The Freechild Institute for Youth Engagement is a nonprofit organization focused on creating connections between adults and young people through programs, technical assistance, publications, training, and curriculum.
Adam Fletcher is the executive director, and the institute is located in
Olympia, Washington
Olympia is the capital of the U.S. state of Washington and the county seat and largest city of Thurston County. It is southwest of the state's most populous city, Seattle, and is a cultural center of the southern Puget Sound region.
Europea ...
.
[Mullahey, R. (2007]
"The FreeChild Project: Youth-led Social Change"
American Planning Association
The American Planning Association (APA) is a professional organization representing the field of urban planning in the United States. APA was formed in 1978, when two separate professional planning organizations, the American Institute of Pla ...
. Retrieved 17 June 2008. The ''
School Library Journal
''School Library Journal'' (''SLJ'') is an American monthly magazine containing reviews and other articles for school librarians, media specialists, and public librarians who work with young people. Articles cover a wide variety of topics, with ...
'' has said Freechild's website is, "By far the largest repository of projects, ideas, and organizational links, this resource provides more than adequate information to help students brainstorm ideas in order to start their own initiatives."
History
Fletcher started the organization as "The Freechild Project" in 2001. The organization changed its name to Freechild Institute for Youth Engagement in January 2018.
Activities
The mission of Freechild is "to advocate, inform, and celebrate social change led by and with young people around the world, particularly those who have been historically denied the right to participate. They provide examples and resources to youth and their adult allies." The group advocates "radical democracy."
Freechild believes it is completely unethical to exclude young people from
participating in the actions that affect them most. Their programs include
service-learning
Service-learning is an educational approach that combines learning objectives with community service in order to provide a pragmatic, progressive learning experience while meeting societal needs.
Service-learning involves students in service proje ...
, topic-specific workshops and
activist group
Activism (or Advocacy) consists of efforts to promote, impede, direct or intervene in social, political, economic or environmental reform with the desire to make changes in society toward a perceived greater good. Forms of activism range fro ...
incubation. The group consults with local and national nonprofit groups in strategic planning, capacity building and product development with
youth empowerment
Youth empowerment is a process where children and young people are encouraged to take charge of their lives. They do this by addressing their situation and then take action in order to improve their access to resources and transform their consciou ...
at the center of their priorities. They also perform networking services through conferences and online communications.
The organization is coordinated by one full-time staff member, offers activities through a network of trainers, and is advised by youth and adult experts from across the US. The website SoundOut.org is one of their projects. The director of Freechild also talks with the media about youth.
[James, Geofferey]
"The Teen Ticket: Are Teenagers Old Enough to Vote?"
Edutopia
Edutopia is a website published by the George Lucas Educational Foundation (GLEF). Founded in 1991 by filmmaker George Lucas and venture capitalist Steve Arnold, the foundation "celebrates and encourages innovation" in K-12 schools.
Edutopia f ...
. Retrieved 17 July 2008.
See also
*
National Youth Rights Association
The National Youth Rights Association (NYRA) is a youth-led Civil and political rights led by Margin Zheng & Ashawn Dabney-Small President & Vice-President of NYRA organization in the United States promoting youth rights, with approximately 10,0 ...
*
Youth
Youth is the time of life when one is young. The word, youth, can also mean the time between childhood and adulthood ( maturity), but it can also refer to one's peak, in terms of health or the period of life known as being a young adult. Yo ...
*
Youth suffrage
Youth suffrage, or children's suffrage, is the right of youth to vote and forms part of the broader youth rights movement. Until recently Iran had a voting age of 15; Argentina, Austria, Brazil, Cuba, Ecuador and Nicaragua have a voting age of 16 ...
*
Youth rights
The youth rights movement (also known as youth liberation) seeks to grant the rights to young people that are traditionally reserved for adults, due to having reached a specific age or sufficient maturity. This is closely akin to the notion o ...
*
Age of candidacy
Age of candidacy is the minimum age at which a person can legally hold certain elected government offices. In many cases, it also determines the age at which a person may be eligible to stand for an election or be granted ballot access.
The firs ...
References
External links
* {{official website, http://www.freechild.org/
2001 establishments in the United States
Youth empowerment organizations
Youth organizations based in Washington (state)
Ageism
Organizations established in 2001