Why Young People Need Opportunities to Lead, Not Just Participate

Young people are often encouraged to participate. We invite them to attend programs, join activities, volunteer at events, play on teams, and become involved in their schools and communities. Those opportunities matter. They help youth build relationships, discover interests, and feel connected to the people around them.

But there is an important difference between simply being included and being given a meaningful voice.

Young people also benefit from opportunities to make decisions, contribute ideas, take responsibility, solve problems, and see those ideas taken seriously. When adults create space for youth to lead, they send a powerful message: Your perspective matters here.

For Native youth, meaningful leadership can also provide opportunities to strengthen connections with family, culture, community, and future generations. Young people are not only participants in their communities. They are part of what will shape those communities in the years ahead.



At Society of Care, being youth guided is one of the principles at the heart of our model of care. That means recognizing young people as partners whose experiences and perspectives can help guide decisions that affect them.

When we hear the word “leader,” it can be easy to picture the person standing in front of a room, giving instructions or making all the decisions. For young people, leadership can look much simpler. It might mean allowing a child to help decide what activity the family does together. A teenager might help organize a community event, mentor a younger student, suggest an idea for a youth program, lead part of a cultural activity, or help solve a problem at school. Leadership can also be as simple as asking a young person what they think and allowing their answer to influence what happens next.

Not every child will want to speak in front of a group or hold an official leadership title. Some young people lead quietly through kindness, creativity, reliability, problem-solving, or their willingness to help others. The goal is not to turn every child into the person at the front of the room. It is to help young people recognize that they have something valuable to contribute.

Confidence does not always develop because adults repeatedly tell children that they are capable. Often, it grows when young people are actually given opportunities to discover that capability for themselves. A child who is trusted with a responsibility learns what it feels like to follow through. A teenager whose idea is used during a project learns that their thinking has value. A young person who helps solve a problem learns that they can influence what happens around them.



These experiences build something that encouragement alone cannot always provide. They give young people evidence that they are capable.

Adults sometimes ask young people for input after most of the important decisions have already been made. While that can still create conversation, it is different from genuinely allowing youth to help shape an outcome.

Whenever appropriate, involve young people earlier.

A family planning a weekend activity might ask each child for ideas before choosing. A youth program could ask participants what activities they would actually like to see offered. A school group could invite students to help identify a problem and develop possible solutions instead of presenting them with a finished plan. This does not mean adults give up responsibility or allow children to make every decision. Adults still provide guidance, boundaries, safety, experience, and support. Youth leadership works best when young people are given choices and responsibilities that are appropriate for their age and abilities.

The important part is that their involvement is real. When adults repeatedly ask for a young person’s opinion but never allow that opinion to affect anything, youth quickly learn that being “included” does not necessarily mean being heard.

Give Young People Something Real to Own

One of the simplest ways to encourage leadership is to give young people responsibility for something that matters.

At home, that might mean planning part of a family gathering, helping teach a younger sibling a skill, choosing and preparing a meal, or taking responsibility for an ongoing household task.

At school, it could mean helping organize a project, welcoming a new student, participating in student groups, suggesting improvements, or mentoring younger classmates.

Within the community, young people might help with cultural events, volunteer projects, youth groups, community gatherings, storytelling projects, sports programs, or other activities that connect generations.

Whenever possible, give the young person ownership rather than assigning only the easiest piece of a project. Allow them to make some decisions, work through challenges, and see the result of what they contributed. Their approach may not be exactly the way an adult would have done it. That is part of the experience.

Allow Room for Mistakes

Leadership requires practice, and practice includes mistakes. Young people may forget something, underestimate how long a task will take, change their minds, struggle to communicate an idea, or discover that their original plan does not work. These moments can become valuable learning opportunities when supportive adults resist the urge to immediately take control.

Instead of saying, “I knew that would not work,” an adult might ask, “What do you think you could try differently?” Rather than fixing every problem, adults can help young people think through possible solutions. This allows youth to develop decision-making, problem-solving, communication, and resilience while still knowing that support is nearby.



Learning to lead does not require getting everything right. It requires opportunities to try, reflect, adjust, and try again.

Leadership Can Strengthen Cultural Connection

For Native youth, leadership opportunities can also create meaningful connections between generations. Young people may learn alongside Elders, relatives, cultural mentors, educators, and community leaders while gradually taking on responsibilities of their own. They might help with community events, participate in storytelling or language activities, teach younger children something they have learned, contribute to cultural projects, or offer their perspective on issues affecting other youth.

These experiences create opportunities for knowledge to move in more than one direction. Young people can learn from older generations while also contributing their own experiences, ideas, creativity, and understanding of the world they are growing up in.



Cultural leadership does not have to mean placing the responsibility for preserving culture entirely on young people. That would be an unfair burden. Instead, it can mean inviting youth into the ongoing relationships, teachings, responsibilities, and conversations that help culture remain present and meaningful.

Adults Can Lead by Making Room

One of the most important roles adults can play in developing young leaders is knowing when to guide and when to make room. Sometimes that means resisting the instinct to provide the answer immediately. Sometimes it means allowing a young person to finish explaining an idea before evaluating it. It can mean asking follow-up questions, offering resources, making introductions, or helping remove barriers without taking ownership of the project away from the youth.

Adults can also look intentionally for young people whose leadership may be easy to overlook. The most outgoing child is not necessarily the only potential leader. Quiet youth, younger children, children who communicate differently, and young people who have not traditionally volunteered for leadership roles may have valuable ideas that emerge when someone takes the time to ask. Creating opportunities for leadership means providing more than one way to contribute.

Listen, and Show Them That You Listened

Perhaps the most important part of youth leadership is what happens after a young person speaks. If youth are asked what they need, what they think, or what they would change, adults should listen carefully to the answer. When possible, show them how their feedback influenced the decision.

That might sound like:

“Several of you told us this activity was not working, so we are going to try something different.”

“You had a great idea for the family gathering. Would you like to help plan it?”

“You mentioned that younger students might feel more comfortable talking with older students. How could we make that happen?”

Young people learn that their voices matter when they can see that speaking up sometimes leads to action. Even when their suggestion cannot be followed, adults can explain why. Being taken seriously does not mean always getting the answer you want. It means knowing that someone genuinely considered what you had to say.

Today's Participants Can Become Tomorrow's Leaders

Young people do not suddenly become leaders when they reach adulthood. Leadership develops through years of opportunities to contribute, make choices, take responsibility, learn from others, and discover what they are capable of doing.

Families, schools, Tribal communities, youth organizations, coaches, mentors, and other caring adults can all help create those opportunities. Start small. Ask a young person what they think. Give them something meaningful to be responsible for. Invite them to help solve a problem. Allow them to teach something they know. Encourage them when an idea does not work the first time. Most importantly, make sure their involvement has meaning beyond simply being present.

At Society of Care, our commitment to being youth guided reflects the belief that young people should have a voice in the systems, services, and communities that affect their lives.



When young people are trusted not only to participate but also to contribute and lead, they have opportunities to build confidence, strengthen relationships, connect with culture, and recognize the value of their own voice.

And when communities make room for that voice today, they help prepare young people to use it for years to come.