Last month, the UCLA Center for the Developing Adolescent hosted the third annual Adolescent Brain Development Symposium, which focused on the impact of civic engagement in adolescence.
In the last discussion of the day, Joanna Williams, Senior Director of Research at Search Institute, took the stage with Le’Yondo Dunn, CEO of YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School, and Haafizah Carter, an alumnus of the school, to talk about the impact of civic engagement on purpose.
Joanna started the session by referencing the 2023 National Scientific Council on Adolescence report, “Cultivating Purpose in Adolescence” to define purpose as a self-organizing and forward-looking life aim.
“The self-organizing is sort of about being anchored or grounded in things related to self, like, identity and values and motivation,” Joanna explained. “The other part of purpose is that it’s this forward-looking life aim that’s about guiding some of the decisions we make in the moment and moving forward.”
Having a purpose, as explained by this definition, is rooted in how we view ourselves and who we think we are. And, in adolescents, when you are forging your identity, this is particularly important.
Having a guiding direction can be especially important for adolescents, Joanna said, as brain development during these years increases the desire to contribute and to feel connected. This sense of purpose can not only drive positive development, but it can also support positive mental health.
“We know in terms of the research on purpose, that it is something that is really important from a health perspective,” said Joanna, “There is research that documents that having a sense of purpose can protect a little bit against those vulnerabilities in adolescence.”
People with a sense of purpose live longer, and have stronger social connections, she said.
Cultivating a sense of purpose is important for one’s identity, but it is also important for one’s long-term health and well-being.
At YouthBuild Philadelphia Charter School, which Le’Yondo Dunn leads, serves students ages 17 through 21 who have been pushed out of other school settings. The one-year program supports students to complete their high school diploma as well as a vocational certification, and offers an additional year of postsecondary support after graduation.
Civic engagement and cultivating purpose is at the heart of the YouthBuild Philly curriculum, as students engage in real-world community projects in one of several ‘tract’ and certification programs
For example, Dunn described the Building Trades tract, where students spend the year rehabbing a vacant home, and on the last day of school, a low-income family moves in. In the culinary tract, students learn to cook by feeding community members experiencing food insecurity or homelessness.
The programs are designed to give students a sense of meaning and purpose as they see the real impact they can make in their communities.
The program also allows students to feel respected by ‘sharing power.’ One example of this is students are able to grade their own teachers, making them agents of change in the systems they live in, creating a sense of autonomy that builds confidence.
“What we see with a lot of our young people is they come into our school completely void of the belief that an education is going to help them,” said Dunn. YouthBuild, he said, meets students where they are, tells them that their voice is important, and helps them understand the impact they can make in the world.
Haafizah Carter entered YouthBuild Philadelphia in 2023 at the age of 20 in the healthcare tract.
“When I first started, I was shy and I didn’t want to be there,” Haafizah said.
Haafizah recalled how the teachers expected her to succeed because they knew she could, and that the mentorship and connections she found at YouthBuild instilled a sense of direction in her life.
At YouthBuild she completed a home health aide certificate, a mandated reporter certificate, and a CPR certificate. She spoke with state senators in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, aboutYouthBuild and the need for funding for similar schools in the state, and was part of the school’s “I Can, I Will” program to celebrate Black student excellence.
“Not only does this school help me with my confidence, and my communication, it also helped me see my potential,” said Haafizah.
Dunn and Joanna described several key components of a successful program to support civic engagement, purpose, and positive outcomes for young people.
The first step, said Dunn, is removing barriers because young people can’t succeed until their basic needs for things such as housing, child care, or safety are met.
“If a young person is being told we don’t have a child care spot for you for six more weeks, the young person can’t go to school,” said Dunn. “So as a school what we do is we will pay for that child care for the six weeks so the young person can come to school and there’s not a barrier for them to access their education.”
Joanna listed three general pathways that help youth cultivate a sense of purpose:
“When I think about the work that we’re doing I think less about helping young people change their paths right or wrong paths and I think more about providing young people opportunities,” Dunn said. “I think for us at YouthBuild it’s around providing young people a Sandbox while they’re with us so we can support them while they’re making those mistakes and navigating life.”
Proactive exploration, which means being able to try new things and have new experiences,
Opportunities to reflect on the civic engagement or service experience to understand what clicked and what didn’t click, and
Social modeling and learning from people around us who are demonstrating what it looks like to live a purpose-filled life
“When I think about the work that we’re doing I think less about helping young people change their paths right or wrong paths and I think more about providing young people opportunities,” Dunn said. “I think for us at YouthBuild it’s around providing young people a Sandbox while they’re with us so we can support them while they’re making those mistakes and navigating life.”
Key Takeaways
A sense of purpose can drive positive development, and it can also support positive mental health.
The first step in supporting young people is removing barriers to critical needs like safety, housing, and childcare.
Successful programs to help youth cultivate purpose provide opportunities for exploration, reflection, and exposure to others who feel purposeful in their own lives.
Creating holistic programs that support young people in their communities, and can foster a sense of purpose, can help young people succeed well into adulthood.
In the third discussion of our 2024 symposium, science journalist Lydia Denworth talked with Natasha Duell, assistant professor of Psychology and Child Development at Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, LaJuan Allen, director of Vote16USA, and Audrey Rothenberg, a senior at Culver City High School and volunteer at Vote16 Culver City about how civic engagement can support the need to explore and take positive risks during adolescence.
In the second discussion of our 2024 Adolescent Brain Development Symposium, science journalist Lydia Denworth spoke with Veronica Terriquez, PhD, MEd, professor at UCLA, Jose Salvador Orellana, executive director and co-founder of LOUD for Tomorrow, and Jessa Bayudan, volunteer and alumni of LOUD for Tomorrow, about the importance of creating spaces for diverse communities where adolescents feel they belong and are empowered to become agents of change.
