A powerful Minneapolis-area consortium makes sure that young people are involved with every step of the planning process of a multi-community youth center. The board of directors for this ambitious $5 million project consists of 60 percent youth and 40 percent adults. Biweekly meetings, co-chaired by a youth member from each of the two largest high schools, serve as a forum for community input about the center’s computer lab, performing arts space, a youth-run food-service business, career planning, medical and mental health service, and a 10-bed shelter for homeless youth. This five-year planning process demonstrates how adults and young people can interact responsibly for their mutual benefit and for the sake of the community. In the words of one former board member: “”[The youth center] works for one reason: Everyone involved treats each other as equals.”"

The above is one of several intergenerational programs featured in the Constitutional Rights Foundation Network magazine, Winter 2001. Written by Wendy Schaetzel Lesko