@article{ref1,
title="Creating settings for youth empowerment and leadership: an ecological perspective",
journal="Child and youth services",
year="2014",
author="Blanchet-Cohen, Natasha and Brunson, Liesette",
volume="35",
number="3",
pages="216-236",
abstract="Youth development programs are increasingly focusing on youth empowerment and leadership, a shift which often requires adult staff to adopt new roles and practices. This article explores staff practice in the context of a multisite initiative designed to engage marginalized youth in social change through youth-led grants. Interviews with youth workers and managers revealed practices at multiple ecological levels. Individual-level practices supported youths' capacities to participate. Group-level practices fostered social interactions and activities that actualized the youth-led approach. Setting-level practices created structures that supported and protected group activities while organization-level practices promoted a favorable environment for youth leadership. Analyzed from an ecological and activity settings perspective, these results contribute to understanding the multifaceted and complex nature of youth work in power-sharing practice models. Practice implications include identifying training needs to help practitioners navigate across multiple ecological levels and suggesting reflection questions for practitioners.<p />",
language="en",
issn="0145-935X",
doi="10.1080/0145935X.2014.938735",
url="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/0145935X.2014.938735"
}