"For us, by us"

This study is an in-depth, qualitative examination of leadership, participation and agency that a team of eight working-class young people develop and exercise in the context of a youth-led participatory action research (YPAR) project, located in their urban neighborhood. This YPAR project was supported by two adult facilitators and indirectly supported by five adults affiliated with the project. Research on positive youth development strategies has not closely investigated the benefits and limitations of specific strategies to support youth leadership, participation and agency in community development efforts. Positive Youth Development (PYD), Critical Youth Studies and Youth-led Participatory Action Research (YPAR) literatures view young people as community assets and resources. However, these literatures have paid little attention to how young people perceive their participation as decision-makers and leaders or to youth perspectives on effective strategies to develop youth leadership.

This study investigates youth participation as leaders and decision-makers to examine strategies in one YPAR project that foster, or inhibit, youth participation in decision-making and leadership. This study also examines the ways in which young people understand their participation as decision-makers and leaders in these strategies in relation to their project context. This study revealed four major findings.