Reimagine the Parkway: Youth Engagement in Action

Are you interested in integrating youth into your planning initiatives? Are you committed to building lasting connections with historically marginalized communities, while also contributing to the diversity of our profession? Grasp the theoretical underpinnings to approach both goals with practical tools and experience an interactive engagement opportunity with youth.

Youth Engagement Planning (YEP!) is a nonprofit that creates tools for youth participatory planning and project-based learning. More than 7,000 students (ages 5-26), educators, and community partners participate nationwide. This workshop introduces YEP! methodology, best practices, and examples from across the country for developing young people’s civic leadership, integrating younger voices into planning processes, and recruiting diverse voices into our profession.

Participants engage with youth in Philadelphia (in partnership with Philadelphia Parks and Recreation, Philly Community Design Collaborative, Fairmount Sports Association, and Design Workshop) in informing the draft plan called “Reimagine Benjamin Franklin Parkway.” Learn best practices, put those skills into practice during a youth engagement event, and leave with an experience of successfully working with youth in the Philadelphia community.

Learn how to enhance and promote equity, diversity, and inclusion on two levels. First, understand the perspectives of younger audiences and how insufficiently integrated they are in pre-existing planning processes. Second, learn how promoting inclusion for the long term builds lasting relationships in previously excluded communities, thereby amplifying the voices of disenfranchised and underrepresented populations.