Free handbook to guide your own student research team

The Gardner Center initiated the Youth Engaged in Leadership and Learning program (YELL) in 2000 as an afterschool program that trained students as community researchers, advisors, and socially conscious leaders.

During the early years of the YELL program, the Gardner Center team identified three skill sets as the foundation for authentic youth leadership: (1) communication, (2) analytic thinking, and (3) positive involvement in the community. 

Students participating in the program developed these skills by learning and deploying research techniques to study an issue of concern to them — and then using their findings to formulate and share policy recommendations and action plans.