Challenging Dominant Narratives: Urban Youth Speak Back on Educational Reform and Neighborhood Revitalization

• In Event: Rearticulating Student Voice and Activism

Abstract

The Main South neighborhood of Worcester, MA—one of the poorest neighborhoods in New England—recently won a half-million dollar Department of Education Promise Neighborhood planning grant to develop a holistic education and neighborhood revitalization project. To center the voice of youth, we (the authors) created the Youth Action Research Council (YARC). Utilizing a youth participatory action research method, this diverse group of 14-25 year olds worked with the authors to capture over fifty young people’s life stories. Through these narratives and research presentations, the YARC shifted the dominant narrative of the initiative. This paper documents this process and explores the potential for youth action research and youth storytelling to disrupt dominant narratives and shape social policy and practices.

Authors

• Eric J. DeMeulenaere, Clark University

• Laurie Ross, Clark University