Ensuring Meaningful Youth Engagement for TPP Participants in Greater LA

Youth don’t just participate in the Foothill Family Teen Inspired adolescent health program—they also shape it. 

Teen Inspired, a project in Greater Los Angeles funded by the Teen Pregnancy Prevention (TPP) Program, invites its youth advisors into program planning, implementation, and monitoring. In the first year of the project, that meant contributing to a variety of project activities, including designing marketing materials, selecting evidence-based programs, and recruiting participants.

This level of youth involvement is by design. Teen Inspired knew from the outset that a strong youth advisory committee would create a strong foundation for meaningful youth engagement throughout their project. Committee planning, recruitment, and engagement were a priority from day one.

Teen Inspired hired 10 youth advisors for paid positions. Youth advisors committed to 20 hours per month from December 2023 to August 2024. Adult program staff view these 20 hours as crucial to guiding the work and have intentionally structured the group’s schedule to maximize their contributions.

The schedule included:

• Regular meetings each week. Youth advisors create social media content (Instagram and TikTok) on Tuesdays, receive professional development support and one-on-one supervision from Teen Inspired Program Coordinators on Wednesdays, and plan for future community events on Thursdays.
• A monthly virtual full committee meeting. Two youth advisors facilitate each meeting; these responsibilities rotate through members. Ahead of the meeting, youth facilitators meet with the Program Coordinators to plan the agenda and prepare for facilitation.
• A quarterly meeting of program staff and implementation partners. The two youth advisors who participate rotate each quarter.

Youth advisors also work with staff to plan and implement program activities, like a virtual paint night during National Adolescent Health Month in May 2024. The youth advisors came up with the idea, budgeted for it, created a trivia-based game (so participants could learn some sexual and reproductive health facts on top of painting), and hosted the event. Youth advisors help Teen Inspired grow their network of partners by identifying additional organizations where their peers receive support services or spend time.

Looking to learn more about how your fellow TPP grantees are engaging youth and structuring youth involvement? Stay tuned for the RHNTC’s Ask Me Anything: Meaningful Youth Engagement video series. Also, consider completing the Assessing Your Project’s Youth Partnerships scorecard, part of the Effective Facilitation and Youth Engagement Toolkit.