Youth Ally Guide

Being a Youth Ally:

Often youth voices and visions for peace are absent from the counter-recruitment movement. High School students are the primary targets of military recruiting, yet they often find it hard to get involved in counter-recruitment efforts, or feel wholly misunderstood by adults seeking to reach out to them about military recruiting issues. It’s crucial to continue to create opportunities to allow for input and grassroots development from the student community. Counter-recruitment provides an opportunity for youth and students to take the lead in their own campuses and communities, and for adult activists to be allies to the youth anti-war movement.

Tips for adults wanting to be strong allies to youth in the anti-war movement:

  • Strengthen your organization’s relationship with youth. Discuss how your organization communicates with youth and students. For instance, are students a part of your organization? Do your actions—panel discussions, speaker events, rallies, direct actions, workshops, etc.—include youth voices and youth leadership opportunities? If your organization has problems connecting with youth and students, discuss the possible reasons and what can be done to create a better relationship.
  • Something to think about: Tokenism. Instead of attempting to diversify your organization by urging youth member(s) to join, try to contact student clubs and youth organizations in your community about the issues they are working on and how your organization can support their cause. Often “token” youth in mostly adult organizations are expected to speak on behalf of all young people. This can make younger members feel singeled out or “tokenized” by the organization, and can deter them from wanting to participate. Imagine being the only person over the age of fourty at a meeting predominately composed of college students. If you were asked to comment on the “adult/parent perspective,” you may be able to offer some general information, but you might be uncomfortable representing your entire generation’s opinion, especially if you felt like they do not all share a single identity or set of values or beliefs. Depending on one person to represent a huge population, such as youth, people of color, or people of a particular religious group or sexual orientation is not an effective or just way of organizing.
  • Connect with youth in your community
  • If you have contact with students in your community: Find out if they have been working on counter-recruitment.
  • If students have been organizing around anti-war and counter-recruitment, ask if there is any way your organization can support them. Let them decide how they want to organize events, actions, or flyering and respect their opinion.
  • If you are invited to youth meetings, make sure to determine how many representatives are welcome to attend. Although your opinions are deeply valued, remember to step back and allow the students to be the leaders and coordinators of the action.
  • If students have not heard about counter-recruitment, inquire if they would like more information and provide them a flyer. Let them know that your organization is willing to provide support if they decide to organize around the issue. If the students have never done counter-recruitment work, suggest a teach-in during school hours. Let them know that your organization will be able to provide them resources and a facilitation training for their presentation.
  • If you have no connection with young people in your community or have not had a positive relationship with youth, perhaps this will be a great opportunity to get involved.
  • Reach out! Get in contact with peace and social justice youth clubs and organizations. Find out what their issues are and how your organization can best support them. Check out or to see what student organizations are organizing in your area.
  • Something to think about:In speaking about counter-recruitment, 33% of recruits admit to enlisting for college funding. Take time to create non-military alternatives for education and job training. Create a scholarship fund or grant for your community’s youth or provide support for students that may need some help in finding opportunities.

Other Suggestions:

  • Keep in mind how you are communicating with students and youth. For instance, referring to students and youth as “kids” can sound condescending and is often taken offensively. It demeans the intelligence and power of youth activists and it creates a hierarchal strucutre that need not exist. In speaking with students, speak with them as equals. When encouraging youth to get involved, try not to lecture or nag. Most teens are in the classroom for an average of thirty hours a week; the last thing they want is another lecture.
  • Social consciousness. Many counter-recruitment activists come from a place of privilege (age, class, race, gender, etc.) It is important to be aware of one’s identity when we do social justice work, so as not to perpetuate oppression. Although we are concerned about all students and want to be able to reach all schools, searching for an “inner city” school to do counter-recruitment is not neccessary. Work in your local community and if you wish to expand to other locations, connect with local residents there first before steamrolling into their community with your agenda.

Ways to get involved as an ally for Counter-Recruitment:

  • Leafletting and Information Dissemination- Work with students to collect or create flyers for dissemination at the schools and local youth spaces. If you are still having trouble connecting with youth interested, download and print flyers from websites such as Before visiting the high schools, be sure to know your rights as an outsider and remember to communicate with the students equally. To check out a school leafletting guide, please download San Diego’s
  • Actions in Solidarity. If your organization is thinking of planning an action in “solidarity” with students already planning an action in your community, first discuss this with youth and students that are organizing on campus or in the community. The last thing you want is for your action to overshadow or change the messaging of the student-initiated event. Even if students are not planning anything in your community, please keep in mind that this day is meant to mobilize youth.
  • Legislative Action.Work on counter-recruitment by lobbying local, state, and national officials. Please visit for more information on legislation. Currently, there is a bill in the House of Represenatives, H.R. 551. If passed, H.R. 551 will alter the “opt out” policy in No Child Left Behind to an “opt in” policy.
  • Parents- Pressure school administrators to limitmilitary recruiters’ access to schools by initiating a letter writing campaign. Work with students leading an action and request a meeting with administrators about this issue.
  • PTA and School Board- With the guidance of students, introduce a counter-recruitment resolution in your PTA or School Board (i.e. limiting military recruiter access, adopting optimum opt-out policy, preventing any new JROTCs from forming in your district).
  • Provide legal support. Help student groups during events and actions by offering legal support.Ask if they need any witnesses, photographers, or legal support to document the actions of the day. Please visit for more information.
  • Get in touch with teachers. Request teachers to incorporateinto their curriculum the history of student activism in social movements and the importance of non-violence. Offer them information on the current counter-recruitment movement and how students can get involved.
  • Establish a student youth scholarship fund or donate to the cause. A great way to get involved is to help raise funds for the youth groups planning an event for the Day of Action or establishing an “Alternatives to the Military” scholarship fund for youth in your community.
  • Organize a Student Activist event- Recognize youth and student activists in your organization or community by holding a Student Activist event. Provide certificates and scholarship money to student clubs and activists to help sustain their cause.