Youth Engagement
One of the four specific strategies in the “Future Directions” Plan revolves around engaging our youth. As part of our Plan, we have identified three areas that will help us keep focus on the importance we place on our youth.
Develop Plan for Youth Program
- Consider hiring a Youth Coordinator. In addition to the leaders of our youth group, we will consider hiring a full-time staff member whose primary focus will be programming for and involvement of our youth. Having someone dedicated to our youth programs in a consistent way will result in a greater emphasis.
- We will investigate what other churches are doing that is successful with youth. We will visit and analyze these programs both inside and outside of our Catholic community.
- We will look towards developing a plan for youth programs. These programs need to be specific. We will revisit work that was completed a few years ago related to a comprehensive youth program for our parish and determine what remains relevant in order to move forward.
- We will need to evaluate and provide sufficient funding to enhance youth activities. Our youth group already has a budget, but we need to expand our youth programs. We will adjust our parish budget to reflect the needs we have in our youth programs.
- We will develop youth programs that are consistent with our “Future Directions” Plan.
- We will track participation in these programs. Evaluation of youth programming will be critical to understanding what works and what does not. The key factor is the number of youth involved in the programs being offered.
Publicize and Market Youth Programs for Inclusion.
- Our youth programming must include all youth, not just those who attend our Catholic Schools and/or our Religious Education program. Oftentimes, we find that children in the schools have activities that involve their own classmates. Many youth have friends outside of the school. We will expand the opportunities for children to connect in our youth groups outside of school.
- Encourage our youth to invite others they know to be part of our activities. We recognize that one of the most effective ways to get others involved is through personal contact. We will empower our young people to invite others to participate in our youth programs. We will also match those most closely involved in our youth programs with younger youth to encourage participation.
Provide a Safe Facility for Youth.
- We must investigate what facilities are available in our parish and how they can be used for the youth. We currently have some shared facilities that serve our youth programs. We have seen that those places with dedicated facilities for youth have very active programs. We will analyze the facility needs of our youth programs.
