appropriate rather than requiring adults to identify every prospective candidate.
• Be intentional about reaching young people whose perspectives are often missing from formal governance.

Don't recruit primarily for cultural "fit" or because a young person shares the existing Board's worldview. Effective Boards need people who can collaborate respectfully, exercise independent judgment, and bring perspectives that may challenge existing assumptions.

Explain the role honestly to prospective members, including the organization's mission, Board authority, time commitment, meeting schedule, confidentiality requirements, term length, expected preparation, available support, and whether the position is voting or advisory.

Depending on the young person's age, the organization's responsibilities, and applicable law or policy, determine whether a parent, guardian, caregiver, or another trusted adult needs to be informed or involved in particular administrative matters. Respect the young person's privacy and agency and avoid assuming that every young person has the same family structure.

If a youth seat is intended to be selected by a particular constituency, be clear about what representation means, how candidates are nominated or elected, and how the member will remain connected with the people who selected them. Even then, no individual should be expected to speak for everyone in that group.

Orient new youth Board members

Youth members should receive the same core orientation provided to other new directors. That orientation may include:

• The Board's fiduciary and governance responsibilities
• The distinction between governance and management
• Organizational and Board history
• Vision, mission, values, strategy, and current priorities
• Organizational finances and the Board's financial-oversight responsibilities
• Legal, ethical, confidentiality, and conflict-of-interest responsibilities
• How meetings, agendas, motions, voting, minutes, and committees work
• Constructive disagreement and conflict
• Communication processes and how to obtain additional information
• Relevant grants, contracts, policies, partnerships, or other major commitments

Provide this information in clear, accessible language. Explain acronyms and technical terms. Allow questions without embarrassment. This is good practice for all new members, not a special remedial process for youth.

Some members may want additional background on finance, policy, parliamentary procedure, or another subject. Offer that support based on individual needs rather than age.

Support youth Board members

Meaningful support helps remove barriers without treating young people as less capable members.

• Offer mentoring, peer support, or a Board partner to new members when useful. This can be available to adults and youth alike.
• Welcome youth members into Board discussions, committees, events, and informal relationship-building in the same way you would welcome other new directors.
• Make sure background information necessary for decisions is available to everyone rather than relying on institutional knowledge held by long-serving members.
• Address transportation, remote access, meals, technology, expense reimbursement, or other participation barriers when appropriate.
• Schedule meetings with school, work, family, transportation, and other realities in mind rather than assuming that standard adult professional schedules are neutral.
• Consider stipends or other compensation for substantial youth advisory or governance work where lawful, feasible, and consistent with the organization's policies.

When any Board member makes a mistake, address it according to the seriousness of the issue and the organization's normal accountability practices. Coaching or private feedback may be appropriate in some situations, but youth should not be uniquely treated as members who require adult correction.

Engage youth Board members in meaningful governance

Youth members should be given real opportunities to participate in the decisions and responsibilities associated with their role. That may include committee service, strategic planning, financial review, policy discussions, program oversight, community engagement, evaluation, officer roles where legally permitted, or other areas of governance.

Avoid assigning work based on stereotypes about age. A young person should not automatically become the social-media expert, technology adviser, youth recruiter, spokesperson, or connection to people experiencing hardship. Ask members about their interests and abilities just as you would with other directors.

Hold youth members to clear responsibilities appropriate to their role, while also applying the same fair process used when any Board member has difficulty meeting expectations. First determine whether the problem involves unclear expectations, an access barrier, workload, schedule, insufficient information, changing circumstances, or another issue the organization can reasonably address.

Monitor and evaluate the experience

Gather feedback from youth and adult members about whether youth participation is meaningful and whether the Board's practices support shared governance. Feedback can be gathered through surveys, interviews, facilitated discussion, anonymous forms, or other methods.

Questions for youth members might include:

• Do you feel welcomed, respected, and taken seriously?
• Do you have meaningful opportunities to influence decisions?
• Do you receive the information you need before decisions are made?
• In what ways have you been able to contribute?
• Are there topics on which you are invited to participate and others from which you are unnecessarily excluded?
• What barriers or challenges have you encountered?
• What support has been useful?
• Are the time commitment, transportation, technology, meeting schedule, and other participation requirements manageable?
• What should the Board change?
• What advice would you give future youth members?

Questions for the full Board might include:

• Have young members influenced actual decisions, priorities, or practices?
• Are youth invited into governance broadly or mainly consulted about topics labeled as "youth issues"?
• Have any Board procedures or adult assumptions limited youth participation?
• Does the Board interrupt, dismiss, or defer differently based on age?
• Have practical barriers to participation been addressed?
• What has the Board learned from youth–adult partnership?
• What should change in recruitment, orientation, meetings, support, compensation, or decision-making?

Incorporate what you've learned from evaluation and continue improving youth participation

Use what you learn to improve recruitment, orientation, meeting practices, accessibility, support, shared decision-making, and accountability. Don't wait until the end of a young person's term to respond to problems that can be addressed sooner.

The strongest sign of success is not simply that a young person eventually blends into the existing Board culture. Success means young members have genuine authority appropriate to their role, their perspectives influence decisions, adult members treat them with respect, barriers to participation are addressed, and meaningful youth involvement becomes a normal part of how the organization governs.

In Summary

Young people can make important contributions to nonprofit Boards, public commissions, committees, coalitions, and other decision-making bodies, particularly when those bodies make decisions that affect youth. Their participation can improve organizational understanding, strengthen accountability, contribute to better-informed decisions, and create opportunities for civic participation and leadership.

Meaningful inclusion requires more than adding a youth seat. Organizations must determine what roles are legally permitted, define real authority, prepare the existing Board to share decision-making, provide clear orientation, address practical barriers, and avoid expecting one young person to represent an entire population.

Youth Board members should be treated as individuals and as governance partners rather than as symbols, publicity tools, technology experts, recruiters, or future leaders who must first learn to operate like adults. They bring knowledge and experience that matter now.

Strong youth–adult partnership also requires learning from both sides. Young people may need information about governance, finances, organizational history, or Board procedures, just as adult members may need to learn about youth experiences, adultism, accessibility, and the ways existing governance practices can exclude people who have not traditionally held institutional power.

When youth have meaningful influence, appropriate support, clear responsibilities, and genuine respect, their participation can strengthen both the governing body and the community it serves.