Neighborhoods Working in Partnership: Youth Leaders Advocating With Policy Makers to Reduce School Drop-Out Rates – A Case Study

There have been increasing calls for community-academic-practice partnerships to have a broader effect on health through engaging the participation of community members in policy advocacy. Neighborhoods Working in Partnership: Building Capacity for Policy Change (NWP), a project of the Detroit Community-Academic Urban Research Center (URC) in partnership with PolicyLink, aims to enhance the capacity of neighborhood residents, including youth, and organizations to engage in the policy change process to positively impact the health of families in Detroit. The URC is a community-based participatory research partnership which builds upon the strengths of the communities involved, to conduct etiologic research, public health interventions, and policy advocacy aimed at understanding and addressing health inequities.

In this presentation, we will provide a case study, based on individual and group interviews with youth and community leaders, describing the outcomes of the advocacy work of a youth leadership council (G.O.O.D.- Group Overcoming Obstacles in Detroit). Members of G.O.O.D. participated in a series of policy advocacy capacity building trainings conducted by the Detroit URC as part of the NWP project. After participating in the training, members of G.O.O.D. planned and conducted a panel discussion with local and state level policy makers to advocate for improvements in school environments to reduce drop-out rates and enhance safety and youth engagement in schools. The youth leaders are continuing to use the advocacy skills learned through the URC's training by engaging with policy makers, local foundations and community organizations to advocate for improved school environments.