Youth-Community-University Partnerships and Sense of Place: Two Case Studies of Youth Participatory Action Research

• In Event: Participatory Action Research: Student, Teacher, and Community Voices

Abstract

This paper explores two youth action research initiatives as part of university-community partnerships between the John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities (JGC) at Stanford University and a neighboring community. In each case, the JGC researchers collaborated with youth on methods design, implementation and analysis, leading to products and recommendations to improve youth access to programs and opportunities within their immediate area. Preliminary findings indicate that youth engagement within the research partnerships generated more robust data, facilitated stronger community-university relationships, and improved youths’ awareness of community assets and resources. This study builds on sense-of-place and community asset literature, and provides insight into strategies that facilitate beneficial community partnerships, even in cases where resistance or distrust may initially exist.

Authors

• Mary K. Hofstedt, John W. Gardner Center for Youth and Their Communities

• Nicole M. Ardoin, Stanford University

• Sebastian Castrechini, Stanford University