In this paper an evaluation study of a public programme financing a regional network of 157 youth centres in the South of Italy is presented. A theory-based evaluation model was adopted to explore the causal links between different types of participation experience. Evaluation questions focused on three main issues are: the perception of empowerment of the team during the management of the centres, the empowering effect of participation in the organization of the youth centres and the decision-making abilities of the young people involved. Following an exploratory study, an on-line structured questionnaire was administered to all centres. New youth centres appear as striving to become sustainable enterprises. However, there is widespread difficulty in terms of integrating day-to-day management with sustainability strategies. Such difficulty appears less pronounced when project leaders participated in the design of the centres together with young people. Results thus confirm participation in the design phase as an empowering experience. This study warns, however, against a number of unwanted effects arising from participation. Indeed, participation processes represented a form of decorative consultation in half of the cases. Empirical evidence therefore suggests further research to focus on the creation of stable participation frameworks inside centres, avoiding the risk of participation processes void of any real effect on decision-making.