Award Date

1-1-2004

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Arts (MA)

Department

Ethics and Policy Studies

First Committee Member

Craig Walton

Number of Pages

186

Abstract

As young people's civic and political participation continues to decline, a number of organizations are working to reverse the decline by increasing opportunities for youth to participate. Communities around the country are taking steps to engage young people through a variety of methods that allow youth to actually participate in policy development and take action on local issues. The effectiveness of such community programs on long-term civic engagement is not well documented, however. This paper presents preliminary research about the effectiveness of one community participation program, the Southern Nevada Water Authority's Youth Advisory Council. Quantitative and anecdotal evidence, while not conclusive, suggest this community problem solving approach may encourage its participants to engage in other civic and political activities. The paper also discusses the benefits that organizations and communities receive when young people participate in this way, and provides recommendations for developing a similar youth participation program.

Keywords

Democracy; Engaging; People; Young

Controlled Subject

Political science; Public administration; Education--Philosophy

File Format

pdf

File Size

4741.12 KB

Degree Grantor

University of Nevada, Las Vegas

Language

English

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Rights

IN COPYRIGHT. For more information about this rights statement, please visit http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/

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