Youth participation and community change seeks to shift the viewpoint from youth as being problems to empowering them to enact positive social change the book explores community agency efforts to. Youth participation and community change seeks to shift the viewpoint from youth as being problems to empowering them to enact positive social change the book explores community agency efforts to involve young people and the process by which youth civic engagement promotes empowerment. Youth participation and community change an introduction barry n checkoway phd lorraine m gutierrez phd youth participation is a process of involving young people in the in stitutions and decisions that affect their lives it includes initiatives that emphasize educational reform juvenile justice environmental quality. Young people who view themselves as change agents and adults who are their allies are instrumental to this approachsocial workers are strategically situated to promote youth participation but many of them have been conditioned to care about young people rather than to empower them