In April, Youthprise gathered
five young people from various
backgrounds to serve as Research
Innovators. Our first goal: to
question our friends, peers and
each other to find out what exactly
we needed and wanted from our
teachers and mentors to ensure we
were successful in school and in life.
We established early
on that we would use our age
and inexperience as tools, not
weaknesses. We knew that being the
subject of research had commonly
been a traumatic experience for
many young people and we knew
that in order to build trust with
participants, we would have to draw
them from our own communities
and have candid conversations
with people our own age. It was
tough going at first. None of the
Innovators had experience running
focus groups or doing interviews.
So we built around what we knew.
All of us had played group
games before, and we all knew what
a respectful conversation did not
look like. That seemed like a good
place to start. We built our space
around having a good time, good
food and good conversation.
By approaching the focus groups
on equal terms, the responses
flowed freely and organically.
The results were very interesting.
And contrary to what many adults
may believe, young people are aware
and concerned about the messages
being put forth through popular
media. These messages could also
have a large effect on self-esteem,
day-to-day decision-making and
even the formulation of one’s
thoughts and opinions over time.
While we can’t provide any
names or even the context within
into some of the ideas that drive
Youthprise. Through the formation
of the Research Team and other
opportunities for young people
we’ve found that young people
studying young people is not as
outlandish as it sounds. As a matter
of fact, it might be a great idea.
which some of these topics were
broached, we feel that mentioning
them will help paint a picture of
the battles young people face every
day. For example, we discovered
that having your cultural identity
represented in your mentor is much
more than just an issue of diversity.
We found that it was very easy to
be pushed to the wayside, even, and
sometimes especially, in school, if
you’re not particularly outspoken.
Article Co-Author:
Article Co-Author:
Youth Innovator
Youth Innovator
Shanell McCoy
Jorge Rivas
Wallace Foundation
Invests in Research
The Wallace Foundation is a national
philanthropy that seeks to improve
education and enrichment for disadvantaged children.
They develop and test promising ideas on the ground,
study the results, research related issues – and share
what they’ve learned broadly to help improve
children’s lives. Wallace is a major funder of
Sprockets, Saint Paul’s OST Network.
The work we did over
the summer is a glimpse
Young people
are aware and
concerned about
the messages
being put forth
through popular
media.
Recently, Wallace made a major investment to
commission research on non-cognitive factors like grit
and perseverance that contribute to youth success.
Undertaken by the University of Chicago Consortium on
Chicago School Research (UChicago CCSR), the project
will identify the non-cognitive factors related to success
in college and the workplace, define how these factors
enable success in young adulthood, and highlight how
these factors may differ among youth from different
background. A subsequent phase of the work will
examine how non-cognitive factors are shaped at home,
school and in afterschool programs. Convenings to
share the research are planned for summer 2014.
[Youthprise] Newsflash