FROM COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT TO COMMUNITY EMERGENCE: A Conceptual Framework and Model to Rethink Youth-Community Interaction

Seeking to better understand and operationalize citizen engagement in a new perspective, this chapter brings together the youth-community relationship using an interactional field theory approach to community development. Youth participation through volunteerism, civic engagement and activism is among a variety of forms of community engagement that organizations seek to use in enhancing the well-being of the people and localities around which they reside, and conversely are made better by the locality. This chapter begins with a discussion of engagement and the factors needed to effectively integrate youth engagement into local capacity building. Based on this information, the chapter describes a newly proposed conceptual framework and model for integrating youth engagement and community development efforts, called youth-engaged development. The framework is detailed to explain the interactional field theory upon which the model rests, followed by an in-depth description of the model’s design, domains and conceptual areas. Finally, recommendations for how educators, practitioners and local leaders can operationalize the model are made using a table of descriptive criteria to shape their work. The new approach put forth in this chapter is meant to serve as an intellectual rationale for engagement initiatives in various settings, one that helps link theory to practice.