Here’s the skinny on what CYC is all about.
In Pierce County, Washington we are building a self-propelled, sustainable Child and Youth Centered Community (CYC) movement to make the South Sound a welcoming place to grow up.
What does it mean to be a great place for children and youth to grow and flourish? This will change over time, meaning we will continually brainstorm and lean on community input to plot our next moves. Only by working together, for a prolonged period of time, can we determine what child and youth centered communities look like for Pierce County.
We expect varied levels of engagement in this movement. Some will join at the ground level, affecting change and shaping the culture within their close circles. Others will operate from an aerial view, orchestrating funding and policies that enable systems change. Just as our county spans from the tides of the Puget Sound to the summit of Mount Rainier, this movement can only be considered whole if there are committed players at every level.
So our rally cry is this: let’s be the village that raises the status of children and youth. Let’s respect them, protect them, lead them, and learn from them. Let’s invite them to be co-creators and collaborators, facilitators and innovators. If the children and youth of today are the leaders of tomorrow, then our past will be remembered by the way we nurture our future.
It’s up to all of us to realize this vision and to determine what it means for ourselves, our youth, our organizations, our communities and our county.
Background
Greentrike, a nonprofit that advocates for and models equitable access to playful experiences for children, youth, and families, has been thinking about the role of children in community for over a decade. From a trip to Reggio Emilia, Italy, to talking with cities who launched child-friendly initiatives, to hosting community conversations, they have explored many ideas for putting children and youth at the center.
In 2014 Greentrike hosted its first annual Symposium with the goal of inspiring attendees to consider what a child and youth centered community could be. Five years and several symposia later, a cross-sector advisory committee acknowledged that the idea had taken root and blossomed, and that it was time to start thinking about action and measurement. In 2023, the CYC movement was born and Greentrike pledged to steward the movement through 2027.
Other Initiatives
CYC is inspired by child and youth friendly initiatives that have been undertaken across the globe. Reggio Emilia, Italy invested in a progressive preschool model, which encouraged collaboration and creativity, to help the World War II-devastated city rebuild. Child Friendly Leeds, U.K. aims to make Leeds a better place for by addressing the issues and challenges that can prevent children and young people from realizing their potential. Billund, Denmark is developing strategic initiatives with public institutions, organizations and cultural institutions to build the Capital of Children, a future and a lifestyle that can be smarter, more fun, and more humane. The UNICEF Child Friendly Cities Initiative promotes the realization of child rights at the local level through a unique network of municipal governments, civil society organizations, the private sector, academia, media and children themselves in more than 40 countries.
Strategies & Deliverables
CYC is centered around an empowerment structure that reflects a desire to co-create, share leadership and decision-making, and ask people what support they need to reach their vision. It encompasses a desire for:
- Broad participation with funding lying in multiple organizational budgets
- Real community ownership
- A broad mindset shift in the community
Individuals from more than 20 cross-sector organizations in Pierce County make up the CYC Visionaries. These leaders have committed to drive the movement forward and determine priorities, activities, and funding.
As the instigator of the movement, Greentrike has also pledged to:
- Convene the CYC Visionaries and other work groups
- Coordinate staff support and community participation
- Collaborate to foster shared ambition, adaptation, and innovation
- Celebrate and honor the existing work being undertaken in the community to support children, youth and families
Guiding Principles
CYC aims to include the voices of children and youth to reflect their needs and desires.
Visionaries intend to:
- Commit to listen, consider the voices of children and youth, and think outside the box
- Foster and model fun, leverage support from others, and create desire in the community to participate
- Structure the movement toward action, try new things, and share responsibility for making things happen
Desired Outcomes
The movement is structured to empower participants. The goal is to share leadership and decision-making, asking people what they need to reach their individual visions for implementation. The hope is that building an empowerment structure will increase the potential for the movement to outlive people and organizations.
Desired outcomes are:
Broad participation with funding lying in multiple organizational budgets: A diverse group of Visionaries is convened regularly and works within their organizations to engage stakeholders, identify projects and allocate funding to support the movement. Collectively and individually, the Visionaries invest in the movement through action and funding.
Real community ownership: Engagement from community members – especially children, youth and those disproportionately affected by inequities – organizations and businesses is nurtured. There is opportunity to embrace the movement through organic adoption and action that engages individual and collective time, talent and treasure. There is local government buy-in where expected, such as family services, and from non-traditional departments. The hope is that the movement grows in unexpected ways, over time developing a culture shift in how the community thinks about children and youth.
A broad mindset shift in the community: Children and youth, especially those disproportionately affected by inequities, are asked for their input. When they tell or show us what they need, communities respond to support their vision. As community members, organizations and businesses embrace this effort, their actions are celebrated and shared broadly. Communities amplify great examples, through visuals and stories, providing opportunities to rally around what each of us is doing and modeling ways to help grow the movement and create a continual conversation about what is needed and best practices for including children and youth in communities. The goal is a cultural mindset shift in the role and importance of children and youth in our communities and a movement for action to support their role.
