Building on a decade-old tradition of UC planning students working with local schools, CC&S founder Deborah McKoy, PhD created Y-PLAN in 1999 as both a pedagogical, professional development tool, and a planning studio for youth and students that addresses specific issues in local communities.

Funded by the UC Links Program and Stuart Foundation, UCB mentors are enrolled in an interdisciplinary seminar class looking at the intersection of city planning and education. Course lectures and discussion focus on theoretical tools in participatory planning, community development, and teaching, complemented with practical application.

Download Part I of the Y-PLAN Handbook (PDF)

High school students work side-by-side with UCB mentors for ten weeks, learning the fundamentals of community development by engaging in real world planning projects. As the capstone piece of the curriculum, the high school students present their plans to their "clients" - city leaders and the community.

Download the 2010 Y-PLAN Course Description (PDF)

The Y-PLAN provides an opportunity for project-based learning in classrooms and challenges professional planners to explain what they do in youth-accessible terms. How do current planning practices limit the involvement of youth, families, and schools? And what are the alternatives?

Since 1999, Y-PLAN has worked with the following school districts and client partners:

• Alameda Unified School District
• Emery Unified School District
• Oakland Unified School District
• San Francisco Unified School District
• West Contra Costa Unified School District
• Association of Bay Area Governments
• BART (Bay Area Rapid Transit)
• BRIDGE Housing Corporation
• City of Emeryville
• City of Oakland
• City of Richmond
• City of San Francisco
• City of San Pablo
• Office of Assemblywoman Loni Hancock
• West Contra Costa County Transportation Advisory Committee

As documented in our 2007 article (see download link below) in the Journal of Planning Education and Research (Vol 26(4): 389-414), success of the Y-PLAN depends on its meeting the following three conditions:

1. City and school leaders, professional planners, elected representatives and city residents must work with students on authentic problems. All of the participants—young and old, professional and student—must focus on a real planning challenge in their community and work together to create a “community of practice.”
2. Adults must share decision-making with young people, giving them a meaningful role in the outcomes of the projects.
3. Projects must be successful for the students and institutions involved, in order to promote the sustainability of student-driven redevelopment projects.

Engaging Schools in Urban Revitalization: The Y-PLAN (Youth - Plan, Learn, Act, Now!)

Journal of Planning Education and Research 26: 389-403, 2007.

Deborah L. McKoy and Jeffrey M. Vincent.

Y-PLAN (Youth-Plan, Learn, Act, Now!) is a model for youth civic engagement in city planning that uses urban space slated for redevelopment as a catalyst for community revitalization and education reform. This article analyzes the past six years of Y-PLAN and demonstrates the model's effectiveness in fostering positive community outcomes and meaningful learning experiences, as well as its theoretical implications for the planning and education fields. Y-PLAN's success rests on three central conditions: 1) authentic problems engage diverse stakeholders and foster a "community of practice"; 2) adult and youth partners share decision-making; and 3) projects build sustainable individual and institutional success.

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