The View from VOYA

A Quarter Century of VOYA: Visible Acts of Youth Advocacy

This April 2002 issue ushers in VOYA's 25th volume year. Voice of Youth Advocates debuted in April 1978, founded by Dorothy Broderick and Mary K. Chelton, two activist librarians who dedicated this library journal to the reading, information, and service needs of young adults aged twelve to eighteen. Radically, Broderick and Chelton believed that such an endeavor must pay equal attention to the defense of youth's intellectual freedom and to the development of librarians' roles as youth advocates. A quarter century later, VOYA remains the only journal with this mission.

Newcomers often wonder about VOYA's title. Why does it say "Youth Advocates" instead of librarians and educators?

As a public young adult (YA) librarian who couldn't do my job without VOYA, I soon learned that youth advocacy was essential. I struggled to model Broderick's definition: "A youth advocate is a person who believes in creating the conditions under which young people can make decisions about their own lives." As a rare breed unrecognized by the public, youth advocates must become visible or be ignored.

Since I became VOYA editor after Broderick's retirement in early 1997, not a day goes by that I don't ponder what youth advocacy means to VOYA's readers. How can VOYA inspire you to reinvent youth advocacy constantly as you work with teenagers? Throughout this 25th volume year, each issue of VOYA will feature an artifact from our past, revealing the building blocks of youth advocacy. The 25th-year seal on this page will signal those looks backward—and forward.

One goal still elusive is introducing you to youth advocates in fields beyond librarianship and education. Effective youth advocates reach outward from our workplaces to connect with other professionals who deal with youth in our larger communities, from social workers to counselors, from juvenile probation officers to adolescent health experts. I hope to see one page of each VOYA issue featuring a profile of a youth advocate whose work complements ours. These profiles must come from VOYA readers because you know these people: the director of your homeless shelter for youth, the reporter who covers your local youth beat, the leader of an afterschool or literacy program, the politician who champions youth initiatives, the founder of a nonprofit that benefits youth. Their examples will encourage VOYA readers to make similar contacts.

Discovering a fellow youth advocate gives one quite a buzz. As we face the challenges of our jobs—whether coping with troubled teens or justifying every move to clueless administrators—we must lend each other the energy to keep at it. At VOYA's reception in June 2001 at the American Library Association (ALA) Conference in San Francisco, I met a youth advocate with that infectious spirit: Sara Jane Boyers, author of our Nonfiction Honor List book Teen Power Politics: Make Yourself Heard (Twenty-First Century, 2000/VOYA April 2001). With exuberant style, Boyers encourages teens to become activists, teaching them how to get involved in the political process, to become informed and questioning consumers of news and media, and to make a stand. She reminds teens that despite being too young to vote, youth have powered major movements for social change, from Civil Rights to Vietnam, from Tiananmen Square in China to anti-apartheid in South Africa. At no time have our youth needed that reminder more than now, post-September 11th.

Boyers profiles impressive young activists: Cecelia in Boston, who founded F.A.S.T. (Friends and Shelter for Teens) to combat domestic violence; Justin in South Dakota, who organized KidsVoting to create employment opportunities for graduates who would otherwise leave their state; and Abby in Vermont, whose club boycotted overseas products made with sweatshop labor—and then moved to other issues, such as writing a bill requiring the State Board of Education to include a high school student member.

Youth advocate Boyers inspires both adults and teens to act on what they believe. Her Web site at http://www.teenpowerpolitics.com and online newsletter continue her mission with news about youth concerns and legislation, and links to sites and articles that illuminate these issues.

Boyers's example easily translates to your own situation. You can help teens become activists in your library not only by creating a Teen Advisory Board, but also by advocating for a teen member to join your adult library board—thereby directly influencing its political process. I have been collecting names of the rare public libraries with teens on their boards of trustees. One of them is Mesa Public Library in Arizona, whose Young Adult Advisory Council (YAAC) has had a non-voting teen liaison to the library board for twenty years. According to YA librarian Diane Tuccillo, one YAAC representative became a voting member of the board. Although the current YAAC rep is non-voting, the library might reinstate voting status.

If this feat seems impossible, consider youth services librarian Laurie Rose's achievement. Rose attended a YA workshop in May 2001, where I suggested placing teens on adult library boards. A week later, Rose reported that she had spoken to her library director, who passed on her proposal to the president of the board of trustees. The town council immediately appointed a high school sophomore to a two-year term on the board of the Orono Public Library in Orono, Maine.

Although a youth advocate's job is usually more hot and sweaty than that, sometimes all we have to do is to ask the right people to do the right thing.

How can you help VOYA celebrate our 25th year?

• Submit your interviews or essays about your local advocates who make a difference for youth in your community, to me at screel@voya.com or toll-free phone (888) 486-9297.

• Encourage your teens to submit photographs to our Teens on the Planet Read Cover Photo Contest.

• Perform a visible act of youth advocacy—such as proposing a teen member for your board of trustees. Then tell us about it.

And do consider yourself a youth advocate.—Cathi Dunn MacRae.