arendt

Examples of his partnership approach include a history of promoting youth/adult conferences on a variety of issues, where every aspect is co-facilitated by young people and adults, from planning, to presenting, to participating, to learning. Within his current position at Rosie's Place, Giles has created the ability for any young person who arrives at the center to serve on the Rosie's Place Board, giving them a direct connection to decisions involving barriers, problems, budget concerns, and anything else the program may need to address. For those who cannot or chose not to serve on the Board, weekly 'Room Meetings' have been implemented to create another avenue for youth input into decisions such as center activities or workshops ... including support for youth wishing to implement their own workshops. His goal in all of these structures is to create avenues that will allow anyone at the center to have direct access to center operations, to participate at whatever level they feel ready to, and to take on larger tasks and responsibilities as their readiness for participation grows. He strives to accomplish this goal in a way that allows increased participation to be a result of an individual's personal decisions and choice, rather than an adult 'assessment' of their readiness. To Giles, youth/adult partnership is a value, not a technique, and as a result he is able to create an expectation that each person can and will make choices that are right for them, with room to make mistakes and recieve support as they grow and learn.

So, for 20 years of advocating for young people to be seen as full people with something of value to contribute, and the right to set their own goals and make their own choices ... and for putting that advocacy into practice every day ... in4y.com is honored to recognize Giles Arendt with our March 2007 Partners with Youth Award. We eagerly anticipate his next 20 years.

Our Partners with Youth award recipient this month isn't being honored so much for a specific act of partnership, but rather for 20 years of 'walking the talk' when it comes to partnering with young people.

Since 1987, Gile Arendt has dedicated himself to making the world a better place for runaway, homeless, and street-dependent youth. Currently staffing Rosie's Place, the drop-in resource center of Community Youth Services in Washington State, he spent a few years working at Haven House, that same agency's Crisis Residential Center. The bulk of his experience, however, and, I believe where his heart can be found, has been on the streets of Olympia, Washington, providing outreach services to Olympia's most vulnerable youth.

While it is considered best practice these days to incorporate a Youth Development approach into services, including formal partnership strategies with young people, Giles was modeling this approach long before it became 'best practice'. For him, it is intuitive practice, as respecting young people and including them in the events and decisions that affect their lives is simply who he is, not what he has learned to do. It is his belief that all people, regardless of chronological age, have the right to direct and have choice within their own life, and this belief has manifested itself in every aspect of his personal life and professional career.