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A new Web site provides ways for young people to get informed and get involved
by Rebekah Daniel
 Habitat for Humanity's Youth Programs department has completed a Web page redesign combining advocacy, education and straight-up fun to tap the hearts and minds of a tech-savvy youth population.
"When promoting your program to your audience, it's vital to meet them where they are," Lisa Montrose, Habitat marketing specialist, says. "Young people are already using the Internet in droves-you can see that in the popularity of pages like MySpace, Facebook and YouTube. The Youth Programs department wanted to create a dynamic, exciting space for young people on the Internet where they can be engaged in Habitat and learn more about how to get involved."
The Web pages are divided into three sections to effectively communicate with different segments of the Youth Programs audience: Habitat Trekkers, ages 5-7; Habitat Street Team, ages 8-13; and t-squared (today and tomorrow), ages 14-25. The sections for the two younger age groups feature games, and the older age group can register to participate in the forum of a Web community.
The new pages' features are not limited to games and message boards, however. The site is stocked with tools to help youth advocate for decent, affordable housing, regardless of age:
- Habitat Trekkers can download sample letters to personalize and mail to elected representatives, as well as a template for a paper house to fold and mail to remind leaders of the importance of housing. Also available for this age group is "The Advocacy Book: Poverty Housing," a lesson plan and interactive coloring book, and a card creation kit, a resource to help children ages 5 to 9 create cards for donors, homeowners and volunteers.
- The Habitat Street Team pages feature information on building a model Habitat house out of a cereal box, a role-playing simulation in which teenagers experience some of the challenges of homelessness and a Vacation Bible School curriculum.
- The t-squared community can submit photographs to a Habitat contest, find out how to create a campus chapter at their schools and navigate the process of participating in a Collegiate Challenge.
 Being young is no disadvantage when it comes to spreading the word about Habitat. The new Web page dovetails with an organization-wide emphasis on advocacy as a key means of increasing the rate at which poverty housing is eliminated.
"There are two main components to our advocacy: get informed and get involved," Montrose says. "The Youth Programs Web site educates its users about the problem of substandard housing and then challenges them to make a change. They can get involved in one of our programs, such as Act! Speak! Build! Week or Collegiate Challenge, or contact their local affiliate and get involved in their local community. The Web site offers them the opportunity to get the important information and then use it to make a positive difference."
The new site is available at www.habitatyouthprograms.org.
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