About this paper symposium

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Panel information
Panel 32. Solicited Content: Expanded Learning & Out-of-School Time

Paper #1
“I really loved all of us girls coming together”: Empowering Youth through a Community-Led Conference
Author information	Role
Chelsea T. McElwee, University of California, Riverside, United States	Presenting author
Carmen Roberts, Adrian Dell & Carmen Roberts Foundation, United States	Non-presenting author
Adrian Dell Roberts, Adrian Dell & Carmen Roberts Foundation, United States	Non-presenting author
Aerika Brittian Loyd, University of California, Riverside, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Many often use the word “empowerment” without a comprehensive understanding of its meaning, as its definition varies across sectors (Taukobong et al., 2016). The context of empowerment is influenced by demographic factors, such as gender. To address these varying contexts effectively, it is crucial to develop “conscious prisms” that consider gender and race to capture the unique vulnerabilities and experiences of young women of color (Crenshaw, 2015). Yosso’s (2006) historical context-based model offers a complementary perspective by emphasizing the assets and cultural wealth within communities of color (e.g., navigational and social wealth). By integrating Crenshaw’s focus on gender and race (intersectionality) with Yosso’s framework of cultural wealth, we can better understand how to empower young women in a manner that acknowledges and builds upon their inherent assets and lived experiences. Informed by these perspectives, this study explores how a community youth-focused conference can address specific challenges and aspirations of young women, aiming to foster a more meaningful and context-specific form of empowerment. We aim to uncover the factors crucial for creating spaces that prioritize and center young women by (1) understanding what makes a women's space memorable and (2) exploring how young women would describe the conference to their peers. Participants were adolescent girls (n=26) between the ages of 12-17 (Mage = 15.81, SD = 1.44). The majority of the girls self-identified as Black/African American (39%) and Hispanic/Latino/a (35%) and were in the 11th grade (62%). Each participant was assigned to attend two out of eight workshops (e.g., crime scene investigation, the importance of self-affirmations) and all girls attended three keynote sessions (e.g., human trafficking, self-defense). The conference, a full-day youth-focused event held on a weekend at a local community college, was centered around empowering young women through various workshops and activities. Following the event, participants evaluated their experience by rating various aspects, including the content and impact of the workshops. They also responded to a series of narrative prompts to provide more detailed feedback on their experience. For this presentation, two narrative prompts were analyzed through the grounded theory framework. Regarding the first question, we identified three themes from girls' responses addressing what makes a young women’s conference memorable: the workshop content and activity, the supportive and empowering environment, and the level of engagement and interaction. Girls indicated the workshops and activities should be related to topics they find interesting and be interactive. Being in a space with their friends and other women of color in various stages of life was also memorable. Regarding the second question, we identified four themes that highlight the impact of the conference and how girls would share their own experiences with their peers: educational, personal growth, inspirational, and a supportive environment. Drawing on our collective work with girls and the research findings, our discussion will focus on how practitioners and researchers can reimagine learning environments (Logan, 2018) and provide examples of a radical healing praxis (Ginwright, 2015) that embraces community engagement.

Paper #2
Carving pathways for future Latina researchers through the use of youth participatory action research
Author information	Role
Bernardette Pinetta, University of California, Los Angeles, United States	Presenting author
Stacey Cabrera, University of Chicago, Illinois, United States	Non-presenting author
Josefina Bañales, University of Chicago, Illinois, United States	Non-presenting author
Abstract
Introduction Despite the recent growth in research on Latinx youths’ psychosocial and behavioral development, the experiences of Latina adolescents continue to be under-studied (Ceballo & Rivas-Drake, forthcoming). Like other girls and femmes of color, Latina youth are developing within a society dominated by white heteropatriarchy–“a system that enforces the intersections of white supremacy, gender normativity, and patriarchy” (Player et al., 2022, p. 1785). As a pedagogy of transformative resistance, youth participatory action research (YPAR) can empower Latina youth with the tools they need to challenge systemic inequity (Cammarota & Fine, 2008, p. 2). However, more work is needed to understand the factors and characteristics of YPAR spaces that support Latina youth researchers specifically. Theoretical Framework To understand the characteristics that YPAR spaces must engage in to support Latina youth researchers we use the Roadmap for Centering Latinx Youth Voice in Developmental Science (Bañales et al., 2023) which outlines four key strategies for partnering with Latinx young people. This includes (1) engaging in personal researcher reflexivity, (2) developing relationships with Latinx youth and communities, (3) involving young people in the research design process, and (4) collaborating with youth on research communication (i.e., dissemination process). However, this roadmap could be further expanded by integrating Latina youths’ perspectives on the characteristics within research spaces that they feel support and validate their researcher identity. Method We draw on two examples of current YPAR projects–one in the Midwest and one in the West Coast–that partner with Latina youth researchers (LYRs). The first project, Latinas in Research, is a podcast created and hosted by three Latina undergraduate students. In their conversations, they explore factors that shape their identities as Latina researchers, including their experiences as young people, language, community connections, and collaborative practices within research spaces. We use data from the LYR podcasts and five-hour-long debrief pláticas, where they reflect on their experiences in a research space. The second project centers on Orgullosas y Poderosas, a research collective of Latina high school students who engaged in dialogic practices where they investigated the impact of gentrification. We analyzed each of the 14 session transcripts and a follow-up plática with a couple of the LYRs. Using the Rigorous and Accelerated Data Reduction Technique (Watkins, 2017), we engaged in thematic analysis to analyze all observational and plática transcripts. Findings We generated four key themes that highlight what Latina youth look for within research opportunities. Specifically, they seek spaces that (a) affirm and allow them to explore their cultural identity, (b) challenge Eurocentric epistemologies by validating their knowledge and contributions to the research process, (c) provide professional development opportunities, and (d) engage them in research for social change. Conclusion Our findings are imperative to supporting the Latina researcher pipeline, highlighting the values Latina youth bring to the research space. Indeed, our findings suggest the need for adult researchers to have an intersectional awareness of the sexism and racism Latinas experience as well as the cultural expectations they carry to fully support their development.

