ucb logo

The Youth-PLAN (Youth - Plan, Learn, Act, Now!) is an award-winning collaborative where UC Berkeley students in urban planning, design, and education engage youth as genuine stakeholders and participants in local planning projects. After an initial teaching preparation phase, college students work side-by-side with high school students for ten weeks teaching the fundamentals of planning and design by engaging youth in real world planning projects. The Youth-PLAN has grown into a national model for engaging youth in their community's revitalization.

Recent Youth-PLAN Projects

2003 - McClymonds High School: McClymonds Mini-Park

UCB students worked with two classes at McClymonds High School in Oakland - one English class and one Social Studies class - to consider how open space in the community can be developed into a "living classroom". A neighboring park, McClymonds Mini Park, was identified as the focus of the project as it had become an increasing source of trouble in the neighborhood. Broader redevelopment efforts in West Oakland were also considered and included in the overall project design.

Guiding questions included:
What is the role of schools in the redevelopment of communities? Specifically, how can a small, underutilized park adjacent to the West Oakland high school, play a role in connecting students (and learning) to their community?

Youth presenting land use map UC Berkeley team

2002 Youth-PLAN projects: UCB partnered with two schools - an English class at McClymond's high school in West Oakland and with the Bay Area School of Enterprise in Alameda. The two projects explored different issues relevant to these two communities.
2002 - McClymond's High School: Mandela Transit Village
McClymonds group		 2002 - Bay Area School of Enterprise (BASE): Community Garden
BASE students at the garden site