Don't try too hard to crack the code of authenticity. Sometimes reaching out and connecting to "the kids" requires more than constructing a seemingly fail-safe online presence.

"We're really focusing on reaching out to kids," is an expression I am getting used to hearing when talking with outreach coordinators at nonprofits. "We're trying to connect with young people by reaching out to them on the Internet," is often uttered in the same breath. "We're really going to connect with them when we launch our social networking site later this year."

As many of us within this community know, while the acknowledgement of creating a comprehensive web presence is an important first-step in forward movement in developing organizational outreach methods, especially when it comes to connecting with young people, simply having some components of an online outreach plan isn't enough. Further, I continue to run into more and more young people who explain to me that they feel as though they are drowning under mounting social networking invites/requests, on top of being asked to add a widget to their page, to add an application to their Facebook account, etc.

Last weekend, I manned (personed?) a table at an event about youth service at Manhattan's School of the Future. It was organized by Idealist and DoSomething. There were tables for young people (around 11-17) to visit where organizational representatives sat, there were workshops, and there was a presentation by Lil Mama, a young (18) rap artist, self-proclaimed "Voice of the Young People," who spoke about volunteerism and service.

I talked with organizational representatives from table to table who, again, explained how this was an important time because they finally figured out how to reach out to the youth via the Internet, and how young people respond really well to video, and DVDs, and being connected with "on the social networks" (really).

My table was next to the one that Syreeta, the head of SWT Life, an organization that brought kids into service by way of "making it fun" and "breaking it away from stigmas associated with prison and school." The organization works with kids on murals in Brooklyn, dancing, and a bunch of other things interesting to kids. Syreeta wasn't looking to crack any code about how young people function, and what resonates with them, as she, the youngest of all the reps by far, was 20-years-old. While the rest of us sat around, featured multi-media presentations on computers, gave out DVDs, and waited, Syreeta enthusiastically asked kids how they were doing in their language, never spoke down to them, got them to sign mailing lists, sign up for events, and show off her organization, all with some poster board, some computer-printed business cards, and a pen and paper.

I recently had a wondrous meeting with Donna McNeil, Director of the Maine Arts Commission. She explained that her friend, a trends analyst, told her that the next big trend would be authenticity. I believe that many of us, while trying to connect with the youth, both see and understand the emergence of this trend. However, in times when it's least appropriate to do so, particularly when we're face-to-face with young people we're trying to engage, we can try a little too hard to connect with them on what we perceive to be their level ("Hey kids! We have some DVDs! Do you want to watch a video on this computer?! Sign up to our fan page on Facebook!").

We need to remember that we're trying to uphold some degree of authenticity by connecting with young people - potential volunteers, givers, participants - on their level. Before there was social networking and connecting online, and now still, young people click with other young people, to fun, and to other young people. Promises of [electronically] connecting with young people on their level isn't enough to get them to buy in on a legitimate and engaged level. Sometimes, especially when being talked with face-to-face, they need it to be known that they're going to be allowed to be a kid.