“We’re a Big Family”: The Construction of Familia in a Latino Youth Group

• In Event: Roundtable Session 17
  In Roundtable Session: Youth Organizing: Intersections of Justice, Art, and Caring

Abstract

This paper draws on data from an ethnographic study with a grassroots Latino youth group in a mid-sized city in the Midwest with a growing Latino community. The data reveals that the youth group space has fostered a familia where youth find a sense of belonging, mentorship and genuine support. Drawing on the community cultural wealth framework (Yosso, 2005) this paper explores how familial capital becomes the foundation upon which the youth group builds upon. This study implies that out-of-school spaces can serve as sites of possibility, where an expanded familia can help to support youth in developing into actors of change.

Author

• Julissa Ventura, University of Wisconsin - Madison