Youth and Education

You’ve heard it a million times, “children are the future.” And it‘s an important truth. Our partners have a passion and enduring curiosity for understanding how kids think, what motivates them to action … and how those actions drive your organization’s strategy. The good news for you: Having a finger on the pulse of today’s youth leads directly to ground-breaking new products and learning opportunities. That’s something that many pro-social program developers, media managers, youth marketers and educators have already learned.

Our Approach

We have found that when you take the time to develop an honest and straightforward set of questions, youth will give you back the following:

Honesty
They will tell you exactly how they feel about your ideas – they pull no punches.
Innovation and Vision
While youth may not be able to “see the future,” they can help in finding new ways to accomplish their goals and will tell you how to adjust your ideas to fit their personal needs.
Caring
They care about their families, friends, pets, school, community and world – and they insist that you demonstrate that you care about them as well, in your ideas, programs and products. Whether giving back to the community or developing a new “green” offering, young people expect your ideas fit into their view of the future.

Our experience has been that for youth to comfortably and effectively share their insights, it helps to put them in familiar surroundings. We frequently meet youth on their turf – in their homes, on the Internet, in their classroom and where they shop. Beyond just the added comfort-level, meeting in those settings also helps approximate the decision-making context when they are responding to your new ideas.

Key Experience

STEWART and PARTNERS has helped a range of clients develop effective communications and programs aimed at youth – including school-based programs, community-based programs, and intervention and prevention programs. Some examples include:

For more than 10 years, one of our partners has played an integral role assisting the National Crime Prevention Council and the Department of Justice Juvenile Office to develop and deliver anti-drug, anti-firearms and community safety programs, tracking and monitoring youth attitudes toward crime and violence, bullying and cyberbullying.
We’ve developed and managed online research studies, including online bulletin board groups and online communities to understand attitudes and opinions of youth regarding new products, major brands and corporations and pro-social programs and issues that affect their daily lives.
We’ve contributed to major qualitative, in-depth research aimed at repositioning a military career to recruit age youth and influencer audiences (parents, family members, educators, community leaders) to boost recruiting in the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines and Coast Guard.
And we have worked with a variety of educational organizations – from universities to standardized testing organizations to individual school districts – trying to make the changes necessary to improve the quality of education in the classroom and to promote the need for preschool for all children.

Message Development