Social Justice and Youth Community Practice – Serie

There is no denying that friendship, however narrow or broad the definition, is dynamic and highly responsive to socio-cultural and environmental factors. Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice highlights the greater importance of friendships in circumstances where youth have been marginalized and have limited access to instrumental resources that restrict geographical mobility or curtail their movement to limited public spaces (in which they are validated, and even liked or admired). Youth friendships are not limited to peer-networks; they can cross other social divides and involve adults of all ages. Indeed, community practice and asset assessment approaches are increasingly focusing on the relevance of strong peer relationships and networks as strengths upon which to build. Friendships, therefore, are a community asset and as such could be included as a key aspect of community asset assessments and interventions. Community organizations, schools, religious institutions, and other less-formal groups provide practitioners with ample opportunities to foster urban youth friendships.This book seeks to accomplish four goals: (1) provide a state of knowledge on the definition, role, and importance of friendships in general and specifically on urban youth of color (African-American, Asia and Latinos); (2) draw implications for community practice scholarship and practice; (3) illustrate how friendships can be a focus of a community capacity enhancement assets paradigm through the use of case illustrations; and (4) provide a series of recommendations for how urban friendships can be addressed in graduate level social work curriculum but with implications for other helping professions. Urban Youth Friendships and Community Practice is a must-have for community practitioners, whether their focus be social work, recreation, education, planning, or out-of-school programming.

The performing arts is one particular area of youth community practice can that can be effectively tapped to attract youth within schools and out-of-school settings, or what has been referred to as the "third area between school and family." These settings are non-stigmatizing, highly attractive community-based venues that serve youth and their respective communities. They can supplement or enhance formal education, providing a counter-narrative for youth to resist the labels placed on them by serving as a vehicle for reactivity and self-expression. Furthermore, the performing arts are a mechanism through which creative expression can transpire while concomitantly engaging youth in creative expression that is transformative at the individual and community level. Music, Song, Dance, Theater, and Social Work explores the innovative programs and interventions in youth community practice that draw on the performing arts as a way to reach and engage the target populations. The book draws from the rich literature bases in community development and positive youth development, as well as from performing arts therapy and group interventions, offering a meeting point where innovative programs have emerged. All in all, the text is an invaluable resource for graduate social work and performing arts students, practitioners, and scholars.

Engaging youth as leaders of social change offers the exponential benefits of personal empowerment, community enhancement, and economic transformation. Grounded both in interdisciplinary theory and an expansive set of practical case examples, Making Change uses an asset focus and cultural relevance that centralizes youth and communities in social entrepreneurship, while introducing vocabulary and frameworks for youth social entrepreneurship advocates to gain resources and political traction for the approach. Readers will have the opportunity to consider the complex interplay of individual, economic, and community development versus oversimplifying causes or solutions of social disparities. Individuals engaged in youth work, program design, funding, and the study of youth and community development will appreciate the text's exploration of existing research and theory that cross scholarly disciplines to promote a robust view of youth development.

Metropolitan Detroit is America's most segregated metropolitan area, but amidst segregation, there is also growing diversity, including increasing populations of African, Asian, Middle Eastern, and Latin American descent in some of Detroit's suburbs. While metropolitan areas like Detroit would benefit from discussion of the causes and consequences of these changes, there are few policy, media, or governmental vehicles for this purpose. Young people, on the other hand, are strategically situated to address some of the issues arising in areas that combine segregation and diversity. More than adults, adolescents often hold positive attitudes toward social justice. They want to communicate with people who are different from themselves and collaborate on projects across the segregated boundaries that separate them, if there are opportunities to do so. What are some strategies for increasing youth dialogues on race and ethnicity in metropolitan areas that are becoming simultaneously more segregated and diverse?In Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity, Barry Checkoway describes the work of a specific university-community partnership program: Youth Dialogues on Race and Ethnicity in Metropolitan Detroit. Including an analysis of the program's origins and objectives, activities and accomplishments, facilitating and limiting factors, and lessons learned from practice, Checkoway provides an unprecedented example of young people working together across segregated boundaries to transform their lives and communities. He also examines youth dialogues as a process, young people as change agents, adults as allies and partners, and the anchor institutions that support this work. Indeed, the story is about much more than a single place, and raises larger questions about racial segregation, social diversity, intergroup dialogue, community planning, and metropolitan areas in societies that are changing.