One way to work on your leadership and problem-solving skills is to form a youth-adult partnership. You can work with a trusted adult one-on-one or in a group project. What makes a youth-adult partnership different from just learning from an adult? Young people like youth-adult partnerships because: 

• They learn how to be responsible by partnering with an adult on a project.
• They build leadership skills when they help resolve a conflict or develop a project.
• They learn how using social skills, like humor or compassion, helps teams work better together.

Adults learn in these partnerships, too! They:

• Learn to respect young people and their ideas.
• Understand the needs of young people and how they think.
• Benefit from creative ideas that bring new solutions to problems. 

Youth-adult partnerships can be big projects or simple tasks. They can be found just about anywhere. 

The Young Adult Consultant Program of the Children's Bureau is a great example. In this program, young adults who have been in foster care work with staff at the Children's Bureau, a government agency. Young adults ages 18-26 use their experience in the foster care system and their knowledge and skills to partner with Children's Bureau staff and other adults to help improve the foster care system. 

Youth councils are another good example of youth-adult partnerships. These councils are formal groups where youth can talk to officials who make decisions about important youth issues, like lowering the age to vote or showing youth how to become more involved in their community. The Youth Preparedness Council gives students 14-18 years old the chance to give input to staff from the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and help with local disaster preparedness programs. 

In California, teens Carly and Sean joined a mentoring program, where they taught technology classes for older adults. In return for the classes, the adults talked to Carly and Sean about their life experiences. This youth-adult partnership gave Carly and Sean the chance to lead. It also challenged the idea that adults can't learn from youth people. 

The next time you have the chance to work an adult, take it! You don't know what you might learn about yourself. You'll also see what you're capable of accomplishing.