Doing an interest group model youth program

This is fairly straight forward

• Find an adult expert willing to work with youth
• or find an adult willing to work with youth and discover their area of expertise
• Through survey and personal conversation with youth determine if the topic being talked about is actually of interest to the youth
• Look at the logistics involved. Is it really practical (Is there a place for and money for a kiln? For example)
• Establish a list of supplies and equipment needed to do it right. Starting out without the essentials – (“what if it fails and we've wasted that money...”) is to guarantee failure. This is like buying a cheap guitar with high action and then wondering why your child can't play it.
• Don't get discouraged if it doesn't take off immediately. Preexisting schedule conflicts may prevent even those who committed to it from participating. Youth are naturally conservative and may hang back until it is a success (a catch 22, of course). Then add in the difficulties of communication and forgetfulness. As a rule of thumb I say that it takes three years to determine if a youth program is going to be a success.
• There is no beating personal contact with potential participants
• If at all possible have more than one interest group – only one interest group eliminates all those who are not interested in that interest group.
• As with all organizations, every few years it needs to be reevaluated: have the leaders gone on? Have the kids that were interested moved on? Has it gotten stagnant and need to be stirred up?