The youth summit, which engages adolescent students, public officials, and lawyers in discourse and deliberation about critical social problems and legal issues, is becoming a popular method of law-related education. This Digest discusses (1) the youth summit concept in law-related education, (2) examples of youth summits across the United States, (3) support for youth summits by organizations of lawyers and educators, (4) best practices for youth summits, and (5) resources for youth summits.
The models used in many states include pre-summit activities for students and/or teachers, such as law-related education lessons, surveys, background research, and assignments focusing on youth violence. During many summits students develop "action plans" to prevent violence in their schools and communities. Follow-up summit activities include service learning projects, school-based summits, and reports. Youth summits bring diverse experts and speakers from a variety of backgrounds, including police chiefs, juvenile justice officials, college and university professors, members of Congress, lawyers, judges from various courts including the state supreme court, television personalities, and many others.
Some summits modify the standard youth summit model to attract special audiences. A "Girls' Summit" in Florida, sponsored by the American Association of University Women, addressed summit topics of importance to young women, such as teen pregnancy and date rape. Other summits go beyond state borders to bring together even wider audiences. An online "Junior Summit," hosted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology Media Lab, involved students ages 10-16 from around the globe, discussing, in a variety of languages, projects that addressed important world problems.
A National Online Youth Summit conducted in 1999-2000 by the American Bar Association Division for Public Education brought together 1500 high school students from 26 states in "virtual communities" to discuss timely legal and public policy topics of special interest to young people, such as the death penalty and toxic waste disposal. The summit's culminating activity allowed students to "chat" with the lawyers who had argued the case in question before the Supreme Court, as well as other legal experts.
With a grant from the Lincoln National Corporation in Fort Wayne, Indiana, the Young Lawyers Division of the American Bar Association partnered with local organizations to create "Youth Empowerment Summits" for middle and high school students in 22 cities. One such summit occurred in Fort Wayne, Indiana in May 1998. A planning committee of six public school students and two Catholic school students developed a format in which adult leaders planned the logistical aspects of the summit, while the students selected the topics. Three topics were chosen: teachers' strikes, diversity, and "dangerous choices." The Young Lawyers invited a diverse group of 170 seventh and eighth graders from public schools and Catholic schools in Allen County, Indiana to attend.
They developed a program using the Youth for Justice "Youth Summit Planning Guide." One session featured a television talk show format with a panel of teachers, two student moderators, and the superintendent of the local school district, who discussed a teachers' work slowdown and contract negotiations. In other sessions, students presented skits on party/drinking scenarios, and local hospital resource people discussed statistics on teen pregnancy and gun violence. The summit was so successful that the schools involved in this event expected it to be conducted annually.
In summary, the most effective practices for youth summits are:
* involving students in the planning process
* active learning of knowledge and skills
* examining topics relevant to young peoples' lives
* involving community members from legislatures, social service agencies, and the legal profession
* American Bar Association Division for Public Education -- Youth Summits: Includes information on youth summits and in-depth profiles of youth summits around the U.S., as well as youth summit links and resources. Also, the directory of LRE programs at http://www.abanet.org/publiced/lre/main.html includes links to the Web site of every state program that offers youth summits. For more information about youth summits, or to order a copy of "Technical Assistance Bulletin No. 18: Youth Summits: Engaging Young People in Violence Prevention," call (312) 988-5735, or send an e-mail to [email protected].
* The Constitutional Rights Foundation Chicago: http://www.crfc.org/ Includes the "Youth Summit Planning Guide" in downloadable format; curricula; student guides; a survey; information, graphs, and statistics on past summits; and links to other law-related education and issues-related Web sites (e.g., guns, date rape, hate crimes); call (312) 663-9057.
* Minnesota Center for Community Legal Education: http://www.ccle.fourh.umn.edu Information and pictures from past summits, links to the text of the legislation future summits will explore, and links to summit speakers and sponsors.
* National Online Youth Summit: http://www.abanet.org/publiced/youth/youth99.html The American Bar Association Division for Public Education's innovative new national youth summit is profiled here, along with background materials and teaching activities for various summit topics.
* 21st Century Schoolhouse Biennial Summits: http://www.viser.net/~gs21/biennial.htm Features extensive information on the organization's 1997 summit, including a detailed agenda, opening remarks, participants' work, and photographs from the international delegations; information on the 1999 summit; and information about the organization.
Corvo, Kenneth N. "Community-Based Youth Violence Prevention: A Framework for Planners and Funders." YOUTH AND SOCIETY 28 (March 1997): 291-316. EJ 542 132.
Kivel, Paul, and Allan Creighton. MAKING THE PEACE: A 15-SESSION VIOLENCE PREVENTION CURRICULUM FOR YOUNG PEOPLE. Alameda, CA: Hunter House, Inc., 1997. ED 415 300.
Perry, George S., Jr. YOUTH SUMMITS: YOUTH AND ADULTS AS PARTNERS IN VIOLENCE PREVENTION. Chicago: American Bar Association, 1995. ED 402 233.
Prothrow-Stith, Deborah B. "Violence Prevention in the Schools." NEW ENGLAND JOURNAL OF PUBLIC POLICY 10 (Summer/Fall 1994): 107-122. EJ 536 990.
Wolfe, David A., and Others. ALTERNATIVES TO VIOLENCE: EMPOWERING YOUTH TO DEVELOP HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc., 1997. ED 405 420.
Wright, Norma. FROM RISK TO RESILIENCY: THE ROLE OF LAW-RELATED EDUCATION. Calabasas, CA: Center for Civic Education, 1994. ED 377 123.
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This project has been funded at least in part with Federal funds from the U.S. Department of Education under contract number ED-99-CO-0016. The content of this publication does not necessarily reflect the views or policies of the U.S. Department of Education nor does mention of trade names, commercial products, or organizations imply endorsement by the U.S. Government. ERIC Digests are in the public domain and may be freely reproduced and disseminated.
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Hannah Leiterman is a staff associate of the American Bar Association's Division of Public Education.
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