Rural Youth Leadership: Connecting Frameworks for Practice

Youth leadership is a concept that is distinctly separate from adult leadership practices and is commonly misunderstood as a non-valid source of knowledge to influence the conversation in leadership development. Expanding the capacity of rural communities and furthering the discussion surrounding youth leadership provides a foundation for sustainable rural livelihoods. The purpose of this project is to connect frameworks for practitioners in the field of rural development. The project will contain an overview of the current status of rural youth leadership in Ontario and connect the cynefin framework and johari window to practitioners in order to provide further depth in the discussion of leadership development. Through providing insight on the contemporary landscape of rural youth in Ontario and highlighting frameworks that have been borrowed by other fields can support the conversation of rural youth leadership. Rural youth leadership as a practice in community development recognizes the struggles youth face while set on the periphery of practical elements that attract youth such as post-secondary education and career opportunities. While also recognizing rural youth have advantages when compared to urban youth in terms of sense of community, volunteer opportunities, and civic participation. All in which are factors practitioners can use to develop tools to further empower frameworks in practice.