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Participant elements (these can be adapted to participants of all ages)
- Youth choose to participate.
- Youth participate in teams (usually of 6 to 8 people).
- Youth choose issues through a deliberative process.
- Issues
are grounded in the passions, values, and interests of the team.
- Team
actions are real work – they take place over
time (several months or longer), involve many
steps, and have identifiable
results or products.
- Young people use evaluation
to learn from experiences, including successes and failures.
- Teams
meet formally at least once a week.
Project elements
- Projects
must be legal.
- Projects must be non-violent.
- Projects must contribute in
some way to the public good.
Coach elements
- Coaches are guides and facilitators, not leaders,
mentors, or directors; the coach time commitment is typically
3 to 5 hours
per week.
- Coaches help
teams do their public work, learn from their tasks,
and identify key concepts (e.g. democracy,
public work, and citizenship). Coaches help their teams link theory to practice.
- Coaches participate
in training sessions that involve skill development, organizing methods, understanding theory, and an orientation to the Public Achievement site.
- A coach coordinator supports and supervises
the work of coaches;
creates an accountability structure, and works
in partnership with the site coordinator.
Site elements
- Sites see Public Achievement as a way
to implement or pursue their core mission and values.
- Site coordinators integrate Public Achievement into the
site culture, coordinate logistics,
help teams
continue their
work outside of formal Public Achievement meetings, and help make Public Achievement work visible.
- Sites
see themselves as leaders in the movement to strengthen
and invigorate
democracy.
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