Girl Scouts of America: Future Planners

Put youth engagement tools into action for Minnesota’s largest Girl Scout Troop and help launch the inaugural first-ever City Planning Patch! Participants will learn youth engagement strategies and take part in interactive activities with more than 100 local girl scouts!

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? This mobile workshop will provide the theoretical underpinnings to approach both goals with practical tools, while also providing an interactive engagement opportunity with youth!

Youth Engagement Planning (YEP!) is a national non-profit organization, led by planners, that creates tools for youth participatory planning and project-based learning - involving more than 7,000 students (ages 5-26), educators, and community partners nationwide. This workshop will introduce YEP! mission, methodology, best practices, and real-world 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.

We will then interact with over 100 youth in Minneapolis in partnership with the Girl Scouts of America to provide engagement that will help launch the inaugural first-ever nationwide City Planning Patch curriculum. Participants are encouraged to learn best practices and then put those skills immediately into practice during an incredible youth engagement event. Our goal is for every participant to leave with an experience of successfully engaging with youth in the Minneapolis community.

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

Planners Day of Service is an opportunity for APA planners to give back to our conference host community. It also provides an opportunity to increase awareness of the planning profession, educate planners on emerging topics, and offer a hands-on service experience for participating members. Hosted and supported by APA Divisions and Divisions Council, Planners Day of Service is also an opportunity for APA members to learn more about the benefits of Division membership.