Paper #3
Conversations in Color: Conceptualizing an Intersectional Awareness of Anti-Black Gendered Racism Among University-Based Black Girls
Author information	Role
Gabrielle Kubi, University of Michigan, United States	Presenting author
Abstract
Critical conversation spaces (CCSs; Carter Andrews et al., 2019) counter Black feminine intersectional invisibility, being apt contexts for Black girls’ gendered-racial, racial, and gendered meaning-making. CCSs are affinity groups facilitated by and for Black girls, which Black woman educators scaffold. CCSs achieve “affinity status” by centering familial yet non-biological relationships. Reflection on a common issue/topic, namely race, gender, and/or gendered-race, cultivates this fictive kinship. Carter Andrews et al. discussed a tension regarding the seminal CCS’ exclusively cross-sectional design. The girls with whom they consciousness-raised wondered when the researchers would return to facilitate more CCSs. Thus, the study team called for CCSs to become a regular part of the school day. My work as Circle of Sisters’ supervising facilitator and as Conversation in Color’s instructor of record allowed me to explore this possibility within the K-12 and higher education contexts. Both counterspaces comprise longitudinal, evidence based CCSs (Author et al., 2023; Author et al., in progress). Thus, this dissertation directly responds to calls in both education and psychological literature (Agger et al. 2022), for interdisciplinary, qualitative research among Black girls representative of the Diaspora. In this paper, I present a multimethod qualitative study, using Critical Conversation Space and Sista Circle methodologies (Carter Andrews et al., 2019; Johnson, 2015; Author et al., in press), specifically sister circles, individual interviews, and artifact elicitation (Abildgaard, 2018), to investigate how university-based Black girls developed an intersectional awareness of misogynoir via Conversations in Color. University-based and high school Black girls in Circle of Sisters, a within-high-school identity-based dialogue program, made attributions for intersectional oppression that were increasingly systemic in nature. Discussion supported their lived experience processing, enriching their intersectional awareness and activism. University-based Sisters enrolled in the training course Conversations in Color identified their program facilitation as resistance to misogynoir. Accordingly, I assert that the intersectional awareness scaffolded within such programs helps Black girls reconcile the contrast between their academic and sociopolitical prowess and gendered-racial stereotypes. Further, I use this dissertation to argue that Conversations in Color and Circle of Sisters combat school misogynoir by countering Black feminine intersectional invisibility (see Purdie-Vaughns & Eibach, 2008). Via Luttrell’s (2005) 3-step coding method, an ethnographic method “investigating women’s[/girls’ interview] responses as part of a larger fabric of soci[opolitics] and [gendered-racial] beliefs” (p. 245; see Kelly, 2020), I will make plain the dimensions conceptualized to comprise an intersectional awareness (Author, 2023). I utilize Black feminist thought (e.g., Collins, 2000; Williams & Lewis, 2021); positive youth development for girls of color (Clonan-Roy et al., 2016); and critical consciousness theory (e.g., Freire, 1970; Watts et al., 2011) as theoretical frameworks. My four preliminary themes are: (1) systemic attributions for misogynoir; (2) willingness and/or ability to resist misogynoir; (3) Black girl-specific, overt and subversive resistance to misogynoir; and (4) embodied Black feminist sensibilities. My dissertation is an act of Black feminist praxis (Collins; see Kwakye et al., 2017 and McArthur & Lane, 2016). I advance this work to counteract the misattribution and usurping of Black girls’ sociopolitical praxis.

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